Roxana
Chapter 12
Chapter 12
The Way to Protect the Female Lead’s Older Brother
Chapter 12
* * *
It was only after three more days had passed that I went to see Cassis.
The guard stationed outside the underground prison had been replaced by someone else. The original warden, attacked by Charlotte, seemed to be receiving medical treatment.
In the meantime, I had obtained permission from Lant Agriche to access the dungeon.
Thus, I was able to step inside without being stopped by the new guard.
“How are you feeling? Are you all right?”
As I stepped inside, Cassis turned his head.
Seeing him after so long, he still exuded an air unbecoming of a captive.
His expression was composed, and the light in his eyes remained as fierce as ever.
Cassis did not answer my question. For some reason, he merely watched me in silence as I unlocked the iron bars and stepped inside.
Then, slowly, his lips parted.
“Roxana.”
Hearing my name whispered from his mouth for the first time, I could not help but feel a flicker of agitation.
I blinked in momentary bewilderment, but quickly regained my composure.
Names were meant to be spoken anyway, and since I had already told him mine, it was nothing to be so surprised about.
Then, in a low voice, Cassis asked me.
“How many days has it been since you last came?”
Tilting my head slightly, I answered him.
“Seven days.”
“I see.”
Strangely calm words passed between us, unbefitting the situation.
“I thought it had been longer.”
A dry voice was added, devoid of any particular emotion.
Hearing that the time without me felt longer than it actually was left me with a somewhat peculiar sensation.
Of course, Cassis might have just spoken without any deeper meaning.
I had wanted Charlotte, having incurred Father’s wrath, to be punished so she could no longer approach Cassis.
Yet in truth, I had also hoped that through this, Cassis would come to realize his need for me, even just a little.
That was why I had intentionally left him alone for several days.
Even though I knew Charlotte was coming to attack him, I had done nothing, nor had I visited him until today despite his injuries.
With an expressionless face, Cassis spoke to me once more.
“Are you going to keep standing by the door like that?”
The moment his low voice brushed past my ears, I involuntarily paused.
His words felt unfamiliar. It was the first time Cassis had initiated permission for me to approach.
Seeing me standing still, he slowly parted his lips again.
“Come here, Roxana.”
A low, whispering tone pooled in my ears once more. No emotion could be read from Cassis’s face.
I stared at him for a moment before taking a step forward.
“Right. I came to treat you anyway.”
Keeping his gaze fixed on me, Cassis said,
“I recall you saying it would be troublesome to treat conspicuous wounds.”
“The situation has changed a bit since then.”
Since it was no different from offering the medicine after inflicting the disease, my actions felt somewhat ridiculous even to me.
I walked toward Cassis. He quietly observed me as I drew closer, step by step.
A strange feeling washed over me, and I halted in my tracks.
“What is the matter?”
At that, Cassis’s eyelids and lashes slowly fell halfway.
“Come closer.”
It was neither an order nor a demand. Yet, strangely, it was difficult to refuse.
I moved the feet that had briefly stopped forward once again.
Though I was practically coaxed into moving by Cassis, my pride was wounded, so I acted as if it were entirely of my own accord.
It seemed the restraint broken this time had been the one on Cassis’s left wrist.
Only the newly replaced shackle was pristine, without a single speck of dried blood clinging to it.
On his striking face, the marks of wounds had multiplied, ones I had not seen before.
The thought that Charlotte had left them made me feel slightly disgruntled.
I reached out toward Cassis to examine his condition more closely.
Though his limbs had not been torn off as I had initially feared, the lacerations around his waist were rather severe.
Let’s see. Aside from that, his right shoulder seems dislocated. There’s also a deep cut on his abdomen.
Wait, surely this dark blue bruise wasn’t caused by me, was it?
“You’ve been badly hurt this time. If left unattended any longer, the wounds would have festered severely.”
Despite being the one who contributed to that neglect, I spoke brazenly, as if entirely innocent.
“It must hurt terribly, but you held out well. Don’t worry now that I’m here.”
Yet for some reason, Cassis’s demeanor seemed slightly unusual. Sensing something amiss, I raised my head.
In that instant, my eyes met those of Cassis Pedelian, who wore an expression I had never seen in my life.
Cassis was looking down at me with a face that seemed to have forgotten to breathe.
His face, marked with scars, was frozen as rigid as a marble statue.
Brilliant, sun-like golden eyes pierced me head-on. Within them swirled a confusion and bewilderment that words could not yet describe.
In that moment, I realized the reason for the uncanny feeling.
“Ah, is that it?”
The moment a small sound escaped my lips, Cassis drew a shallow breath, as if only then coming back to his senses.
Right, now I understood.
Facing his visage, close enough to feel his breath, I eventually let out a small smile.
“At this distance, you can finally see it—my face.”
Witnessing Cassis’s unexpected agitation made me feel rather pleased.
Even so, Cassis regained his composure remarkably quickly.
His eyes, which had rippled faintly for an instant, soon settled into stillness like a tranquil lake once more.
Even after living together for years, there were still people in Agriche who lost their senses just looking at me; from my perspective, Cassis’s reaction was beyond mild—it was practically dry.
“You could afford to be a little more surprised.”
“I wasn’t surprised.”
“Is that so?”
Liar.
When I seemed not to believe him, Cassis closed his mouth. His face had stiffened in a different sense than before.
He seemed considerably shaken by the fact that he had been rattled by my appearance, even for a single moment.
Yet it was only natural, so there was no need to take it so sensitively.
Until now, every person who laid eyes on me either gasped, lost their senses, or wore an expression wondering whether they stood in a dream or reality.
Especially so as the years passed and I shed the traces of childhood.
Moreover, my beauty was a weapon continuously honed and sharpened since I was young.
Thus, no matter if he was the Young Lord of Blue, there was no way a mere seventeen-year-old boy like Cassis could remain entirely unresponsive before me.
One might expect it if he were an adult who had weathered all of life’s hardships, but as of now, it was naturally impossible.
Rather, he deserved praise for not making an unsightly spectacle of himself in front of me.
For reference, on the day Yoan—the former guard attacked by Charlotte—first saw me up close, his soul fled him, and even when I spoke to him, he could only foolishly repeat, ‘Pardon? Pardon?’
It took a considerable amount of time before he could hold what one might call a conversation with me.
Compared to that, Cassis’s reaction was utterly unamusing.
Right now, Cassis looked down at my face in silence.
Yet it did not feel as though he were staring out of infatuation.
Cassis’s gaze was somewhat cooler than at other times. Come to think of it, it seemed to have been that way since he watched me first enter the dungeon earlier.
Holding his gaze at such close quarters made the difference in temperature feel even more distinct.
“What are you thinking right now?”
I did not avoid his eyes. I had an inkling of the meaning held within the gaze I met.
“Could it be that you’re thinking of killing me?”
I deliberately chose somewhat extreme words.
To the question I whispered softly afterward, Cassis did not answer.
Though it was a rather abrupt thing to say, he showed no sign of questioning it.
“Ask what you’re curious about. Now that you’ve seen my face, you must have something to say.”
Though I took heavily after my mother, that did not mean I bore no resemblance to Lant Agriche.
In particular, these blood-red eyes seemed carved entirely from my father.
In that instant, a flame like the one I had seen before flared once in Cassis’s golden eyes.
He did not ask what my identity was.
Instead, as if confirming what he had already deduced, he recited my name in a low, whisper-like voice.
“Roxana Agriche.”
It was a more complete name than the one I had given him.
Gladly, I confirmed the correct answer for him.
“That’s right.”
