The Way To Protect The Female Lead’S Older Brother [EN]: Chapter 130

How to Protect the Heroine’s Older Brother – 130

* * *

The next day, I woke up feeling someone moving beside me.

As I opened my eyes, bright sunlight flooded my vision.

Through the glare, I saw Cassis’s back.

The light from the window made him seem to glow. Cassis’s fine silver hair sparkled in the clear sunlight.

He had woken up before me and was getting dressed.

Since he was facing away, I had a clear view of his back.

Even after seeing it countless times, his musculature was still striking. I had noticed this back in Agrice three years ago, but Cassis was handsome even from behind.

However, his marble-like back was covered with long scratch marks I had left the night before.

Soon, a white shirt covered his back, concealing the red marks.

“Can’t you get rid of those?”

Cassis turned around at my murmured question.

“You’re awake?”

He walked over and sat on the edge of the bed.

“Did I wake you? You can sleep longer.”

A gentle touch brushed my hair back, tickling my ear.

His eyes, looking at me, were as warm and soft as the sunlight streaming in.

Cassis leaned down and briefly pressed his lips to my shoulder, which was exposed above the blanket.

A damp warmth lingered on my skin before fading.

“Those marks on your back look like they’d sting. Why don’t you heal them quickly?”

I reminded him, thinking back to what I had seen.

Come to think of it, it wasn’t just today; it seemed to have been the same last time too.

If it was Cassis, he could easily erase the marks I had scratched or bitten.

But in the morning, Cassis always had them on his body.

Not just in the morning, but also when I checked again at night, and even the next day…

“I like it this way.”

Cassis said, looking at me with an utterly innocent expression.

“Because you left them.”

His tone was so calm and direct that I was momentarily speechless.

It wasn’t that I hadn’t suspected it, but it was actually true.

More than that, this man is so good at saying embarrassing things without a second thought.

And why do I feel so pleased about it?

“Cassis, come here.”

I lay still for a moment, looking up at Cassis, then lifted myself up slightly.

Then, I reached out to him, and Cassis silently lowered his head in response. I pulled his neck and kissed him. It was just a light kiss, our lips barely touching before parting.

“Good morning.”

Then, I whispered, smiling sweetly.

At that moment, the look in Cassis’s eyes, which were close to mine, changed subtly.

Cassis raised his hand and covered mine, which was touching him.

A slightly higher temperature radiated from his hand, enveloping the back of my hand and wrist.

I could sense the conflict within Cassis. I got out of bed before he could pull me back down.

“I should go wash up.”

As I sat up, the hair that had been tangled on the sheet cascaded over my body.

Being naked, I vividly felt the sensation of my hair brushing against my back and chest.

The gown that Cassis had taken off yesterday must have fallen under the table.

I got out of bed and headed towards the table.

As I walked, I could feel Cassis’s gaze on my back.

I picked up the gown that had fallen on the carpet and turned around, but suddenly, a familiar touch reached my body.

“I’ll take you.”

Cassis, who had approached silently, scooped me up in his arms.

“I can walk alone, you know?”

“I’m going that way anyway.”

Before I could say anything more, he started walking with me in his arms.

Ah, it seems I unintentionally started a fire.

No… but did I really have no intention of doing that at all?

I was a little suspicious of myself, but I just pretended not to know anything and leaned slightly against Cassis.

That morning passed particularly quickly.

* * *

Some time passed, and Cassis and I left the annex. [A secondary building or attachment to a main building.]

We were currently heading to the underground prison after hearing that Nix had woken up.

“As soon as he regained consciousness, he raged as if he would destroy the prison, but now he has calmed down,” Isidore reported from the side about what had happened in the underground prison.

Ollin, who had followed us from the annex, was also with us.

“It’s a human body, but the medicine doesn’t work. We administered sedatives, but he didn’t respond.”

Nix’s body was definitely human.

However, with Noel’s puppetry residing within, there must be a fundamental difference from an ordinary human body.

So, we shouldn’t think of Nix as a normal person.

Cassis looked at me after hearing Isidore’s words. I nodded slightly to him.

“I need to see it for myself.”

“I’ll go in with you.”

Cassis was firm. I had no intention of stopping him.

So, we entered the underground prison where Nix was being held.

* * *

Creak.

The sound of the iron gate opening pierced my eardrums sharply.

It goes without saying, but this was my first time entering the underground prison of Pedelian.

The sight in front of me felt similar to Agrice, but the atmosphere was different.

This might sound a bit strange, but is it because there are no torture devices?

Besides that, Pedelian’s prison felt more pleasant and cleaner overall.

That’s why Nix, covered in blood inside the iron bars, stood out even more clearly.

“You…!”

Nix, who had been leaning against the wall, jumped up as soon as he saw my face.

The chains of the shackles that bound his wrists and ankles rattled violently.

Clang, the unpleasant metallic sound echoed in the enclosed space.

“Hello, Nix. We saw each other briefly yesterday, do you remember? But it feels like it’s been a while since we greeted each other like this.”

I greeted him casually.

I could see Nix’s eyes narrowing slightly at my gentle tone.

“I don’t think this is the time for you and me… to be having a conversation like this?”

Unlike his fierce gaze, Nix didn’t immediately express his emotions.

He seemed to be assessing the situation.

I wasn’t alone right now.

Nix’s sharp gaze darted to me first, then slid to the other three people beside me in turn. But in the end, it settled on me again.

I continued to speak to Nix.

“I’m glad you seem to be doing well. I thought you might have been damaged beyond repair.”

Of course, I wasn’t actually worried about Nix.

“You were very badly hurt that day.”

Nix pursed his lips tightly at my gently added whisper.

The look in his eyes as he stared at me had become even more intense.

It was clear that he had noticed that I was deliberately provoking him.

I lowered my eyes and smiled at him as if I felt sorry for him. Then, I whispered softly as if savoring a past memory.

“I still vividly remember the sensation of your left eye bursting in my hand that day, and the screams that echoed in my ears every time your flesh was torn.”

“Shut up…!”

Perhaps recalling the events in Vertium when he was put in danger because of me, Nix gnashed his teeth, and a sound escaped his clenched mouth.

Cassis’s cold gaze was fixed on Nix.

But Cassis remained where he was and didn’t step forward.

That’s because we had discussed it beforehand before entering the underground prison.

So, I was the only one facing Nix and talking to him.

“What is your purpose?”

After a while, Nix, who had calmed down, asked me.

As if his earlier rampage in the prison had never happened, Nix was quite calm.

“What is the purpose of bringing me here and locking me up in a place like this?”

But I could detect lingering traces of emotion, like a cloudy mist, in his eyes.

He was pretending to be calm, but he seemed a little uneasy.

At that moment, a sudden realization dawned on me.

Nix had been unconscious since early on, so it was natural that he didn’t know why he had left Vertium and was here.

Moreover, he wouldn’t have heard the conversation between Noel and us afterward.

So, the last thing Nix remembers is Dante showing a cold attitude and knocking him unconscious after hearing Cassis’s words?

I stared at his face for a moment without saying a word.

The longer my silence lasted, the shallow ripples in Nix’s blue eyes gradually grew.

“Purpose…? I wonder.”

Nix exuded an even darker chill as I deliberately answered vaguely.

“Don’t play games and tell me the truth.”

I tilted my head slightly and looked down at him.

“What are you so afraid of?”

Then, I nodded slightly as if I understood.

“Well, I guess it’s understandable, given what you did in Vertium.”

Nix frowned at my words. I raised the corners of my lips as I watched him.

“Now the situation is reversed. Of course, I won’t poison you like you did to me. I know that kind of thing doesn’t work on you anyway.”