Roxana
Chapter 20
Chapter 20
How to Protect the Female Lead’s Older Brother
Chapter 20
* * *
Once Cassis had disappeared into the washroom, I gathered the tray and his torn clothes from the floor.
The bowl on the tray was empty. It seemed he had remembered to take the pain medicine as well.
I was relieved he hadn’t repeated his earlier suspicion, demanding to know how he could possibly trust anything I gave him to eat.
For now, at least, Cassis seemed to have chosen to remain quietly in this room.
Perhaps, having taken stock of his own physical condition, he had arrived at that conclusion himself.
Whatever the reason, it was a wise decision.
Wounded as he was, even if he managed the near-impossible feat of slipping out of the mansion, demonic beasts would tear him apart before he could even cross the estate’s boundary.
The faint rush of water from the washroom broke through my wandering thoughts.
Because of the chain fastened around Cassis’s neck, the door could not be shut completely, remaining slightly ajar.
Hearing the sounds filtering through the narrow opening left me feeling a little strange once more.
Still, deciding not to dwell on it, I summoned a butterfly. The dark crimson butterfly, carrying my intent, fluttered through the air and melted into the wall.
Now, if anything happened to Cassis in this room, a signal would reach me immediately.
In truth, I would have preferred to place a direct watch on Cassis himself, but the thought gave me pause—he might notice. So, for lack of a better alternative, I had settled on securing the room instead.
More pressing was the lingering unease over the lack of word from the butterfly I had sent to the western perimeter.
I had assumed Pedelian’s search party would already be scouring the border regions for Cassis, but were they still absent?
Just as I was contemplating whether to dispatch another butterfly, Cassis stepped out from the washroom.
Having washed and changed into fresh clothes, he looked decidedly more presentable than before.
Catching sight of me sitting on the edge of the bed, he came to an abrupt halt. But with nowhere else to sit in the room, I had little choice in the matter.
“Come here and sit.”
Glancing at the bandages and medicine set beside me, Cassis seemed to deduce why I had called him over.
“I can do it myself.”
“Really? And what about the wounds on your back?”
A slight frown creased Cassis’s brow. I tilted my head to the side, looking at him as though asking what the problem was.
“Don’t worry. I’ve done this plenty of times since I was young—I’m good at it.”
Though I could have summoned a physician, this was a prime opportunity to show him kindness.
It seemed worthwhile to build up a quiet sense of debt in him, piece by small piece, in ways just like this.
It was, of course, a rather shallow and calculating scheme.
“You’ve done this plenty of times since you were young?”
After a brief pause, Cassis echoed my words with a questioning edge.
Seeing him react like that, he clearly knew little of how children were raised in the Agriche family.
“Yes. Whenever my oppa got hurt, I treated him every day.”
It was the truth, albeit a slightly embellished one.
Asil had indeed been clumsy from a young age, sustaining injuries day after day throughout his training.
Since calling a physician every time was out of the question, Mother and I had treated him on occasion.
Yet considering how young I was back then, would anyone have truly entrusted the treatment of severe wounds to a child like me?
At most, I had merely pressed bandages over shallow grazes.
Even so, if I framed it this way, might Cassis be a little more inclined to trust me with his wounds?
Besides, unlike in my childhood, it was true that my skill in treating injuries had vastly improved.
Having been tossed around and tested in every conceivable way since I was young, there were many times I had no choice but to tend to my own wounds.
Cassis still stood frozen in place, gazing down at me. With his back to the candlestick, the shadows swallowed his features, making his expression difficult to read.
I had no way of telling what kind of look he wore on his face.
When he remained motionless like that for quite some time, impatience began to stir within me.
Just as I was about to gently urge him again, he finally broke his stillness and moved forward.
Meeting my eyes once, Cassis began undoing the buttons of his shirt.
Slipping down from his shoulders, the fabric dropped completely below his waist.
“I can manage the rest myself.”
Which meant I was only to treat his back, where his own hands couldn’t reach.
I stole a glance at Cassis as he sat with his back turned to me.
…Was it just my imagination?
For some reason, his guard seemed to have lowered just a fraction.
Narrowing my eyes, I cast my gaze down at his wound-covered back.
Perhaps from the contact with water earlier, fresh blood was seeping from the cuts once again.
Still, cleansing the torn flesh was necessary to stave off infection.
Using a clean towel, I wiped away the blood welling on his skin before setting to work on his injuries in earnest.
The moment my fingertips first brushed his skin, Cassis’s arm twitched ever so slightly.
That aside, the muscles along his back were remarkably well sculpted.
Without a single trace of excess fat to be found no matter how closely one looked, he had clearly trained with absolute rigor.
He really would have met a horrific fate if he had fallen into Charlotte’s hands. She likely would have started by flaying the skin right along the lines of those muscles.
Not only that, but seeing him this close revealed a frame that was straight, balanced, and striking.
The straight, unbroken line of his spine and the sharp contours of his shoulder blades were especially arresting.
Among my half-siblings were those with the vile taste for collecting bones and internal organs.
Had they laid eyes on Cassis, they would have salivated without question.
Why did this man possess such fine bone structure on top of an already striking face?
I looked upon Cassis with a pitying gaze.
The people of Agriche truly had the most bizarre fascinations.
It occurred to me that the novel’s Cassis might have suffered a fate far more gruesome than I had initially imagined.
Shaking my head, I felt another pang of sympathy for the wretched fate he had met in the pages of that story.
I needed to stop getting distracted and focus on the task at hand.
My hands set back to work diligently.
Come to think of it, Cassis hadn’t spoken a single word for quite some time. Once I noticed it, the profound silence hanging over the room felt unnatural.
I flicked my eyes toward him, but with his back turned, I couldn’t catch his expression.
“Does it hurt where I’m touching?”
My voice echoed faintly in the quiet air.
“Tell me if it hurts. I’ll be more gentle.”
Cassis offered neither confirmation nor denial. Lessening the pressure in my hands, I treated his wounds with a soft, careful touch.
“How is it now?”
Right at that moment, Cassis jerked violently. A moment later, a firm grip clamped down around my wrist.
“That’s enough. Stop.”
A chilling voice rang in my ears.
Before I could react, Cassis thrust my hand away, snatched up the shirt he had discarded, and pulled it back over his frame.
I had a fair idea of what had provoked such a reaction.
Hm. So he does see me as a woman after all.
Feigning absolute ignorance, I addressed him in a gentle tone.
“I can tend to the rest of your injuries too.”
“There’s no need.”
The rejection came back instantly, sharp as a blade. Wearing an icy expression, Cassis refused to even look at me.
After receiving such cold treatment, I stepped out of the room.
Just why, exactly, had Cassis lowered his guard around me earlier?
Standing just outside the closed door, I pondered the question.
At first, he had looked entirely unwilling to let me near his wounds.
I wanted to know what on earth had driven him to make such an impulsive decision.
Weighing the possibilities in my mind, I started down the hall.
