Roxana
Chapter 23
Chapter 23
The Way to Protect the Female Lead’s Older Brother
Chapter 23
“I don’t want to die…”
Cassis had only been pretending to be unconscious at the time, which was how he had heard Roxana’s quiet murmur.
Back then, not knowing what she meant by it, he had pushed it to the back of his mind, but…
Seeing the red blood splattered on the floor now, those words suddenly resurfaced and began to linger in his mind.
Moreover, the conversation between the men who had first dragged Cassis to this room also came unbidden to mind.
“Speaking of the Fourth Madam. She brought up Young Master Asil’s name earlier, didn’t she?”
“Does this guy look like Young Master Asil? I don’t think they look alike at all.”
“Right? I wondered why Lady Roxana and the Madam were taking an interest in such a thing. Do they look alike in their eyes?”
“Isn’t his age about the same as when Young Master Asil died? Maybe seeing him in such a state made them think of Young Master Asil even more.”
Memories of that day, which might have had nothing to do with what just happened, left an uncomfortable weight on Cassis’s heart.
It felt as if a coarse grain of sand had lodged in his chest.
He had felt something like this once before.
When Roxana offered to treat his wounds with her own hands.
The moment he saw Roxana bringing up her older brother, his own younger sister, Sylvia, had crossed his mind for a fleeting instant.
Had it not been for that, Cassis would never have allowed Roxana to treat his back.
Frowning, Cassis roughly swept back the bangs covering his eyes.
Just before opening the door to leave, the faint smile Roxana had shown him flickered before his eyes for a moment.
“Still, I thought you hated me… To care this much even about someone like that, you really are kind.”
“Thank you.”
And the quiet words she had whispered. The dry, grating sensation in his chest worsened slightly.
Cassis knitted his brows deeper, shaking away the useless thoughts.
Then, suddenly remembering the lunch he had forgotten until now, he turned his gaze toward the bed.
The food on the tray had already gone cold.
Though he still had no appetite, Cassis nonetheless silently forced it all down.
Right. For now, recovering his physical strength was the top priority.
If only for the sake of his family, who even at this very moment were surely sick with worry over him.
* * *
As soon as I returned to my room, I washed off the blood on my body.
I also sent Jeremy back to his room for now, as the blood from my hands had smeared onto his hair as well.
After bathing, Jeremy came looking for me again and loitered around my room for quite a while before finally leaving.
Finally left alone, I sat down on the edge of the bed.
When I rolled up my sleeve, the bandage wrapped around my arm was revealed.
Perhaps because I had wrapped it roughly after washing, it seemed not to have applied proper pressure.
Blood was still seeping from the wound, staining the bandage red.
It was the very wound I had carved with my own dagger in the incubation room earlier.
I moved my hands to unwind the bandage around my arm. Soon, the skin marked with a long laceration came into view.
“Everyone, it’s time to eat.”
After checking the bleeding wound, I summoned the butterflies.
Soon, dark red butterflies began to appear in the air one by one.
The sight of a dozen or so butterflies fluttering down onto the bleeding wound could, in a way, be considered somewhat grotesque.
However, it couldn’t be helped, as the poison butterflies’ staple diet was their host’s blood.
The fact that I had already hatched one poison butterfly egg was still a secret.
So I had lied to everyone that out of the three poison butterfly eggs, the two that matured first had both failed to hatch and died.
In truth, however, only one had died.
The butterfly I had sent to the western border a while ago, as well as the one I had attached to Cassis’s room, were both poison butterflies from that first hatched egg.
It seemed my affinity with the poison butterflies was even better than expected.
Of course, I had hoped for this ever since retrieving the eggs from their habitat, but it was still astonishing that I had truly imprinted on and awakened a poison butterfly, whose hatching rate was a mere thirty percent.
As magical beasts close to semi-spiritual entities, poison butterflies were vastly different from ordinary creatures.
Normally, they concealed their form and only materialized before my eyes when I called them.
Poison butterflies born from a single egg possessed the habit of multiplying on their own to form a swarm.
Right now, I only possessed a dozen or so, but as time passed, they would continue to multiply among themselves, numbering in the dozens, then hundreds.
Moreover, the poison butterflies’ traits changed depending on what kind of poison and how potent a poison they were fed.
Thus, it was understandable how someone who became a host to poison butterflies could end up being devoured alive if they failed to supply enough food in time for the multiplied swarm.
In that sense, belonging to the Agriche family—which possessed all manner of poisons—put me at an advantage when it came to raising poison butterflies.
Fortunately, the poison butterflies I hatched were exceedingly fond of my blood.
So until I, their host, died, they would remain completely subservient to me and surely serve as a powerful weapon. In my future plans, the poison butterflies would prove to be a remarkably useful card.
That was why I had not disclosed to anyone until now that I had previously hatched one of the poison butterfly eggs.
I intended to keep this secret from Jeremy, from Mother, and even from my subordinate, Emily.
At least until the day I successfully helped Cassis escape from Agriche.
Seeing that the bleeding from the wound on my arm had finally stopped completely, I sent all but one of the poison butterflies back.
“To the western border.”
I commanded the remaining butterfly to check on the western border.
Perhaps because this was the first time I had sent one across such a great distance, the connection with the butterfly I had previously dispatched to the western border had grown faint, making it impossible to recall.
Since I was still inexperienced, handling multiple butterflies at once was somewhat difficult.
It seemed I would have to increase the amount of poison I ingested in order to strengthen my bond with the poison butterflies.
A moment later, I called Emily to my room and instructed her to increase the types and dosage of poisons I would consume from now on.
* * *
I was currently a minor, and there were still lessons I had to receive until I came of age.
“Oh my, isn’t that Sana?”
And so, on my way back from the training room today, I ran into someone unwelcome.
The woman standing with a parasol along the path thick with lush greenery was none other than Deon’s mother, Maria.
With her brown hair and purple eyes, she approached with an overjoyed expression the moment she saw me.
“Hello. You must be out for a walk.”
The moment I saw Maria, I almost grimaced without realizing it.
However, hiding my displeasure, I greeted her in a gentle voice.
“Sana, you really seem to grow prettier every time I see you.”
Just as she always did whenever she saw me, Maria stood before me and marveled at my beauty.
She wore her emotions so openly on her sleeve that it was hard to believe she was the mother of Deon, whose true thoughts were utterly inscrutable.
The look on her face as she admired mine even seemed innocent.
With her round, gentle-looking face and petite frame, she felt almost like a cute little animal when viewed this closely.
Behind her trailed a long line of women who appeared to be maids.
Though her demeanor was exceedingly warm and affectionate, I found her uncomfortable.
The mere fact that she was Deon’s mother was reason enough for me to avoid Maria.
Yet even putting that aside, I simply felt uncomfortable around the person she was.
Maria was Lant Agriche’s third wife.
She was well-known among the wives for her bright and magnanimous personality, which was a world apart from Jeremy’s mother or my own.
“Sierra’s beauty is still as radiant as ever, as if time alone has bypassed her, yet how is it that you are even lovelier than your mother?”
“You flatter me.”
“Flatter you? I doubt there even exists a word in this world adequate enough to describe your beauty.”
Maria examined my face, showering me with unending praise from start to finish.
“Oh, right. Since it’s fate that we ran into each other like this, why don’t we have a cup of tea together in the garden?”
Seeing her make such a casual invitation made it feel as though where we stood was not the Agriche estate, but some sun-drenched holiday resort.
“Come to think of it, it’s been a while since I last saw Deon. Honestly, the children in this household are far too busy. Since we have this rare chance, it might be nice to call Deon over as well.”
