Roxana
Chapter 99
Chapter 99
How to Protect the Female Lead’s Older Brother
Chapter 99
* * *
After parting with Jeanne a moment later, I pondered deeply over the conversation we had just shared.
There was a part of what she said that warranted serious consideration.
Above all, Cassis’s power seemed far greater than I had imagined.
If it was a power capable of killing someone through sheer backlash, then conversely, when properly exerted, it could produce an equally formidable effect.
Of course, having witnessed Cassis’s power in the past and experienced it firsthand several times, I was somewhat familiar with it.
I was well aware that when he channeled his energy into me, warmth circulated through my body and strength welled up, and that blade wounds would knit shut and poisons within me would be neutralized.
Yet in all things, there was bound to be a limit.
Thus, though his healing ability was extraordinary, I had never thought it would exhibit an outright impossible miracle.
That was why I believed that no matter how hard Cassis tried, he would not be able to save my current self.
And yet, for Jeanne to claim that if Cassis set his mind to it, there was no one he could not save…
Those words felt immensely significant.
Besides, had she not said that Sylvia had stopped breathing entirely back then?
Yet Sylvia was alive and well today. Then how on earth had the deceased Sylvia returned to life?
She said Cassis had failed at the time. Then could it have been Richel, the Head of Blue?
If so, Cassis’s power was indeed a hereditary gift of Pedelian.
Wait. Then could it be that what Cassis was doing to me right now was not mere recovery either…?
At the sudden thought that flashed through my mind, my eyelids twitched faintly.
“Roxana-yang?”
In that instant, a melodious voice drifted unexpectedly into my ear.
Without a flicker of disturbance, I slid my gaze toward the direction of the voice.
“My, what a pleasant surprise to see you after so long. I heard you had been indisposed. Fortunately, it seems you have shaken it off entirely?”
Orca Hyperion’s radiant smile crept into my field of vision.
It was a smile as clear and transparent as glass, capable of disarming just about anyone.
Of course, knowing what lay beneath, it had no effect on me.
“The White Beast Tamer, I see.”
I responded to his greeting with measured composure.
Behind me stood Ollin, who had followed me from the annex, and behind Orca stood Isidore.
Isidore was casting an unenthusiastic glare toward Orca. There was no way he was acting as Orca’s escort.
No matter how one looked at it, he was blatantly keeping Orca under surveillance.
Isidore had likely been assigned to follow Orca and watch his every move.
Until now, they had treated him with the courtesy due a guest, but ever since the incident with Pandora, trust had evidently been shattered.
“Ah, you know who I am? Then again, did the Young Lord of Blue refer to me that way back then?”
Orca’s eyes sparkled, as if delighted by the fact that I recognized him.
“Allow me to introduce myself formally. I am Orca Hyperion. Please, call me Orca.”
“I wonder. I believe the title ‘White Beast Tamer’ is more than sufficient.”
Orca spoke with a remarkably friendly and genial demeanor. Yet I merely offered a perfunctory smile before declining.
At that, an exaggerated look of disappointment washed over his face.
“I committed a discourtesy last time, didn’t I? I hope you can forget my shameful behavior from that day.”
His act of pretending to be dejected while apologizing was thoroughly convincing.
Perhaps because his features were so delicate and innocent, anyone who did not know that a hundred sly vipers dwelled within him would have instinctively felt pity.
“Think nothing of it; please do not take it to heart. Did you seek me out just to say that?”
“Ah, the weather was so pleasant that I was taking a stroll. But to run right into Roxana-yang like this—it feels like fate.”
It was a blatant lie. There was no way a man smiling like that had no hidden motive.
Was Orca taking such an interest in me because of the Poison Butterfly after all?
Suddenly, the burning gaze I had seen in the garden three days ago flashed across my mind.
Along with it came the subtle unease I had felt back then.
“If you don’t mind, could we dismiss the attendants and, as fellow Beast Tamers, have a fruitful and enjoyable conversation…?”
“That is impossible.”
“That is out of the question.”
“…I wished to, but it seems that won’t be allowed.”
The moment Orca made the suggestion, Isidore and Ollin shot it down simultaneously.
Orca had not seemed to expect permission in the first place.
As Orca adopted a gloomy expression once more, Isidore and Ollin kept their wary gazes locked on him.
Watching the scene, a rather strange feeling stirred within me.
It seemed I truly had been branded as frail and helpless in the eyes of the Pedelian people.
Part of it was that circumstances had unfolded that way on their own since our very first meeting, and part of it was that Cassis treated me like an invalid, utterly indifferent to how others viewed it.
Yet looking at it from another angle, I could not say it was entirely against my will.
Perhaps, unconsciously, I too had been projecting an innocent and pitiable facade to win their favor.
Even so, being so openly protected left an odd taste in my mouth.
“I lack the breadth of knowledge to call myself a Beast Tamer.”
On the other hand, I wondered if I should give them the stage they wanted.
“It would likely be far more fruitful for you to converse with Sir Winston behind you.”
At my words, Orca turned back to look at Isidore in surprise.
“Sir Winston? You were a Beast Tamer?”
“I am not.”
Isidore looked as though he did not comprehend why I had made such a remark.
Looking at him, I tilted my head slightly to the side.
“From what I heard from Jeanne-nim, Sir Winston’s knowledge regarding demonic beasts is quite extensive.”
“I do not possess that level of expertise, but… if you wish, I suppose I could keep you company in conversation to an extent.”
The moment our eyes met, as if catching on to my intention, Isidore gave a small nod and addressed Orca.
Isidore seemed to think it was better to make himself the sacrifice rather than let Orca pester me any further.
“Mmm, no, not really.”
Yet Orca made no effort to hide his reluctance, declining with a look of sheer disgust.
Though I did not know the details, it seemed he had grown thoroughly sick of Isidore during the time they had spent together.
“The one I wish to converse with is the master of the Poison Butterfly.”
Orca was truly a man who never deviated from expectations.
I had suspected as much, but it really was because of the Poison Butterfly.
“No matter how much I think about it, I’m simply dying of curiosity. Just how did you imprint the Poison Butterfly?”
Since Isidore and Ollin showed no sign of leaving, he seemed intent on speaking his mind right here.
Then again, given that he had gone so far as to trespass into Pedelian just to find the Poison Butterfly, his fervor was obvious.
I was well aware of the depth of his obsession and longing for demonic beasts.
“First of all, finding the habitat of the Poison Butterfly is like plucking a star from the sky.”
Under normal circumstances, as the fruit of that labor, the Poison Butterfly rightfully should have been Orca’s.
Yet I had intercepted it halfway through and swallowed it whole.
If Orca ever learned the truth, he would likely want to feed me to demonic beasts.
“And even if you manage to find an egg, the sheer hell it takes to hatch it—ah, my apologies for such crude language before a lady. In any case, not only does it demand immense effort, but the chances of success are abysmally low, aren’t they?”
Suddenly feeling a touch of pity for Orca, I thought about indulging his chatter for a brief moment.
“What’s more, imprinting a hatched Poison Butterfly is like threading a demonic beast through the eye of a needle.”
I, too, considered myself exceptionally lucky.
The fact that my compatibility with the Poison Butterfly was beyond imagination, and that I resided in an environment where massive quantities of poison were readily available.
And the fact that I had lived alongside the Poison Butterfly in symbiosis to this day, rather than being devoured by it.
“Yet the true masterpiece is…”
Orca continued talking on his own, entirely unbothered by my lack of response.
By now, what he was saying sounded almost like a monologue.
“…that you raised it into a Slaughter Butterfly.”
Before long, unable to contain his amusement, Orca let out a soft chuckle. His eyes narrowed into slender crescents.
With that thin smile, his face bore an uncanny resemblance to a fox.
“Roxana-yang, you’ve surely heard that the masters of the Poison Butterfly have, without exception, vanished without a trace, haven’t you?”
Naturally, I had.
“Do you know the reason is because they were eaten by the Poison Butterfly?”
In that instant, I felt Isidore and Ollin stiffen slightly.
Without a ripple of emotion, I closed my eyes slowly, opened them, and murmured in a languid tone.
“Did you think that I, the master of the Poison Butterfly, wouldn’t know that?”
It was just as Orca said.
The number of recorded owners of the Poison Butterfly could be counted on one hand, and their fates were largely identical.
They were either witnessed being consumed by the Poison Butterfly, or they abruptly vanished one day without a trace.
Of course, those who vanished without a sound never reappeared.
Most Beast Tamers surmised that even if their ends had not been witnessed by others, their fates were no different from those of the other hosts.
The Poison Butterfly was not a beast one could imprint simply by wishing for it, but to begin with, very few Beast Tamers were willing to attempt imprinting it at all.
For the conceivable end was painfully obvious.
The reason Lant Agriche had not stolen the Poison Butterfly’s egg from me, despite his greedy gaze, was precisely the same.
In that sense, the Orca of the original novel was truly a madman.
To yearn for the Poison Butterfly to such an extent, going through every ordeal imaginable, until he finally succeeded in imprinting it.
Orca already possessed numerous supreme-grade demonic beasts, so there was no reason for him to cling so desperately to the Poison Butterfly.
Furthermore, he was the heir of Hyperion. To offer such a noble body as a direct host for the Poison Butterfly…
While it was hardly my place as its master to judge, it was not the act of a sane mind.
“Ah, this is truly delightful.”
The next moment, a voice filled with uncontrollable amusement rang in my ears.