Roxana
Chapter 11
Chapter 11
The Way to Protect the Female Lead’s Oppa
Chapter 11
* * *
“I smell blood.”
Leaving Jeremy and Charlotte behind, Roxana turned her steps toward the dungeon.
Cassis, who had been listening intently from the moment she entered, abruptly spoke with sharp perception.
Hearing that, Roxana flinched slightly. Just as he said, there was blood on her hands and clothes.
It had gotten on her while dealing with Charlotte in the corridor earlier.
To catch the scent again. His sense of smell is extraordinary.
With a strange feeling settling in her chest, Roxana looked up at Cassis.
“It’s nothing. You don’t need to concern yourself.”
At her dismissive reply, Cassis’s brow furrowed subtly. Yet she could not tell him the truth.
If she said she had drawn blood while fighting her sibling, he would only be more on guard against her.
Even more so if he learned the blood wasn’t hers, but her opponent’s.
Yet coming up with another excuse was far too tedious.
In any case, Cassis could barely see right now, so it wouldn’t matter if she brushed past it.
Had I known, I would have stopped by my room to wash off the blood and change clothes first.
Thinking so, Roxana spoke.
“I won’t be able to come for a while.”
At Roxana’s words, Cassis stared at the person before him without answering.
The number of times they had met inside this dungeon like this had grown quite frequent.
In his vision, clearer than yesterday, the slender silhouette of a girl was reflected. Everything was still faint, however, barely revealing the contours of her face and body.
Thus, he could not discern the exact source of this scent of blood.
“Not for that long, just a few days.”
Could this girl, who had given her name as Roxana, be injured somewhere?
Cassis was neither in a position to worry about her, nor did they share such a relationship.
Yet thinking that the owner of this thick smell of blood pricking his senses might be the young girl before him, his nerves felt somehow on edge.
Perhaps it was because, even if her intentions remained suspect, the simple fact that the girl was secretly trying to help him away from prying eyes had become impossible to deny.
Cassis kept his gaze on the person before him as if checking her condition.
Being unable to see and grasp the situation directly was exceedingly frustrating.
“So take care until I see you again. Without me, there won’t be anyone to help when you need it, which worries me a little.”
Her voice was calm and gentle, as always.
Cassis averted his cold gaze elsewhere, as if to say it did not matter to him in the slightest.
Yet inwardly, he found himself wishing that the next time they met, he would be able to see the face of the person standing before him.
* * *
Two days later, I received word that Charlotte had struck down the guard stationed at the dungeon and forced her way inside.
Not stopping there, she had reportedly attacked Cassis Pedelian and wounded him.
“Hmm.”
Right on cue.
Spending a leisurely afternoon sipping poisoned tea, I listened to Emily deliver the news and mused indifferently.
On the day of the Grand Banquet, Charlotte had challenged me over ownership of the toy, only to suffer a miserable defeat.
Having failed to claim Cassis and being physically overpowered by me, someone with Charlotte’s temperament would never let her resentment lie.
On top of that, Jeremy surely fanned the flames at her side.
From the moment Jeremy seemed downcast upon leaving the banquet hall that day, I had already anticipated his next moves to some degree.
And when he sent me ahead just to remain alone with Charlotte, it would have been stranger not to foresee what followed.
Predictably, Charlotte refused to leave intact a toy she could not have.
Yet what she did amounted to nothing more than venting her fury.
When Cassis was first brought in, our father, Lant Agriche, withheld his decision and ordered everyone not to lay a hand on him for the time being.
So no matter how blinded by rage Charlotte was, she couldn’t possibly kill Cassis unless she wished to defy Father’s command directly and be discarded.
She had merely touched him with the spiteful urge of ruining what she couldn’t possess.
While that alone would earn her a severe scolding from Father, she clearly deemed breaking the toy meant for me worth the price.
Even so, Cassis’s injuries were surprisingly mild.
I thought at least one of his limbs might be crippled. Had Charlotte held back more than I anticipated?
Feeling a slight twinge of disappointment, I lowered my gaze.
“Furthermore, it is said Lady Charlotte accidentally ruptured the prisoner’s restraints and was nearly counterattacked. With that added, she is expected to receive an aggravated punishment.”
“What?”
At Emily’s subsequent words, my hand holding the teacup froze.
This was a development I hadn’t foreseen. Rupturing the restraints?
Of all things, the Anti-Monster Restraints, renowned for their exceptional durability—broken by Charlotte in a mere blunder while attacking Cassis?
“How intriguing.”
Not a chance.
Cassis Pedelian must have orchestrated some trick.
While Charlotte was indeed reckless and hot-tempered, for her to commit an error that broke the restraints at such a coincidental moment was simply impossible.
In my view, Cassis had deliberately and cunningly used Charlotte.
It was possible I was overestimating him, but for all that, he was the heir of Pedelian, bearing the title of the Young Lord of Blue.
Quite apart from the title of the female lead’s oppa.
I set the teacup down silently upon the table.
It seemed best to visit Cassis only after a little more time had passed.
* * *
“Noona, did you hear about Charlotte?”
“If it’s about the dungeon, yes, I heard.”
That evening, Jeremy came to my room.
Inevitably clinging to me and acting pampered, he brought up Charlotte in a sly, subtle tone.
Charlotte was sentenced to twenty days of confinement in the Room of Punishment.
Lant Agriche seemed furious that Charlotte had defied his orders to enter the dungeon at will and foolishly broken Cassis’s restraints.
I was quite pleased with this outcome.
“The toy seemed a bit damaged, don’t you need to go see?”
Jeremy’s voice grew distinctly slyer. His deep-sea blue eyes stared at me intently.
I thought it fortunate that Jeremy didn’t resemble Lant Agriche much beyond his black hair.
Had his appearance reminded me of Father, I might have unconsciously shown repulsion when facing him this closely.
“They say it isn’t badly scratched, so why bother?”
Stroking Jeremy’s hair, I continued languidly.
“I don’t like that Charlotte laid hands on it, but she’ll be punished by Father anyway, so there’s no need for me to step in.”
Knowing Jeremy was probing me about Cassis, I intentionally showed an indifferent reaction.
“Hmm, is that so?”
Discovering that I had no intention of checking on Cassis, Jeremy visibly brightened, though he tried to act otherwise.
Wearing a smile far more distinct than before, Jeremy spoke again.
“Noona, should I keep Charlotte from going near the underground from now on?”
Jeremy was undoubtedly the one who incited Charlotte to enter the dungeon in the first place.
Yet now, he was professing his intention to step forward and block Charlotte for my sake.
Knowing the whole truth, it was rather amusing from my perspective.
“Leave her be. If she values her life, she’ll keep her head down on her own. I won’t tolerate it a second time either.”
Of course, Charlotte would be locked in the Room of Punishment for a while and wouldn’t even be able to come near Cassis anyway.
“Jeremy, you won’t touch my toy as you please like Charlotte, will you?”
I whispered gently in a sweet tone, caressing Jeremy’s sleek hair.
“You’re my good little brother, the only one I cherish.”
In that instant, Jeremy froze. But it lasted only a fleeting moment.
Soon, he smiled nonchalantly at me and replied.
“Of course. I wouldn’t do anything Sana noona dislikes.”
* * *
“Charlotte, that useless wretch.”
Leaving Roxana’s room, Jeremy muttered in irritation as he walked down the corridor.
There was a limit to ruining a table set for her; he had laid the groundwork, only for her to pull such an idiotic stunt.
She should have crippled the bastard at the very least.
Instead, far from doing that, she broke the restraints by mistake and almost got counterattacked—a total disgrace to Agriche.
“She should’ve just been discarded.”
His eyes, like a frozen sea, gleamed coldly.
Jeremy still wanted to slaughter Cassis Pedelian trapped in the dungeon.
Yet he could no longer touch Roxana’s toy, even indirectly.
Having heard Roxana call him the ‘only brother I cherish,’ doing anything that went against her trust was out of the question for Jeremy.
Dammit, what on earth is this infuriating yet gratifying feeling?
Wrestling with this strange sensation, Jeremy scratched the back of his head roughly and headed toward his room.
