The Way To Protect The Female Lead’S Older Brother [EN]: Chapter 252

Special Episode 3. IF Deon X Roxana: Bad Ending of the Villains

It had been half a year since Roxana returned from Fedelian after Lant Agriche’s death and sealed off the Agriche mansion.

Roxana ultimately did not choose Cassis Fedelian. The mansion, shrouded in white mist all year round by the poison butterflies, had become like a ghost castle or a witch’s tower in a story, thoroughly rejecting visitors.

Even so, Cassis Fedelian did not easily give up.

Even after knowing Roxana’s firm decision, he persistently visited Agriche without giving up.

Each time, he was not discouraged even when the thick fog blocked him. His eyes, looking into the fog as if believing that Roxana would surely open the door to him someday if he waited like this, were unwavering.

Such a sight of Cassis Fedelian always twisted Deon’s insides.

“Cassis Fedelian is holding out quite long this time.”

Late at night, Deon, who entered the room without permission, said, looking down at Roxana lying on the bed.

Roxana, with her hands neatly gathered on her stomach, was motionless with her eyes closed, looking like someone sleeping peacefully.

“So?”

However, what followed Deon’s words was not silence but a cold question.

“Why are you telling me that, as if I don’t know?”

A faint breeze flowing in from the half-open door flickered the candle on the wall.

The shadows created by Roxana’s poison butterflies slowly flapping their wings intricately embroidered the wall.

“Are you going to keep leaving him like that?”

“You came to me at this hour just to talk about this?”

A twisted smile that leaked from her red lips stung Deon.

Roxana’s eyes, revealed from under her eyelids, turned to Deon. There was a cold sneer in them as well.

“Don’t bother me, Deon Agriche. It doesn’t suit you to whine and poke like an impatient bastard, and it’s just annoying.”

Deon turned his back and stared intently at Roxana, who was lying down.

“Leave. I’m going to sleep.”

The same eviction notice as always was issued.

In the eerily silent room, only Roxana’s poison butterflies were alive and moving.

Deon’s hand grabbed and crushed a butterfly that fearlessly approached and fluttered in front of his eyes.

“It shouldn’t be meaningless to you enough to call it ‘just this kind of talk’.”

Deon, who muttered with a blank face, turned and left the room.

“You’re the one doing things that don’t suit you, Roxana Agriche.”

Only after the door closed did Roxana’s red eyes quietly reappear.

“……”

Roxana shared her vision with the poison butterflies outside Agriche.

A foggy night where it was difficult to distinguish even an inch ahead. Although it was a full moon night, the outside was still dark due to the thick fog.

The figure of a man standing there, looking at one place without the slightest movement like a solid rock, was reflected in Roxana’s vision.

His golden eyes, which had never lost their light, were clearly gazing as if to penetrate somewhere in the white fog.

Seeing the sight that she had deliberately avoided confirming for the past ten days, her breathing inevitably became a little disturbed.

The man’s silver hair fluttering in the wind seemed to brush past her heart.

Roxana did not take her eyes off the scene shown by the poison butterflies for a while before getting up.

＊＊＊

“Where is Deon?”

The employee, who was attached to the window of the hallway and looking at the atmosphere outside, was startled by Roxana’s voice from behind and quickly lowered his head.

“He went out with Master Jeremy a little while ago.”

Laughter fell behind the cautious answer.

“Everyone is diligently doing useless things.”

As Roxana moved, the sound of her clothes rustling grew louder.

The employee inadvertently raised his eyes and caught sight of the person approaching him. The still unrealistically beautiful woman was staring at the foggy window with red eyes filled with cynicism.

“If they’re so bored that they have nothing to do, I should send them to the northern forest.”

Following Roxana’s gesture, the butterflies, now almost black, flew away in swarms. Other employees in the hallway saw the sight and involuntarily stepped back.

Now that I see it, what I thought were decorations attached to Roxana’s clothes were all her poison butterflies. The sight of things that used to not appear without Roxana’s command now always hovering around her as if it were natural created a chill.

It was proof that the control of the poison butterflies had become looser than before, so fear could not help but arise.

“When Deon and Jeremy return, tell them not to even come near my room tomorrow.”

Roxana, realizing people’s fear, did not stay in the hallway for long and moved back to her room. The white hem of her clothes brushed against the stairs silently. The back view, which felt like a ghost with no vitality, soon disappeared into the darkness.

＊＊＊

“Hey, you crazy bastard! I told you to just stay cooped up in your room, so why did you crawl out and scratch my nerves? Are you really going to annoy me?”

Jeremy, who was chasing Deon in the fog, finally exploded and shouted. He had been trying to stop Deon with kind words since earlier, but he ignored Jeremy as if he were listening to a dog barking.

So Jeremy couldn’t stand it anymore and physically blocked Deon.

“Damn it, I knew you were holding back all this time. Does Sana [Roxana’s nickname] know you’re doing this? Were you planning to catch me off guard like today after making me let my guard down on purpose? Huh?”

Of course, the word “physically blocking” meant that he attacked Deon with the intention of crushing his legs or spine.

“Sana is kind, so she keeps you by her side, so you’re just climbing up! Just die!”

Deon mercilessly struck and blocked Jeremy, who was pouring out a murderous attack, and opened his mouth for the first time since leaving the mansion.

“You’re the one who’s been secretly hiding other schemes from Roxana, Jeremy Agriche.”

“What? What am I doing?!”

“Wasn’t it you who were desperately trying to secretly contact the Fedelian side whenever you had a chance for the past six months?”

Jeremy, who was stabbed in the right spot, sparked fire in his eyes.

“You and I have different purposes! You’re trying to deal with that bastard as you please, and I’m…”

“You were going to beg without any dignity.”

Deon spoke coldly as if he already knew Jeremy’s purpose.

“Are you planning to prostrate yourself in front of Fedelian and flatter him like a thousand tails [excessively and insincerely]? If you’re so proud of that, why don’t you speak confidently in front of Roxana?”

“Damn it, you bastard, you know everything, but your way of speaking is really…”

Jeremy glared at Deon as if to kill him, but Deon didn’t even blink an eye. He was too proud to admit it, so he just gnashed his teeth, but in fact, there was nothing wrong with Deon’s words.

It was true that Jeremy had been trying to meet Cassis Fedelian outside Agriche without Roxana’s knowledge. It was after he learned that Cassis had a way to save Roxana.

Of course, he didn’t want to put Cassis Fedelian, who was as disgusting as Deon, next to Roxana at all. But shouldn’t he use everything he could?

Everyone in Agriche knew that Roxana’s life force was withering day by day. But to belittle Jeremy’s admirable heart, who was trying to lick even Cassis Fedelian’s feet for Roxana’s sake, in this way, Deon Agriche was indeed a terrible bastard.

Of course, Roxana didn’t seem to want Jeremy to meet Cassis Fedelian either, and she repeatedly blocked his steps…

Saaa!

At that moment, a black presence quickly crossed Jeremy’s eyes. At the same time, the scenery in the fog began to change.

“Oh, look! It’s ruined again because of you!”

Jeremy felt an ominous sign and tore at his hair. The gaunt black branches that appeared in the hazy fog were bent in the same direction and shook as if gesturing.

It was Roxana’s way of punishing him whenever Jeremy tried to meet Cassis Fedelian on his own. Perhaps if he went to the northern forest and beat up a few monsters, Roxana would open the way to the mansion.

“I’m going crazy… I wonder if I can go back before breakfast.”

Jeremy quickly gave up and began to walk wearily along the path ahead.

Deon watched the butterfly playing between the black branches with cold eyes. As if it were Roxana.

Soon the two men disappeared completely into the fog.

＊＊＊

The wind blowing through the white fog scratched his cheeks as it passed.

It was at that moment that Cassis, who had been standing upright like a tree that had been rooted for a long time, changed his gaze. The terrain began to change in the fog that had settled thickly around him.

“My lord, what will you do?”

Isidor, who noticed it, asked Cassis.

Cassis captured the fluttering black butterfly on the distorting scenery as if to engrave it on his retina.

It seemed that the woman with Cassis’s heart would not allow him to be by her side today either.

“I will retreat for today.”

He was dying of thirst day by day, but Cassis persevered. Paradoxically, he had to be glad that the illusion Roxana showed was still so solid. In the thick fog, a clear radiance that seemed to burn was rippling in his eyes, searching for the traces of his beloved.

Just once.

If he ever had a chance in the future, Cassis would never miss it. At that time, he would grab Roxana and never let her go until he died, no matter what it took.

Even if she refused, even if he received any resentment, he didn’t care anymore.

Cassis turned around under the moonlight that was slowly beginning to appear. The air surrounding his body was still cold. To welcome the eagerly awaited dawn, he would have to endure this dark night a little longer.

＊＊＊

“What kind of disobedient bastard is this?”

Roxana, who was sitting on the desk and looking out the window at the rain, opened her mouth languidly, putting down her empty glass.

“Didn’t you hear me say not to show even a strand of hair in front of me today?”

The air in Lant’s office, which he used to use, was stuffy with the scent of stimulants and alcohol mixed together. Roxana hated Lant’s existence when he was alive, but after his death, she often spent time in the office where Lant’s traces were embedded in this way.

Deon seemed to know why. Deon also felt more clearly than ever that Lant was really dead and no longer existed in this world when he came in here.

“How long have you been in that state?”

Deon did not answer Roxana and instead asked a question. It wasn’t just the smell of stimulants and alcohol that was spreading in the office. The fishy smell of blood mixed with the humid air of a rainy day stung his nose.

“Well, was there originally half a bottle of alcohol in this bottle?”

There was almost nothing left in the bottle that Roxana gestured to.

Deon looked down at Roxana’s red-soaked arm. The blackened poison butterflies had become more picky than before, and only took the flesh of highly poisonous monsters and the blood of their master, Roxana, as food. The thin red blood flowing down her white arm and the black butterflies clinging to it created a clear contrast, creating a bizarre feeling.

Deon, who had been watching the scene quietly, moved his hand. The black butterflies were mercilessly crushed in his grasp. The feeling of fluttering in his hand, as if a small heart was throbbing, was annoying, so Deon gave more strength to his fist.

“You’re doing a lot of useless things today. Do you think they’re going to die if you do that?”

Roxana laughed at him. Deon seemed to know that it was a meaningless act, and soon released the strength in his hand.

Then he picked up the knife on the desk and cut his arm. Perhaps because the poison that had become resistant was flowing in Deon’s blood as well, the poison butterflies gladly clung to him and sucked his blood.

“I was going to leave you even a fingernail clipping when I die.”

Roxana stared intently at Deon, who volunteered to be food, and faintly moved the corners of her lips as if she was smiling.

“It seems difficult these days, right?”

Deon couldn’t possibly not understand what she meant. Deon now knew what kind of end the masters who had become hosts of the poison butterflies would face. Because Roxana told him directly, with a terribly kind voice.

“When I think about it, I think it’s better. I don’t know what you’ll do with my body after I die.”

Roxana easily used even her death as a means to mock Deon.

“If you were expecting anything, you shouldn’t have, Deon Agriche.”

The crescent moon-like smile drawn on her beautiful face cut through Deon.

Roxana, who had abandoned her compulsive habit of decorating herself and hung her unadorned long hair over her white clothes while sitting on the desk, looked like an innocent girl who didn’t know anything about the world.

However, her beauty also coexisted with an eerie feeling that if anyone rashly touched her, she would wrap herself around them and drag them into hell.

Deon, who was staring at Roxana with cold eyes, moved impulsively.

His bloody hands touched, and his cold fingers intertwined stickily.

At that moment, Roxana flinched, but Deon didn’t care and pulled the hand he was holding and buried his lips in it. The feeling of his hot tongue licking her red-soaked fingers made the hairs on her body stand on end.

“… What are you doing now?”

A cold gaze was fixed on Deon’s face.

“I don’t remember ever giving you permission to touch me as you please.”

“What do you expect from a disobedient bastard anyway?”

A shadowy smile hung on his lips, still half-buried in Roxana’s hand.

“I’m just going to act like a bastard.”

His fingers dug deeper, tightening his knuckles.

“Is that strange?”

His wet breath tickled his skin and spread hot heat deep into his blood vessels. His blood-soaked lips were dyed redder and pressed down on her white wrist as if to engrave a brand. The feeling of a snake coiling around and crawling up her arm made her nape tingle.

“Let go of this right now.”

Perhaps Deon’s sudden action was unexpected for Roxana as well, and a voice filled with annoyance rather than anger flowed from her lips.

As she twisted her body to drop the arm caught by Deon, Roxana’s upper body tilted back. Amazingly, Deon pushed Roxana down on the desk instead.

With a thud, her back was painfully pressed against the hard desk.

The red blood that flowed through her tangled arms stained the desk, the floor, and the two people’s clothes. The red blood was already mixed together, and it was impossible to tell whose blood was staining each other.

Even in that state, Deon did not let go of the hand that was holding Roxana.

“I really don’t know what you’re trying to do…”

The black butterflies that flew up created distorted shadows on the ceiling, the walls, and the faces of the two people facing each other.

“Deon Agriche. Say it with your own mouth.”

Deon wanted to burst all those parasitic bugs and kill them.

“What are you doing now?”

He also wanted to tear apart Cassis Fedelian, who was still stubbornly asserting his existence outside the gates of Agriche.

“Have you finally gone crazy? Huh?”

And he wanted to kill the woman in front of him with his own hands, who was staring at Deon with a strangely mocking look as if to say, “Try to do more if you can.”

Roxana was really a woman who was good at turning Deon’s insides upside down.

As Roxana said, Deon could not have her alive or dead. Even though she had abandoned Cassis Fedelian and chosen him, she acted as if she would never give him a corner of her heart until the end.

Once, when he was upset, he took out such a story in front of Roxana and sneered.

“Abandon? Me, Cassis? You’re really stupid.”

What came back was a more intense sneer than ever.

“What I abandoned was not Cassis Fedelian, but me. And Deon Agriche, you, don’t you know what that means?”

At that moment, Deon felt as if a cold ice-carved blade had cut out his heart.

Roxana closed her mouth there, but her eyes were saying.

She didn’t want Cassis Fedelian to even set foot in this dirty water. Would she just stand by and watch him get dirty with filth like Deon or herself?

Roxana, who had lived greedily all her life, could even trample on her own heart for Cassis Fedelian, her eyes were saying so.

Deon also knew what kind of heart Roxana had for Cassis Fedelian. He also knew what she had seen and felt in Fedelian and returned to this Agriche.

Roxana was planning to spend her remaining time here and be buried without a trace with Agriche.

“That’s strange… I’m the one who got bitten, but why are you making that face?”

Suddenly, Roxana’s eyes showed a faint difference as if she had discovered something interesting on Deon’s face.

“Deon.”

The hand that was not caught by Deon slowly reached out and gently stroked his face.

“Are you perhaps hurting because of me right now?”

The voice whispered so cruelly and kindly that his head was burning hot. Unlike the hand that stroked his face as if to appease him, a cold smile spread in the eyes looking at Deon.

“You, you didn’t go out last night with the intention of killing Cassis, did you?”

Roxana spoke as if she had looked into Deon’s heart. Again, no separate answer was needed. The moment they made eye contact, Roxana would easily know his inner thoughts that even Deon didn’t know exactly.

“Jeremy or you, why are you trying to do such useless things…”

The smile that slowly rose on her red lips stirred Deon’s heart.

“Especially Deon. You don’t deserve it.”

“…”

“I don’t want to live anymore, what right do you have to stop it?”

The blood that had been transferred from Roxana’s hand drew a red mark on Deon’s cheek.

“I decide my death. No one can interfere with that.”

Roxana declared so, looking at Deon with eyes that were unwavering as always.

Firmly, without even a bit of room, her own end.

The role allowed to Deon was just to watch Roxana dying without being able to interfere, like an audience under the stage.

That was the punishment Roxana gave him.

“I’d rather kill you with my own hands.”

“Want to kill me, then?”

Roxana rather provoked him, knowing full well that Deon couldn’t do it.

Deon’s hand, filled with murderous intent, moved. He was on the verge of madness with the urge to tear the person in front of him apart, but he couldn’t give strength to his grasp this time either.

“Deon, do you know that?”

Roxana whispered sweetly, looking at such Deon.

“People are reincarnated when they die.”

So her voice, adding that she too would be reborn somewhere in this world when she died, wrapped around Deon like salvation or a curse. He buried his forehead in Roxana’s neck and laughed, shaking his shoulders slightly.

Could there be such a cruel hope torture like this?

In the end, even though she would disappear from Deon’s eyes without leaving a single bone, Roxana was trying not to let him go even after death.

“I’ll find you.”

However, even if his heart was torn to shreds several times, Deon had no choice but to chase after even the shadow connected to Roxana’s heels.

“If what you say is true, I’ll search to the end of this world and find you again.”

If what Roxana wanted was for Deon to go crazy after chasing and chasing her traces alone, he could gladly do so.

So, when he swore as if to engrave it on his soul, Roxana finally smiled at him with satisfaction. As he had once seen in his dream, more beautifully and futilely, as if starlight and petals were sparkling and bursting as they reached the end of their lives.

Deon engraved that smile on his heart like Roxana’s last words.

Because that was the only trace of Roxana that Deon could have, even the aching pain spreading in his heart felt endlessly sweet.