The Way To Protect The Female Lead’S Older Brother [EN]: Chapter 197

The emotion closest to it was curiosity.

That was why Roxana volunteered to supervise Deon on the day of his final monthly assessment at fifteen years old.

And that day, Deon faced what could be considered the first and last turning point in his life.

*Swoosh….*

Suddenly, a distant wind ruffled Deon’s hair.

The sight of the knee-high grass swaying in unison, swept by the wind, resembled a violently crashing sea.

The dense air, tinged with twilight, filled his lungs deeply with each breath.

Within it, Deon finally found Nicks.

In the middle of the waving field, his crumbling, shimmering golden hair caught Deon’s eye.

Due to the delay in pursuit caused by his injuries, it took longer than expected to track him here.

Nicks seemed to recognize Deon’s presence and stopped in his tracks.

Soon, he turned around, silhouetted against the setting sun.

“Why….”

Nicks saw Deon, who had gone to the trouble of chasing him all the way here, and let out a ragged breath.

“Why won’t you just leave me alone?”

He was sick of it all.

The endless nightmare, and that monster Deon Agriche, who would surely follow him to the ends of hell.

Nicks had already butchered Noel, his master, with his own hands.

He didn’t want to kill anyone anymore.

But that monster clung to him like a shadow, constantly urging him on.

*Swoosh.*

The setting sun blurred his vision, distorting it.

In the middle of it, a towering black shadow gradually closed the distance.

The monster’s voice echoed in his ear.

‘There is no end until one or both of you die.’

Nicks clenched his teeth. The smooth jaw of the boy, forever fifteen, tightened.

In that place where the red-tinged air stagnated suffocatingly, the two finally clashed.

*Clang!*

Before escaping from Yggdrasil [a mythical tree in Norse mythology, often used as a metaphor for a world or system], Nicks had anticipated this moment and brought a weapon, so he wasn’t empty-handed.

The Nicks who had been blankly staring at Deon’s actions from the passage above the building was nowhere to be found.

Nicks was now attacking Deon with all his might, desperately.

To survive and to kill Deon, who was right in front of him.

Seeing Nicks grit his teeth like this and burn with murderous intent gave Deon a feeling akin to joy.

Roxana would definitely come here.

It was a vague premonition, but Deon was sure of it.

He could feel that she was very close now.

*Clang! Clang!*

That day, Roxana cried in the face of Asil’s illusion.

“Get lost, Deon.”

“I won’t let you kill Asil twice.”

Yes, it was that very moment.

That one moment when her eyes, burning like flames, pierced him head-on.

Deon couldn’t take his eyes off the sparkling tears that fell like fragments of a meteor before him.

It was the moment when his colorless world was first painted with vivid colors.

He still didn’t know why only she was special.

Only the tears he saw then had meaning for him, and just recalling that memory made him feel a desperate hunger inside.

After that, Deon chased Roxana with a tenacity that he himself couldn’t understand, even more persistently than before.

Then, he suddenly wondered.

Why did Roxana shed tears for Asil, who had been shamefully discarded and died?

Was Asil worth it?

Deon still didn’t know the answer.

In that respect, Deon was more like his father, Lant, whom Roxana despised, than he thought.

He was a man who killed his children and siblings without any hesitation, and so was Deon.

So Deon had long predicted, in a detached way, that his end would be similar to his father’s.

And now, facing Asil again, Deon wondered again.

If Asil died again now, would she cry like that again?

Even now that Asil was no longer the same as before, would Roxana cry for him?

That Asil….

Even if she was now closer to Deon and the other Agriche brothers whom she hated so much.

*Slash!*

The weapon in Nicks’ hand slashed diagonally across Deon’s chest. Deon also moved his hand and tore at Nicks’ waist.

At the same time, blood spurted out.

Deon looked at Nicks’ distorted face and raised his arm, intending to pierce his heart this time.

The dead Asil must be the most beautiful being shining in Roxana’s world.

Because he died at his most pure and beautiful, forever embalmed in her memory in that state.

So in a way, a dead person disappears from this world as ashes forever, and at the same time, remains immortal in someone’s heart.

Ah….

At that moment, Deon felt like he finally knew what he wanted.

If he killed Roxana’s precious person, she would never forgive him.

Yes.

What Deon wanted was that.

Now, after killing Asil….

*Clang!*

To be killed by Roxana’s hand.

*Whoosh!*

In the moment of realization, a swarm of giant butterflies flew before his eyes.

“……!”

A voice, he didn’t know whose, clamored in his ear.

Right now.

This was the moment he had been waiting for.

The moment Roxana came to protect Asil from him.

In the red storm that seemed to sweep everything away, Deon finally smiled with satisfaction.

Something that had remained a trivial question in his heart ever since the day he saw Roxana’s tears four years ago.

‘If he died, would someone be so sad?’

-No.

‘If he died, would someone cry for him like that?’

-That too… No.

Now, he finally reached out to the light that had been flickering dimly in the distance.

In fact, what Deon wanted to see was not Roxana crying for Asil.

Yes, Sierra was right.

He couldn’t kill Roxana.

Then he would rather die by her hand.

To become a scar in her that would never be erased.

That way, this deep emptiness would finally be filled.

Beyond his fading vision, everything blurred.

The person who had been aiming for each other’s hearts until just now, and the person who finally appeared in the distance, silhouetted against the twilight.

Deon released the hand holding the weapon.

The sharp blade approached his eyes as if to pierce them.

But soon, even that was swept away by the red storm.

There had never been such a sweet moment in his life.

He felt like he could gladly accept even the pain of being torn apart.

Deon closed his eyes, swallowed by Roxana’s red butterflies.

The finale he finally faced.

It was more than he deserved, an absolutely perfect ending.

* * *

*Flap!*

Suddenly, a flock of birds soared, cutting through the red sky.

Following the chirping sound above her head, Sierra looked up.

Hair dyed crimson by the sunset fluttered in the lukewarm breeze.

…Was it just her imagination?

Somehow, she felt a strangely sharp wave of air coming from the distance.

The wind that had been brushing her cheeks felt somehow chaotic.

Sierra readjusted the basket she was holding and stared at the direction the wind was blowing from.

“Sierra, dinner is ready! Come in quickly!”

Maria’s voice calling her from inside the building was heard.

For some time after that, her blue eyes couldn’t leave the setting sun.

But in the end, all that was reflected in them was the serene twilight scenery.

Eventually, Sierra turned her back on the setting sun and left, following the voice urging her again.

*Swoosh….*

A quiet breeze lingered in that empty space for a long time afterward.