The Way To Protect The Female Lead’S Older Brother [EN]: Chapter 76

“Ugh…! Wait, don’t come any closer!”

He immediately warned the others.

Everyone was taken aback as he staggered and knelt on the floor, as if attacked by an invisible hand.

Before they knew it, a thick cloud of poison was spreading around them. Noticing it, his colleagues covered their noses and mouths, regulating their breathing.

Fortunately, Cassis returned at that moment.

He grasped the situation at a glance.

The poison, which had been forcibly suppressed earlier, had regained its momentum and was raging wildly in the short time Cassis had been away.

Considering it had been less than five minutes, it was a remarkably rapid recurrence.

“Everyone, step back.”

“Young Master, wait a moment…”

Cassis strode fearlessly towards Roxana, presumed to be the source of the poison. Naturally, those around him tried to stop him.

However, Cassis moved without hesitation, reaching out to Roxana, who had collapsed, with a chilling look in his eyes.

“Roxana.”

But it seemed no sound reached her, as she had fainted again.

Her limp body slumped onto his arm as he supported her back.

The aura of poison surrounding Roxana intensified. A red butterfly appeared in the air and landed on her shoulder.

Realizing there was no time to delay, Cassis immediately lowered his head.

The people around him couldn’t help but gasp at Cassis’s subsequent action.

Cassis parted his lips and directly shared his life force with her.

Using the same method as when he saved Lant Agriche would be much simpler and faster.

However, that was a very forceful and violent method that did not consider the destruction of the other person’s soul.

He couldn’t use that on her.

Cassis carefully and slowly poured his life force into Roxana’s body several times, ensuring she wouldn’t be harmed.

Then, he picked up her body, which was beginning to regain warmth, and left the spot.

What he had done was only a temporary measure, and a faint scent of poison still emanated from Roxana’s body.

“Do not approach until I permit it.”

Cassis issued the brief command, opened the door of the carriage where Roxana had been, and entered with her.

The people around him stared blankly at the closed door, their mouths agape.

Was he perhaps going to nurse her himself?

After some time, the poison that had been leaking out of the carriage began to subside quietly.

Shortly after, the tightly closed door opened.

“Bring medicine and drinking water.”

Just a moment ago, Cassis had left to prepare medicine for Roxana.

A colleague next to Ollin listened to his words and immediately ran to hand Cassis what he had prepared in advance.

Immediately after, the door closed again.

And then, the surroundings were very quiet. Everyone watched the carriage where Cassis and the mysterious woman had entered, holding their breath.

Had the person who collapsed regained consciousness?

But when they looked earlier, there was no sign of that. Then how was he going to administer the medicine….

At this moment, everyone was thinking the same thing, recalling the scene they had witnessed earlier.

Cassis lowering his head without hesitation, his lips overlapping with the woman’s.

The conclusion they all reached was the same.

‘So, she’s not a prisoner.’

Rather, this was treatment close to that of a VIP [Very Important Person].

There was no way someone who was being personally cared for and cherished like that could be a prisoner.

“Sir Winston, do you perhaps know anything about the person our lord brought?”

That night, one of his colleagues, unable to contain his curiosity, asked Isidore.

Everyone outwardly pretended not to be, but they pricked up their ears to listen to their conversation.

Isidore narrowed his brow for a moment.

But he thought it would be better for the others to know as well, so he soon opened his mouth to answer.

“If I had to define it, I’d say she’s closer to a benefactor.”

“Excuse me?”

“So, treat her accordingly.”

The terse words, with all explanations omitted, only deepened the confusion.

However, Isidore left as if he had nothing more to say.

So they couldn’t ask him anything more.

As their curiosity grew day by day, Roxana fully regained consciousness.

And finally, today had arrived.

* * *

“Ah.”

A small sound, whether a gasp or a groan, escaped Roxana’s lips.

The memories of when she had collapsed had just now vaguely returned.

At that time, she had felt a burning thirst.

While her fever rose and fell repeatedly, her mouth had become dry, and her lips were parched to the point of stinging.

Shortly after, something warm pressed down on her lips, as if stamping them.

As if understanding her heart, water flowed between her parted lips.

The water wetting her tongue was as sweet as if it were the elixir of life.

So she clung to it, begging for more.

Then, someone soothed her, stroking her hair and cheeks. Her whole body seemed to melt at the gentle touch.

Warmth overlapped her lips again.

Fortunately, the person beside her poured enough water into her mouth to satisfy her.

“……”

And then she fell asleep again, perhaps.

Roxana was in a somewhat unpleasant mood as she recalled the past events.

She was aware that she was being a bit obsessive. However, she still didn’t like showing her unintended weakness to someone else.

So, as she was frowning alone, Cassis’s words from yesterday suddenly flashed through her mind.

“Give me your remaining time.”

“If it doesn’t matter where you’re going anyway, stay by my side. Until you die.”

Roxana’s eyes slowly lowered.

‘I see…’ If her time was worthless to her anyway, could she use it that way?

While she was lost in thought, the poison butterflies she had sent away earlier returned.

Roxana watched the swarm of butterflies approaching her through the window.

Even from a distance, their wings were fluttering powerfully and full of energy. The carnivore butterflies, having feasted in a while, seemed excited.

Roxana sent the butterflies back to where they had been before they got any closer.

Normally, she wouldn’t have been able to take out the carnivore butterflies like this because of the uncontrollable danger.

But today, her physical condition was, as she would say, ‘the best in recent times.’

Moreover, it happened to be passing near a monster habitat, so Roxana was able to take out the carnivore butterflies and feed them for the first time in a long time.

Then suddenly, the moving carriage stopped.

Shortly after, Cassis came to find Roxana.

“Did you have a hobby of overworking your body?”

Looking at his face, Roxana realized that he had noticed the truth about the poison butterflies.

“Even if I tell you to rest quietly, you don’t listen.”

Cassis came inside and closed the door.

Roxana rested her chin on her hand and stared at him intently.

Cassis treated Roxana as if nothing had happened after yesterday’s events.

Of course, Roxana’s attitude towards Cassis hadn’t changed much either….

Was it because she had recalled Cassis taking care of her after she fell ill after leaving Agriche?

As she faced him like this, something stirred inside her.

She didn’t know exactly what it was, but it felt like she had swallowed a thorn.

“Your complexion has already turned pale.”

Cassis frowned slightly as he looked at the face before him.

He thought he shouldn’t have listened to her when she said she wanted to be alone.

Soon after, he reached out to restore Roxana’s energy.

However, her hand, which was suddenly thrust forward, grabbed Cassis’s collar first.

He could have dodged or resisted, but Cassis didn’t, and leaned his upper body forward as Roxana wanted.

However, Cassis hadn’t anticipated her next action.

The touching lips had a lower temperature than Cassis, who had come in from the cold air outside.

Roxana bit Cassis’s lip to open it and kissed him.

It was short and shallow, but it was clearly not just a simple lip-to-lip contact, but a kiss that intertwined tongues.