The Way To Protect The Female Lead’S Older Brother [EN]: Chapter 47

Perhaps because I had been so sick, my guard had unknowingly dropped.

Then it suddenly struck me that I had never been this comfortable being sick in this house before.

I could never show my weak side to anyone in this house.

So, showing such an unsightly appearance in front of someone else was also a first.

Maybe it was possible because Cassis Pedelian was an outsider.

He was someone detached from the world of Agrit, where I lived.

For that reason, I might have felt it was okay to show him this exhausted side of myself.

Being held by Cassis like this felt strangely like being protected.

The warmth of another person seeping into my whole body was unfamiliar. But for some reason, I didn’t want to escape from it.

“Warm…”

I murmured softly, letting out a shallow breath.

As he had done in the hallucination room, Cassis’s hand covered my eyes after a moment.

“It’s better to sleep until you’ve fully recovered.”

At his quietly flowing voice, unbelievably, my consciousness really sank low.

It was the first time since I was very young that I had fallen asleep so easily with someone else beside me.

As it had always been, Ashil appeared in my dream.

For some reason, instead of shedding tears of blood as he usually did, Ashil was offering me a flower crown, just like when we were children.

Actually, I was a little scared every time Ashil came to my dream.

I was afraid that I might have been the one who appeared in Ashil’s hallucination and caused his death. So, I worried that Ashil might be resenting me.

But today, Ashil smiled at me, so I could relax a little.

Fifteen-year-old Ashil placed the flower crown on my head, which had now grown to be about the same height as him. Then he smiled brightly at me again.

I tried to smile back at him, but strangely, I couldn’t manage a smile.

Pathetically, I burst into tears looking at Ashil.

Then Ashil smiled faintly, as if saying, ‘You really are hopeless,’ and wiped away my tears.

Even when I woke up from the short dream, I was still crying.

Someone’s firm fingertips brushed against my tear-soaked cheeks and eyes.

After hesitating for a moment, the touch that wiped away my tears with a little more force was very gentle and warm.

I closed my eyes again as if this moment was also a dream.

But I couldn’t fall asleep again after that, so I just quietly closed my eyes, feeling the touch that wiped away my tears for a while.

* * *

After that, I became uncomfortable facing Cassis.

Of course. After showing such a sight.

Fortunately, the events of that day were never brought up between him and me.

Cassis didn’t seem to want to talk about the ability he had shown that day, and I didn’t want to talk about the disgraceful behavior I had shown in front of him last time.

So, we were silent at the same time, as if we had made an unspoken promise.

“Good evening.”

Even now, the awkwardness felt palpable as I met his gaze as soon as I entered Cassis’s room.

Why else would I be making such a foolish greeting?

I wanted to take back the words that had popped out of my mouth in a hurry.

It’s not morning now, but evening as the sun is setting, so why would I say such a greeting? Besides, it’s not like we’re meeting for the first time today.

“Yes. It seems it’s already evening,” Cassis replied, his eyes calm.

The tone was just as calm, so the embarrassment subsided a little.

Cassis was now wearing the new restraints that had been secretly brought in through Emily.

Of course, even new restraints would be of no use to Cassis, who had already broken the previous ones.

However, he didn’t try to escape again, looking for an opportunity, and silently wore the restraints as I wanted.

“I came to give you this.”

I handed Cassis a small piece of cloth with the code written on it.

It was what I had received from the Pedelian people I had contacted yesterday. As expected, I couldn’t understand what was written on it.

But seeing a slight relief appear in Cassis’s eyes as he looked at it, I thought it must be a good sign.

“That, is it the Poison Butterfly again?”

Then suddenly, Cassis looked at me and asked casually.

Only then did I realize that two or three Poison Butterflies had already emerged and were fluttering beside me.

I was inwardly embarrassed.

Why did they come out without being called?

Moreover, before I could even gather them, the butterflies flew to Cassis and landed on his shoulder. It was right on the spot where he had been injured during the escape attempt some time ago.

I felt like the butterflies were desperately wanting to drink Cassis’s blood.

The memory of them popping out on their own and sticking to Cassis when I fainted after vomiting blood last time vaguely came to mind.

Did they get a taste of blood and act like this?

Fortunately, the butterflies were not the ones I had decided to raise for killing, but the ones I had hatched first for other purposes.

Cassis’s gaze flickered over the butterflies that had landed on his shoulder.

“They seem to be craving my blood for some reason.”

Unnecessarily sharp.

“Probably not. They only drink my blood.”

I didn’t bother to make the excuse that these weren’t Poison Butterflies, as it seemed useless to do so now.

It was because I had already been caught with a lot of poison accumulated in my body last time, and I had unintentionally shown the butterflies as well.

Even now, Cassis was looking at my butterflies with a completely convinced look.

Then, feeling Cassis’s gaze, I turned my eyes away from the butterflies.

What I met after that was the same look I had seen last time. So, I felt like I knew what he was thinking.

“…You’re unstable.”

After a while, Cassis opened his tightly closed lips and broke the silence.

It was almost like a soliloquy. I was about to ask what that meant, but his question came faster.

“What will happen to you if I leave this place?”

Could it be that he’s worrying about me even in this situation?

I’m not stupid, and the reason I spent time preparing to get Cassis out in the first place was all to find a way for me to survive.

Could he possibly think that I would sacrifice myself for him?

He didn’t even know what kind of trouble he had put me through.

Thinking that, I suddenly felt bloated.

“You’re not mistaking me for your younger sister, are you?”

Perhaps because of my uncomfortable feelings, my words came out somewhat twisted.

Since some time ago, whenever Cassis looked at me with those eyes, I felt uncomfortable looking him straight in the eye.

He should worry about his younger sister. If you die, Sylvia might not only turn evil like in the novel, but also end up filming a yandere [obsessive and mentally unstable] confinement story with the psychos of this world.

“Am I not allowed to worry about you?”

However, Cassis’s subsequent words left me speechless. No sound leaked out from my twitching lips.

It was a mistake. I should have blocked my ears as well as avoiding eye contact.

In the end, I pressed my lips tightly together and looked Cassis in the eye.

His golden eyes were still fixed on me.

I couldn’t hold that gaze for long and slightly averted my eyes to the side.

The voice that flowed from my lips after that was clearly less sharp than before.

“I have my own plans.”

But in fact, now I thought that Cassis might be able to get out of this place on his own.

He broke the anti-monster restraints and has a strange ability.

Could it be that he hasn’t escaped until now because of those thoughts?

He even saved my mother when he was in a dangerous situation, so it didn’t seem impossible.

Somehow, the unpleasant feeling that the relationship I thought I had the upper hand in had been reversed without my knowing was wriggling and crawling up my spine.

Actually, I had subtly asked about his ability yesterday, but Cassis naturally didn’t tell me.

When I asked why he hadn’t done that last time even though he could break the restraints, he answered that he couldn’t do it at that time and then closed his mouth again.

“Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve ever explained the plan in detail. I’ll tell you now.”

I explained the plan to him with a slightly upset feeling for some reason.

Then Cassis’s face hardened.

He had a look that said he had a lot to say, but he seemed to acknowledge that it was the most reasonable way.

“I’ve guided the Pedelian people to a safe place. So, you can join them then.”