The Way To Protect The Female Lead’S Older Brother [EN]: Chapter 116

How to Protect the Heroine’s Older Brother – Episode 116

I had already heard that Roxana didn’t entrust the dolls with detailed personal care.

Listening to her now, I wondered if she didn’t like the newly sent dolls.

The dolls that had been serving her were already broken, but repairing them wasn’t too difficult.

If the restoration seemed to take a long time, they could fix the face first and send it back by replacing it with another doll.

After all, the insides of the dolls that served her were all pretty much the same.

Roxana watched Noel’s reaction and eventually refused.

“There’s no need to go that far. It’s too much trouble.”

“It’s no trouble at all. I can do anything Luna wants.”

“I’m leaving tomorrow anyway.”

At that moment, Noel’s mouth snapped shut.

Roxana, as if unaware of the gaze fixed on her face, moved her hand to sweep her hair behind her ear.

A small earring sparkled below the red flower Noel had pinned. Noel’s gaze lingered there for a moment.

“Are all the people who work here dolls?”

“How did you know?”

Then, at Roxana’s question, Noel’s eyes widened.

“Is it that obvious?”

The dolls who received his gaze smiled brightly. It was also a very artificial smile.

But Noel tilted his head as if he really didn’t know.

“Everyone’s hands are as cold as ice.”

“Ah.”

Noel stammered, as if he hadn’t thought of that.

The doll massaging Roxana’s arm let go. The other dolls attending to her also began to be extra careful not to touch her.

Noel became gloomy, wondering if that was why Roxana refused the service of the new dolls.

“Th-then, from now on, I’ll try to research how to make dolls with body temperature.”

Noel burned with determination, but Roxana indifferently drank the drink in front of her, as if she didn’t care.

Unlike the tea Nicks had brought, there was nothing in it, so it was bearable.

* * *

Roxana already knew the situation in Vertium.

Bringing up the building in the back garden in front of Noel was to test his reaction.

This place, Vertium, was indeed Noel’s kingdom.

After sending poison butterflies to investigate, Vertium was divided into two large spaces, just as she had investigated and known in advance.

Noel, his confidant Dante, and the dolls lived in this building, and the other people of Vertium all lived in the detached house in the back garden.

It was quite an interesting situation.

Noel had always said that his household was secondary [meaning, he prioritized others over his own well-being].

So, among them, dissatisfaction with Noel and his dolls was growing day by day.

According to prior investigation, there were occasional conflicts between the two groups for that reason.

It could be said to be the other side of Vertium, which looked peaceful and beautiful.

Also, Noel seemed to know about Roxana’s poison butterflies.

She could guess from the fact that only servants wearing masks were seen trying to hide Nicks’ existence from before the welcome banquet on her first day here.

In addition, as a result of observing so far, Noel and the people and dolls in the main building were careful in their words and actions even in places where she was not watching.

Of course, that didn’t mean he knew much about poison butterflies, and he was sometimes careless when speaking.

While Roxana was taking a walk in the garden with Noel, she twisted her lips after hearing Dante and Nicks’ conversation through the poison butterfly she had planted in advance.

She also confirmed what had happened between Nicks and the others in the detached house in the back garden.

It seemed that the conflict between them was deeper than Roxana had expected.

A little while ago, the people in the back garden had asked Noel for a conversation through Dante, but Noel refused as if it was a nuisance. Dante tried to persuade him several times, but eventually failed, and his expression was not good as he turned around.

The people on the back garden side, who had heard the story from Dante, were also indignant.

It was a good thing for Roxana.

Roxana, who had been quietly staring at the scenery outside the window lit by the moonlight, eventually closed the curtains and turned around.

Tomorrow, it seemed that she could proceed with the plan as scheduled.

* * *

“Today is already the last day.”

Pour, pour.

A liquid with a fragrant smell was poured into a white teacup with gold trim.

“I wish we had more time to have deeper conversations. It’s a shame.”

Nicks, who said that, had the same docile face as ever today.

He was personally preparing the last refreshments.

“I put extra care into preparing it today. I hope you like it.”

As he smiled, his face was very different from the one she had seen through the poison butterfly yesterday, and Roxana suddenly let out a burst of laughter.

There was something to be felt from the look in Noel Vertium’s eyes that he had shown for a moment in the garden yesterday, and from Nicks’ actions of steadily putting poison in the tea he had brought to her so far.

Except for when they sent the threatening letter at the beginning, they had never outwardly forced her even once.

But that wouldn’t be their true feelings.

She could easily guess that they were pretending to send her off nicely like this now, but the story would be different soon.

Roxana didn’t drink the tea Nicks gave her right away and caressed the teacup with slow gestures.

Nicks was still looking at her with a smiling face. His appearance, which didn’t show any impatience or wavering, was better than his master, Noel.

Roxana took longer than yesterday and put a sugar cube from the glass bottle in front of her into the teacup.

One, two, three…….

The more sugar cubes dissolved in the tea, the thicker the silence between the two became.

“If you have anything you want to say for the last time, you can say it.”

Nicks, who had been moving his gaze along Roxana’s hand for a while, finally whispered in a friendly voice.

“Anything I want to say?”

Roxana’s eyes, which had been staring at the teacup where the sugar was melting, lifted. The eyes of the two met.

“To you?”

“Anyway, my appearance is the same as Asil’s.”

In response to the monotonous question, Nicks added even more warmth to his face.

“It was a very sudden death, so there must have been something you couldn’t say to your brother before he died. So it means you can think of me as Asil.”

A gentle voice was added from his smiling lips.

“Like yesterday.”

The face reflected in her vision and the voice lingering in her ear were more than friendly.

But what was silently embedded in it was clear malice.

Roxana was sure that he was enjoying the current situation.

It seemed that he was trying to keep her here according to his master Noel’s wishes, but that alone could not explain all of Nicks’ actions.

Roxana now seemed to know exactly what had been subtly bothering her every time she saw him.

From the first time they met, Nicks had been inducing Roxana’s agitation and watching her reaction.

It was as if he himself was a puppeteer manipulating marionette dolls with strings.

He was the kind of person who had to climb to the top of someone’s head and play with them to his heart’s content to feel relieved.

“Nicks.”

Roxana’s lips finally parted slightly as she stared at Nicks without a word.

“Do you know why I decided to watch you a little longer instead of leaving Vertium right away?”

Nicks opened his mouth as if to say something, but Roxana didn’t need his answer in the first place.

Her low voice followed before Nicks could speak.

“Is it because I’m interested in you, who has Asil’s body? Am I trying to get some meager comfort by seeing you alive and moving like this?”

The slender finger that had been slowly crawling over the teacup like a beast prowling around its prey finally stopped moving.

“No.”

The moment a chilling smile appeared on her face, Nicks’ face froze.

“I’m trying to decide whether to kill you and leave, or just leave you alone.”

It was a voice and look that did not doubt in the slightest that the life of the person she was looking at was in her hands.

That pierced deeply into one part of Nicks’ heart.

“What do you mean?”

But he feigned bewilderment on his clear face as if he didn’t know what Roxana’s words meant.

“Why are you suddenly saying that? Ah, did my words just now make you uncomfortable?”

“Yes.”

Roxana easily agreed.

“So stop pretending to be Asil. It doesn’t suit you anyway, and it’s just pathetic.”

Harsh words poured out from her lips with a cold smile.

“Acting? Why do you think so? This is my original appearance.”

Still, Nicks made a puzzled expression as if he didn’t know what was going on.

The gradually fading face was quite plausible. If an ignorant person saw Nicks now, they might think he was pitiful.

The cold smile on Roxana’s lips deepened even more.

“You dare to say that when you brought me this kind of tea.”

She lifted the teacup and poured the contents onto the table.