The Way To Protect The Female Lead’S Older Brother [EN]: Chapter 159

Protecting the Heroine’s Older Brother – 159

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“That Gastor you’re talking about, right?”

On the way out of the greenhouse, Jeremy whispered, just loud enough for me to hear.

Unlike a moment ago when he was excitedly calling out to me and running over, his voice was now cautious and lowered.

It seemed he hadn’t forgotten that someone else might be listening to our conversation.

Of course, only Cassis and I were in the greenhouse.

Jeremy’s eyes, looking up at me, were filled with anticipation. Seeing him like that, I couldn’t help but smile faintly.

“Let’s talk in the room.”

Jeremy’s face brightened at my expression.

Judging by his reaction, it seemed Gastor had approached Jeremy while I was away.

They wouldn’t have sent someone else to do this, so I figured the leader, Badrissa, must have moved personally.

Come to think of it, today was the day the representatives from each family were gathering for a meeting.

I had been expecting that Jeremy would be late returning because he would have a meeting with Gastor after the conference.

“But, Sis, is that flower from the greenhouse?”

Then, suddenly, Jeremy noticed the flower in my hand and asked.

I smelled the flower and slightly curved my eyes.

“Yeah. I’ll put it in a vase when we get to the room.”

“You like that flower? Then I’ll…”

“This one flower is enough, so don’t even think about picking more flowers from the greenhouse.”

“Oh, okay…”

As expected, Jeremy was probably thinking of gifting me all the flowers in the greenhouse. He stammered, looking a bit deflated.

Judging by his eyes, if I hadn’t stopped him, he would have picked all the flowers of the same kind and moved them to my room.

“I’m more curious about what happened to you. Let’s go to the room quickly, Jeremy.”

“Okay!”

Jeremy, who had looked slightly disappointed, perked up like a well-watered lawn, and his eyes sparkled.

We left the greenhouse and headed to the building where our rooms were located.

As we walked together towards the room, a familiar face caught my eye.

A voluptuous beauty with light blue hair and black eyes. It was Pandora Hyperion.

She was walking towards us from the opposite side of the hallway.

Then, Pandora also noticed us and stopped.

It had been a while since I had seen her face like this, as our paths hadn’t crossed for the past week.

But for some reason, Pandora seemed unusually stiff and looked around.

It was as if she was looking for a place to avoid us, but there was no other way out of this hallway.

Eventually, Pandora and we were bound to meet in the middle.

Realizing that, Pandora composed herself and started walking towards us again.

“Hello, Miss Hyperion.”

“Yes, hello. Good afternoon,” she replied.

Jeremy, Pandora, and I exchanged polite smiles and greeted each other casually.

Pandora looked composed, as if she hadn’t been flustered just a moment ago.

But maybe it was just my imagination, but she seemed more uncomfortable with Jeremy than with me.

Or was it just my imagination?

I tilted my head for a moment.

However, we passed each other as if it were natural after the brief greeting, so I couldn’t observe Pandora’s face any further.

“Excuse me, Miss Agriche.”

Then, Pandora called out to me from behind.

When I turned around, she hesitated slightly before continuing.

“If you don’t mind, could we talk for a moment?”

I was a little surprised. She was asking me for a conversation first.

The last time Pandora and I had faced each other was in the Pedelian garden.

Pandora had returned to Hyperion without a single meeting since the day we summoned our respective familiars and clashed.

So I thought she would still be awkward with me, but this was unexpected.

I opened my mouth to accept Pandora’s request, but then Jeremy caught my eye.

He was making a face that showed he was eager to tell me what had happened to him.

“I’m sorry, but I have other business right now.”

“Ah… I see.”

Pandora trailed off, as if she thought my answer meant a subtle rejection. I added to her.

“But I think I can make time in the evening. How about we meet after the banquet?”

Then, Pandora’s eyes widened slightly, as if she was surprised. Soon, she nodded.

“Yes, okay. Then I’ll come to your room.”

With that promise, Pandora and I parted ways.

As I turned back and walked, Jeremy asked.

“Do you know her?”

“I’ve met her once.”

Then Jeremy narrowed his brows and muttered to himself.

“Really… That’s strange. I feel like I’ve seen her somewhere before too.”

“Really?”

He seemed to be trying to remember something, but it didn’t seem to work out.

Listening to Jeremy’s words, I felt that the question I had when I saw Pandora a moment ago might not have been just my imagination.

Like Jeremy said, had they really met somewhere before? It seemed like Pandora was avoiding Jeremy.

But soon we arrived at my room, so Jeremy quickly stopped thinking about it.

“Let’s sit down and talk.”

I led him to the sofa.

As soon as we sat down, Jeremy opened his mouth as if he had been waiting for it.

“Sis was right. You said that if we waited, they would come to us on their own.”

I felt like I knew the gist of it even without hearing it, but Jeremy looked so excited that I chimed in and added interjections.

“Gastor approached you first?”

“Yeah. After the meeting, I came outside, and the leader of the enemy and Ryuzak Gastor called me to have tea together.”

I see. The fact that not only Badrissa Gastor but also Ryuzak Gastor was there meant that he also knew about this.

“But, Sis.”

Then Jeremy added in an amused tone.

“Since when has Gastor been our client?”

He seemed very interested in the new fact he had learned.

“Besides, they didn’t say it explicitly, but I felt like they were a pretty big client among our customers.”

Listening to him, I slightly raised the corners of my lips.

“Was there any talk about what items Gastor traded with Agriche?”

“No, they didn’t say it clearly and kept beating around the bush, so I don’t know that much.”

Jeremy explained the conversation he had with Badrissa Gastor to me in detail.

“Seeing that Gastor’s name hasn’t been revealed on the surface until now, it seems like they’ve been hiding their real name quite meticulously… From what I heard, it seems like our deal was cut off in the middle. So this time, they seemed to have contacted us directly.”

“I see.”

“Oh, right. The leader of the enemy seemed to think that I already knew about their identity. Is Sis involved in this?”

Jeremy asked me curiously. There was no reason not to answer, so I told him.

“That’s right. I was the one who first acted like I knew that Gastor was hiding their name and trading with us, so they contacted us directly this time.”

“Ah, I see.”

“So Jeremy, how did you react?”

“I just pretended to know everything.”

Jeremy grinned.

“My facial acting skills have improved these days, so I’m incredibly good at pretending to know. The leader of the enemy seemed to have fallen for it.”

He looked like he wanted to be praised, so I smiled and stroked his head as if he had done well, as he wished.

Whether the leader of the enemy had really been completely fooled by Jeremy or not was something I would find out later.

As expected of his cautious personality, Badrissa must have tried to test Jeremy first.

So, for now, I could praise Jeremy enough for calmly responding to Gastor without being shaken alone.

“How did Sis know? There were many places where transactions were suspended after winter, so I couldn’t think of any right away.”

“I found out by chance. There was something suspicious from before, so I was paying attention.”

“If they traded under a false name, is it illegal goods?”

Then, suddenly, Jeremy exclaimed, ‘Ah!’ as if he had realized something.

“Is that why Gastor approved the Agriche lottery? Because the thing they want to trade is only handled by Agriche?”

It was quite an achievement for Jeremy to have guessed this far on his own.

“To think you could figure that out on your own, you’re really smart, my brother.”

So, when I didn’t spare my praise, Jeremy’s face lit up.