The Way To Protect The Female Lead’S Older Brother [EN]: Chapter 244

Protecting the Heroine’s Older Brother – Episode 35

* * *

Her heart plummeted. A cold dread washed over her.

What happened? Why is the room empty?

The silence in the room was suffocating, heavy with an unspoken wrongness.

Roxana rushed out, her face pale with alarm.

The first servant she saw was grabbed roughly by the arm. “Have you seen the toy that was in my room?”

The servant, startled by Roxana’s uncharacteristic behavior, shook their head.

“Fontaine, where is Fontaine?”

There was no sign of forced entry, but Fontaine was the first person she suspected.

The servants seemed equally clueless about his whereabouts.

Roxana pushed past them, heading for Fontaine’s room.

She had never gone there alone before. If Fontaine was truly there, she didn’t know what she would find, but that didn’t matter. She had to find him.

But Fontaine’s room was also empty.

A bubbling anxiety tickled at the back of her throat, a feeling of unease that grew with each passing second.

Roxana ran back into the hallway, a growing sense of wrongness prickling her skin.

The mansion was too quiet. The servants, usually bustling about, were nowhere to be seen.

A strange commotion drifted in from outside, catching her keenly heightened senses.

As if drawn by an invisible force, Roxana moved toward the sound.

The area in front of the main building was crowded and noisy. Unusually, not only the servants but also her half-siblings were gathered there.

Thump, thump.

The closer she got, the faster her heart beat, a frantic rhythm against her ribs.

A strange pressure filled the air, making her nauseous.

Unpleasant sounds assaulted her ears.

A faint, metallic scent stung her nostrils… the repulsive stench of blood.

She struggled to breathe, as if hyperventilating.

Her mind warred between the urge to run, to push through the crowd and find the source of her anxiety, and the desperate desire to cover her eyes and ears and flee.

Yet, her feet moved forward, as if instinctively drawn to what awaited her.

Finally, she pushed through the throng and saw…

Roxana froze, paralyzed by what lay before her.

“He’s finally dead… He was so stubbornly persistent, it was sickening.”

A muttered voice cut through the chaotic buzz, piercing her heart.

The person Roxana was looking for was there.

But not whole, not as she knew him.

“But where is that guy’s body now?”

“I don’t know, the guys downstairs are probably taking care of it.”

“Didn’t you say you wanted to collect a bone or organ as a souvenir before?”

“Damn, I thought about it… But every time I looked into that bastard’s eyes, I felt uneasy, so I didn’t want to touch him.”

“Ah, me too, actually.”

The voices of her half-siblings echoed in her ears, a cacophony of callousness.

She staggered, as if struck by a heavy blow. Her hands and feet trembled, bloodless and cold.

A violent storm raged within her. She couldn’t tell if she was standing on solid ground or floating in the air.

No…….

“But are they going to keep that head on display?”

No, this can’t be real.

“Father ordered it himself, so what can we do.”

Just this morning, he had been sitting peacefully by the window, bathed in sunlight, looking at her.

But why…….

Why was he looking down at her from such a place now?

“By the way, who was in charge of that just now?”

“Wasn’t it Roxana?”

A deep sunset bled into her vision, but all she saw was darkness.

Abandoned in a lightless void, surrounded by impenetrable black.

Something between a scream and a sob threatened to erupt from her.

She couldn’t even move her lips, afraid that any breath would shatter the fragile dam holding back her emotions.

“Miss Roxana. The head is looking for you……”

When the servant called from behind, her head spun, and the world turned upside down.

The ground crumbled beneath her, and the blue sky turned red.

Ah…….

Why does the end always come so suddenly?

* * *

In truth, she had always known.

He was not someone Roxana could ever truly possess.

Her soul had recognized from the beginning that he would choose death over a life of humiliation.

Even when forced to submit, his will broken, he remained himself, unyielding.

So, even in his madness, he had found the strength to escape?

Perhaps he couldn’t bear even the semblance of peace in her arms, a part of Agriche.

Was she the only one who cherished their time together? Perhaps he was disgusted by even breathing the same air as her.

Then, perhaps only the hand that strangled her neck that night was real. The hand that wiped away her tears, a mere illusion…….

Whenever these thoughts surfaced, pitch-black darkness swarmed her like poisonous insects, gnawing at the deepest part of her heart.

She was consumed by emotions that defied definition – not despair, not sadness, not pain, not misery – and she wept.

She fell deeper and deeper into the endless darkness, day by day.

Then, when she finally reached the bottom of the abyss, the last shield that had protected her shattered.

* * *

Roxana was locked in the punishment room for neglecting the management of her “toys.”

It was impossible to know if the boy assigned to her had left voluntarily.

Now that he was dead, the answer was lost forever.

Likewise, it was impossible to determine if Fontaine was involved.

However, he roamed the Agriche mansion with a relieved expression, as if a bothersome tooth had been extracted.

Roxana remained secluded for a long time.

Then, one day, her half-siblings found her standing alone before the displayed head of the Fedelian “toy.”

“Oh, that’s Roxana, isn’t it?”

“Looks like she just came out of the punishment room.”

Roxana stood tall, thinner than before, her gaze fixed on the severed head.

“Hey. What are you doing there?”

The others simply passed by, but Jeremy stopped to provoke her.

“You just came out of the punishment room and you don’t even know you should be ashamed. Are you going to faint again like last time? Seriously, the disgrace of Agriche…….”

Roxana’s eyes slid silently to meet his.

Jeremy stopped speaking, a prickle of unease on the back of his neck.

He felt a strange sense of alienation from her, as if something had fundamentally changed in the punishment room.

It wasn’t just her bloodless, emaciated face, or the lack of expression in her eyes.

It was as if something new, something alien, had emerged from a chrysalis and was wearing Roxana’s face as a mask…….

A strange sense of vigilance, as if he were facing a bizarre being he had never encountered before, stopped Jeremy in his tracks.

Then, Roxana turned and left.

Only then did Jeremy’s body relax.

“What………. Did she eat something bad?”

Jeremy stared at her retreating figure, frowning.

* * *

After that, Roxana changed, becoming someone else entirely.

“Immediately dig out those useless eyes, cut off their hands and ears, and throw them into the monster breeding ground as food.”

She handed down unprecedentedly cruel punishments, even to servants who had been assigned to her previously.

“What were you doing while the toy in my room crawled out on its own, displeased Father, and caused trouble?”

“P, please save me, Miss! This will never happen again, please have mercy……!”

“No matter how many times you apologize, you can’t pick up spilled water. Cut off that three-inch tongue that dares to ask for forgiveness.”

The recognition, compassion, and sympathy that had once existed within her seemed to have been burned away, leaving only ashes.

Some said that Roxana had finally realized she wouldn’t be given another chance after being severely scolded by Lant and had come to her senses.

“Roxana, what brings you here at this hour?”

“I saw a servant going to Father’s office, so I came instead.”

More than anything else, she had begun to act as Lant’s mouthpiece, anticipating his desires.

“You’ve been coming home late for the past few days. You must be very tired?”

Roxana brought tea directly to Lant’s office and massaged his shoulders and arms with a soft touch.

Lant glanced at her, a sardonic twist to his lips.

“Unexpected. I thought you would be cooped up in a corner again, moping [sulking] like a fool.”

He didn’t bother to mention that if she had, he would have disposed of her this time.

A clear voice, soothing to his tired mind and body, echoed softly in the quiet room.

“I’m sorry, Father. I was foolish and immature all this time.”

“Hmm.”

“I think I was unknowingly acting spoiled because I had been living without any hardships under Father’s protection.”

She no longer displayed the same fear as before.

“It is the duty of a child to become a useful asset to Agriche as soon as possible and repay even a little of the grace I have received from Father.”

Whether she truly no longer feared Lant, or had simply become better at concealing her inner thoughts, it was a satisfying change.

“I am always grateful for the opportunities that Father has been kind enough to give me. I promise I won’t disappoint you anymore, so please watch over me a little longer.”

Unlike before, her words, smooth and calm, were not unpleasant to hear.

“You’re saying admirable things. Yes, you’re better than your dead brother Arl, so it’s worth keeping you alive.”

Lant didn’t even remember the name of his dead child properly.

Roxana did not point out the oversight, simply smiling with a submissive face, bowing her head as if overcome with gratitude.