Roxana
Chapter 61
Chapter 61
How to Protect the
Female Lead’s Older Brother
Chapter 61
* * *
“E-Excuse me. Agriche-yang?”
On her way back to the lodging, a man approached Roxana.
For a fleeting moment, his hair appeared silver, making her pause, but looking again, it was stark white.
“Our head, that is to say… wished very much to give this to Agriche-yang, so I came in his stead.”
“Please tell him I am grateful.”
Roxana accepted the bouquet and hastened her steps.
The man hesitated, trailing after her for a moment as if he had more to say.
Yet Roxana did not spare him the slightest bit of attention.
Her mind was already racing with other thoughts.
That Cassis had finally stepped into the open meant the time had come.
“Indeed. A grand party will begin soon.”
A sweet, chilling smile bloomed across Roxana’s face.
In her grip, the gorgeously blooming roses were crushed to pieces.
Leaving the red petals scattering through the air behind her, Roxana walked on.
* * *
A moment later, she arrived at Lant Agriche’s room.
Just as expected, having failed to make contact with Noel Bertium, he was pacing restlessly about the room.
“Father, I believe we must return to Agriche right away.”
At Roxana’s words, Lant showed confusion.
“What do you mean by that?”
“I just met Deon oppa and heard the news…”
Lant’s face contorted fiercely.
“Fontaine oppa has staged a rebellion while you were away, Father.”
* * *
They departed Yggdrasil immediately.
Fortunately, Jeremy, who had left the banquet hall earlier at Roxana’s direction, had already instructed the servants to make preparations.
They were able to finish packing and head for Agriche without delay.
“It is reported that Lant Agriche has just left the castle.”
The news reached Cassis as well. Before long, he had already shed the formal attire he wore at the banquet.
“And the preparations?”
“Completed as you instructed.”
“We depart at once.”
Instead of polished shoes, rugged leather boots tread upon the red carpet lining the corridor.
The deep-blue cloak draped over his shoulders swayed with his disciplined stride.
Stripped of his formal dress, Cassis looked less like a noble young master and far more like a seasoned warrior—or a veteran hunter.
Today was the final day of the Harmony Conference, and the banquet was still in full swing.
Perhaps for that reason, no one lingered idly around the quarters.
Then, Cassis caught sight of his younger sister, Sylvia. Having changed into traveling clothes just like Cassis, Sylvia approached him.
“Oppa, you have to be careful.”
Golden eyes, resembling Cassis’s yet radiating a far warmer and gentler light, looked up at him with quiet concern.
Cassis reached out and lightly ruffled his sister’s hair.
“Return with Father. Once everything is settled, I will head straight to Pedelian as well.”
Having already discussed everything, there was no need to see his father, Richel, separately now.
Cassis departed Yggdrasil as quietly as he had arrived.
His destination was Agriche, where his long-held score remained to be settled.
* * *
A blazing crimson sunset fell across the horizon.
An ominous tension hung over Agriche, so thick it felt almost foreign.
That foreboding aura was palpable not only inside the castle walls, but from the exterior as well.
“Drag that bastard before my eyes this instant!”
Lant barked the command the moment he entered the manor.
Having learned of his eldest son’s rebellion, he was in a towering rage.
Lant ordered Fontaine to be brought to the Room of Judgment, the place where he handed down sentences with his own hands and punished transgressors.
Perhaps because a major upheaval had erupted in Lant’s absence, the mansion’s interior was in slight disarray.
Several siblings and mistresses intrigued by the commotion peeked out from their rooms.
Among them was Griselda, Roxana’s older half-sister.
Roxana, following behind Lant, caught sight of her and slowed her pace. Griselda quietly fell in behind her.
Watching Lant’s back as he walked ahead, Roxana parted her lips slightly.
“The preparations?”
“All done.”
Not a flicker of expression stirred across Roxana’s face. With that exchange finished, the two parted distance once more.
A red butterfly drifted away from Roxana and melted quietly into the wall, vanishing from sight.
“Jeremy. Secure the outside.”
“Got it, noona.”
Soon, Roxana stepped into the Room of Judgment behind her father, Lant Agriche.
* * *
Shortly after, a bound Fontaine was dragged into the Room of Judgment.
“Fontaine, you dared to…!”
Lant snarled through gritted teeth, advancing toward Fontaine, who had been forced to his knees on the floor.
Captured on charges of plotting rebellion, Fontaine was heavily wounded.
Considering that even Deon, who had subdued him, sustained an injured arm, one hardly needed to look with their own eyes to know the state Fontaine was in.
“F-Father!”
Seeing Lant approach him, Fontaine hastily spoke.
“This is all a misun—kuh-agh!”
No sooner had he opened his mouth than the cane in Lant’s hand came swinging down.
This Room of Judgment was precisely where Lant had always meted out punishments according to the gravity of crimes, occasionally executing summary judgment with his own hands.
It was also here that he had issued disposal orders for his own children.
Thud! Crack!
Lant swung ruthlessly, as if intent on beating Fontaine to death right where he knelt.
Every time the solid, metal-tipped cane struck Fontaine, blood splattered across the gleaming marble floor.
There was not an ounce of mercy in his blows.
“How dare you!”
Crack! Thud!
“Try to drive a blade into my back…!”
Thud!
Blazing fury burned in Lant’s eyes as he glared down at Fontaine. Murderous intent radiated from him.
Though well into middle age, Lant’s build and strength fell nothing short of Fontaine’s.
Furthermore, Fontaine was bound hand and foot and already badly injured from his previous rough handling.
Thus, he could do nothing but take the assault helplessly.
Crack!
At last, the cane in Lant’s hand snapped. Only then did Lant cease beating Fontaine.
“Worthless insect of a bastard. I raised a creature worse than a beast. To dare strike at your own father’s back.”
Lant glared fiercely at the limp, blood-drenched Fontaine and tossed the broken cane carelessly onto the floor.
“Did you think I wouldn’t know you were scheming behind my back? I had half a mind to give you a chance just in case, and yet you dare betray me like this…!”
Bleeding and collapsed on the floor, Fontaine bore the full brunt of the rage pouring down from above him.
Even as he gritted his teeth against the agonizing pain, his eyes burned with vivid intensity.
Damn it, how was I caught? The entire plan was flawless.
If only that bastard Deon hadn’t suddenly appeared out of nowhere to interfere…!
Smudged with venomous hatred, Fontaine’s eyes glared toward Deon standing by the doorway.
“Father, this is… this is all that bastard Deon trying to frame me! I am innocent—!”
“You still haven’t come to your senses, spouting utter nonsense.”
Even in the face of Fontaine’s desperate plea, Lant remained chillingly cold.
“Did you truly believe I wouldn’t see through your shallow tricks? I was the one who ordered Deon to watch you the moment I learned you were secretly gathering private soldiers!”
At those words, Fontaine’s eyes widened in sheer disbelief.