I Will Protect My Brother - Chapter 130

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 130
At first glance, it was clearly a precious item. Even if he’d made it with the intention of giving it away, could I really accept something like this without hesitation?
Yet returning it felt unbearable. As I gazed at the ring with eyes brimming with reluctance, Karga nodded as if to say it was fine.
“It was always yours from the beginning, and there’s no one else I’d give it to. So don’t lose it—keep it safe.”
“You won’t change your mind later, will you?”
“That’s my line.”
The ring box in his hand suddenly burst into flames. Startled by the sudden eruption of fire, I stumbled backward, and he spoke to me quietly.
“You’ve received it for certain, Rozentia.”
“Y-yes. Thank you.”
With the box gone, there was no way to put the ring back. It had become irrevocably mine. Only then did Karga’s expression turn satisfied.
“I didn’t enchant it with anything. If I’d known it would turn out like this, I should have embedded some function into it.”
“What kind of function?”
“Location tracking, for instance.”
“…?”
“I didn’t want to show it to Alpien Kirges, so I just kept it. Originally, I was planning to have you cast the spell yourself, but…”
“So your specialty is going smoothly one moment and then suddenly going sideways the next?”
Location tracking? Did this pervert also have stalker tendencies?
As I frowned again, Karga chuckled and spread both arms wide.
“Since I’m already being a pervert, I might as well go further. Give me a hug.”
“…”
“I gave you a gift you really liked, so you can do this much, can’t you? I won’t do anything else—just let me hold you.”
True, having received a gift, it felt wrong to just brush past him. As I hesitated, he gestured with his eyes as if asking what I was waiting for.
I glanced nervously at both sides of the Corridor, worried someone might see. Even after that, Karga waited patiently as I shuffled forward hesitantly, as if he were waiting for me to come to him of my own accord.
He was leaning diagonally against the railing, so the height difference had narrowed considerably. After a moment’s deliberation, I wrapped my arms very lightly around his waist.
I’d intended it to be a brief embrace before pulling away quickly. Of course, that didn’t happen.
Karga pulled me into his arms so tightly I could barely breathe.
The strength in his arms, which bound my back and waist together, was so overwhelming that I could only whimper silently.
“I didn’t say to hold me this tight—I can’t breathe…!”
“Just for a moment.”
I stopped struggling to escape from his embrace. His voice, muffled as he buried his face in the space between my neck and shoulder, sounded as if submerged in water.
“Since you’ve received the gift, just stay like this for a moment.”
His murky voice was strikingly similar to what I’d heard in that dream.
“Not letting me touch you at all is too much…”
After deliberating for a while, I slowly lowered the fist I’d raised to strike his back.
“Then… just for a moment. Exactly five minutes.”
“Understood.”
As my resistance ceased, the rapid heartbeat of his chest, pressed nearly against mine, transmitted itself to me in full.
Being held this tightly by a man I barely knew should have frightened me, yet somehow this embrace felt familiar, as if I’d found my way back to where I belonged. This weakness of heart will be my undoing.
‘This ring too…’
I lifted my hand over his shoulder and stared intently at the ring fitted on my ring finger.
The gemstone perfectly mirrored the saturation and hue of my own eyes, as if it had been carved directly from them.
Why did I feel such absolute certainty the moment I saw it—that this was undoubtedly mine?
Was it because it had truly been made for me alone?
What kind of relationship typically involved exchanging rings?
That was when I heard a small, stifled sound.
I panicked and tapped Karga on the shoulder.
“Are you… crying?”
“…”
“No… why? Why?”
I hastily pushed him away to see his face, and my shock only deepened. His complexion, already gaunt, was now drained of all color—pallid as death itself—with his eyes rimmed in red.
Tears had accumulated in those crimson eyes to a precarious level.
“You were fine just moments ago. Why are you suddenly crying?”
“Because I’m happy.”
“About what?”
“You.”
“…You love me?”
“I do.”
The confession struck me like a blow, and I forgot everything I’d been about to say—perhaps because a tear had rolled down his left cheek at that very moment.
Karga’s hand moved slowly across my face, which was now openly bewildered. His touch was achingly tender.
“I abandoned my eternity to see you.”
“…”
“It saddens me that you don’t remember me, but it’s all right. I’m still Karga. Perhaps we can slowly recover those memories together, starting from now?”
“That’s…”
“I hope so. Please, someday you will. While you were gone, I suffered so much.”
“All right, all right—stop now.”
Before I realized what I was doing, I’d cupped both his cheeks in my hands. My fingers came away damp with his tears.
‘Love,’ he said.
Love? Suddenly, without warning? Why was he crying so painfully while saying such things? He must be mad.
Even as I thought this, warmth flooded my cheeks and the nape of my neck. And yet, at the same time, I felt a deep ache for him—as though I’d left a helpless child alone by the water’s edge.
Swallowing my embarrassment, I gently stroked the back of his round head. I deferred my questions about what had transpired between us for now.
It took Karga considerable time to stop crying. I took his hand as he rubbed his chin raw and pulled it away.
“But what do you mean by abandoning your eternity?”
“It means I threw away with my own hands the time and opportunity to be with you forever.”
“So what exactly does that mean?”
“I no longer have Guardian Star. I cannot exist eternally in perfect form.”
His tear-swollen crimson irises scattered a jewel-like brilliance. As if drained of strength, he pulled me close again, his body trembling.
“But it’s all right. An eternity without you would be no different from being dead.”
“…”
“I found you… that’s enough…”
As I turned his murmured words over in my mind and surrendered myself to his embrace, the arms wrapped around my waist began to tighten with increasing force.
I subtly took a step back, and he clung to me without hesitation. Karga gazed at me with those innocent, lamb-like eyes.
“Since we’re already doing this, couldn’t you just give me one kiss before you go?”
“What did you just say?”
“Then I won’t cry anymore.”
“It’s already stopped. Please, enough.”
“But it hasn’t…”
“Ah, can’t you stop making that expression?”
Honestly, it wasn’t like he was an orphaned duckling or anything. When someone looked at you with eyes that glistened like that, who wouldn’t want to give them anything? This wasn’t my fault.
“Is this… how you normally are? I mean, are you always this clingy?”
“Only with Rosy. Though I’m Rozentia now. Just once, and I promise I won’t bother you again.”
“…On the cheek?”
“You’re not joking, are you?”
Surely he wasn’t asking for my lips?
My gaze involuntarily traced down from his nose and philtrum. There, as beautiful and familiar as every other feature that composed him, lay his lips.
A kiss.
I knew how to do that.
Without warning, a vivid scene suddenly materialized before my eyes.
“Kalian, heal me.”
“Are you playing with me?”
“You’re far too excited right now.”
‘That’s right. I’ve done it before.’
Cradling both his cheeks in my hands like this… I tilted my head toward him as if entranced by the memory I’d just recalled.
Like this, drawing him close to me. When our lips meet.
It was the moment our noses barely grazed each other.
The instant my lips felt the soft texture of his skin, my senses snapped back into focus.
‘What, what am I doing right now…?’
I’d lost my mind. My face burning crimson, I covered it with my hand and quickly pulled away.
Karga clicked his tongue in disappointment. I stared at him, utterly flabbergasted.
“Did you just… enchant me?”
“It’s not a kiss, just a peck. What’s the big deal?”
“That’s the same thing! You really are a pervert!”
“Fine, forget it.”
Karga pouted softly and straightened his posture from where he’d been leaning against the railing.
Our eyes, which had been at nearly the same level, suddenly shifted as he rose. Only then could I release a breath of relief.
If I’d come to my senses even a moment later, I would have pressed my own lips against his.
Karga watched me relax with obvious displeasure.
“So you’re saying I shouldn’t come within five paces of you, right?”
“That’s actually a great idea!”
“What?”
“Starting tomorrow, I’d really appreciate it if you could do that. Getting too close is overwhelming for me!”
It was terrible for my heart too! Seeing me stumble backward all the way to the opposite wall in an instant, Karga let out a hollow laugh.
“If you knew how far you and I have already gone, you’d be horrified.”
The young man uttered those loaded words and suddenly draped the blanket he was holding over my head. My vision went completely dark.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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