The Way To Protect The Female Lead’S Older Brother [EN]: Chapter 78

How to Protect the Heroine’s Older Brother – 78

* * *

“What are you thinking about?”

As soon as Cassis arrived in Fedelian, he first laid Roxana down in the detached palace’s bedroom.

After that, while he was reuniting with Sylvia, who had come out to greet him, Richel called him.

Since he had a story he needed to share with Richel anyway, Cassis headed to his office.

“To bring the daughter of Lant Agriche. Moreover, one who is dying like that.”

Richel’s office was neat and tidy, without any unnecessary decorations, reflecting his nature. But it also looked barren.

“Are you going to repeat the past again?”

The two sat facing each other.

Richel’s blue eyes were so pale that they looked piercing and sharp, even when he was just staring.

Few people didn’t feel nervous when he met their gaze head-on like that.

“If I do, will you punish me?”

“Cassis.”

But Cassis casually brushed off the gaze.

At the low voice that followed, Richel sternly called his son’s name.

Cassis knew what Richel was trying to say by calling him.

He recalled a memory that was still vividly etched in his heart, even though it was a long time ago.

“We are the noble judges, Fedelian. Don’t forget what that name means.”

That was what Richel had said when he placed a ban on Cassis for using unauthorized power in the past.

Cassis’s golden eyes, which had been slightly lowered, met Richel’s again.

“Father, what is the nobility that a Fedelian should have?”

It was a word that people of Fedelian heard countless times from birth, as if engraved in their souls.

So Cassis wasn’t really asking because he didn’t know.

Richel knew that too and quietly studied his face.

“Living according to the natural order, without deviating from the proper path.”

Soon, a heavy voice reached his ears.

Hearing those words, which were the same as ever, Cassis smiled faintly.

“Limitlessly noble, upright, and righteous, serenely closing your eyes and blocking your ears as if you have no desires, regrets, or lingering feelings.”

A calm murmur continued from Cassis’s lips.

“And if turning away from what you can and should do, and doing nothing, is living in accordance with the natural order…”

It was a cynical remark, but the expression and voice of the person who held it were as peaceful and serene as the tranquil scenery of an autumn afternoon.

“That is not the right path in my opinion.”

Cassis stared straight at his father, who was looking at him with a hardened face.

“Perhaps I am not a person fit for Fedelian.”

“Cassis.”

“It’s not that I want to abandon all human ethics and morality and go down a clearly wrong path…”

He had been thinking about it all his life, so once he made a decision, he had no hesitation in speaking.

“It’s just that your ‘good’ and my ‘good’ are different.”

Perhaps Cassis’s good could be evil to Richel.

Cassis couldn’t say for sure that he had only walked the right path so far, and that he would continue to do so in the future.

So he certainly felt that he was somehow lacking and twisted as a Fedelian.

Almost killing his younger sister Sylvia out of childish arrogance, repeatedly killing Lant Agriche, and now, out of his own selfishness, bringing Roxana to try to save her with his own hands…

Again, he confirmed that he was not fit for Fedelian.

There were times when he was tormented by such thoughts. But now he could be surprisingly calm.

Like a mineral that had been continuously hammered and carved to finally reveal its true form, Cassis, too, may have inevitably revealed his inner self as time passed.

Perhaps he was not a sparkling jewel, but just a broken stone.

But even so, what could he do? This was the essence of Cassis Fedelian, which could not be hidden.

“It’s not different.”

Richel, who had been silently watching Cassis for a while, finally opened his tightly closed lips.

But his subsequent words were something Cassis had not expected.

“My personal feelings were definitely involved in killing Lant and making Agriche like that. So if we’re talking about not being fit for Fedelian, wouldn’t I be the first?”

Richel, who Cassis had thought would sternly rebuke him, surprisingly said that he understood him.

Cassis, who had never imagined hearing such words from his father, was overwhelmed with indescribable emotions.

“In the end, I saved Sylvia back then, and this time, I couldn’t forgive Lant Agriche for trying to harm you, so I just used the name of Fedelian to punish him.”

“Father.”

“I thought it was a power too much for you to handle when you were young, so I placed a ban on it. But when I almost lost you three years ago…”

Richel’s eyes sank coldly.

But the chill within was not directed at Cassis.

“What good is any of that?”

Cassis closed his mouth and quietly stared at the person in front of him.

“If you had died, I would not have been able to forgive myself more than Lant Agriche.”

After that, Richel’s eyes closed for a long time.

“So do as you wish.”

The voice that followed was tinged with the traces of time. The same was true of his face with his eyes closed.

“Now that your will is so firm, isn’t that enough?”

Richel, who had raised his eyelids again, looked directly at Cassis and nodded slightly.

As if he would support whatever he did.

Cassis slowly took a deep breath as he faced Richel.

Then, he finally spoke with sincerity.

“Thank you, Father.”

“Don’t say empty words. As if you were going to ask for my permission anyway.”

Richel deliberately muttered in a prickly tone, as if telling him not to say embarrassing things. Cassis smiled faintly at those words.

After that, the two had a serious conversation about the events of the past few days and the plans for the future.

Then, Richel allowed Cassis to leave.

“If my actions create another regret, I will have to bear that burden as well.”

“Yes, I know you are capable of that.”

With that, the conversation between the father and son came to an end.

The small lumps that had been in each of their hearts had melted away like snow.

* * *

After leaving his father’s office, Cassis gave a brief greeting to his mother and headed back to the detached palace.

The servants he encountered in the hallway quietly bowed to him.

Cassis passed them and opened the door he had entered earlier, silently stepping inside.

Roxana was lying on the bed as he had left her.

On the white sheets, her disheveled hair created a subtle halo in the sunlight coming through the window.

Even the long, lush eyelashes that cast shadows on her face seemed to have jewels placed on them.

Looking at her lying still with her eyes closed like this, one could believe that she was a doll meticulously crafted with all her heart in Vertium [a place known for its craftsmanship].

However, Cassis was feeling a different emotion instead of admiring the beauty before him.

He suddenly wondered if Roxana wasn’t breathing, so he brought his hand close to her face.

After a moment, a faint breath touched his fingers.

Only after confirming that could Cassis feel relieved.

He stared at Roxana for a moment, then slowly moved his hand.

A cautious touch brushed against Roxana’s pale cheek.

Cassis didn’t clearly know what this feeling was.

He just felt sorry and pathetic for the person in front of him. But it was somehow different from pity or sympathy.

He wanted to know more about her as a person. And he wanted to keep her in front of him and watch her for as long as possible.

So if Roxana were to die like this and say goodbye forever, he felt that he would be left with more regret than disappointment.

In addition, he felt that anger would surge towards someone he didn’t know exactly who.

Just seeing Roxana with such a pale face somehow made him a little angry.

Seeing her struggling to eat even against her will made him feel relieved, and sometimes when she stared blankly into the air with desolate eyes, a corner of his heart unknowingly felt desolate.

Roxana didn’t seem to know, but she sometimes shed tears silently while unconscious or asleep.

At such times, Cassis felt as if a stone had flown into his heart, creating ripples on the calm surface.

A greater commotion than what he felt three years ago was engulfing him.

In fact, extending Roxana’s life was quite troublesome and difficult.

Nevertheless, he wanted to do all of it with his own hands.

Perhaps Roxana wouldn’t want it, but Cassis couldn’t let her die like this.