Roxana
Chapter 96
Chapter 96
How to Protect the Female Lead’s Older Brother
Chapter 96
Even more astonishingly, a moment later, Roxana’s mother, Sierra, entered the room.
“So you truly have awakened.”
Seeing Deon with his eyes open, her expression shifted slightly for a fleeting instant.
Yet she quickly erased any trace of it before addressing him.
Bess, Sierra’s maid, quietly retreated toward the rear, while Emily remained firmly by Sierra’s side.
Though the aura she gave off on the surface was still and quiet, an unmistakable resolve emanated from Emily—the intent to strike Deon down the instant he made a dangerous move.
As proof, Emily positioned herself slightly askew between Sierra and Deon.
The gaze she fixed on Deon resembled one watching a beast on the verge of capture.
“The physician examined your condition and said the strike went deep into your vitals, leaving you in grave danger. I was told that had we been even a moment later, you truly would have died.”
Sierra’s tone was entirely devoid of warmth, flat and barren. The gaze looking down upon Deon was much the same.
“He said you require ample rest, so remain lying down a while longer.”
It was a bizarre situation.
Deon first attempted to shatter the shackles binding his limbs, but his body refused to obey his will.
Every time Deon made the slightest movement, Emily’s gaze tracked him relentlessly.
“Where is this place?”
A voice terribly cracked and hoarse scraped through his vocal cords, spat out into the air.
“What happened to Lant Agriche?”
To Deon’s question, no one offered an answer.
The maid standing furthest back had her face hidden behind Sierra’s back, while Emily maintained an expressionless face.
And Sierra’s expression was difficult to gauge.
With eyes that seemed to hold both dampness and parched dryness at once, she quietly regarded Deon.
“…It seems best for you to sleep a little longer.”
At last, Sierra parted her lips, murmuring softly before turning to leave. Receiving her gaze, Bess moved into action.
Looking at Sierra’s profile, Deon slowly parted his lips once more.
“Why did you bring me here?”
A distant gaze pierced Deon’s face. Bess set a lit candle down upon the table.
In the end, Sierra left the room without offering Deon a single reply.
The potent sleep-inducing incense mixed into the inhaled air rushed down to his lungs like a surging tide.
Swallowed whole by an irresistible, overpowering drowsiness, Deon let his eyelids fall.
He moved to wound his own flesh to keep from falling asleep, but soon lowered his hand slowly.
…Indeed.
Both this sleeping incense and the shackles binding his body.
Perhaps she had brought him here for the sake of vengeance.
Gradually, his vision grew distant.
Without resisting the gentle touch dragging his body down into the deep abyss, Deon closed his eyes.
* * *
“Found her.”
Nyx, Noel’s doll, closed his eyes as though savoring the sweet fragrance brushing the tip of his nose.
At last, a satisfied smile spread across his lips.
Golden hair that looked as if sunlight had been melted down and poured over it fluttered gently in the wind.
The place where he stood was the very canopy of the forest, soaring high as though it would pierce the heavens.
It was a height ordinary humans would never dare dream of, yet Nyx had scaled it with effortless grace, standing firmly atop a slender branch.
Shortly after, Nyx lifted his eyelids.
His eyes were of differing colors.
As he focused his senses through the eye that gleamed like an amethyst, the interior of the distant Pedelian grounds faintly entered his field of vision.
The place where ‘she’ lingered was a garden brimming with fresh verdance.
Veiled behind the crimson afterimages of butterflies and pale green leaves, her face could not be seen clearly.
Yet she was unmistakably the Roxana Agriche whom Noel desired.
Having accepted Noel’s request, Nyx had departed Bertium to track her down.
Afterward, he had stopped by Agriche first to pursue Roxana’s scattered traces.
Yet for the trail leading from there to end up at Pedelian of all places.
This was quite unexpected.
Were the two families not sworn enemies?
Moreover, that Roxana Agriche was a Beast Tamer?
He had never heard anything about her wielding such bizarre butterflies like summoned beasts.
A smile crept onto Nyx’s face—mischievous, like a child on the verge of playing a wicked prank, yet simultaneously carrying a strangely sinister undertone.
This will be entertaining. I should go inform Noel.
Severing the link with his magenta demon eye, he leaped lightly from the treetop.
Landing gracefully upon the earth, Nyx immediately set off toward Bertium.
He found himself looking forward immensely to the festival that would soon unfold.
- The Dolls and the Night of the Masquerade Ball
Before they knew it, thick darkness had filled the room.
“Haah…”
A wet, slick sound resonated between their pressed lips. With every movement of their tongues curling together, rubbing against tender flesh, a heated whimper pooled like sweet nectar.
Roxana’s fingers tangled deep within Cassis’s silver hair.
The two were still entwined atop the bed.
From midday until this late evening hour, she had been thoroughly drained by the storm of ceaseless, raging ecstasy.
She had lost track of how many hours had passed, and how many times she had taken Cassis in.
The sun, which had been high in the sky when she last took notice, was now completely hidden from sight.
Though bright daylight had reigned outside for the entirety of their passion, neither had paid it any mind.
The moment Roxana’s arms draped around Cassis’s back slid down limply, the movement came to a halt.
At this moment, neither of them wore a single stitch of clothing.
As Cassis propped his upper body slightly with his arms, his well-proportioned, muscular torso entered her sight.
Upon Cassis’s nape, the bite marks Roxana had left in the throes of excitement remained vividly carved into his flesh.
Cassis had acted even more fiercely than Roxana, so even without looking, her own body was bound to be in an even worse state.
“…Is it too much?”
A voice sunken so low it sent a chill down her spine flowed into her ear.
The eyes looking down at her still held a pool of unquenched heat.
Cassis took Roxana’s panting lower lip into his mouth once more, drawing on it before letting it go.
He then brushed aside her disheveled hair, lowering his head to lick her earlobe.
All the while, a pure, pristine energy flowed into her through their joined bodies.
Though the series of actions was desperately tender and gentle, she could not afford to be deceived.
As proof, Cassis adjusted his grip on Roxana’s legs, parting them wider still, before proceeding to press his mouth deeply against her throat.
“You’re going to do as you please anyway… why even ask… ah.”
An overwhelming sensation surged violently upward once more.
Truly, he was striking her down only to hand her a remedy. What was the point of restoring her vitality?
Only to drain it away twice as hard.
When she reproached him with that thought, a soft breath of laughter scattered over her face.
“Fair enough.”
Soon after, their bodies overlapped even more deeply than before, forcing a stifled gasp from Roxana.
Asking as if he would stop this very instant if she said it was too much.
Yet it was all a lie. For the past several rounds, he had completely disregarded her wishes.
And despite that, he had an uncanny knack for finding and stimulating only the places where she responded.
Even now, the moment Cassis gently touched her body with his hands and lips, a whimper far removed from any refusal inevitably tore from her mouth.
Finding Cassis somewhat infuriating, Roxana retaliated.
“Ngh…”
At that, Cassis’s brow furrowed deeply for a brief moment. A harshly suppressed sound escaping him scraped against her ears.
The Cassis who was usually so ascetic and composed he seemed almost holy was nowhere to be found in this moment.
Only a man seized by carnal desire looked down at her with a burning gaze, showering her with rough kisses as if to devour her whole.
Only after reaching the pinnacle of pleasure once more was she finally freed from Cassis.
Roxana was completely exhausted, finding it difficult to lift even a single finger. She looked out the window through dimming vision.
Beyond the gap in the curtains, the outside was pitch black, as if one could not see an inch ahead. She wanted nothing more than to sleep without thinking of anything.
Yet Cassis, as though having no intention of letting her rest, grasped her slender ankle and began gently biting into the tender flesh without inflicting pain.
It was the very spot he had touched without thinking, seized by an impulse, when putting on her shoes the last time.