Roxana
Chapter 31
Chapter 31
The Way to Protect the Female Lead’s Older Brother
Chapter 31
Yet soon, Cassis seemed to realize that what he had seized was my bandaged left arm.
The grip constricting my arm loosened with a soft slip.
I felt as though I finally had some measure of what kind of person Cassis Pedelian was.
Even in a situation like this, even in a moment like this, this man was being considerate of me with such gentlemanly grace.
It was merely a pity that I was in a position where I had no choice but to use him regardless.
“I’m sorry.”
Lifting the left arm Cassis had just held, I gently caressed his face.
Surely my face right now looked utterly sorrowful and pitiable, as though one would give up their very heart and soul for me.
As proof, Cassis still kept his eyes hardened, yet could not bring himself to push my hand away.
“Even if it feels unpleasant, bear with it just a little.”
I felt sorry, but I couldn’t stop half-heartedly here.
The mark left on Cassis’s neck was still far too faint. This was not nearly enough.
“I’ll finish as quickly as I can, so…….”
Lowering my gaze to look as plaintive as possible, I whispered.
As if I had no choice in the matter either. As if I was deeply remorseful for doing such a thing to him.
“You just have to stay still.”
Yet as though he had no intention of indulging my actions any further, Cassis’s hand caught mine where it touched his face.
At the exact same moment, my head dropped down onto the nape of his neck once more.
“Wait, you…….”
Cassis parted his lips to stop me, but I didn’t halt.
The grip encompassing my hand gradually began to tighten.
I thought he would shove me away at any second, but Cassis didn’t.
Perhaps my behavior was so unexpected that he simply didn’t know how to react.
The body pressed against mine had stiffened noticeably more than before.
Thump, thump. The heartbeat, far fiercer now, vibrated through our bodies. Once again, there was no telling whose heartbeat it was.
I moved boldly to leave as distinct a mark as possible.
Suddenly, Cassis’s hand touched the back of my neck.
Wondering if he was trying to pull me off like before, I bit down harder on his neck.
At that, the hand that had dug into my hair froze in place.
I felt his low breath scattering against my ear.
Feeling a slight tug at the nape of my neck, it seemed Cassis’s fingers had tangled into my hair and seized it.
Even so, it wasn’t painful; rather, paradoxically, using his hand as leverage allowed me to focus more comfortably on leaving the mark.
Because Cassis didn’t shift enough to hinder me or shove me away, the task was easier than expected.
Thinking one wasn’t enough, while I was at it, I made a couple more marks.
After a moment, feeling satisfied, I slowly stroked the vivid marks left on Cassis’s neck.
Unlike his docile body that made no distinct movement aside from exhaling, his brilliant golden eyes blazed as if they would devour me whole.
The taut muscles beneath my fingertips repeatedly tensed and relaxed. As if he was desperately holding something back.
“Thank you for helping me, Cassis.”
I whispered tenderly toward him.
For now, this seemed enough to breathe a sigh of relief.
* * *
What a pair they make.
With coldly leveled eyes, I stared at the two figures visible in the distance.
Lant Agriche and Deon Agriche. The two stood in the garden, engaged in some conversation.
If I planted a butterfly, I would be able to eavesdrop on their conversation as well, but because the risk was still too great, I simply gave up on it.
Acting clumsily for no reason might expose the hidden cards I held without gaining a single thing in return.
In any case, seeing them like this, they truly did resemble one another.
Lant and Deon were father and son who shared the same hair and eye color. Yet up close, their facial features were completely different.
Moreover, because the aura each possessed was so starkly different, it felt as though they resembled each other far more when glimpsed from a distance like this.
Just then, Lant raised a hand and patted Deon on the shoulder. He seemed to be praising him for returning after successfully completing his task.
The children of Agriche were not permitted to step outside the mansion until coming of age.
Thus, only a very few of my siblings currently undertook missions for the family like this.
To be precise, as of now, there were only two.
Above me were one unnie and two oppas, but my half-sister was still seventeen, not yet an adult.
For that reason, only two brothers carried out external activities at present, and among them, the one demonstrating overwhelmingly superior results was without question the second son, Deon.
For a fleeting moment, like an illusion, it felt as though my eyes met Deon’s far off in the distance.
As if I had never looked at him at all, I turned away coldly at once.
Five years ago, the reason Asil died was because he failed to eliminate his target.
In the end, Asil was sentenced to disposal.
And so, the person who finally executed him was none other than Deon Agriche.
That was the first reason I could never like him.
And the second reason was…….
Simply because he was the only person in this place who had ever seen my weakness.
* * *
“Can’t do it?”
The man, having just crossed from an immature boy into adulthood, opened his mouth.
If a human voice could be given physical form, his voice surely would have become grains of sand on a midwinter night that crumbled at the slightest touch.
Falling from above my head, his voice was dreadfully cold and dry, as though devoid of a single speck of emotion.
Yet I suddenly stopped breathing, as if it were a razor-sharp dagger.
At the time, I was so aghast that I had even forgotten another person was beside me.
“Then don’t.”
The frostbitten voice pierced my eardrums.
Then, stepping forward, he began to approach me. He intended to finish the task I had failed to carry out in my stead.
If I were a little more foolish, I might have felt relieved at the fact that I wouldn’t have to dirty my hands like this.
Or perhaps I might have been utterly overjoyed that I could escape this dreadful situation.
But I knew. This was neither mercy nor acceptance.
If I failed to do this now, the only thing awaiting me would be death.
So no matter what happened, the one to settle this had to be me.
Besides, even if not for that reason alone, I…….
“……off.”
At the words I finally spat through gritted teeth, the approaching figure halted his steps.
My voice was choked, so faint it was barely audible, yet it was miraculous that it reached his ears at all.
Reaching out a trembling hand, I braced against the wall. Then I forced my slumped body to stand.
“Get lost, Deon.”
Then, I spat out once more toward the man who had come to stand right beside me.
“Because there’s no place for you to step in here.”
It was the day of the final Monthly Evaluation at age fifteen.
Asil, who had already died years ago, was crying before my eyes. Yes, this was an illusion.
If not, there was no way a dead person could stand brazenly before my eyes like someone living.
The dizziness in my head earlier seemed to be because I had been administered a large dose of hallucinogens without my knowing.
No, but perhaps the dizziness I felt now wasn’t solely because of the hallucinogens.
I walked toward my dead oppa, who was weeping tears of blood.
Holding in my hand not flowers to mourn him, but a sharp blade to cut off his breath in a single stroke.
“I won’t let Asil die twice by the likes of your hands.”
At that moment, a chilling gleam rose in the man’s eyes, which had been endlessly tranquil and cold like a frozen sea.
I did not know what that gaze meant.
No, to me at the time, such things were merely insignificant and did not matter in the slightest.
And so, leaving behind the persistent gaze trailing my back, I merely walked toward the figure before my eyes. At fifteen years old, the same age as I was today, what did Asil see in this room?
Just who had appeared in Asil’s hallucinations that he had to die instead as the price for failing to eliminate his target?
Ever since that day, I had always wondered, but nowhere in the world remained anyone who could answer my question.
