The Way To Protect The Female Lead’S Older Brother [EN]: Chapter 219

Protecting the Heroine’s Older Brother – Extra Story 10

* * *

Nix felt death approaching.

He knew better than anyone that his body, facing the flow of time head-on for the first time in nearly a decade, was rapidly shutting down.

He never even considered going to find Noel. He simply hoped to disappear without being noticed by anyone, turning to dust as if his existence had never been in this world at all.

He moved tirelessly, looking only ahead, to get as far away as possible from Roxana’s neutral zone and the Agriche family.

Finally, exhausted, he stopped in some ruins, a desolate place covered in crumbling sand.

Each time the dry wind blew across the nearly desertified land, his worn-out body was covered in sand, as if he were part of this place.

Nix decided to wait for his end there.

He was already too tired to even lift a finger.

He collapsed and repeatedly lost consciousness for days, only to wake up again.

Then, at some point, he sensed a presence and opened his eyes. Roxana was standing before him.

*Whish…….*

The black cloak and the long golden hair flowing out from under it mixed with the grayish-brown sandstorm, scattering hazily like a mirage.

Then, Roxana’s lips, which had been staring at Nix expressionlessly, parted slightly.

“You’re still alive. At first, I thought you were dead because you weren’t moving.”

But the moment the quiet voice reached his ears, Nix realized that this was real.

Nix’s unfocused eyes slowly widened.

“What… why…….”

He stammered, lying blankly as if he couldn’t believe the situation, then reflexively jolted upright.

“Why… why are you here?”

His voice, rough and hoarse from not speaking for a while, trembled.

“Don’t tell me… you came all the way here to find me……?”

Roxana quietly looked down at Nix.

His face, exposed outside his clothes, had much clearer cracks than before. The cracks etched into his pale skin made him look like a glass bowl on the verge of shattering completely.

“Why? Why did I disappear from your sight in the first place, and yet why…….”

Nix spat out jumbled words, trembling not only in his voice but throughout his entire body.

Watching him, Roxana finally spoke again.

“I don’t care anymore whether you’re Asil or Nix.”

It was an indifferent voice, making it difficult to grasp her true intentions.

But in her red eyes, still shining brightly even when blurred by the sandstorm, was an essence of emotion more intense than ever before.

“But when you die, die in front of me.”

Nix’s face contorted as he stared blankly at Roxana, her words stabbing him in the heart.

He moved his lips, looking as if he was angry and about to cry.

Roxana didn’t wait for an answer and reached out to grab Nix’s arm and pull him up.

However, Nix didn’t rise from his spot as she intended.

It would be more accurate to say that he couldn’t.

The moment he put strength in his leg and stepped on the ground, the area below his left ankle crumbled and scattered with the sand.

Roxana’s movements stopped abruptly.

She stared at Nix’s empty ankle, as if she had even forgotten to blink.

In contrast, Nix’s face, facing such Roxana, gradually calmed down.

“Just leave me here.”

What flowed from his mouth next was a calm voice devoid of emotional turmoil.

“I’m going to disappear quietly here. I don’t have much time left anyway.”

A quietness settled over Nix, one that only someone who had foreseen and accepted the approaching end could possess.

His face, completely devoid of venom and simply peaceful, now looked truly closer to Asil than Nix.

Rather, he seemed to be trying to soothe Roxana.

“……I told you.”

But Roxana stubbornly refused to let go of Nix’s arm.

“Die in front of me, even if you die.”

Nix realized that Roxana would never give up on him.

This aspect was exactly the same as the young girl he knew.

For a moment, something welled up from under his throat, and Nix bit his lip tightly.

Cassis, who was next to him, approached Roxana and helped her lift Nix up. But Jeremy stopped him from carrying Nix on his back.

Cassis quietly stepped back at the sight of Jeremy’s hardened face.

Jeremy lowered himself instead of Cassis and carried Nix on his back.

“Are you just arriving? I heard that a sandstorm is coming tomorrow, so I was thinking of sending someone if you were any later.”

When they returned from the wilderness late in the evening, Ryuzak was still waiting for them at the spot where they had first parted.

It had already been almost two days, so Ryuzak seemed quite worried about them.

“Fortunately, it seems you found the person you were looking for.”

Ryuzak’s gaze was fixed on Nix, who was being carried on Jeremy’s back.

They were all covered in dust, and Nix was no different. Moreover, Cassis had put his cloak on Nix, covering most of his face and body.

But Ryuzak frowned, feeling a strange sense of unease from him for some reason.

There was an odd smell coming from the person on Jeremy’s back.

It was impossible to tell the gender of the person just by looking, but the build was roughly similar to Jeremy Agriche’s. The hair that was slightly visible under the hem of the sand-covered cloak looked like golden hair similar to Roxana’s.

Cassis had quickly pulled the hood of the cloak down, making it confusing whether he had seen it correctly.

Ryuzak’s face hardened for a moment.

He stared sharply at the person behind Jeremy for a moment, then looked at Roxana and asked.

“Do you need any help?”

Again, he didn’t ask any questions about their whereabouts or the newly appeared stranger.

Roxana nodded without another word.

“If possible, I would like to borrow a means of transportation that can move as quickly as possible.”

This time, she accepted Ryuzak’s kindness without refusing.

“I understand.”

Without saying anything more, Ryuzak provided them with a horse and carriage next to the tent, as well as someone to drive the carriage to their destination.

They parted again, promising to meet again later.

* * *

Even while traveling in the carriage, Nix’s body did not stop collapsing.

“If you can hold out until the neutral zone, I’ll let you see Mother.”

Nix, who was wrapped in a cloak and leaning against the corner of the carriage, straightened his back at Roxana’s words.

But he soon refused in a firm tone, as if he had never wavered.

“No. How can I face Mother in this state…….”

“Don’t worry. I don’t intend to let Mother see you as you are now either. But I can allow you to see Mother from afar.”

After that, silence fell inside the carriage.

The sound of Nix’s heavy breathing spread through the quiet air.

Then, a trembling voice flowed out from inside the cloak.

“You’re really an idiot.”

Roxana, who had been looking out the window silently, replied briefly after a long time.

“I know.”

“You moron…….”

Roxana didn’t turn to look at Nix, who was muttering in a choked voice.

Cassis and Jeremy, who were sitting across from her, also kept their eyes on the window as if they hadn’t seen or heard anything.

Cassis occasionally poured energy into Nix, but the effect was very minimal.

Nix’s body, hidden by the cloak, gradually shrank.

The remnants of his broken flesh poured out little by little like piles of sand from under the hem of his clothes.

They drove the carriage without stopping for a while, but the horse still needed time to rest.

They were in a hurry to get there, but it was naturally faster to move by carriage than for them to walk for days with Nix.

While the horse was resting, Roxana and the others got out of the carriage to stretch their stiff bodies.

Nix was in a state where it was better not to move from his spot, so he remained inside the carriage.

Instead, Roxana left the door of the carriage open. And she leaned against the dirt floor next to it, taking a rest.

Nix quietly took in the side of Roxana’s face visible through the open door.

“Who did you see in the illusion during the last monthly evaluation before you died?”

In the midst of this, Nix’s body flinched at Roxana’s question, which she suddenly brought up as if passing by.

But he quickly returned to his calm demeanor.

“I don’t know, I don’t remember such things.”

Nix was good at lying. On the other hand, Asil couldn’t lie.

What he just said was a lie. Roxana felt it.

“Why, were you worried that even you might have appeared?”

Nix finished his words in an indifferent tone, as if asking why she was asking such a thing.

At the same time, he turned his gaze elsewhere, as if he had no intention of talking more about the current topic.

Roxana looked down at the water bottle that Cassis had handed her earlier and opened her mouth again.

“I saw you.”

At that moment, Nix’s body stiffened.

The hand that had been out from under the cloak trembled slightly, then hid inside the hem of his clothes the moment he felt Roxana’s gaze.

More crumbled powder flowed out from under it again.

Roxana added calmly, as if she hadn’t seen anything.

“So I killed you with my own hands.”

The emotional waves that had been transmitted from Nix gradually subsided.

After a while, he praised Roxana in a distinctly calmer voice.

“Really? Good job.”

“Right?”

“What else could a fifteen-year-old do in that situation? You have to do as you’re told. And it’s just an illusion anyway. It’s not like you really killed me.”

It was a similar thing to what Roxana had said to fifteen-year-old Jeremy in the past.

He himself had died because he couldn’t complete the task, but he affirmed Roxana’s actions as if they were natural.

Again, silence lingered for a moment.

Roxana’s lips, which had been closed, parted again after a while.

“I, I studied hard and lived really hard since you died.”

“I see. That’s a relief.”

“I kept getting second place in the monthly evaluations, and I attended the grand banquet, which you never went to, several times.”

“Really? That’s really amazing.”

“But I still couldn’t beat Deon even once.”

“He was a little different from ordinary people since he was young anyway. You’re much more amazing for growing that much through hard work.”

Before they knew it, the two were talking about old times in a fairly natural way.

Nix praised her and comforted her each time Roxana finished speaking, as if he were really treating his younger sister.

He had insisted so much that he wasn’t Asil, but he seemed to have forgotten it.

Nix no longer seemed to feel fear towards Deon. He didn’t seem to have any resentment towards the people who had made him this way either.

In the middle, Jeremy, without any tact, tried to get back into the carriage and approached the two of them, but Cassis stopped him.

Of course, Jeremy glared and struggled. But Cassis didn’t budge.

He took Jeremy away from the carriage.

“So many things have happened so far.”

Nix, who had heard from Roxana about the events up to the time of Rant’s death, was silent for a while, then let out a rough, locked voice in a low voice.

“It must have been really…… tough.”

Roxana didn’t turn her gaze towards Nix and captured the sky dyed in deep purple in her eyes.

“Not really.”

Soon, a voice so indifferent that it felt dry spread quietly in the tepid air.

“Even without you, Mother and I got along well enough, and we will continue to do so in the future.”

In some ways, it was a cold statement.

But Nix could understand what Roxana wanted to say to him.

“Yeah……. It’s been a long time now.”

So Nix also whispered only that, secretly containing the heart to encourage the little girl in his memory.

The wind blew from afar, scattering the two people’s golden hair.

Roxana’s long hair was pushed to where Nix was, tickling his vision from nearby.

Nix unconsciously raised his arm, wanting to touch it, but soon realized that he no longer had a hand to touch Roxana and hid himself back in the cloak.

The remaining time flowed like water in his hands, disappearing silently.

But now, Asil and Nix were not lonely.