The Way To Protect The Female Lead’S Older Brother [EN]: Chapter 117

Swish.

Clear tea stained the white cloth. But that wasn’t the only thing that spilled from the teacup.

Nix’s face hardened as he looked at something scattered on the damp tablecloth.

Black clumps the size of sugar or salt grains.

The poison, which had chemically reacted with the sugar cubes Roxana had put in a moment ago, had solidified and clumped together.

The poison Nix had prepared today was different from yesterday’s.

After directly confirming its efficacy on a human in the backyard yesterday, he changed the type because he knew that Roxana was somehow immune to the poison.

However, Roxana had been around poison for more than just a year or two. Moreover, today’s poison was more familiar to Roxana than yesterday’s, so she could identify its type just by the smell.

But Nix seemed only interested in the performance of the poison he had obtained, and his eyes stiffened at the blatant traces before him.

“You’re very good at lying for a doll. You truly are a unique doll, unlike any other in the world.”

A smile close to ridicule mercilessly targeted Nix.

“Or rather, would the word ‘failure’ be more fitting than ‘unique doll’?”

At that moment, Nix’s eyes changed.

Roxana’s words pierced the part that had been stabbed a moment ago, again.

“…A failure? Me?”

“Yes. You seem to believe that you are special.”

Viscous poison began to leak from the opened hole.

“But well. In my eyes, you are just a mutant or variant born from Noel Vertium’s mistake.”

It slowly spread out and eventually covered Nix.

“Haha.”

Finally, a sharp laugh burst from Nix’s mouth.

“No one has ever dared to say such things in front of me and remained unscathed.”

His face facing Roxana was also completely different from before.

A densely packed chill flew sharply at Roxana like an awl.

“How long have you known I was preparing poison?”

Nix’s face, revealing his true colors, did not resemble Ashil in his memory at all.

Roxana was finally satisfied.

“From the beginning.”

Of course, whether Noel was behind it or not was still unclear.

Another doll would have only acted as the owner ordered, but Nix was different from them. So, he might have devised a way on his own with the intention of keeping Roxana here.

However, if Nix’s master had ordered the preparation of the poison, Noel Vertium was a much more despicable human than Roxana thought.

It meant that he pretended to respect her and smiled innocently in front of Roxana, but played such tricks behind her back.

Perhaps he intended to pass all responsibility to Nix and feign ignorance if things went wrong.

“Now it’s my turn to ask. Is this your master’s order, or your independent choice?”

“Try to guess, just like you were showing off a moment ago.”

However, Nix did not answer Roxana’s question but bit down on the coldness in his mouth.

“So, you’ve decided whether to kill me or not?”

It seemed that Roxana’s words a moment ago had properly stimulated him.

“Is arrogance a characteristic of you humans? It’s absurd that you think you can kill me.”

Nix sneered as if to say, ‘Could you do that?’

“Besides, even if you succeed in killing me, do you think you can safely escape from here?”

However, Roxana remained consistently relaxed.

Hearing the mocking voice that followed, Nix felt no need to endure any longer.

“Well. It doesn’t seem that difficult?”

*Ah, yes.*

*Let’s flatten the nose of this arrogant human in front of me right now.*

Thinking so, Nix smiled eerily.

“Are you perhaps acting up because you believe in that earring?”

Nix’s hand moved so fast that it was invisible to the naked eye.

*Thwack!*

The knife on the table instantly cut past Roxana’s ear and stuck into the wall.

Broken earrings and red blood droplets fell on her shoulder.

Roxana’s face was consistently calm, and her gaze staring at Nix was cold.

Nix grinned, showing his teeth as he looked at her.

“Is that why the poison didn’t work?”

Nix had already noticed that Roxana’s earrings were not ordinary.

“In the end, a weak human who can’t tell the difference between heaven and earth is acting haughty.”

It was natural since she had been wearing the same earrings since coming to Vertium.

He could easily tell because he had been observing her with suspicion since hearing the dolls who attended her say at the banquet.

“All you have is that insignificant earring and a swarm of butterflies, right?”

Daring to talk about killing someone when the only power she has is that one magical creature.

Furthermore, now that he had removed the earring that seemed to be the only means of protecting her body, there was no more hesitation.

“Noel said he didn’t want your body to be damaged, so I wasn’t going to use drastic methods.”

Nix’s eyes flashed cruelly. He grinned, revealing his teeth.

“Come to think of it, Noel would be satisfied with just giving him your corpse.”

Nix activated his magic eyes before Roxana could summon the poison butterflies.

*Whoosh!*

A magic circle appeared in his crimson eyes.

“Cough…!”

However, it was Nix, not Roxana, who vomited blood and bent over the next moment.

*Thud! Thud!*

Red blood stained the white tablecloth and clothes.

He covered his mouth and widened his eyes at the unexpected situation.

It was at that moment that Roxana kicked the table in front of her.

*Crash! Shatter!*

Nix clutched his burning stomach and hurriedly moved away.

He thought an attack would follow immediately, but Roxana simply got up quietly.

“I wondered…”

*Tap.*

The sound of small shoes echoed in her ear.

Her figure, stepping on broken glass and walking leisurely, was very elegant, unsuited to the situation.

The hem of her skirt, gently rippling like shallow waves, finally covered her slender ankles and fell down.

A refined voice pierced through to Nix, who was leaning against the wall and tensing his body.

“I thought it was strange that there were no devices in the room, but you were the variable. That eye itself was the medium.”

Nix still did not lower his guard and spat the blood pooled in his mouth onto the floor.

This was the backlash when the spell failed.

But why?

“Oh my, you look surprised.”

On the other hand, unbelievably, Roxana was standing there looking at him.

When Nix threw the knife a moment ago, some of her hair was cut, and her ear was cut, but other than that, she didn’t seem to have suffered any damage.

“Why were you so easily careless just because of this earring?”

Soon, a clear sneer appeared on her red lips.

“Did you really think you were smart enough to discover this?”

At that moment, sparks flew in Nix’s bloodshot eyes.

“No way. Unless you’re an idiot, you should have noticed this much. I deliberately wore it in a conspicuous place so you would.”

Roxana generously enjoyed the sight with an open mind.

The whispering tone was gentle, but the content was not.

“The real thing that blocked your attack is hidden in an invisible place. But you firmly believed only what I showed you and never suspected that there was anything else. How foolish.”

What Roxana obtained from Griselda was not only the earring that reduced the influence of magic.

The item that reversed the effects of magic was secretly hidden in a place invisible to others.

Perhaps they were suspicious because the servant deliberately interfered with changing the earrings at the welcome banquet.

They were dolls, so they thought that even such trivial matters would be reported to Noel without hiding anything.

So, Nix must have lowered his guard just by removing her earrings.

Of course, she had no intention of explaining such things to Nix now.

“You… this bitch…”

Nix finally realized that he had been deceived by Roxana.

He glared at Roxana’s face, which had a calm light that felt almost benevolent, with venomous eyes.

“At this point, you must be wondering why no one is coming into the room despite this commotion.”

And Nix suddenly sensed something strange at the following whisper.

“Haven’t you thought it’s been strangely noisy outside since a while ago? Ah, were you so excited by my words that you couldn’t even hear it?”

Although he didn’t want to admit it, it was indeed as Roxana said.

When he suddenly came to his senses and paid attention, he felt that the outside was strangely chaotic.

He had not noticed such blatant noise until now.

Nix gritted his teeth, realizing that this was also part of her plan.

Just then, a red butterfly appeared next to Roxana. Nix reflexively straightened his body.

“Oh my, don’t be afraid. I’m not going to use it on you.”

Roxana waved her hand slightly to send back the butterfly that had returned after carrying out her orders.

“Come to think of it, what did you say to me earlier? Did you say that I couldn’t kill you without poison butterflies?”

Roxana smiled beautifully, narrowing her eyes like someone who had heard an interesting joke.

“How funny. You still don’t understand yourself.”

However, her gaze fixed on Nix resembled that of a bird of prey.