The Way To Protect The Female Lead’S Older Brother [EN]: Chapter 173

Protecting the Heroine’s Older Brother – 173

* * *

“That took longer than I expected. Did you have that much to talk about with Jeremy?”

As Roxana headed back to her room after parting ways with Jeremy, Griselda appeared before her.

Judging from her languid tone, Griselda seemed to have been waiting for her for quite some time.

However, Roxana merely murmured coolly with a somewhat detached attitude.

“What’s the matter? I thought we wouldn’t be meeting separately for a while.”

There was a double meaning in her cynical words.

She meant that Roxana didn’t want to see Griselda for a while because she was bothered by what had happened last time. On the other hand, it also pointed out that Griselda, who was no longer free to use magic after coming to Yggdrasil, had become useless.

Griselda seemed to understand this, deliberately looking upset.

“How heartless. Are you still upset with me? I said I was sorry about that.”

But Roxana’s reaction remained cold. Seeing this, Griselda pretended to reflect again and said,

“I mean it. This won’t happen again. So, don’t throw me away like one of your other dogs, okay? I still have the most fun by your side.”

However, her words were actually meant to provoke Roxana.

Like the rest of the Agriche family, Griselda harbored a dark secret [a hidden, malicious intent] in her heart.

She didn’t bare her fangs as much as she felt goodwill towards Roxana, but one could sense her testing the waters, anticipating Roxana’s reaction.

The ‘dog’ Griselda mentioned clearly referred to Deon, and Roxana had never hidden her coldness regarding him.

Griselda had a strange hobby of provoking Roxana in this way since they were in Agriche, enjoying the cold reactions she received in return.

Roxana stared at Griselda for a moment before opening her mouth.

“Griselda, I quite like you.”

The monotonous voice that flowed from her red lips made Griselda freeze as if it were a bomb.

She seemed quite taken aback by the unexpected words she had suddenly heard.

“What’s with you all of a sudden?”

Griselda finally reacted as if she were getting goosebumps.

The look in her eyes towards Roxana was as if she were looking at someone who had eaten something wrong or had suddenly changed just before their death.

Roxana continued to speak to Griselda, who looked unwell.

“You are quite capable, and you don’t unnecessarily cross the line and bother me.”

It was a compliment, of sorts.

However, after hearing Roxana’s coldly smiling addition, Griselda realized that she was thankfully normal, contrary to her suspicions.

“But how do you think I feel when my already incompetent sister, who has become even more useless since coming to Yggdrasil, crosses the line without knowing what’s ahead? I have never kept someone useless and cumbersome by my side.”

Griselda was rather relieved by the unchanged venom.

Such soft and saccharine words, like the first words she had spoken a moment ago, did not suit Roxana and her at all.

Griselda regained her composure and reacted as usual.

“You’re too much. Just because I can’t use magic doesn’t mean I’ve become that incompetent.”

Then, she grumbled in a slightly disgruntled tone.

“But I’ve always known, you’re too cold to me. It’s so different from how you treat Jeremy.”

“Empty words. I doubt you want to be treated like family by me.”

That was true.

Being treated like a sister by Roxana now would only give her the creeps.

But it wasn’t that Griselda was strange; most of her half-siblings would probably feel the same way.

Rather, Roxana and Jeremy, who were building a close relationship with each other, were the strange ones.

Suddenly, a thought occurred to Griselda, and she muttered to herself.

“I didn’t realize it before, but you might be more like Asil than I thought.”

“……”

“If Asil were still alive, would he have grown up to be as interesting as you? I suddenly feel a bit sorry.”

Then, as if she had suddenly remembered something, she looked at Roxana and said,

“Oh, you acted well earlier. Your eyes were so earnest that if I didn’t know about what happened to you with that doll in Vertium, I might have been fooled. Its name was Nyx, wasn’t it? Surely, you’re the one who wants to kill that doll in the most painful way possible.”

Roxana didn’t say anything to Griselda’s words and just gave her a cold look.

The look seemed to mean that she shouldn’t waste any more time unnecessarily, so Griselda decided to stop and smiled as if to acknowledge.

“Well, it seems like you and Jeremy will continue to be busy with other things, so I’ll keep a good eye on the siblings as I have been.”

With those words, she started to move away.

“And after Noel Vertium came here, I happened to find out while loitering around him.”

However, Griselda didn’t just pass by Roxana but whispered in her ear.

“Wasn’t Noel Vertium’s henchman’s name Dante? I heard he’s dead.”

At that moment, Roxana’s eyes flickered slightly.

“In my opinion… it seems related to some loyal dog who followed his master’s trail and went in and out of Vertium.”

A playful smile appeared on Griselda’s face as she whispered as if it were an exciting matter.

“Sorry for only finding out this much, being incompetent.”

Then, this time, she really passed Roxana and walked down the hallway.

Roxana also moved her legs, which had been still, in the opposite direction of Griselda, listening to her footsteps.

There was not a single tremor in her steps.

However, Roxana’s face, which was staring straight ahead, was coldly frozen.

* * *

A new upheaval swept through Yggdrasil.

The cause was, of course, the Vertium doll.

People who had heard the story from the heads of each family became as noisy as a swarm of bees.

Meanwhile, Roxana went to see Sylvia.

As Cassis had said, it wasn’t Agriche’s fault that Nyx had escaped and tried to take Sylvia hostage, but in Nyx’s case, Roxana couldn’t help but feel responsible for the incident.

Perhaps it was because she already considered Nyx half hers.

Sylvia was with her mother, Jeanne.

Roxana told them that she felt sorry for not paying more attention to Nyx until he escaped, and for not taking better care of Sylvia, who had experienced a dangerous situation in the garden earlier because she was flustered.

However, they firmly shook their heads, saying that Roxana had nothing to apologize for.

Fortunately, there was no damage as a result, but the fact that Nyx had tried to take Sylvia hostage was something that could have escalated much further.

Roxana thought that Fedelian would be justified in demanding Nyx’s disposal because of this incident.

She intended to get Nyx’s ownership back from Vertium after the hearing, but if Fedelian wanted Nyx’s death, she thought that couldn’t be helped either.

However, Fedelian didn’t seem to want to insist on that much.

The emotion Roxana felt at that time was…

A strange feeling that she herself couldn’t tell whether it was disappointment or relief.

That evening, several people cautiously approached her at the banquet and offered their condolences.

Of course, they knew that Nyx, created by Vertium, had revived the body of her dead brother.

Ryuzak Gastor and Pandora Hyperion were among them.

Ryuzak felt as if the story with Agriche had unexpectedly turned out positively, and he had lowered his guard towards Roxana.

This could be seen from the fact that he approached with a stiff face and awkwardly asked if she was okay.

Pandora seemed to feel closer to her after their last meeting, comforting her with compassionate eyes, saying that she must be very worried.

Roxana replied to them with a faint smile.

“By the way, Miss Hyperion. I’ve felt this before, but haven’t we met somewhere before?”

Pandora heard Jeremy, who was guarding Roxana as usual, tilt his head and ask, and suddenly said that she had urgent business and hurriedly disappeared.

After that, Cassis and Sylvia came down to the banquet hall.

Cassis was on his way back from checking on Nyx and Noel Vertium after the incident in the garden.

The sight of both of them lost in their own worlds was quite bizarre.

However, the hearing was scheduled to be held as originally planned, and there was nothing more Cassis could do for them here.

“Your complexion seems much better than before. Are you feeling alright?”

“Thanks to your concern.”

“I’m glad to hear that.”

Cassis and Roxana exchanged greetings while receiving a flood of attention.

“Miss Sylvia also had a big scare earlier, I hope you’ve calmed down a lot?”

“As I said before, I’m fine. I’m just very hungry right now.”

The four of them, including Jeremy and Sylvia, ended up sitting in the same place and spending time at the banquet.

In the meantime, a new story about Cassis and Roxana was being written among the people.

Roughly, the content was similar to what Roxana had told Jeremy before.

Apparently, someone had witnessed Noel’s henchman, Dante, handing Roxana a bouquet of flowers at the last social gathering.

So, since then, Noel, who had been interested in Roxana, invited her to Vertium and showed her Nyx, and even tried to make Roxana, who was shocked by him, into the same doll as Nyx, but failed. This story was circulating within Yggdrasil.

Of course, it was Cassis who stopped Noel Vertium at the moment of desperation, having coincidentally witnessed the situation while going to deliver the contents of the Yggdrasil meeting.

It was a rumor that was quite close to the truth. It was natural since it was a rumor deliberately spread by Agriche.

Even so, Cassis and Roxana often showed themselves together at this social gathering, drawing the attention of others. Perhaps that’s why everyone seemed to believe the rumors easily.

Even those who did not attend the banquet were all talking about the same topic.

“Is it because they’re siblings? They look very alike.”

Orca, who had seen Roxana in Fedelian, did not know the timing of the incident in Vertium, so he was unsure whether the two had really met for the first time at that time and developed into a romantic relationship, as the rumors said.

Rather, Orca, as a self-proclaimed inquisitive intellectual, was interested in the doll that resembled Roxana.

“Really? I don’t think they look that much alike.”

Pandora, who had met Orca immediately after leaving the banquet hall, fearing that Jeremy might remember her, refuted his words.

“Isn’t the Agriche lady’s beauty far superior?”

That was something Orca also agreed with. The Vertium doll he had seen in the garden was in a defective state.

“Is it because I’m one-eyed? Or because I died too young? Or is it because it’s not a living person?”

Pandora frowned at Orca’s harsh words.

Then, she suddenly glanced at Orca, who was sitting by the window, and examined his face.

“More than that, you’re not thinking about something strange these days, are you?”