The Way To Protect The Female Lead’S Older Brother [EN]: Chapter 43

Protecting the Heroine’s Older Brother – 43

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“Lady Maria has instructed me to deliver this to Miss Roxana immediately.”

Maria’s maid was waiting for me in front of Cassis’s room. She handed me a flower basket filled with a bouquet of red blossoms.

I couldn’t help but frown at the gaudy ribbon decorating it.

Carrying it into the room, Cassis looked at me, as if to ask what it was.

“I received it in front of the room.”

I explained briefly and unfolded the note inside the basket. Then, I let out a hollow laugh.

Maria wrote that she hoped the gifts she sent were to my liking and insisted that Cassis and I attend the next tea party together.

After what happened just three days ago, she’s already inviting me to another tea party so casually. I knew it, but she’s truly something else.

There were only flowers as a gift, so I wondered why the note referred to them in the plural. Then, I belatedly noticed a small vial buried among the flowers.

*What’s this?*

The vial contained a colorless liquid, so it was impossible to tell exactly what it was just by looking.

Without hesitation, I opened the stopper and smelled it.

Then, I shoved the vial back among the flowers.

What Maria sent me was nothing other than an aphrodisiac [a substance that increases sexual desire].

I wondered why Maria’s maid was waiting for me specifically in front of Cassis’s room.

Still, I was satisfied that quite a few people seemed to have seen the mark I left on Cassis’s neck because of this incident.

“Did one of your father’s subordinates gift you that too?”

“No, one of my mothers did.”

The flowers in the basket were poisonous, which I could use, so I liked that.

Still, seeing her send such a gift separately, she must have been somewhat concerned, as it was the first time she witnessed the conflict between Deon and me firsthand.

“How is your mother doing?”

At that moment, Cassis, who had been staring silently at the red flowers in the basket, casually asked about my mother’s well-being.

“She’s much better. In the first place, she was just startled and exhausted.”

We still didn’t have any friendly conversations, but his attitude toward me had changed slightly.

You could say the atmosphere had become a bit more relaxed.

This might be because he saw that I didn’t actually punish Cassis for trying to escape, and instead, I tried my best to protect him, even though he had harmed the family.

Perhaps he was a little concerned because I subtly mentioned that I could have been severely punished for this incident but was lucky to be exonerated.

Besides, Cassis believed that the blueprint I gave him was genuine, so he might have felt that my intention to help him was sincere.

In addition to my mother and Deon’s situation, and so on.

“The man who activated my restraints that day, his name was Deon Agriche, right?”

As I thought, I was right.

Deon’s name, flowing from Cassis’s mouth, felt a little unfamiliar.

As if recalling that day, his eyes were coldly sunken.

“Do you know that he deliberately pushed a monster in front of your mother?”

I stared at Cassis silently for a moment before answering.

“I know.”

Then, the emotions within Cassis’s golden eyes shifted.

The look in his eyes seemed to ask, *how could such a thing happen?*

Looking at Cassis like that, I unknowingly let out a faint laugh.

“Because he’s an Agriche.”

Besides, he was none other than Deon Agriche.

He had already killed Asil, so there was no reason why he couldn’t kill my mother.

Suddenly, Cassis’s gaze seemed to touch the area around my cheek. A faint scar remained there, left by Deon.

“Speaking of which, I have two pieces of good news to tell you.”

I changed the subject. Somehow, talking about that day with Cassis felt uncomfortable.

“One is that the door to the secret passage I mentioned before will open soon.”

There was a problem with the secret passage I was planning to use to help Cassis escape: it only opened on the day before the monthly evaluation.

“Are you talking about that secret passage you mentioned before?”

“That’s right. Do you remember I said there was a minor problem? That door isn’t always open, but there’s a specific time when it opens.”

There were mazes and secret passages with entrances that opened every monthly evaluation. Among them were doors that were no longer used.

They used to be used for various purposes, but as time passed, they became useless and forgotten.

The one I had been watching was a door that had been closed because using the passage itself had become too dangerous.

Cassis was looking at me with a strange expression.

He looked as if it was very strange to be talking to me about escaping.

It wasn’t surprising that he didn’t understand, since Cassis had tried to escape on his own just a few days ago.

“And the other one……”

I told Cassis, who was like that, the second piece of news that might be more welcome to him.

“Yesterday, I found people loitering near the border, and it seems they were sent from Fedelian.”

At that moment, the flow of air around Cassis seemed to stop.

I continued, thinking about the video I saw through the poison butterfly [a method of surveillance using specially trained butterflies].

“He was in his mid-thirties, with brown hair and green eyes. He was wearing an eye patch on one eye. Do you know him? He seemed to be leading the group.”

Looking at Cassis’s face, it seemed that the group I found was indeed sent from Fedelian.

“Where did you find them?”

“At the southeastern border.”

The Carantul habitat where Deon had left was in the east, so it was honestly a bit precarious.

“It would be helpful if you could give me something that could confirm your existence.”

I thought Cassis would ask more questions, but he didn’t and immediately took action.

*Well, even if he asked, there was little I could answer.*

“Give me one of those flowers.”

As he requested, I took a flower from the basket and gave it to him.

Then, Cassis tore off a leaf from the stem of the flower.

Then, he drew blood on his finger and wrote something on it.

*Is it an encrypted character used in Fedelian?* It looked like a letter or a pattern.

While I was briefly examining the leaf Cassis gave me, he looked down at the flower I gave him with an unreadable gaze.

Soon, Cassis’s gaze quietly moved towards me.

“If I say that I fully trust you now, it would probably be a lie.”

I met his gaze that was staring straight at me.

The calm golden eyes were clear and deep like the holy spring water that was not mixed with any impurities.

“We both already know that it’s not a possible situation or relationship, so even if I say that, you can’t believe it either.”

He still looked straight into my eyes and spoke with a voice as direct as his gaze.

“But even if the words and actions you are showing me are not from sincere kindness, regarding the help that I am receiving from you……”

I looked at Cassis, feeling surprised by his unexpected words.

“I should express my gratitude.”

It was the first time Cassis had seriously asked me for a conversation like this.

He seemed to be thinking deeply about something since the last incident, and now he was saying such a thing.

While facing his unwavering and firm eyes, I felt at a loss for words.

I didn’t know how to express this feeling.

I could tell that Cassis was being very honest with me now.

If it were me, I would have shown a more friendly attitude and said flattering words to weaken the other person’s heart as much as possible and then use them.

In order to manipulate others in a direction that was advantageous to me, I could lie as easily as breathing.

But Cassis was a person far from that.

I already knew it, but I felt strange when I realized it once again.

Was it because I was used to the people of Agriche who were good at deceiving others?

It was strange. While facing Cassis’s upright eyes, my chest felt a little stuffy for some reason.

This feeling was similar to what I felt when I heard that he had saved my mother three days ago.

“It’s too early to say thank you. You’re still in Agriche.”

From the beginning, I wanted Cassis to feel indebted to me, but when I actually heard him say this, I felt strangely uneasy.

“Yes, the place where I still am is Agriche.”

Still, if things continued like this, it seemed that I could definitely avoid the death flag that was the same as in the novel, so that was fortunate.

Sensing my subtle awkwardness and discomfort, Cassis’s eyes became slightly more gentle.

“Roxana.”

“Why?”

After a moment, Cassis called me after fiddling with the red flower I gave him.

“There’s something I’ve been wanting to ask you since last time.”

“What is it?”

“Did you know what this flower was when you received it?”