Roxana
Chapter 80
Chapter 80
The Way to Protect the Female Lead’s
Older Brother
Chapter 80
“Your hands are slowing down. More than half is still left. Eat a little more.”
“I’m eating…”
For a moment, the thought Why should I have to do this? crossed my mind, but not being in the mood to bicker, I merely moved my hands listlessly.
Having run into Sylvia earlier, the rest of the Pedelian family surely knew I had awakened as well.
Then what would they think?
Of me, who contributed to the downfall of my own clan and spearheaded the strangling of my own father.
Even if no one else did, I believed Richel, the head of Pedelian, would know everything I had done down to the finest detail.
That must have been why he cast such strange glances at me during the Harmony Conference.
From his standpoint, there was a high likelihood I would be anything but welcome.
What I did was no different from a moral atrocity, and such deeds directly contradicted the core beliefs of Pedelian.
And because I had expected them to shun me instead, Sylvia’s reaction came as a surprise.
Yet whatever they thought of me, none of it truly mattered.
Whether Cassis succeeded or failed in convincing them about bringing me here did not matter either.
Even if Cassis found himself in an awkward predicament because of me, I would not intervene.
After all, this was his own choice.
And to be more honest, part of me seemed to want to watch Cassis squirm in distress on my account.
Blood certainly tells. To think I harbored such nasty tastes myself.
I still could not clearly understand what Cassis intended to do with me after bringing me here.
What I heard from him was undoubtedly something I might never experience again in my life, yet…
I could not tell whether to define it as a passionate confession. Was he pitying me?
Perhaps he had brought me in the same spirit as taking in a half-dead stray animal from the roadside.
Yet when I recalled that tenacious kiss from earlier today, it seemed he really did have feelings for me.
Then again, I had been the one to start it.
When a woman like me openly seduced a man like that, wouldn’t it be impossible for anyone not to succumb on the spot?
“I’m done eating. I’d like to be alone, so please leave.”
Well, in truth, it made no difference either way.
In the first place, I had no idea how long I would even stay here.
Besides, no matter how extraordinary Cassis’s healing ability was, saving someone rotting away and dying from the inside out was impossible anyway.
That must be why Cassis could so easily make that staggering request to give him whatever time I had left.
Even so, Cassis was the first person to speak such words to me with utter sincerity.
So I thought there was no reason I couldn’t give him a fraction of the life I had remaining.
Just as Cassis said, it was time I intended to discard anyway.
“I’ve already instructed the servants, so you won’t face any discomfort during your stay. If you need anything, just say the word.”
Cassis looked at what I had eaten, judged it sufficient, and called someone to clear the table.
“Aside from that, call me whenever you need me. My room is directly across the hall.”
“What?”
Hearing what followed, I questioned my own ears and asked back before I could stop myself.
“Directly across from here is your room?”
“Yes. I will be staying in the annex for a while as well.”
“Why?”
At my question, Cassis gazed at me.
“Because it would be troublesome if something happened to you while I wasn’t around.”
Cassis spoke nonchalantly, not a single flicker shifting in his eyes.
Wondering if it could really be, I asked him.
“Just to be sure, is there anyone else staying in this annex?”
“No one.”
Once again, Cassis answered in a tone so monotonous it felt downright indifferent.
Which meant Cassis and I would indeed be using this annex all by ourselves.
It seemed I would have to revise the thought I had earlier.
This man really didn’t give the slightest damn about the eyes of others.
* * *
News of the Agriche family spread swiftly to the other three families as well.
“Is that so? Quite an event.”
Ruzark Gastor reacted with no more than a dismissive comment before completely dropping his interest in the matter.
His attitude was so lukewarm that the confidant who brought the news was caught off guard.
“I’m not the head of the family anyway. Mother will take care of it as she sees fit.”
Yet those words held reason.
Since deciding all clan affairs fell strictly to the family head, it was not something Ruzark needed to debate over.
Moreover, he was naturally indifferent to others to begin with.
As for Lant Agriche, Ruzark only recalled overhearing his mother, Badrisa, remark chillingly upon returning from the gathering of the five families about a year ago: “If ghosts truly exist in this world, that man would have died a hundred times over at the hands of the vengeful spirits he wronged.”
Yet to think he actually died. He was never one destined for a long life after all.
Ruzark thought as much without any particular stir of emotion.
Still, the moment he heard the report, Roxana Agriche, whom he had met at the Harmony Conference, and her insolent younger brother crossed his mind briefly.
Ruzark almost asked his subordinate what had become of them, but decided against it.
“What is the scale of damage from this avalanche?”
“According to the new tally…”
Shaking off the stray thoughts, he stepped forward while listening to his subordinate’s report.
* * *
“What? Agriche has been torn to pieces?”
Noel Bertium dropped the fork he was holding.
The appetizing strawberry coated in whipped cream that had rested atop it tumbled onto his lap.
White cream smeared across his clothes, dirtying them, but Noel showed no signs of caring.
His eyes, previously half-closed in drowsiness, were now wide and alert.
“Th-Then what about Luna?”
“Luna, sir?”
“My goddess!”
He shouted with trembling eyes, looking as though the heavens had collapsed.
Noel wore an expression that proclaimed he didn’t care what happened to anything else, so long as ‘Luna’ was safe and sound.
Seriously, upon hearing such momentous news, was this really the only question he could ask?
Dante, the confidant who had delivered the news of Agriche to Noel, asked back with incredulity.
“Are you perhaps referring to Lady Roxana Agriche?”
“Yes, my Luna!”
Dante was utterly dumbfounded.
Since when did he have any claim over Roxana Agriche to shout so boldly?
And Luna, no less—was it the name of the moon goddess this time?
Of course it suited Roxana, but she wasn’t some doll he kept; renaming a living person as he pleased felt entirely out of line.
“Since when was Lady Agriche Master Noel’s Luna?”
“From the very first moment I saw her! I felt destiny at first sight!”
“You say that after being thoroughly rejected at the Harmony Conference.”
“Who got rejected?! She even accepted my flowers!”
“Good grief. She accepted the flowers, not your heart.”
Good heavens, here we go again.
Realizing Noel’s unreasonable stubbornness had kicked in, Dante let out a deep sigh.
This was why reclusive shut-ins who had never once dated were hopeless.
On the final banquet day of the Harmony Conference, Noel fell in love with the beautiful Roxana Agriche at first sight.
Had it stopped at that, it would have been fine. But Noel suffered an unsightly nosebleed in the banquet hall, and on top of that, committed the atrocity of recklessly plucking flowers blooming delicately in Yggdrasil’s greenhouse to give her as a gift.
Yet despite all that, he whined endlessly at Dante, claiming he was too shy to hand over the flowers with his own hands.
And so Dante had ended up playing the guardian angel of love, a role that ill-suited his temperament.
Seen up close, Roxana Agriche was beautiful beyond imagination.
It was so striking that when meeting her eyes up close, even Dante, who cared little for aesthetics of beauty and ugliness, had momentarily panicked and stammered.
Yet she seemed utterly uninterested in both the flowers Dante offered and the owner who had sent them.
In fact, as if pressed by some other urgent matter, she left before hearing out what Dante had to say.
Afterward, news came late that the people of Agriche had already departed Yggdrasil.
And then Noel had pestered and tormented him incessantly.
Recalling those events, Dante deliberately spoke words to tease Noel.
“Well, even granting it wasn’t a rejection back then as Master Noel insists, this time it is truly over. It’s fine. Isn’t that how it usually goes? There’s a reason behind the old adage that first loves never come to fruition.”
“N-No…! My Luna, nothing is over between us yet!”
Noel glared at Dante with tears welling in his eyes, as if genuinely shattered by the thought.
Though he found everything in the world tiresome, he was terrifyingly obsessive once he set his heart on something.
Dante clicked his tongue, realizing this bout would drag on for quite some time.
“Hey, Dante. Did you make Noel cry again?”
Right at that moment, a melodic voice like a spring breeze chimed in their ears.
The red drape hung at the doorway swayed, and someone stepped into the room.
Appearing before Noel and Dante was a beautiful blond boy.
“Nyx!”
Named after the goddess of the night, he was Noel’s most cherished doll.
Nyx possessed a radiant beauty matching that very name.
“Luna disappeared. I was going to make her mine before anyone else snatched her away!”
“By Luna, you mean that woman you mentioned recently?”
“Yes, my goddess who is as beautiful as you.”
Dante looked at the two, who seemed as intimate as ever today, with a crumpled expression.
He was glaring at Nyx with a look tinged with disgust.
“Hmm, a woman Noel fell for at first sight… I’m curious. Shall I find her for you?”
“Really? You can find her?”
“Of course. I’m the most perfect doll you ever created, after all.”
Nyx smiled brightly at Noel. For an instant, a twisted, eerie glint flickered across his eyes.
Yet Noel failed to notice it, rejoicing in pure, unadulterated naivety.
Only Dante, the sole person present who knew Nyx’s true nature, furrowed his brow at the sight.