The Way To Protect The Female Lead’S Older Brother [EN]: Chapter 200

How to Protect the Heroine’s Older Brother – Episode 200

* * *

It wasn’t long before Roxana arrived.

“Sana!”

Sierra was the first to rise from her seat upon seeing Roxana, who hadn’t been seen for five days.

Maria, who had been sitting next to Sierra, watching her reaction, as well as Emily and Bess, who had been occupied with other tasks, stopped what they were doing and stood up from their chairs.

“I apologize for not giving you any notice.”

Roxana spoke with a composed expression.

Soon, Maria noticed where her gaze was directed and said,

“Deon hasn’t woken up yet.”

Roxana’s steps moved to where her gaze had been fixed.

She went to Deon’s room and stared down at him, unconscious, with cold eyes.

It had been five days since she had come to see him in person.

However, during that time, Roxana had occasionally checked on Deon’s condition using poison butterflies [a method of remote monitoring using specially trained butterflies].

The red eyes, scanning Deon’s body, lingered particularly long on the spot where his left arm should have been.

Roxana didn’t stay in the room long and left.

“I’ll come again tomorrow.”

As if she had some other pressing matter, she was about to leave right away.

“Sana.”

Sierra called out to Roxana, stopping her.

“What on earth happened? Why is Deon like that?”

Sierra asked what Maria had also been wondering.

Her voice was filled with concern.

Since Deon had returned with such severe injuries and Roxana was with him, she seemed worried that something dangerous might have happened to her daughter as well.

Roxana silently stared at Sierra’s face for a moment.

Then, Roxana’s gaze subtly lowered.

She roughly explained what had happened at Yggdrasil [a mythical tree representing the world in Norse mythology, often used as a place name in fantasy settings].

However, Roxana’s story omitted the most important part.

Even just hearing that much, the four were shocked.

“Goodness. Sana, are you hurt anywhere?”

“Yes, I’m…”

Was it because of a lingering feeling in that response?

Those who heard Roxana’s words suddenly realized that the reason Deon was so injured and unconscious was because of Roxana.

Sierra’s face hardened, and Bess couldn’t hide her bewilderment and surprise.

Maria also moved her lips as if she was at a loss for words.

Only Emily, without any outward reaction, simply watched the face of her master, Roxana.

“Is that kid someone who would die easily?”

After Roxana left, Maria suddenly recalled the conversation she had with Jeremy when leaving Agrigent [likely a significant location or organization in the story].

“And Deon is someone who can decide his own death, isn’t he?”

At the time, she had said it without much thought, but now she had a different impression.

Sierra, who had been standing blankly in front of the door for a while after seeing Roxana off, turned and went back into the room.

Emily and Bess also quietly retreated after alternately looking at Sierra and Maria’s faces.

After a while, Maria stared at the closed door with an indescribable feeling.

Deon was Maria’s only son, but she didn’t know him well.

Still, somehow…

She felt like she knew the reason why Deon hadn’t woken up yet.

“…You foolish boy.”

Maria murmured those words softly, with no one to hear.

The feeling that was faintly stirring inside her was unfamiliar, and Maria herself couldn’t quite understand what it was.

* * *

Roxana left Sierra’s house and crossed the neutral zone.

Her steps led her to a small mansion located near the border of the neutral zone, about an hour’s walk away.

As soon as she arrived at her destination, opened the door, and went inside, she saw Grizelda.

She was sitting backward on a chair, resting her face on her arms on the backrest, dozing off, but she felt Roxana’s presence and opened her eyes wide.

“You’re here?”

Her eyes were clear and her tone was natural, as if she hadn’t been dozing off at all, but Roxana wasn’t fooled.

“Just go inside and sleep.”

However, Grizelda straightened her bent back and answered firmly.

“I don’t sleep unless I’m alone.”

Roxana had come here yesterday, and she hadn’t slept with Grizelda last night either.

However, Grizelda looked noticeably more tired than Roxana.

Of course, she didn’t show it on the outside, but Roxana, who had been watching her for a long time, could tell.

So, she had probably stayed up all night before she came, and now, listening to Grizelda’s words, she knew it was true.

She probably hadn’t slept a wink for the five days she had been staying here.

Because of the person inside the door with the magic circle drawn on it.

Roxana didn’t press her twice, thinking it was a chronic disease typical of Agrigent people.

“How is he?”

“No improvement.”

Grizelda answered Roxana’s question briefly and stood up from her seat.

“Do you want some too?”

“Some what?”

“Stimulants.”

“I don’t need them.”

“Yeah, you look fine. I need to take some.”

Since she was already immune to most drugs, and anything less than a certain strength was useless, Grizelda chewed and swallowed twelve 100% concentrated stimulants raw.

The place they were in now was the hideout where Grizelda had stayed for a while after leaving Agrigent last winter.

While Grizelda was chewing on the stimulants, Roxana opened the door with the magic circle drawn on it.

Seeing her, Grizelda clicked her tongue.

“Really, no matter how long you’ve known someone, it’s hard to know everything about them. I never knew my little sister had a self-harming hobby.”

Roxana ignored Grizelda’s words, which she muttered as if she wanted her to hear.

“…Is it you again?”

She closed the door, hearing a small voice ringing in her ear.

The person in the room parted his chapped lips as soon as he met Roxana’s eyes.

“Open the door and leave again. Get out of my sight.”

Unlike the sharp content, there was no energy in his voice.

The person, wrapped tightly in a blanket, with only his chin visible, was Nix.

“…It seems like you’re in a state where conversation is possible today.”

Roxana stared at him silently for a moment before speaking.

Then, Nix bit his lip once.

And soon, he let out a stiff voice between them.

“I have nothing to say to you.”

Contrary to what was known, Nix was not dead.

Five days ago, Roxana found Deon and Nix attacking each other and used poison butterflies to stop them.

When she got closer, both of them were collapsed.

He was already in terrible condition, and he had been hit head-on by the strong hallucinatory effect of the poison butterflies, so it was natural that he couldn’t hold out any longer and fainted.

As she was about to leave with them, Grizelda came to find Roxana at the right time.

She said she had heard Jeremy’s words and had chased her all the way here to help Roxana.

Later, the pursuing team found Nix’s disguised fake corpse, which was made up of body parts from the dolls Grizelda had brought.

The situation was not good, so she entrusted Deon to Sierra’s residence, which was the closest place.

Looking back now, it didn’t seem like a very good choice, but at the time, that was the only thing she could think of.

However, she wasn’t sure if it was safe to keep Deon and Nix in the same place.

Besides, she hesitated about whether she could show Nix to Sierra as he was.

She didn’t have much time to worry, so in the end, she left only Deon with her mother and left Nix at Grizelda’s hideout.

Earlier, Roxana hadn’t told Sierra about Nix.

Because she didn’t know whether Nix’s existence would be pain or comfort to her mother.

Besides, she hadn’t acknowledged him as Asil yet.

Nix himself seemed confused.

Since yesterday, when Roxana came here, he had been changing his attitude every time he saw her.

Sometimes he treated Roxana as Asil, and sometimes he treated her as Nix.

Nix was very happy to see her, then cried and apologized, and then pushed her away and expressed his rejection.

“Okay.”

And now…

“Then I’ll ask you just one thing.”

Roxana asked him a question that might be meaningless.

“Are you, Asil?”

At the first direct question, Nix inhaled shallowly.

Roxana quietly waited for his answer.

Still covered in the blanket, Nix was silent.

His eyes, hidden in the blanket, looked into the face he was facing.

The face of Roxana, who was now staring at him, was so calm that it was difficult to guess her inner thoughts, but…

Somehow, it seemed that she would fully believe his answer, whichever it was.

“…Annoying.”

After a while, a low whisper was uttered from Nix’s mouth.

Finally, the sharp eyes that were revealed between the flowing blankets were shot and embedded in Roxana.

“What about me looks like that idiot?”

His eyes were red from crying so much.

The face that was finally fully revealed was no longer that of a fifteen-year-old boy.