The Way To Protect The Female Lead’S Older Brother [EN]: Chapter 138

How to Protect the Heroine’s Older Brother – 138

* * *

Cassis lured Deon to an empty, secluded area.

Deon, equally bothered by the subtly placed, refined energy he sensed around them, smoothly parried Cassis’s attacks, moving with a gliding motion.

As soon as they disappeared, the other members of the Fedelian group emerged.

From the start, the Fedelian group had been divided into two. With Richel and Jeanne absent, Cassis was the highest authority present.

Even after he left, his trusted aides began to reorganize their ranks, following prearranged orders to prepare for any potential attacks.

By now, a signal should have reached Richel’s group, who were stationed some distance from the encampment.

“Hah… hah…”

“Hey, snap out of it!”

Nix gasped for breath, clutching his tightly constricted heart. He was huddled in a corner of the carriage, half out of his mind.

He barely clung to his fading consciousness, feeling as though a rough hand was gripping his throat, making it increasingly difficult to breathe.

Several Fedelian subordinates, tasked with guarding and watching over Nix, approached and shouted at him.

However, Nix was consumed by a terrible fear he never knew existed within him, and he was far from being in his right mind.

Until now, Nix had considered himself a predator at the top of the food chain.

But the moment he faced ‘that man,’ he became helpless prey, waiting to be hunted.

Before those chilling, deep crimson eyes, he could do nothing but tremble.

This was certainly unlike Nix, and that was why it was accompanied by an even more intense fear of the unknown.

“…Nix! Nix!”

Just as Nix was sinking into a dark swamp, struggling as if he were about to suffocate, a chillingly clear energy flowed over his skin and deep into his body.

The viscous black fog that had been coiling around his heart’s edge began to retreat, slinking away.

Soon, an unbelievably comforting warmth caressed the empty space.

The trembling in Nix’s eyes, which had been wandering aimlessly, finally subsided. His uncontrollably shaking body gradually began to stabilize.

“Calm down, it’s okay now.”

A composed voice repeatedly pierced his eardrums.

Finally, Nix managed to lift his eyelids.

Beneath his fluttering eyelashes, watery blue eyes appeared.

In his narrowly opened eyes, he saw Sylvia’s face, whom he had seen in the underground prison.

Her golden eyes, similar to Cassis Fedelian’s but with completely different emotions and warmth, were fixed on Nix.

Her hands touched Nix’s hunched shoulders and arms.

It was the first time since he had existed as Nix that he didn’t feel unpleasant when someone’s hand touched his body. It was also the first time he didn’t feel uncomfortable with the warmth seeping into his cold body.

Meanwhile, the deep-seated fear in his heart gradually receded.

“Yes, take slow, deep breaths. It’s just me here now.”

She spoke to Nix, who was still breathing irregularly and heavily.

Of course, there were other Fedelian subordinates around her, but they were out of Nix’s sight, tucked away in the corner of the carriage.

Whether it was Sylvia’s words that helped, Nix’s rough breathing gradually evened out.

Sylvia was relieved to see the focus return to Nix’s eyes.

With Cassis gone, it would be difficult to deal with any problems that arose with Nix.

“Nix, what on earth did you see to be like this?”

Sylvia asked, her face hardening.

She had only heard about Vertium, but it seemed the man who had disappeared with Cassis was not related to that.

Sylvia needed to know how the situation was unfolding.

“That man…”

Finally, a cracked voice escaped from Nix’s throat.

At Sylvia’s question, he recalled the man he had encountered a moment ago.

It was definitely someone Nix had never seen before.

But the moment he saw him, he knew who he was, as if the man’s identity had been deeply engraved in his soul.

Nix’s lips trembled slightly. Soon, a low whisper escaped from him.

“The man… who killed me.”

* * *

Clang! Clang!

Sharp noises shattered the silence of the night.

Swoosh!

Along with the overgrown reeds, the hem of his waist was torn. Immediately after, some of his hair was cut off by a blade that sliced through the darkness.

A piercing intent to kill and hostility raced through the moonlight.

Cassis and Deon unleashed fierce attacks, not holding back in the slightest, as if they truly intended to kill each other.

It was the first time the two had clashed like this since three years ago.

At that time, Cassis had been captured by Lant Agriche and was wearing restraints on his arms and legs. But even aside from that, Cassis at that time was not enough to be Deon’s opponent.

However, now, the two were engaged in an almost equal balance of offense and defense.

Deon twisted his head to avoid Cassis’s attack.

Whether it was because three years was not a short time, he was feeling an unprecedented difficulty in dealing with Cassis.

Moreover, Deon felt that Cassis was not giving his all.

Just like Deon had done three years ago when he fought Cassis at the Agriche mansion.

At that moment of realization, Deon’s eyes flashed coldly.

Soon, the sword in his hand plunged deeply as if to pierce Cassis’s heart.

But Cassis blocked it and, for some reason, extended his bare hand, the one without a weapon, towards Deon.

Whoosh!

“…!”

At that moment, a huge, formless power that poured into his heart roughly ransacked Deon’s insides like claws.

A suppressed groan involuntarily escaped from his clenched teeth. Deon instinctively pushed off the ground and distanced himself from Cassis.

Then, he brought his hand to his chest, where he felt a terrible pain.

But nothing came of it.

It was strange that there was not a single drop of blood, even though he clearly felt attacked.

“…What, exactly, was that just now?”

A frozen voice was uttered from Deon’s tightly closed lips.

It felt as if well-honed ice shards had poured into his heart all at once.

“You just can’t understand what I’m saying. I told you that questions are not your privilege.”

However, Cassis did not answer Deon’s question, but coldly recited.

Right. He had asked what his purpose was in meeting Roxana.

“If I tell you the reason?”

Following Deon, Cassis offered a cold smile.

“Depending on your answer, I might ‘eliminate’ you as you are.”

Was it just a feeling, or did that word sound like it had a meaning beyond its dictionary definition?

Like lava, anger and murderous intent seethed and rose, riding on his coldly chilled heart.

How dare he.

How dare he act like he was anything to Roxana.

Come to think of it, Deon always felt a surge of intense heat whenever he saw Cassis Fedelian.

It had been like that since Cassis became involved with Roxana.

That was why, three years ago, Deon had wanted to drag Cassis Fedelian, whom Roxana had smuggled out at the cost of her own sacrifice, and tear him to pieces. And when he saw him reappear in Yggdrasil last winter, he wanted to mercilessly hack him to pieces in front of Roxana.

Moreover, whenever he thought that the person who killed Lant Agriche might be the person in front of him, his eyelids naturally heated up.

Of course, it was not because of the fact that his father had been killed by someone else. From the beginning, Deon did not place much meaning on such blood ties.

It was just that Lant Agriche was someone who Deon had to kill with his own hands, no matter what.

He was the sacrifice that Deon had to dedicate to Roxana.

But in one moment of carelessness, he had lost the opportunity.

Moreover, in light of the circumstances, it was highly likely that Cassis Fedelian had taken that opportunity after Deon was attacked in a vital spot and collapsed at the Agriche mansion.

The real target that Deon wanted to break the neck of in Vertium was Cassis, not Dante.

Soon, the corners of Deon’s lips twisted coldly.

No other words were needed.

Soon after, his figure shot forward sharply again.

Slash! Clang!

A more intense exchange than before unfolded.

But every time Deon moved, the blue energy that Cassis had planted in his heart was digging deeper into his body.

Cassis had no intention of dragging out the time any longer.

A blue light, reflected in the moonlight, flickered in the eyes of the two men.

“No…!”

At that moment, an unfamiliar high-pitched voice echoed across the field.

A lace parasol, inappropriate for the situation, obscured the view, and at the same time, a wave-like, voluminous skirt swam through the reeds.

Cassis’s hand, which had just pierced Deon’s abdomen, paused at the sudden situation. Deon’s sword, which had been cutting through Cassis’s waist, missed its mark.

Soon after, the person who had attacked Cassis and obscured his vision hurriedly grabbed Deon’s arm and pulled him.

Deon tried to shake it off immediately, but at that moment, an unbearable, intense pain gripped his heart again.

In contrast, his head, which had been heated up until now, cooled down.

The hand that grabbed Deon’s arm grew stronger.

In a moment of regaining his reason and calmly assessing the situation, Deon decided to retreat for now.

The opportunity to kill Cassis Fedelian wasn’t only now.

Of course, a thick murderous intent was still overflowing inside him, and he didn’t want to admit the fact as it was, but….

Still, now was the time to retreat.

Just like Cassis had done three years ago, this time Deon buried himself in the shadows with the person next to him, promising a future day.

Cassis only stared at the receding figure with desolate eyes, not chasing after them.