The Way To Protect The Female Lead’S Older Brother [EN]: Chapter 146

How to Protect the Heroine’s Older Brother – 146

* * *

At first, it was a shapeless black mist.

But, swept in like a sandstorm and coalescing into a mass, it soon became a large, dark shadow.

‘…….’

From within, blood-red eyes, the only color present, stared unblinkingly at Nyx.

A heavy silence, so profound it felt like suffocation, hung in the air.

The gaze, silently watching him as it quietly loomed before him, sent shivers down his spine.

Nyx met the red eyes, as helpless as a fly caught in a spiderweb, unable to even twitch a finger.

Finally, the inky black shadow’s hand reached out towards him.

Thud!

“Hah……!”

The moment a chilling pain pierced the center of his chest, Nyx gasped and opened his eyes.

Without realizing it, he immediately groped at his chest.

But there were no visible wounds there.

Only his heart, which usually maintained a steady rhythm, was pounding loudly and erratically, unlike usual.

“Even dolls have nightmares, it seems?”

Just then, a quiet voice cut through the darkness, brushing past his ear.

Nyx reflexively turned his head, following the sound.

Night had deepened, and dim moonlight filtered into the dark room.

The cool moonlight poured over someone who had been in the room for some time.

The soft light settled on her hair, on the slender face revealed beneath, and on the gently curving, rounded shoulders, adding a layer of white luminescence.

The person who had spoken to Nyx was none other than Roxana.

As if she had been enjoying a party, she was still in her ornate attire.

“Nightmare?”

Nyx unconsciously repeated the word he had just heard, questioning himself.

“I was dreaming just now?”

“Why are you asking me that?”

Roxana tilted her head, causing the earring hanging from her ear to catch the moonlight and sparkle.

Then, Nyx suddenly realized that something was strange about the situation.

“Wait, but you…….”

Why was Roxana here?

Moreover, this was the first time he had faced her like this since the underground prison of Fedelian.

After that, while being transported to Yggdrasil, where he was now imprisoned, Roxana had not shown even a strand of her hair to him.

Yet, she was now appearing before him very naturally, speaking to him.

Suddenly, Nyx recalled Roxana’s words in Fedelian and felt a sense of unease about the current situation.

“You, you tricked me?”

Until now, he had been too distracted by other things to even think about it.

But the moment he saw Roxana’s face, a belated realization flashed through his mind.

The next moment, Nyx’s face crumpled like a piece of paper.

“You said you’d send me to Vertium, but things are different! I heard this is Yggdrasil! And what’s this about a hearing on Vertium’s puppetry? Isn’t it also a lie that Noel abandoned me in the first place?”

Roxana felt annoyed as she looked at Nyx, who was glaring at her with widened eyes.

It would have been easier if Vertium had attacked first, she thought with a hint of regret.

She had wanted to shatter Nyx’s faith in Vertium even more before entering Yggdrasil.

So, she had also thought that if she could get Nyx to give a scathing testimony about Vertium’s human experimentation, it would speed up the conclusion of this matter.

But the primary goal was, after all, to make Nyx writhe in agony, feeling betrayed by his master.

How should she express this feeling she had for Nyx?

Yes…….

To put it into words, it was something like that.

In a way, it was similar to how she had been keeping Deon by her side, burning with cold fury every day.

The desire to kill Nyx had disappeared the day she left Vertium.

Of course, that didn’t mean she had developed a gentle heart towards him now. If anything, the opposite might be true.

Roxana wanted to inflict various kinds of despair and pain on this doll while he was still alive.

That single moment of hesitation when she was deceived by Nyx, who was wearing Asil’s mask in Vertium.

Roxana still couldn’t forgive that moment of hesitation, which lasted only about a second.

Especially since she had felt that Nyx in front of her was completely like Asil at that moment.

Roxana stared silently at Nyx, who was belatedly expressing his anger, and then parted her lips slightly.

“You met Deon, didn’t you?”

At that moment, Nyx’s movements stopped.

The mouth that had been chattering noisily was tightly shut, and even the blinking of his eyes seemed to freeze.

He didn’t even seem to realize that Roxana had changed the subject without answering.

Suddenly, Nyx recalled the man with black hair and red eyes he had encountered in the Fedelian procession.

His name, spoken by Cassis Fedelian, was ‘Deon Agriche.’

Next, the black shadow that had appeared like a phantom and pierced his heart flashed through his mind.

At that moment, he felt a tingling sensation spreading through his chest.

“Is that man here too?”

A sense of foreboding crept up his spine.

Nyx unconsciously tensed up and lowered his voice.

He had already forgotten what he had been questioning Roxana about, just as he had been since the day he first saw that man.

As always, the thought of those eerie red eyes, which seemed to be invisibly chasing him, made everything else lose its meaning so easily.

Even though he couldn’t sweat, Nyx felt a cold sensation as if cold sweat was running down his spine.

“Do you know who he is?”

“He’s the one who killed this body’s original owner.”

Nyx replied, glancing around anxiously.

At that, Roxana paused for a moment before asking Nyx again.

“This should have been the first time you saw him, so how do you know that? Did Deon tell you that?”

“No, it’s just…….”

Nyx contorted his face, recalling the terrible feeling he had felt at the time.

“I just knew.”

Thinking about it again, it was a truly awful feeling.

Even now, thinking about that man made every hair on his body stand on end.

Clang.

Nyx raised his hand and idly stroked the bridge of his nose.

The chains attached to his body made a grating sound as he moved.

Roxana’s gaze lingered on Nyx’s actions for a moment.

Then, Nyx suddenly recalled the refreshing energy that had surged through his body, which had been reeling from shock, on the night he met Deon.

He remembered the incredible sense of peace that had spread throughout his body while Sylvia Fedelian’s hand was touching him.

Recalling that, his mind began to slowly calm down even now.

It was then that Roxana spoke again.

“He’s here, that person.”

Nyx flinched at the words that were uttered from her slightly parted lips.

“He was standing in front of you until just now.”

The words that followed made him feel as if his heart had dropped.

But soon, he bared his teeth and snarled at Roxana.

“Don’t lie. Do you think I wouldn’t know you’re trying to trick me again?”

“Well, I wonder if it’s a lie or not.”

Roxana left those ambiguous words behind and got up from her seat.

“This room, the lock isn’t very good. It opens easily with just a touch.”

But the voice she added as she walked towards the door was merely a murmur, as if meant to be heard.

“So, that person could have easily come in.”

“You……!”

Hearing Nyx grind his teeth in anger behind her, Roxana left the room.

* * *

After leaving the room where Nyx was, Roxana returned the locks on the doorknob to their original state.

This was one of the things she had learned as easily as eating in the Agriche household, so it wasn’t difficult at all.

Finally, Roxana’s eyes were coldly sunken as she lowered her hand after fastening the last lock.

The words she had said to Nyx a moment ago were not a lie.

Deon had definitely entered and left this place.

Roxana knew this from the signal of the poison butterfly and had left the banquet hall first.

But when she arrived, Deon had already disappeared. She didn’t know where he had gone after that.

The only butterflies Roxana could use inside Yggdrasil were the few she had taken out and hidden in advance, and even then, she couldn’t properly draw out their abilities.

So, all she knew was that Deon had intruded, thanks to the butterfly she had planted in the room where Nyx was locked up.

The fact that there were no people loitering nearby because the banquet was in full swing, and the complacency of not having a separate guard in front of the door because they trusted the sturdy lock, allowed Deon and Roxana to enter and exit.

Nyx, whom she had met again, had a rather haggard face after only a few days.

As Cassis had said, he seemed to recognize Deon’s presence.

Should it be seen as a reflex remaining in Asil’s body? Or is it a remnant of memories left in the brain?

It was difficult to explain, but Nyx’s reaction was genuine.

The sight of him, wearing Asil’s face and being uneasy at the name of Deon, made her feel twisted inside, so Roxana had vented her discomfort on Nyx for no reason.

Moreover, Deon’s actions of coming to see Nyx also grated on Roxana’s nerves.

She hadn’t even considered the situation of these two meeting, so she was subtly on edge.

Furthermore, it wasn’t just Deon and Nyx that were the problem, but now she had to keep in mind the possibility of Deon and Cassis encountering each other inside Yggdrasil.

Roxana’s red eyes, reflected in the glass window of the hallway, shone coldly.

She tried to calm her mind, recalling Cassis, whom she had seen at the banquet hall earlier.

……I wanted to be with him a little longer. Even if I go back into the banquet hall now, it will only look strange.

It would be too obvious a picture for Roxana to leave the banquet hall early on the first day with Cassis alone, so Roxana was the only one who had stepped outside earlier.

She knew it couldn’t be helped, but she still felt a sense of regret.

It was even more so because she had been spending time with him all day as if it were natural until she came to Yggdrasil.

But…….

After all, there were other things that needed to be prioritized now.

In order to find out the location of the missing Deon, Roxana took advantage of the fact that other people were gathered in the banquet hall and sent a butterfly into the darkness.