Roxana
Chapter 41
Chapter 41
The Way to Protect the Female Lead’s Older Brother
Chapter 41
I raised my hand and gently stroked my mother’s disheveled hair, smoothing it into place.
“Just a moment ago, you were helplessly attacked by monsters and nearly injured. It’s truly a miracle you don’t have a single scratch on you right now.”
In contrast to my gentle touch, the words pouring out toward her were as sharp as thorns.
“You said you came outside because you were worried about me… but I wonder.”
Even knowing it would wound my precious mother, I did not stop.
“Look at yourself even now. The one lying here, utterly drained just from encountering monsters, is you, Mother, not me. As I told you, I came through the afternoon’s commotion completely unscathed, perfectly fine like this.”
“Sana…”
“At this rate, I can hardly tell who should be worrying about whom.”
Meeting her gaze once more, I offered a faint smile. Her trembling lips parted and closed, at a total loss for words.
“Even if you had managed to find me amidst those monsters earlier, could you have even reached me with such a frail body? If I had truly been in danger, would you have even been able to save me?”
Mother’s eyes were like a river overflowing its banks. Her aimlessly wavering pupils seemed to ask me:
Why must you speak only such cruel words?
“That isn’t all. What if someone had used you as bait just to escape from the monsters alone? What would you have done then? Besides, the opening of the monster breeding pens wasn’t the only thing that happened today. What if my toy had taken you hostage or tried to harm you in order to escape the mansion? Did you consider any of that before you acted?”
In this moment, I relinquished forever the role of being her good and lovely daughter.
“Mother.”
My low voice echoed through the room like a bell in the heavy silence.
Smiling softly at my mother, I whispered the final words that would wound her, sweet and tender.
“If you truly care for me, do not create situations where you become a burden instead of a help. So that I never have to consider you a hindrance.”
* * *
“Lady Roxana.”
The moment I opened the door to Mother’s room and stepped out, Emily caught my eye, standing right outside.
She had her hand raised, as if she had been just about to knock.
I already had a good guess as to why Emily had come looking for me. Before coming to Mother’s room, I had given her prior instructions.
“His location?”
“I am told he has just crossed the main gate.”
At the news that Lant Agriche had returned to the mansion, I immediately turned on my heel.
It was best that I meet him first, before he heard about the afternoon’s events from anyone else.
While things had escalated further than initially planned, the situation was turning out better than expected.
In truth, I was the one who had ordered Cassis to be brought out under Deon’s name.
That was why I had made such an intentional fuss in the greenhouse. That way, no one would suspect me.
Thinking of the men who had trembled in front of me without knowing any of it, I felt a slight twinge of pity.
If they ever found out, they would shudder in utter indignation.
Some parts of this affair had gone according to my expectations, while others had not.
Mother coming outside to look for me was among the latter.
For me, having intentionally sent her back to the safety of her room to prepare for any eventuality, it was truly exasperating.
After all, I hadn’t expected Jeremy to go so far as to open the monster breeding pens while chasing Cassis.
With worse luck, Mother might have genuinely died.
I briefly recalled Mother’s face, the last thing I had seen before leaving the room.
But soon, as if rubbing it away with an eraser, I swept the lingering afterimage from my mind.
As far as I was concerned, whether Cassis meekly attended Maria’s tea party or seized the opportunity to attempt an escape, neither outcome was bad for me.
Of course, I had judged the latter to be far more likely, and Cassis had not disappointed me.
Jeremy, who had been hovering around Cassis for some time, was no different.
Since it was Deon’s name that had been used to take him from his room, even if trouble arose, the weight of responsibility on me would be light.
Even if Deon denied having given such an order, all that mattered was that the people who could prove the truth disappeared.
Conveniently, the ones who had delivered the message while impersonating Deon had already died before I could even deal with them.
According to Emily, they seemed to have been killed by the monsters, so in a sense, I had reaped the benefits without lifting a finger.
Furthermore, the floor plan I had shown Cassis earlier was, in truth, only half real.
So even if Jeremy hadn’t unleashed the monsters, Cassis would never have made it through the maze surrounding the estate.
I felt no particular guilt over deceiving Cassis.
From the very beginning, escaping Agriche on his own was an impossibility.
If it had been possible, Cassis would never have died so gruesomely in the novel.
That was why I intended to give Cassis the experience of a failed escape.
I wanted to thoroughly engrave the fact into him that he could never escape this place on his own without my help.
And yet… unexpectedly, Cassis was captured while trying to save my mother. That was an outcome I had never once imagined.
Perhaps that was why, for a while now, an indescribably strange and heavy feeling had weighed upon me.
“Welcome back, Master.”
But now was not the time to dwell on such thoughts.
I prepared to take the stage to settle the last remaining piece of business.
“Father, you have returned?”
Because I had hurried my steps, I had the chance to greet Lant Agriche before anyone else.
His gaze flew toward my smiling face.
My smile right now was surely flawless and lovely, just as I had practiced countless times throughout my life.
Having heard the news of Lant Agriche’s return, other family members began gathering one after another.
Given the customs of the Agriche family, moving in a group like this was usually rare, but after the afternoon’s incident, it seemed they had come to gauge the situation.
Just then, Deon was also descending the stairs.
His gaze locked directly onto me without the slightest deviation.
Even though I had put my weight behind that slap and struck him quite hard, not even swelling remained on his face.
In the first place, he easily could have dodged or blocked my hand earlier, yet he hadn’t.
That displeased me to no end.
“Yes. I trust nothing out of the ordinary happened while I was away?”
Judging by his expression, he seemed to be in quite a good mood.
He clearly did not yet know about what had transpired this afternoon.
“Father, I have news you will be delighted to hear.”
The moment I spoke, the people around us cast puzzled looks.
Well, given that the day’s events were hardly welcome news, their expressions were understandable.
Lant Agriche looked at me as if asking what it was.
Offering a deeper smile to the audience waiting beside us, I recited my prepared line.
“I have just succeeded in hatching the Poison Butterfly.”
The moment the words left my mouth, a murmur instantly swept through the crowd. Lant Agriche also pressed with the most excited tone he had shown in recent memory.
“Is that true?”
Instead of answering, I summoned the Poison Butterfly directly to my side.
As the translucent, dark crimson butterflies rose into the air one by one, absorbing the chandelier light to trace mystical clusters of radiance, the onlookers could not suppress their gasps of admiration.
As mentioned before, imprinting and hatching a Poison Butterfly was an exceedingly difficult feat.
Thus, even among outstanding Beast Tamers, those who could command Poison Butterflies could be counted on one hand.
It was no wonder they were astonished that I had accomplished such a formidable feat.
Few among them had likely believed I would genuinely be able to hatch the Poison Butterfly.
“I see. What kind of butterfly do you intend to raise them into?”
Lant Agriche seemed to know that a Poison Butterfly’s nature varied drastically depending on the type of poison injected and the method of raising it.
With eyes mixed with craving and greed, he stared fiercely at the Poison Butterflies fluttering around me.
To begin with, Lant Agriche could have easily seized the Poison Butterfly’s egg from me, yet he hadn’t.
The reason was obvious. An ugly creature with insatiable greed, yet lacking even the courage to become a host himself.
“Naturally, I must raise them into Slaughter Butterflies.”
I curved the corners of my eyes into a sweet smile.
Then, resting one hand against my chest and lightly lifting the hem of my skirt with the other, I bowed my head obediently.
“To be able to raise one of Agriche’s formidable weapons with my own hands—there could be no greater honor.”
Hearing the answer he desired, such immense satisfaction and ecstasy surfaced on Lant Agriche’s face that he looked as though he would tear out his very liver and gallbladder if I were to ask for them right now.
Of course, that was merely a figure of speech; there was no way a man who cared only for himself would ever do such a thing.
“Roxana, my expectations for you are always great.”
“Thank you, Father.”
Now, the preparations to send Cassis out of Agriche were truly entering their final stages.
