The Way To Protect The Female Lead’S Older Brother [EN]: Chapter 217

Protecting the Heroine’s Older Brother – Side Story 8

At that very moment, Jeremy froze, his mouth agape at the merciless words that pierced his eardrums.

Soon after, his face flushed crimson.

“That’s… that’s the same for you…!”

However, Jeremy couldn’t bring himself to finish the sentence.

Cassius tilted his head as if to say, ‘If you have something to say, then say it.’

Jeremy really didn’t want to admit it, but…

Cassius looked just as radiant as he had four days ago.

His silver hair, emitting a mysterious glow even in the darkness, shimmered even more brilliantly as it absorbed the moonlight.

Moreover, his clean and fluffy face, as if he had just washed, seemed to have a transparent sheen.

He didn’t even smell of sweat.

Clearly, Jeremy had been wandering outside for days just like Cassius, but Cassius looked unbelievably clean and neat.

The same was true for Roxana.

Roxana, who had been in Jeremy’s sight until just a moment ago, had hair that shimmered as if it held starlight, and her jade-like face, as well as the tips of her fingers that were exposed outside her clothes, were as clean as if they had just been dipped in clear spring water.

Of the three, only Jeremy, who was not cared for by Cassius, looked disheveled.

But that wasn’t strictly Cassius’s fault.

It wasn’t as if he had deliberately excluded Jeremy and used the power of purification in a petty way.

“Even now, if you ask me, I can make you spotless.”

Before Cassius could even finish his sentence, Jeremy shuddered, goosebumps erupting all over his body.

In fact, only once on the first day, after learning that Cassius had such a trick, he reluctantly allowed purification for the sake of efficiency.

But the feeling of the Fedelian energy [referring to Cassius’s unique magical power] tickling every strand of hair and permeating every intimate part of his body was not something he could bear with patience.

Even now, just recalling that memory made him shudder involuntarily.

“Unfortunately, you vehemently refused, saying you hated it so much, so there’s nothing I can do.”

Cassius raised one corner of his mouth slowly towards Jeremy with a face that didn’t look sorry at all.

But it was only for a moment.

He returned to his expressionless face and said to Jeremy.

“I’ll say it again. The lake is to the east. Return when you are clean enough not to numb your precious Roxana’s sense of smell and sight.”

Naturally, Jeremy felt like he was going to die of frustration.

But this was a very realistic problem, so there was nothing he could do.

He had forgotten for a moment, but once he became aware of it because of Cassius, he also felt stuffy and wanted to wash immediately.

“Damn it, you should have told me to wash with rainwater earlier!”

Jeremy cursed Cassius until the very end and ran east through the almost stopped rain.

* * *

“Don’t tease Jeremy too much.”

When Cassius returned, Roxana was awake.

With her knees gathered and arms wrapped around them, her chin resting on top, the shadow created by the bonfire stretched long behind Roxana.

A faint smile permeated her face, which was half-hidden by the flowing hair that cast soft shadows.

“He still has an innocent side, so he really believes it when you say things like that.”

Cassius nonchalantly walked over to Roxana and picked up the blanket that was lying on the floor.

“What are you talking about? I didn’t lie.”

“He wasn’t really dirty to the point where you couldn’t stand it.”

“I guess our standards differ on that matter.”

Roxana looked up at Cassius, who replied with a straight face, with a strange smile on her face.

Cassius shook off the blanket he had picked up from the floor and draped it over Roxana’s shoulders.

In fact, it was early summer now, so there was no need to worry about warmth to this extent.

But it was night and after the rain, so the air was definitely chilly.

Still, she thought it was a bit much to have a bonfire and a blanket, but it wasn’t too hot, so Roxana accepted Cassius’s kindness.

“If you’re tired, you can sleep for another two hours or so.”

“No, I’ve slept enough. Have you gotten any sleep?”

“I’ve slept enough too.”

Both of them were already awake and had no intention of lying down again.

Cassius, who had approached, naturally sat next to Roxana. Roxana also moved her body to make room for Cassius next to her.

After that, she asked.

“Does Jeremy bother you a lot when I’m not looking?”

In fact, she knew the situation just by what she had witnessed so far.

Still, Jeremy’s appearance, unable to be genuinely mean because of Roxana, and only acting out like a child, was rather pitiful.

Cassius thought the same.

“It’s not that bad. It makes me glad I don’t have a younger brother.”

“Still, he’s cute, so please understand.”

At Roxana’s playful addition, Cassius almost asked if she was serious.

Jeremy Agriche is cute. Roxana was the only one who could say that.

“Yeah. I might start to think something similar someday if I see that face for about 20 more years.”

However, he was honestly skeptical about that prospect at the moment.

Cassius let out a low laugh that resembled a sigh and took Roxana’s hand.

A ticklish warmth penetrated between his fingers and intertwined deeply.

A clean energy flowed in along with the warm body temperature through the touching skin.

Roxana felt the fatigue that had been building up without her knowing began to dissipate.

Crack, crack, a small spark flew over the bonfire.

Suddenly, Roxana opened her mouth.

“Come to think of it, the situation feels a bit familiar. It reminds me of when you and I were outside like this before.”

When she mentioned it, recalling an old memory, Cassius smiled faintly.

“Right. But we didn’t have a nuisance like that next to us back then.”

Roxana’s head tilted slightly in the direction of Cassius.

“By the way, did you send Jeremy away like that just to hold my hand?”

The movement of her fingers slowly stroking the back of Cassius’s hand became secretive.

Cassius also pressed down on her hand, tightening the intertwined knuckles even more.

The warm light of the bonfire deeply colored the delicately woven faces of the two.

“I was going to if you were still asleep when I came back.”

“What about now?”

Foreheads and noses with similar temperatures lightly touched first.

“Well. Until Jeremy Agriche comes back, should I not put you back to sleep?”

A broken laugh leaked from Roxana’s slightly parted lips.

Cassius also smiled and willingly swallowed it sweetly.

The two shadows that stretched to the wall overlapped into one.

It had been a long time since Roxana and Cassius had been alone like this, as Jeremy had been sticking by Roxana’s side with his eyes wide open.

Perhaps that was why, the moment their lips met, the thirst that had built up inside grew even more.

Without either of them saying anything, they desperately plundered each other’s breath.

Wet lips pressed together more tightly, and tongues intertwined deeply. The sensual sound that rang out permeated the sound of the bonfire burning.

As their bodies tilted, the blanket that had been draped over Roxana’s shoulders fell off.

Originally, the reason Cassius sent Jeremy out was to give Roxana more healing energy while she was asleep, but he temporarily forgot about that purpose.

Both Roxana and Cassius felt the desire to press their bodies closer together and share their body temperature more deeply than ever before.

But as expected, the situation was not favorable now, so they suppressed their greed and endured.

Lips filled with regret collided a few more times.

Then Cassius hugged Roxana, stroked the back of her head, and whispered in her ear.

“We’ll be able to find Nix soon.”

“Yeah.”

“Still, seeing how he’s moved this far beyond our initial expectations, his condition seems to be better than we thought.”

While listening to the low voice that was uttered as if to comfort her, Roxana’s heart, which had been like a leaf floating on the water, gradually became more comfortable.

“I guess so……”

She smiled faintly and hugged Cassius back.

About an hour later, Jeremy appeared before them looking like a water ghost who had returned as an evil spirit.

By that time, Roxana was already pretending to sleep, keeping a reasonable distance from Cassius as before.

“Hey, is it okay now? I washed every nook and cranny. Are you satisfied now? Huh?”

Jeremy’s face, dripping water all over his body as if to show off, and glaring at Cassius as if pouring out a thousand years of resentment, was unbelievably fierce.

But of course, Cassius didn’t bat an eye.

He leaned against the wall, glanced at Jeremy once, and then said.

“You need to change those messy clothes right now. Wipe off all the water on your body and sit down. Don’t get Roxana wet.”

“Damn it, I know that much? Give me a towel!”

Listening to the two people’s hushed bickering, Roxana stifled a laugh that she was about to let out with a dry cough.

“Oh, Roxana! Did I wake you up?”

“Jeremy, wipe yourself with this. Come here and warm yourself by the fire.”

The three of them organized their things and set off again after Jeremy had dried his body.

Jeremy still glared at Cassius as if he would kill him, but he only gnashed his teeth behind his back and didn’t bother him any further.

The rain had completely stopped, and a bright moon was shining in the sky where even the dark clouds had disappeared.

They followed Nix’s trail again and moved on.

And as the light of dawn began to cover the world in white, the place they finally set foot on was none other than Gastor’s territory.

* * *

“Seriously, is that doll bastard really not feeling well? How did he crawl this far?”

Jeremy frowned as soon as he stepped on Gastor’s land.

“And why Gastor of all places? I still don’t like that red guy.”

The stone he kicked unhappily rolled forward.

The faint traces of Nix left on the rain-soaked earth led into Gastor’s territory.

Jeremy frowned as he recalled Ryuzak Gastor, whom he had seen at Yggdrasil [a neutral meeting place] not long ago.

Somehow, he had formed an alliance with Gastor, and there hadn’t been any significant friction with his successor, Ryuzak, at this get-together, but he still felt uneasy.

For some reason, he didn’t feel compatible with the enemy Gastor.

Perhaps it was because he had been caught in a fight when he first met Ryuzak at the harmony meeting last winter, and his first impression was not good.

Of course, Jeremy was the one who started the fight first, but he grumbled as if he had long forgotten such a past.

Anyway, when he thought about it that way, there was nowhere for Nix to go among the blue, white, red, yellow, and black [referring to the colors associated with different factions or families].

Besides Agriche of Black, there was nowhere among them that Jeremy could go to with a good feeling.

But of course, there was absolutely no way that Nix would come to Agriche’s territory on his own.