The Way To Protect The Female Lead’S Older Brother [EN]: Chapter 196

The steps that had paused before the window resumed.

But her feet stopped there, no longer moving forward.

Roxana bit her lip, recalling Cassis’s bloodied shoulders and back.

Cassis was also part of the pursuing party that would depart soon.

He was injured as well, but there was no one suitable to lead the pursuit team, which would be divided into three groups, so he ended up stepping forward.

Cassis, like the others, hadn’t received proper treatment due to the lack of healers.

Of course, he had an amazing recovery ability, so most of the injuries, such as the shoulder pierced by Deon and the torn parts from the fall, were healing on their own.

However, because there was no time for meticulous care, there was still a risk of glass shards being embedded in his back, preventing him from fully utilizing his healing powers.

All those wounds were ultimately her fault.

“I’m sorry.”

Roxana murmured, her face stiff.

Cassis looked at her silently for a moment.

Roxana seemed to feel guilty towards Cassis.

“There’s nothing to apologize for, and nothing to be forgiven.”

But for Cassis, not leaving her alone was the most natural thing to do.

And…….

Cassis thought of another person who had moved as if it were natural to protect Roxana.

Cassis’s eyes drooped slightly.

He knew that there was more than one reason for the turmoil in the heart of the person in front of him.

He knew that the heavy emotions Roxana was feeling were not just about feeling sorry for Cassis.

And even the apology towards him was not of one kind.

He could have just ignored it.

“The preparations for the pursuit team are complete. We’re about to depart.”

But Cassis closed his eyes once, then opened them and spoke to Roxana.

“Are you still okay with it?”

Cassis’s gaze directly met Roxana’s.

Roxana realized what he was trying to say to her now.

“I don’t care anymore.”

The answer came without a hint of hesitation.

It was a callous voice that didn’t show even the slightest hesitation, as if reciting a predetermined answer.

But precisely because of that, Cassis had no choice but to ask again.

“Deon Agriche killing Nix?”

“I don’t care about that anymore.”

“Then Nix killing Deon Agriche?”

“That too…….”

This time as well, Roxana coldly cut off the emotions swirling in her throat with a resoluteness that felt almost ruthless.

“I don’t care.”

If the pursuit team found Nix and he was still alive, he would surely have to face the obstacle of Deon Agriche before that.

He seemed unwilling to allow anyone other than himself to kill Nix.

However, Deon Agriche was injured in the fall, and his arm was cut off, causing significant bleeding, as he chased after Nix.

So, conversely, Deon could be defeated by Nix or the pursuit team.

Cassis closed his mouth again, sending an unwavering gaze to Roxana.

His expression remained unchanged, making it difficult to guess what he was thinking.

Thud.

Suddenly, Cassis took a step from where he had been standing by the door.

It was neither a fast nor a slow pace, but it continued straight without hesitation.

Before they knew it, the shadows of the two people, now much closer, overlapped.

Cassis tilted his head and bit her lip.

As a result, Roxana’s face and neck, which had been pushed back, were supported by a firm hand.

The tongue that had penetrated between her parted lips roughly stirred inside.

“Roxana.”

But it was only a fleeting moment.

Soon, a resolute whisper flowed through the lightly touching lips.

“Go.”

Their eyes met at close range.

The golden eyes staring straight ahead were as firm and unwavering as the hand that enveloped her face.

“If not now, there won’t be another chance in the future.”

That intense gaze seemed to pierce through her very soul.

“So go.”

The moment Cassis resolutely murmured again, Roxana felt the inside of her heart tighten, and she unknowingly trembled her eyelids.

The thought that had been floating in her head since earlier… she had no intention of uttering it in front of anyone.

This was clearly an uncharacteristic attachment for her.

Moreover, in this situation, she felt that even having such thoughts was inexcusable.

So, she intended to ignore it herself, as if she had no such feelings in the first place.

But she vaguely sensed that if she stayed like this, she would surely have to carry this lingering attachment like footprints behind her.

Yet, as if he had read her mind, Cassis was now pushing her back.

“Go right now…….”

The hot hand that enveloped her face, the direct voice flowing into her ear, and the gaze that met her head-on without the slightest tremor no longer allowed her to turn away.

“Go and come to a conclusion that you can accept.”

The red eyes, which had been rippling, finally calmed down.

Roxana bit her lip tightly.

Soon, she raised her head and gave him a short but strong kiss, just like Cassis had done a moment ago.

Then, she cleanly threw away her hesitation and left the place immediately.

Once outside Yggdrasil [the Agriche family’s estate], Roxana immediately released the poison butterflies.

‘What are you going to do by finding them?’

A mocking question echoed from the depths of her heart.

Roxana answered.

‘I don’t know either.’

But she had made a choice, and now she had to move straight forward towards the end of that path.

Soon, the poison butterflies sent a signal.

Roxana followed it without hesitation.

Almost simultaneously, Cassis, who had left Yggdrasil, led the pursuit team and moved out.

The Hyperion’s monsters, which had been mobilized for the search first, found traces of the dolls [Vertium dolls, artificial beings].

The pursuit team hurriedly followed.

Their top priority was to destroy the Vertium dolls that posed a risk of attacking others, and Cassis had no intention of neglecting his responsibility.

The pursuit team led by Cassis headed northwest, where the largest concentration of dolls was located.

It was also the same direction where Nix and Deon Agriche were expected to be.

After the pursuit, they discovered the Vertium dolls that had escaped Yggdrasil.

Unlike when they were ambushed earlier, this time, heavily armed people mercilessly dismantled the dolls.

Because the dolls were scattered, it took some time to find and destroy them all.

After completely stopping the function of the dolls stationed in the northwest, when he raised his head, the sun was already setting in the sky.

The pursuit team urged their steps to find Nix for the last time.

Cassis drew a line and smeared blood on the stone he was carrying.

It was a magic stone he had taken from Roxana’s room.

The monsters from nearby habitats quickly flocked together.

“Monsters!”

“Where did the monsters suddenly come from……!”

The people armed with heavy equipment easily slaughtered the monsters as well as the dolls.

However, because the monsters kept pouring in, they were held back on the spot and could no longer move forward.

Nix, Deon Agriche, and Roxana would be ahead.

So Cassis would not allow any of them to interfere with her.

Swish!

He glared coldly and cut down the monster rushing towards him.

The boundary between day and night.

It was the time when the red sunset was flowing down like blood at the end of his vision.

* * *

‘Why am I chasing Asil now?’

Deon Agriche asked himself.

Perhaps because he had lost a lot of blood without bandaging the wound, his mind was slower than usual.

The scenery before his eyes, the air brushing against his body, and the time that made up this moment all felt like they were flowing very slowly.

In that slowness, Deon took a deep breath mixed with the stench of blood.

‘Because he is the starting point.’

Asil Agriche.

The first person Deon ever killed with his own hands.

Roxana Agriche.

That Asil’s younger sister.

Until then, to Deon, they were just Agriche byproducts that passed by without meaning, just like everything else in the world.

Deon did not feel any particular emotional turmoil when he killed Asil.

It was clearly Deon’s first murder, but he was too detached to feel emotions like revulsion or fear.

Even when he saw his half-brother clinging to his father’s leg and crying so desperately, Deon just thought it was unsightly and remained indifferent.

However, from that day on, he felt that something invisible inside had changed very slightly.

But it was a subtle change, like turning the front and back of a piece of paper.

So Deon quickly erased that feeling.

After that, he occasionally saw Asil’s mother and younger sister in the mansion, but Deon ignored them as if they were not there, as he had done before.

However, it was an unusual event that Deon had not anticipated when he saw Roxana at the grand banquet not long after.

Unlike Asil, who was so useless and weak that his father cringed, Roxana was already an almost complete Agriche from that time.

That little girl had something strangely peculiar about her.

Roxana was different from Asil, and she was somehow different from the other Agriche siblings.

He could not accurately define and explain what that difference was, but Deon keenly noticed that subtle gap anyway.

And Roxana clearly harbored intense hostility towards Deon.

But when Deon, who had noticed the stinging murderous intent coming from somewhere, quietly turned his gaze towards her, Roxana quickly and skillfully hid those feelings again.

When he realized it was because of Asil, an unfamiliar emotion that he had never known existed within him began to sprout.