Roxana
Chapter 43
Chapter 43
The Way to Protect the Female Lead’s Older Brother
Chapter 43
* * *
“Lady Maria instructed me to deliver this to Lady Roxana immediately.”
Waiting for me outside Cassis’s door was Maria’s maid.
She handed me a basket overflowing with armfuls of red blossoms.
Looking at the garish ribbon tied around it, I could not help but grimace.
When I carried it into the room, Cassis glanced at me as if asking what it was.
“I received it right outside.”
Giving a brief explanation, I unfolded the note tucked inside the basket.
A hollow laugh slipped from my lips.
Maria wrote that I must bring Cassis with me to the next tea party, adding that she hoped I liked the gifts she had sent.
After what had transpired a mere three days ago, to casually extend another invitation to a tea party.
I had known it before, but she truly was an astounding woman.
I had wondered why the note referred to ‘gifts’ in the plural when there were only flowers, but then my eyes caught a small vial buried deep among the petals.
What could this be now?
The liquid inside the glass bottle was colorless, making it impossible to identify simply by looking.
Without hesitation, I uncorked it and took a whiff. Then I shoved the bottle back among the blossoms.
What Maria had sent was none other than an aphrodisiac.
No wonder her maid had been waiting specifically outside Cassis’s room.
Even so, quite a few people seemed to have seen the marks left on Cassis’s neck during the incident, so that much was satisfactory.
“Was that also a gift from your father’s subordinate?”
“No, from one of my mothers.”
The flowers in the basket were poisonous blooms that could be put to good use, so I was pleased with them.
Still, seeing that she had sent a gift like this, witnessing the friction between Deon and me firsthand must have weighed on her mind in its own way.
“How is your mother?”
Just then, Cassis, who had been staring quietly at the red blossoms in the basket, asked after my mother in passing.
“She has improved a great deal. She was merely shaken and drained from the shock to begin with.”
Affectionate words still did not pass between us, yet his attitude toward me had subtly shifted.
It was as if his sharp edges had been smoothed away to some degree. My lie to him seemed to have played its part as well.
I had deliberately inflicted several wounds on my own body, pretending Lant had punished me over his escape attempt.
Of course, I had not stated it outright; I simply allowed the wounds to catch Cassis’s eye, then pretended to hide them while dropping hints to imply what had happened.
Every time I visited this room, I deliberately made my complexion appear paler, so my performance must have seemed quite convincing.
The day he first fell for my deception, Cassis had stared at me in silence for a long time, his gaze rigid and cold.
He had not said anything in particular, yet I could tell from the way he looked at me afterward.
Cassis felt guilty toward me.
Even though, for him, seizing an opportunity to escape this place was the most justifiable course of action.
Realizing that, I felt a twinge of guilt toward him as well. Even more so because the way he treated me had grown strangely gentle.
It might have been because no real punishment had been inflicted upon him after his failed escape, or because he had seen how hard I tried to protect him.
Furthermore, since Cassis believed the blueprints I gave him were genuine, it must have served as proof that my desire to help him was sincere.
On top of that, there was the matter involving my mother and Deon, among other things.
“The man who activated my restraints that day… his name was Deon Agriche, wasn’t it?”
It seemed my intuition was right after all. Hearing Deon’s name fall from Cassis’s lips felt strangely unfamiliar.
As if recalling that day, his gaze sank colder than before.
Cassis watched me in silence for a moment before finally opening his mouth again.
“Do you know that he shoved that monster in front of your mother on purpose?”
I looked at Cassis in silence for a moment before answering.
“I know.”
At that, the emotion swirling within Cassis’s golden eyes shifted.
His gaze spoke for him, asking how such a thing could possibly happen.
Looking at him, a faint, dry laugh escaped me before I could stop it.
“Because he’s an Agriche.”
Besides, he was Deon Agriche of all people.
He was a man who had already killed Asil; there was no reason he could not kill my mother.
Suddenly, I felt Cassis’s gaze brush against my cheek. A faint mark left by Deon still lingered there.
“Come to think of it, I have two pieces of good news for you.”
I deliberately brightened my voice and changed the subject. For some reason, discussing that day with Cassis felt uncomfortable.
“One is that the door to the secret passage I mentioned before will open soon.”
There was a problem with the secret passage I intended to use for Cassis’s escape.
Namely, that it opened only on the eve of the Monthly Evaluation.
“You mean the secret passage you mentioned earlier?”
“Yes. Remember when I said there was a minor issue? That door isn’t always open—it has specific times when it unseals.”
During every Monthly Evaluation, certain labyrinths and secret passages had their entrances opened. Among them were obsolete doors that were no longer in use.
Doors once used for various purposes, but rendered useless and forgotten over time.
The one I had taken note of was a door sealed off because using the passage itself had become far too dangerous.
Cassis was looking at me with an unreadable expression.
It was a look that said discussing an escape with me felt utterly bizarre.
Since he had attempted to break out all on his own just a few days ago, his reaction was understandable.
“And the other thing is…”
I shared the second piece of news, which might be even more welcome to him.
“Yesterday, I spotted some people lingering near the border. I believe they were sent by Pedelian.”
At that moment, the very air around Cassis seemed to freeze.
Recalling the imagery I had seen through the poison butterfly, I continued.
“Mid-thirties, brown hair, and green eyes. He wore an eyepatch over one eye—do you know him? He seemed to be leading the group.”
Seeing the look on Cassis’s face, the group I had discovered was indeed sent by Pedelian.
“Where did you spot them?”
“Along the southeastern border.”
The Karantul habitat where Deon had gone was in the east, so honestly, it had been a close call.
“It would help if you gave me something to prove your existence.”
I expected Cassis to ask more questions, but instead, he took action immediately.
Then again, even if he had asked, there was hardly anything more I could have answered.
“Give me one of those flowers.”
At his request, I pulled a bloom from the basket and handed it to him.
Cassis then plucked a single leaf from the stem.
Pricking his finger to draw blood, he wrote something upon it.
Was it a cipher used by Pedelian? It looked like writing, yet also resembled an emblem.
While I briefly inspected the leaf Cassis handed me, he looked down at the flower I had given him with an unreadable gaze.
Soon, his eyes quietly shifted toward me.
“If I were to say I fully trust you right now, it would likely be a lie.”
I met his steadfast gaze.
His calm golden eyes were clear and deep, like the waters of a sacred spring untouched by impurity.
“We both already know that neither our circumstances nor our relationship allow for such a thing, so even if I said as much, you wouldn’t believe me either.”
Still looking straight into my eyes, he spoke in a voice as resolute as his gaze.
“Even if your words and actions toward me do not stem from genuine goodwill… for the help I am receiving from you…”
Feeling as though I had heard something unexpected, I looked at Cassis.
“…it is only right that I express my gratitude.”
It was the first time Cassis had initiated such a serious conversation with me.
He had seemed deep in thought ever since that incident, but I never expected him to say something like this.
Meeting that unwavering, solid gaze, I felt at a loss for words.
I did not know how to describe this feeling.
I could tell that Cassis was treating me with complete sincerity right now.
If it had been me, I would have adopted a friendlier demeanor and used flattering words to soften the other person’s resolve before taking advantage of them.
I could lie as naturally as breathing if it meant swaying others to my advantage.
Yet Cassis was someone entirely removed from such ways.
I already knew that, but realizing it anew left a strange feeling inside me.
Was it because I had grown accustomed to the people of Agriche, who were so adept at deception?
It was strange.
Facing Cassis’s upright gaze, my chest tightened for some reason.
This feeling was similar to what I felt three days ago when I heard he had saved my mother.
“It’s too early for thanks. You’re still in Agriche.”
Even though I had wanted Cassis to feel indebted to me from the very start, hearing those words from him made me feel strangely uneasy.
“Right. The place I’m in is still Agriche.”
Still, if things continued like this, I would certainly be able to avoid the death flags from the novel just as I wanted, so at least that was a relief.
However he interpreted my subtle awkwardness and discomfort, Cassis’s eyes softened just a fraction more.
“Roxana.”
“What is it?”
A moment later, Cassis stopped fiddling with the red flower I gave him and called my name.
“There’s something I’ve wanted to ask since last time.”
“What?”
“These flowers… did you take them knowing what they are?”