The Way To Protect The Female Lead’S Older Brother [EN]: Chapter 209

How to Protect the Heroine’s Older Brother 209

“I’m sorry.”

The apology was sudden, but Sierra, who had been aware of Emily’s feelings for some time, wasn’t flustered.

A quiet, low voice brushed over the blades of grass.

“I don’t think I can follow Lady Roxana’s orders any longer.”

When Roxana left Agriache, she ordered Emily to stay by Sierra’s side and protect her, no matter what.

Until now, Emily had faithfully carried out her master’s orders.

But….

After meeting Roxana again, a slight breeze began to stir in Emily’s heart.

Indeed, this was not where she should be.

Emily thought about the place Roxana had left behind every day, and finally, she made a decision on her own.

In the end, she was failing to fulfill her duty and disobeying orders, so she thought it was only natural for Sierra to scold her or call her presumptuous.

“Why are you apologizing? You are not my master.”

But Sierra looked at Emily and smiled gently.

“You can go, Emily.”

Looking at that benevolent and warm face, Emily lowered her head.

“Give my regards to Roxana as well.”

A warm, early summer breeze playfully swept through their hair and then danced away.

And so, Emily set off to return to the place where her one and only master was.

Bright sunlight kindly saw her off.

* * *

Deon sat leaning against the bed, looking out the window.

It was the second time since last winter that he had spent such an idle life, but he couldn’t get used to it.

At his bedside was the medicine Maria had left.

Maria had tried to force Deon, who had been constantly ignoring her, to take the medicine, but eventually gave up and left the room.

Suddenly, Maria, who was trying to take care of him with all her heart and soul, felt unfamiliar.

But Deon wasn’t shaken because he knew that her actions weren’t truly for his sake.

His body was recovering slowly, but he was still getting better little by little every day.

Of course, the left arm that had been severed by the Yggdrasil [a massive, mythical tree] could not be recovered.

It would be possible to reattach the severed arm using sutures, but only if the piece of the body was preserved.

His left arm was likely disposed of along with the remains of other dolls in the chaos of that day.

Deon glanced down at his bandaged arm.

For an Agriache person, losing a part of the body was a very fatal weakness.

But strangely enough… he thought it was fortunate that it was his arm that was cut off by the dolls’ attack that day.

Then, Deon suddenly wondered what had happened to Ashil’s doll.

That day, when he faced him on the red sunset field, it was clear that Deon was the first to unleash his strength.

The feeling of the sharp metal rushing towards him and touching his skin was still vivid.

Although all his senses were lost in Roxana’s poison ivy at that very moment, he didn’t think that Ashil’s doll would have died then.

…Because it was Roxana who had saved even Deon.

Even if that wasn’t the reason, he somehow had a vague feeling that Ashil’s doll was definitely alive now.

Then, is Roxana with him now?

During his stay here, Deon had seen Sierra.

When he checked her face, it seemed that she still didn’t know about Ashil’s doll.

Of course, Roxana, whom Deon knew, would not have told Sierra such a thing.

Sallang. [Sound of something lightly shaking or rustling]

The wind that came in from the open window swirled around the room.

The white curtain fluttered in his vision like a stream of water.

When he saw it, Roxana’s appearance, who had visited this place a while ago, faintly appeared before his eyes again, and then disappeared without a trace the moment he blinked.

…Deon himself thought he was being shameless.

Still, he wanted to be by Roxana’s side.

But strangely, he no longer felt like killing anyone else who was next to her.

Somehow, it seemed that a handful of the poison that had been thickly pooling inside Deon that day had also been drained away.

Perhaps Roxana had seen through Deon’s heart and said that if it was him in the future, there might be something she needed from him.

However, in fact, what Deon had done so far was something that would never disappear.

It was an immutable past that he had killed Roxana’s older brother, Ashil, with his own hands.

Still, Roxana had allowed Deon to stay by her side.

And now, Deon, so uncharacteristically….

“So live a little longer.”

He wanted to live for her.

This time, to become a truly necessary being for her.

Even if he could never be forgiven by her for the rest of his life, as Roxana said.

“When the day comes when you are completely useless, I will kill you then.”

Until the day comes when he finally faces this heavy punishment of sin that he had been carrying on his shoulders without even knowing it for a long time.

When that day came, Deon would willingly kneel before Roxana and offer her his neck.

He did not dare to hope that she would shed the same tears that she had shed in the face of Ashil’s death.

Instead….

Someday, when that day comes, he hoped that Roxana would smile happily as she watched him die at her hands….

Once again, thinking thoughts that were terribly out of place, Deon looked at the sky outside the window.

An infinitely deep blue that could not be measured to the end.

That blue light was shining on Deon.

For some reason, he felt dizzy in the clear blue light, and in the end, Deon could not look at the window for long and turned his head away.

* * *

The Yggdrasil General Assembly lasted for three days.

After a particularly long time, the representatives of each family who had gathered in one place scattered again.

Roxana and Jeremy also moved to the place where the carriage that had been waiting in advance was located to leave Yggdrasil.

“You’re late.”

But there was someone else who had arrived there first.

Cassis, who was leaning against the Agriache carriage, straightened up when he saw the two people who had appeared before him.

Roxana also stopped walking when she saw him.

Jeremy spat out a voice filled with absurdity at Cassis, who greeted them as if he had been waiting for them.

“What? Why are you here?”

“Of course, I’m waiting to accompany you.”

“Accompany us when we have different paths to take?”

Jeremy, who had been waiting for a cozy time with Roxana, was suddenly annoyed.

But whether he frowned or not, Cassis replied in a calm tone.

“You’re not going back to Agriache right away anyway.”

At those words, Jeremy shut his mouth.

He turned his head, feeling slightly sullen, thinking that Roxana might have told Cassis, but the next moment, he saw that Roxana’s face also showed embarrassment.

“…How did you know?”

Knowing that Roxana had not invited Cassis to accompany them, Jeremy quickly regained his energy.

In fact, they were planning to go find Nix after the work at Yggdrasil was over.

If he was already dead, they would recover even his body, and if he was alive….

They decided to think about what to do after that when the time came.

“How could I not know?”

Receiving Roxana’s question, Cassis let out a low laugh, as if he was about to break.

“You saved me even three years ago.”

Thinking about it, she had always been like that from the moment they first met.

Three years ago, in Agriache, Roxana saved him from Lant.

Last winter, she sent poison ivy between the opposing Agriache and Pedelian people to prevent unnecessary casualties, and this time at Yggdrasil, she sent Cassis to others in danger.

And after that, she finally moved to save Deon and Nix.

Because she was like that.

He thought that she would definitely not give up on Nix easily this time either.

He couldn’t help but feel sorry and pitiful for such Roxana.

Still, one thing that was fortunate was that when he last saw Nix, it was not that there were no results at all.

Although it was not cured, Nix’s body would now have a slower rate of collapse even without magic.

So there was still a high possibility that he was alive.

Cassis erased his bitter smile and faced Roxana.

Suddenly, the time he spent with her in Pedelian flashed through his mind.

It wasn’t that long ago, but somehow the memories of that time felt distant.

At that time, Cassis said that no matter where Roxana was, he would definitely find her and bring her back to his side.

When he was taking Nix out of Vertium, he told her to do whatever she wanted.

And he also promised to always be by her side.

But in the end, the reality was that Roxana had to be in Agriache now, and Cassis had to be in Pedelian.

They had things to do in their respective positions, and Cassis did not want to block the path Roxana was walking.

So he made up his mind.

If Roxana could not come to where Cassis was, he was going to go to her side.

When he went to Agriache to meet Roxana a while ago, Cassis made such a decision.

“Still, it will be helpful if I’m there. Nix may still have my energy left.”

Cassis said, looking directly at Roxana.

“So let me go with you.”

Then, a silent gaze lingered on his face for a moment.

Then, finally, Roxana let out a small laugh that resembled a sigh, as if she couldn’t help it.

Soon her gaze turned to Jeremy next to her.

“Sorry, Jeremy. Would it be okay if Cassis came along too?”

“Th… then. Do as you wish, Sister.”

Jeremy, who was next to her, had an expression as if the sky had fallen at that moment.

Still, he managed to smile when Roxana turned to look at him.

Of course, he glared at Cassis, who had suddenly intervened, as if he would kill him after Roxana’s gaze moved away again.

“Then let’s go, before it gets any later.”

In the end, the three of them got into the carriage leaving Yggdrasil together.

Roxana sometimes wondered if this story was a tragedy or a comedy.

But life is inherently something that cannot be clearly divided into one side or the other.

Because nothing is completely over until you die.

However, the next season inevitably came to the ruined land, and there were things that sprouted and revived again in the dry land.

In the dazzling light that came again after the darkness of the night ended, they took their first steps forward for a new start.

It was a good day to start something.