The Way To Protect The Female Lead’S Older Brother [EN]: Chapter 79

A moment later, he quietly drew back the curtain and left the room.

“Brother!”

As if she had been waiting, Sylvia appeared before him.

“Did you wake up? Can I go in too, then?”

She was shining with curious eyes, just like when they had met earlier.

Sylvia had been curious about Roxana for a while and wanted to meet her.

It had been that way ever since Cassis had casually told Sylvia about Roxana, whom he had met in Agriche three years ago.

“Later. She’s still sleeping.”

Sylvia looked disappointed at Cassis’s words. But soon, she smiled brightly and briskly moved her feet.

“Then I’ll prepare some flowers while I wait. As a welcome.”

Cassis watched Sylvia and smiled faintly.

He hoped that Roxana could smile as brightly as Sylvia while she was in Fedelian.

* * *

“Haa…”

I let out a deep breath, rising from within through my lips.

I felt my body, submerged in the warm water, gently relaxing. It felt like the accumulated fatigue was dissolving away at once.

Though, if someone were to ask what fatigue a person who had been sleeping in the carriage and in bed until just now could possibly have, I wouldn’t really have anything to say.

It was the first time in my life that I had slept so much, so I was a bit amazed myself.

Could it be that I was finally catching up on the sleep I had been lacking all this time?

I rested my arms on the edge of the tub and slowly opened and closed my eyes.

I felt like I had done well to refuse the maids who offered to assist with my bath and come in alone.

Then, a scoff suddenly escaped my lips.

It was somehow funny that I was taking a bath with such satisfaction, even though I had thought it would be fine to die tomorrow.

The bathroom here was as large and neat as the room I had been in earlier.

The subtle fragrance rising from the water in the tub filled the enclosed space.

While smelling that scent, which was close to a floral fragrance, Sylvia’s face suddenly came to mind.

* * *

“Ah! You’re awake.”

The moment our eyes met, she smiled brightly at me. I paused at that innocent smile.

Sylvia approached me with a light step, like a bird dancing.

“How are these flowers?”

Then, she suddenly threw out this strange question.

Her eyes, shining like stars, contained goodwill and delight towards me.

“My brother told me to let you rest more, so I was going to just put the flowers in front of your door without waking you.”

I quietly looked down at Sylvia, who was chirping like a lark.

“You feel good when you see flowers as soon as you open your eyes, right?”

There wasn’t a single wrinkle on her face.

Her tone and eyes were so friendly that, for a moment, I even wondered if she and I had actually known each other for a long time.

“So I went to the garden to pick the prettiest flowers, but when I thought about the person who would receive them, the beauty of my cherished flowers somehow seemed to fade.”

Sylvia was much brighter and cuter than I had thought.

So I could only silently look down at her like that.

“So I was worried about it, and it took longer than I thought…”

Then, her voice, which had been ringing cheerfully in my ear, gradually faded.

Finally, Sylvia seemed to realize something and closed her mouth.

“Ah, I’m sorry.”

Embarrassment and awkwardness bloomed in her eyes towards me.

“I should have introduced myself first, but I was just talking to myself without any order.”

Sylvia seemed worried that I might be upset, but I wasn’t feeling bad at all.

“Um, do you know who I am?”

Of course, I knew.

I had already seen her face at the Harmony Assembly.

Even if that weren’t the case, Sylvia’s silver hair and golden eyes would inevitably remind one of Cassis.

“I attended the Yggdrasil [a prestigious academy] together…”

“Sylvia.”

It was almost unconscious that I spoke her name.

The person in front of me paused for a moment at my words.

But that was only for a moment, and soon Sylvia drew an even brighter smile on her face than before.

* * *

“Hoo…”

I looked at the ceiling of the bathroom and was immersed in a subtle mood.

Sylvia’s clear smile, without a single blemish, flickered before my eyes.

Originally, Sylvia at this time in the novel was not such an innocent, cheerful, and lively girl.

Because the genre of that novel was a dark and hopeless one.

And Sylvia, as the heroine of a dark novel, lost her purity and brightness as the story progressed.

Then, in the end, she learned that her brother had died at the hands of Agriche, and she vowed revenge, shedding tears of blood in sorrow.

But seeing Sylvia’s lively appearance like this, I couldn’t help but feel strange. It was a similar feeling to seeing the grown-up Cassis.

Still, she seemed to have a fairly mature appearance at the Harmony Assembly, but seeing her like this, Sylvia still seemed young.

Come to think of it, she was the same age as Jeremy.

“……”

Splash.

I submerged myself completely in the water.

Bubbles rose to the surface, and the thoughts in my head scattered with them.

* * *

By the time I had completely finished my bath and went outside, the sun had already set.

My whole body was languid, probably because I had been in the hot water for quite a while.

I had asked about getting help with dressing a little while ago, but I had sent everyone away, saying I didn’t need it. I wondered if I shouldn’t have done that.

I roughly put on a gown and staggered to the sofa.

I was only going to sit down for a moment, but I must have dozed off again.

When I opened my eyes again, someone was trying to move me to the bed.

“…Did you do something to me?”

As I murmured softly in a sleepy voice, Cassis looked down at me while holding me in his arms.

“It’s not normal to just fall asleep again as soon as you open your eyes. You didn’t deliberately use some other method to keep me from running away, did you?”

Or perhaps Cassis had forcibly made me fall asleep to restore my energy, I suspected.

Then Cassis said in a calm voice, as if telling me not to have useless thoughts.

“It just means your body needs that much rest.”

I looked up at his shadowed eyes and then lowered my gaze.

“Put me down. I’ve slept enough for today.”

Cassis didn’t put me down right away but went back to the sofa and sat me down on it.

Come to think of it, how much time has passed?

Sylvia said she would wait in another room to see me again after I finished my bath.

“What about your sister?”

“I sent her back a while ago.”

I guess it was too late, so she just went back. Still, I was glad she wasn’t still waiting.

Of course, it wasn’t like we had made a promise; it was just that Sylvia unilaterally said that and left….

Still, I couldn’t refuse when I saw that smiling face, so if I see her again next time, I should at least apologize.

“You must be hungry, so I’ll have dinner prepared in your room.”

Cassis moved without asking my opinion.

He seemed to already know that I would say no. I knew from experience that it wouldn’t work to say I wasn’t hungry here.

“Is this Fedelian?”

“As you guessed.”

In the end, I ended up having a late dinner as Cassis wanted.

But I still didn’t have much of an appetite, so I opened my mouth while aimlessly fiddling with the spoon in my hand.

“Your sister seemed quite happy to see me.”

“It seemed so.”

I couldn’t read anything from Cassis’s lukewarm answer.

However, his eyes became slightly softer.

Sylvia unexpectedly welcomed me more than I had thought.

Now, on one side of the table, there was a bouquet of flowers that she had given me earlier. I glanced at it.

I wondered what Cassis had said about me.

Should I admire Cassis’s skill in making his sister welcome me like this?

I didn’t come to Fedelian for any particular reason or intention.

It was just as Cassis said; it didn’t matter where I went anyway.

I didn’t really have anywhere to go, and I didn’t want to go anywhere, so I thought it didn’t matter if the destination was Fedelian.

For now, I was following Cassis and was here in Fedelian, but I didn’t think of this place as my final destination.

If the person who had asked me to go with them wasn’t Cassis, I wouldn’t have refused.

“It’s quite quiet here. Judging from the fact that I don’t feel much presence, there are hardly any people here, right?”

“It’s a guest annex, so it’s not usually used.”

I guess it wasn’t the main building after all.

There were probably two reasons why he had taken me to the annex.

First, because of the risk that my body, which could lose control again, would be affected by the poison.

Second, because he couldn’t completely ignore the eyes of others when bringing me, who belonged to Agriche, into Fedelian.

Of course, Cassis had acted without any hesitation on the way here, but anyway, that was outside.

Now that I had entered Fedelian, Cassis might need to be careful about his behavior.

With that thought, I stared at Cassis. Then, he slightly hardened his expression.