Roxana
Chapter 18
Chapter 18
The Way to Protect the Female Lead’s
Older Brother
Chapter 18
Could what my head is resting on right now actually be… her lap…?
In that brief span of time, Cassis agonized countless times over whether he should just come to his senses and pretend to wake up.
Had Roxana not been stroking his hair so gently, he might truly have opened his eyes.
Yet the warm touch tickling his forehead left him even more tongue-tied than before.
For some reason, Cassis could not shake the feeling that he had become utterly shameless.
Of course, this situation was by no means something he had asked for or encouraged.
Even so, feigning innocence and continuing to play asleep made him feel profoundly cowardly.
“I really don’t want to die…”
As Cassis was silently tormented by his conscience, a quiet soliloquy suddenly drifted down from above.
It was a soft murmur from Roxana, who seemed lost in thought while stroking his hair.
Not understanding what her words meant, Cassis felt a wave of bewilderment.
Yet Roxana said nothing more.
Cassis, too, had to devote all his concentration to keeping his expression neutral, keenly aware of the hand tenderly caressing him.
“How strange.”
Then, at some point, the hand brushing through his hair paused.
“Did someone bathe you in the meantime? Why is your hair so soft?”
Had Cassis’s eyes been open, his pupils would undoubtedly have quivered in that instant.
“And there’s no smell at all.”
This time, his body trembled ever so faintly despite himself.
He wanted nothing more than to pull away from her, but having feigned unconsciousness, he could not make a single move.
As if she had caught that inadvertent twitch, a noticeably sharper gaze fell upon his face.
Though Roxana did not notice, the tips of Cassis’s ears had flushed faintly red.
The thing puzzling her at that moment was tied to the unique constitution he had inherited from the Pedelian bloodline.
Cassis could not help but panic, never having expected her to perceive it so sharply and question it.
On top of that, the fact that the person pointing it out so directly was a girl of his own age tangled his thoughts into an even greater mess.
Fortunately, Roxana did not lean in closer to smell him any further, nor did she fondle his hair with greater scrutiny.
Naturally, by this point, Cassis truly could not bring himself to open his eyes.
He merely prayed that this agonizing ordeal would pass quickly.
“…It feels a bit ridiculous saying this to someone unconscious, but I’m sorry I couldn’t stop it earlier.”
A quiet, gentle voice sounded from above once more. Cassis listened in silence as Roxana apologized for what had happened before.
“Still, that won’t happen anymore from now on. Now that you belong to me, no one else can touch you as they please.”
The hand stroking his hair was endlessly gentle and tender.
So much so that, for a fleeting moment, he almost forgot she was the daughter of his enemy, Lant Agriche.
“I will make sure you get out of here.”
This time as well, there was not a trace of falsehood in her voice.
It was undeniably strange, yet…
Cassis slowly released the tension in his body, which he had kept poised for action ever since Roxana had entered the room.
…For now, at least, it seemed there would be no need to strike her.
Thinking that the air lingering around them was strangely, almost miraculously tranquil, Cassis let out a shallow breath.
It was late in the evening when I went to see Cassis again.
In the end, I had been forced to leave earlier without finding any other proof that he was awake.
Fortunately, this time I found Cassis with his eyes open.
The moment I opened the door, my gaze met golden eyes that shone with a vivid brilliance even in the dark.
I froze for an instant, but kept my expression neutral as I turned and closed the door behind me.
When I touched the sconce mounted on the wall, the room brightened considerably.
It had been crafted using arts to sustain the flames at a desired intensity, and earlier I had dimmed it so Cassis could rest peacefully.
I considered brightening it further, but decided against it, thinking it might be awkward to face Cassis under too glaring a light.
Thus, the candles were lit just enough for us to make out each other’s faces.
Beneath the soft glow, Cassis watched me in silence.
He sat leaning against the wall, not far from where he had been lying earlier.
Perhaps because he was quite far from the sconce, half of his face was draped in deep shadow.
Watching him observe me without a sound, half-hidden in darkness, made him look like a wild beast warily sizing up an intruder in its territory.
“Your injuries aren’t light; you really ought to stay lying down.”
I started to ask how his body was feeling, but decided not to waste my breath on such pointless words.
It had barely been half a day since I personally tended to his wounds.
Unless he were superhuman, there was no way his condition could have improved so quickly.
“A physician came by to treat you earlier. Do you feel pain anywhere else, or have any discomfort?”
At my words, Cassis’s brow twitched into a faint scowl. His narrowed eyes remained fixed on me.
I wished I possessed the ability to read other people’s minds.
Then I could know what Cassis was thinking before me right now.
And I could also confirm whether he had genuinely passed out when we met earlier.
Yet the face looking back at me revealed none of his inner thoughts.
After a brief pause, Cassis parted his lips and gave a curt reply.
“…Not particularly.”
Was it just my imagination?
The silence before his answer felt a fraction too long.
“I brought some painkillers. Would you like some?”
I took a few steps closer to Cassis. This time, I did not wait for an answer.
“Before that, I brought a little food for you to eat. Fill your stomach first.”
The tray in my hands held a simple meal alongside the medicine.
Even so, it was merely soft bread and soup.
After starving for so long, Cassis could not possibly stomach anything greasy right away.
Of course, I had given him a nutrient-dense pill as a meal substitute earlier, but that could hardly be called proper food.
I approached Cassis and set the tray down beside him.
“It will be uncomfortable without a table or chairs. The dangerous items in this room were all cleared out long ago.”
To be honest, I had been subtly bracing myself from the moment I walked in, wary that Cassis might attack me.
Unlike in the dungeon, his limbs were secured with long chains, allowing him some freedom of movement within a certain radius.
Yet Cassis merely watched my movements in silence, not stirring from his spot.
“You could have simply ordered a servant to do this.”
He merely murmured in a dry, flat voice.
His response eased my mind slightly.
Before entering this room, I had spent a great deal of time worrying about what to do if Cassis proved hostile.
“I instructed the servants to prepare some clothes.”
Naturally, I chose not to mention that I had come myself out of fear that Cassis might attack any servant who entered.
Nor that I had considered the possibility of him resorting to violence in an attempt to escape.
In any case, with Cassis’s current physical condition, escaping from Agriche was impossible. But his own thoughts might well differ.
So if Cassis were to cause a commotion, I had to resolve it before word reached Lant Agriche’s ears.
After all, my martial skill far surpassed that of the household servants, and I was prepared to knock Cassis unconscious again if worst came to worst.
Besides, were Cassis and I not in the same boat from this moment forward?
Therefore, it would be best for us to see each other often, if only to build some rapport.
“The clothes you have on are far too dirty. They’re badly torn, too. Once the new clothes arrive later, it would be best to change into them.”
With that in mind, I spoke with gentle warmth.
Right at that moment, Cassis’s expression shifted. Yet the meaning behind it seemed distinctly negative.
Whatever he was thinking, the gaze he directed at me held a sharp edge.
How odd. If my eyes were not deceiving me, mingled within Cassis’s gaze was a faint trace of shame.
Deep suspicion surged within me once more.
What? Was this man really awake earlier after all?
However, Cassis broke eye contact before I could linger on it, preventing me from examining his gaze closely enough.
Soon, Cassis spoke in a slow, deliberate manner.
“So…”
The voice that followed was as rigid as his expression.
“Now that I’ve become your plaything, what exactly am I supposed to do?”
