The Way To Protect The Female Lead’S Older Brother [EN]: Chapter 27

How to Protect the Heroine’s Older Brother – Episode 27

Roxana felt a sense of doubt as she looked at him.

‘That’s strange. There’s no way he could have known this flower was poisonous.’

It looked like an ordinary flower, and since it was newly developed in Agriache, he couldn’t have seen anything like it outside.

Besides, Yoan had broken off the middle part of the stem, so the base where the poison was concentrated was now gone.

“If you don’t want it, I’ll just take it.”

“Leave it.”

But the answer that came back was quite firm, so Roxana blinked, a strange expression on her face.

What was even stranger was that Cassis himself seemed taken aback by his own words, flinching for a moment. He looked like someone who had spoken impulsively.

“You don’t have to force yourself to take it.”

“No… now that I think about it, it’s better to have something in the room, just like you said.”

Still, he didn’t seem to want to change his mind.

Cassis said that and took the bouquet directly from Roxana. His face was still a little stiff.

Roxana couldn’t figure out what Cassis was thinking or why he was doing this.

So she narrowed her eyes and studied Cassis, but she couldn’t discern anything from his expression.

In the end, Roxana gave up trying to read Cassis’s mind and sat on the edge of the bed where he was sitting.

“More importantly, can you take a look at this?”

At Roxana’s words, Cassis frowned and averted his eyes from the flower.

Immediately after, Cassis flinched.

“What are you doing…”

The sight of Roxana slipping her hand into the gap of her chest around the neckline came into view.

As a result, Cassis’s gaze unintentionally fell on the place where Roxana’s hand was resting.

Cassis opened his mouth in embarrassment, but soon stopped speaking.

Following that, an unidentified folded piece of paper emerged from Roxana’s hand.

She tilted her head at Cassis, who was at a loss for words, and moved her lips.

“I didn’t really have anywhere else to hide it.”

Cassis felt foolish for having been embarrassed, so he paused for a moment before running a hand over his face and asking.

“What is that?”

“A complete map of the Agriache estate.”

Immediately after, a silence, different from the awkwardness of a moment ago, settled around them.

Cassis’s eyes flew to Roxana’s face in front of him.

“Why are you looking at me like that? I told you I’d help you get out of here.”

Roxana spoke calmly, even under Cassis’s intense gaze.

“Look at it and memorize it right now. We’ll burn it when we leave later.”

Cassis looked down at the paper Roxana had spread out on the bed.

The map drawn on it was quite detailed.

The paper showed not only the interior of the building but also the external structure surrounding the mansion.

“I guess you’re still suspicious? It’s a little difficult right now, but I’ll let you take a look around the mansion soon. You can see for yourself then whether I’m trying to deceive you with a fake map.”

He never expected that she would prepare something like this and show it to him.

Roxana even added that it was natural for Cassis to suspect that this map might be a trick, and told him to verify it with his own eyes later.

In fact, Cassis had not expected to receive help from anyone to escape Agriache.

That was why he hadn’t asked Roxana for anything initially and had been focusing on recovering on his own.

He was planning to treat his injuries as best he could, then break the chains and escape this place on his own, depending on the situation.

Cassis looked at Roxana’s face without a word for a moment. Then he lowered his gaze and looked at the Agriache map.

“Where is this room located right now?”

“Here.”

It was as Roxana had said before.

Looking at it this way on the map, the entire Agriache estate was like a huge maze.

Of course, if he searched every nook and cranny, there wouldn’t be no way out at all, but looking at it on the map, it seemed difficult to find an easy escape route.

Of course, there was a possibility that this map was fake, intended to confuse him.

But for now, there was no way to verify its authenticity, so it was meaningless to dwell on doubts and questions.

“And the shortcut I know is this way. I’m probably the only one in Agriache who knows this route. I found it by chance a long time ago.”

The place Roxana pointed to was not the outside of the mansion but the inside.

“Is it a secret passage connected to the mansion?”

“That’s right. There’s a minor problem with using that path… but it’s still the best way.”

Cassis seemed to have memorized the map just by looking at it once.

It took her several days to create this, but he only took a few minutes to look at it.

Roxana felt a little deflated for some reason, but it was definitely better than not being able to memorize it even after staring at the paper until it wore out.

After a while, she lit the candle, burned the paper, and left the room.

Then Cassis redrew the map he had seen a little while ago in his head.

Then, his gaze suddenly fell on the bouquet next to him.

Cassis’s face wrinkled slightly.

What Roxana brought was definitely a poisonous flower.

Of course, Cassis didn’t even know the name of this flower. However, along with the fragrance of the flower, there was definitely a faint aura of poison.

Of course, it was so insignificant that he couldn’t even tell what effect it had on the human body, but he couldn’t let Roxana keep this.

More than that, Roxana clearly said that she often received such gifts.

If it was a gift from ‘Father’s subordinate,’ does that mean its origin could be Lant Agriache?

If so, why would he send such a poisonous flower to his daughter?

When I saw her earlier, Roxana didn’t seem to know the identity of this flower….

Could it be related to the subtle poisonous scent that I feel from her?

I didn’t bring up this subject earlier because I thought I was unnecessarily meddling, but it bothered me.

Cassis frowned as he looked down at the flower, then reached out to it.

Crack.

The flower, which had been fresh until just now, began to wither, releasing sap. Then it completely dried up and died.

Cassis frowned as he looked at the dry petals in his fingertips.

It was a top secret, but the ability of purification was being passed down in the Fedelian family. That was why Cassis was so sensitive to the poisonous scent coming from the flower.

The reason why he had been able to eat the food and unidentified medicines that Roxana gave him so far was because he knew that even if they were poisoned, they would not have a significant impact on his body.

But still, his powers were not working as effectively as he wanted because the restraints were limiting him.

Cassis looked down at the scattered remains of the flower on the bed with displeasure, then soon cleared it away.

* * *

“Roxana. Has the toy become more obedient than before?”

Today was such an unlucky day. As if meeting Maria during the day wasn’t enough, now it’s Lant [Roxana’s father].

Roxana swallowed her annoyance as she looked at Lant Agriache in front of her.

He was sitting on a large chair with his legs crossed.

The way he was holding a glass in one hand and resting his chin in the other looked extremely lazy.

“More than at first.”

*I* thought my luck was a bit bad, but what could I do?

Roxana raised the corners of her lips and smiled at Lant Agriache.

“As expected, he’s a commoner, so there’s a lot to teach him.”

“That’s understandable. There’s no way that sewer rat blood would go anywhere.”

Lant Agriache snorted as if he understood.

He was a vile and cruel man, but he also had simple aspects, so just cursing the Fedelian family together like this would often ease his uniquely sharp mood.

“But that’s what makes it so fun to subdue him. I would have been disappointed if he had been too docile from the beginning.”

What flowed from Roxana’s luscious red lips was a clear voice like a jade bead, but the content was not so innocent.

“I like the toy Father gave me as a gift even more. If I fix the broken parts a little more, I think I can start playing with it in earnest.”

What appeared on the face of the angelically beautiful girl was a smile that gave off a somewhat cruel feeling.

Lant Agriache stared at his daughter for a moment, then suddenly raised one corner of his lips.

“The more I look at you, the more you resemble me.”