Roxana
Chapter 72
Chapter 72
How to Protect the Female Lead’s Older Brother
Chapter 72
Before I knew it, Cassis’s gaze had found me as well.
Having sent the hawk aloft once more, he walked toward me.
“Did I not tell you to stay lying down?”
A low voice, bearing the very hue of the chilling winter air, layered over the cold wind.
Yet the look in his eyes and the tone of his voice were not as freezing as I had anticipated.
He parted his lips to say more, but looking up at the Cassis who had drawn near, I spoke first.
“Where are we going right now? And where is this place?”
With no intention of hiding it from me, Cassis answered.
“The place where we have halted is called Frederica. If we travel half a day more at this pace, we will leave the highlands entirely behind.”
Hearing the name of the place, I knew with certainty where we were.
In short, this party was heading straight for Pedelian.
Of course, it was something I had already anticipated while inside the carriage, but confirming it with my own ears drew a hollow laugh from me all the same.
I asked Cassis coldly.
“Then what am I—a captive, or a trophy of war?”
Agriche in flames.
A ruined expanse of land.
Even amidst the haze of fractured memory, that scene was etched into my eyes with stark clarity.
The one who had brought it to ruin was this man, and the one who had unbarred Agriche’s gates to make it so was none other than myself.
That truth alone I could not forget, as if oblivion itself were forbidden to me.
It was not as though I had any complaints about it now.
I had known in advance that Cassis might make an official appearance on the day of the Harmony Conference, and I had long deduced that Pedelian would draw its sword against Agriche at that very moment.
That was why I, too, had deliberately chosen that day. To borrow the hand of Pedelian to utterly crush Agriche.
Seeing the people of Pedelian moving in such force, led by Cassis, made it clear that matters had unfolded according to the anticipated course.
Yet this reality—with Cassis standing before my very eyes—had not been part of the plan.
On Agriche’s final day, I had intended to depart alone.
“For what purpose did you drag me all the way here?”
Cassis looked down at me in silence for a long while.
In the eyes fixed upon my face, not a single ripple stirred.
A moment later, a fleeting wisp of an emotion brushed across his features.
Yet it was so brief a moment that I could not fathom what it was.
The next instant, Cassis lifted his arm and reached for me.
The moment fingers carrying a cool warmth touched my skin, my eyes could not help but flinch.
As though oblivious to my reaction, his hand grazed my forehead and trailed down my cheek.
At the tender touch, almost like a caress, my face stiffened unawares.
“Your fever is rising again.”
I could sense the people around us watching Cassis and me in silence.
Amidst them all, only Cassis wore an unfazed expression.
Soon, his hand pulled away from my face.
“Isidore, we will pitch camp here today.”
“Yes, I will see to the preparations.”
The man who had been standing behind Cassis the entire time answered.
Cassis turned his gaze back to me.
“Has the fever made you numb to the cold? Stepping outside dressed like that.”
It would have been easier if he had spoken in a scolding or exasperated tone.
“Still neglecting your own body, I see.”
Yet the emotion reflected in Cassis’s face as he looked at me was far removed from anything of the sort.
And so, the moment our eyes met, I could only keep my mouth firmly shut.
Then Cassis removed his cloak and wrapped it around my frame.
No, rather than wrapping me, he bundled me up so tightly that not a single breath of wind could seep through.
With that, he lifted me into his arms.
The series of actions was so natural that, let alone the onlookers, even I could not muster a single word of protest.
As though I were nothing more than a bundle of straw rather than a person, Cassis lifted me effortlessly and walked toward the carriage with unyielding steps.
Rendered speechless by the sheer absurdity, I said nothing.
Cassis brought me inside the carriage and laid me down on the seat once more.
Then he even pulled the sable fur blanket I had cast off earlier and draped it over me.
The soft warmth seeping through my whole body left me with an unsettling feeling.
“Shouldn’t you tie me up?”
When I asked in a subdued voice, Cassis’s gaze flicked down toward my face.
“I was unaware you had such inclinations.”
Though he knew full well that was not what I meant, his response was nonchalant.
“Regrettably, I do not. But if you desire it, I suppose I could consider it next time.”
“What if I run away?”
“Then I will have to bring you back.”
At those words, my mouth snapped shut. Not ‘hunt you down and capture you,’ but ‘bring you back.’
I could not even begin to fathom what he intended to do with me.
“With so many stray thoughts clouding your head, it is no wonder the fever keeps rising.”
A low voice tickled my ear, followed by a cool hand covering my eyes.
As if to prove his words about the fever true, his hand felt wonderfully cool.
Once more, a calm whisper drifted into my ear.
“Rest without worry. There is nothing left for you to concern yourself with.”
Strangely enough, as I listened to that voice, my turbulent mind slowly settled into stillness.
What had become of Agriche after my memory faded.
What had happened to Mother, Jeremy, Deon, Lant, and the rest of Agriche’s bloodline.
Hearing Cassis speak, it felt as though I could cast all those thoughts behind me for now.
The man beside me, and every person beyond the carriage walls, were all from Pedelian.
In a sense, one could say I was sitting in the very heart of enemy territory.
Yet like a lie, I found myself closing my eyes in greater peace than I had ever known in Agriche.
Beyond the fading edges of consciousness, I thought to myself… that it was somehow a little absurd.
* * *
Knock, knock.
“Are you awake?”
I had just awakened from a deep sleep, feeling a faint sense of skepticism toward myself for actually resting so soundly amidst all this.
Along with the sound of someone knocking on the carriage door, an unfamiliar voice reached me.
It was a calm, low-pitched voice carrying a somewhat androgynous quality.
I opened the carriage door myself.
Before me stood someone with olive hair and deep navy eyes.
“Pardon the intrusion.”
The moment our eyes met, I paused, and the rigid face before me softened ever so slightly.
Though a subtle shift, she seemed relieved to find me awake.
Her hair was cut short and her voice leaned low, but the person who had come to see me was unmistakably a woman.
In Agriche, too, anyone with sufficient skill was drafted into service regardless of gender, so it was neither strange nor surprising.
My brief hesitation upon seeing her was for an entirely different reason.
“If you are hungry, shall I prepare a light meal for you?”
“Where is Cassis?”
“He has stepped away briefly with Sir Winston. He instructed me to check if the young lady… was awake and to attend to anything you might need.”
Is Sir Winston that man named Isidore?
Well, setting that aside.
Hearing her words made me wonder afresh what my standing and position were in this place.
The person before me also seemed momentarily at a loss as to how she should address me.
Likewise, I was left pondering what tone of speech I ought to use with them.
“If you wish, I can bring something to eat here. They are preparing a meal outside as we speak, so it will not take long.”
“Do that, then.”
Without dwelling on it for long, I chose to speak informally.
It would be an awkward sight for me, who did not even use formal honorifics with Cassis, to speak respectfully to his subordinate.
And I had no intention of using honorifics with Cassis again, either.
The person before me did not seem particularly bothered by my tone, either.
With a face that remained almost entirely expressionless, she bowed her head once and closed the carriage door.
“…”
Looking at that blank face brought Emily to mind.
Sending her to Mother had been our final meeting, and the words I gave her then had been my final order.
Perhaps the meal preparations were finished sooner than expected, for the door opened again shortly.
And so, I was spared from lingering too long in my thoughts.