I Will Protect My Brother - Chapter 132

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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 132
All the doubts and grievances I’d been holding back came pouring out uncontrollably.
“I destroyed the Guardian you created to protect Rahnar with my own hands, so naturally you must be anxious. Just as you said, the Stars’ blessing could vanish again at any moment.”
My father’s face turned deathly pale as his eyes widened.
“You just said… Karga…?”
“Regardless of other nations, Abuye should have protected him. If, as you say, we’ll be trembling in anxiety again in less than half a century, then we shouldn’t have cast away someone with such tremendous power like a beast. The same applies to Wynack.”
“Silence…!”
A thunderous rebuke struck immediately. My father rose from his throne, his voice booming with fury.
“That name is forbidden, Rozentia! Do you wish to be dragged before the International Court of Transcendents?!”
“When the Stars abandon Rahnar again someday, will they summon Karga then? Will they truly? Will Railo restore his limbs with the Revival Crystal, and will Wynack offer him the Family Head position again? Or will they simply create another victim identical to him?”
“Rozentia Renos!”
“I won’t participate in your plans to curry favor with the Transcendents. I won’t enter into an unwanted marriage either. So don’t think of using me as a diplomatic tool, Father.”
I shot back coldly and turned away.
Foolish father. Foolish Transcendents, all of them.
‘He was never a threat to Rahnar, even without being cast away so miserably.’
I no longer wished to remain in this Royal Palace. No matter how many times I pressed my hand to my chest, the suffocation wouldn’t ease.
I wanted to see him. It had been less than two weeks since I last visited Riltear.
This shouldn’t happen. If someone discovered it, as Father said, there would be no turning back…
Yet somehow, I found myself leaving the Royal Palace once more.
* * *
My footsteps echoed through the dark corridor. By now, I could navigate this Underground Prison as easily as Abuie Castle, even without candles or torches.
The moment I reached my destination, I clutched my dress and sank down. Then I pressed my forehead against the iron bars.
Silence stretched on for a long while.
A quiet voice came from beyond the darkness.
“What happened?”
It was always I who chattered away in this place. The fact that I’d been silent for so long seemed to concern him.
It had only been three more meetings since he first spoke to me, yet now he worried about me. Remarkable progress indeed.
I let out a soft laugh and shook my head.
“It’s just… I might not be able to visit frequently for the next few months.”
“Why?”
Someone had discovered that I was coming to see him.
If anyone besides your disciple and my father knew this truth, I might truly have my head severed at the International Court.
I didn’t want to tell him so plainly. This man was already struggling just to maintain his sanity—I couldn’t burden him with my worries too.
I spoke whatever came to mind first.
“I might have to get married.”
“…Married?”
“Yes. I’ve reached that age, it seems.”
Once my lips opened, the words flowed naturally.
“I might be sent to Delpiam. There are two Transcendent Family Houses there, after all. It might be difficult to leave without drawing attention.”
I wondered what expression he wore. Would he feel regret? I asked with anticipation.
“You’d still want me to come, wouldn’t you?”
“….”
“Then answer me like you did back then. Tell me you want me to keep visiting you. If you hate that, at least say thank you….”
“Is he a good person?”
Instead of an answer, an entirely different question flew at me.
“Who?”
“The man you’re going to marry.”
“Ah… Well, I don’t know. Maybe he’ll become a good man in about ten years.”
I waved my hand listlessly, wondering what I was even saying.
“He was still just a child back then. And quite a bit younger than me, at that.”
“You’re a child too.”
“I’m an adult! Don’t call me a child.”
I bristled and carelessly tapped the iron bars. It had been nearly a year since I came of age!
But only a firm answer returned, devoid of even mockery.
“Yes, a child.”
“What, are you lecturing me just because you’ve lived a little longer than me?”
My mouth fell open before I could stop it. This wasn’t the time for pointless banter.
But Karga’s words weren’t finished. His low, murmuring voice settled heavily upon the damp prison floor.
“Young and naive. Untainted by the world.”
“…?”
“That’s why you’re reckless and unprepared.”
Was I being scolded right now?
“So fragile that you fled to a place like this because you had nowhere else to escape to.”
“….”
“Too afraid to actually step inside here.”
“I can…!”
I sprang to my feet and grasped the lock of the prison cell.
I possessed the key to this prison. The Wynack Family Head had given it to me.
He said it was a key that could not only open the prison door, but simultaneously dispel all the invisible incantations surrounding Riltear.
All I had to do was insert the key. If I just opened this door and stepped one foot inside, there would be nothing to fear.
‘But the moment I do, I’ll become an international wanted criminal.’
The current Wynack Family Head had warned me repeatedly.
He would give me the key, but the instant this door opened, he would personally drag me before the International Court.
The minimum sentence was execution.
So the only place I was permitted to reach was right up to the front of this prison.
My hand holding the lock began to tremble faintly. The metal struck against the iron bars with an unpleasant sound.
As if to prove his point, Karga spoke flatly.
“You can’t even look at me properly.”
“That’s…!”
It’s because you don’t like it.
But I knew it was a weak excuse.
My body still trembled whenever I saw his wretched state. Part of it was instinctive fear, but it was also born from injustice and rage.
The target of my fury naturally lay with those who dwelt on the Surface above.
The Transcendents who reduced a single person to such a state, then busied themselves restoring the land as though nothing had happened.
The rulers of nations who groveled before them as if they were saviors.
And myself, who could never bring myself to defy them in the end.
Karga laughed—a sound like wind through dead leaves, as if he understood everything.
“The outside must be even more terrifying then. That’s why you keep coming.”
“…It’s not fear. It’s suffocation. And I—”
I just wanted to see you, and I was worried about you.
I tried to say it, but tears welled up suddenly. It was because my voice had continued so flatly.
“Marry someone good instead.”
“If I marry, I won’t be able to come once a month like now.”
“…Come sometimes.”
Gradually space out the visits. Listening to his barely audible murmur, indignation boiled up inside me again. This wasn’t what I wanted to hear.
“So you want me to come sporadically and then forget?”
“That’s how it will be.”
“You used to pester me about coming next month. I thought you wanted to see me every month, but your feelings have changed now?”
“Eventually, you won’t come anyway.”
“I will come!”
“Don’t be stubborn. All humans die eventually.”
“But you will continue to exist here forever, won’t you?”
No response came after that.
The Author would spend eternity here alone, killing time, unable to do anything, vaguely waiting for another human who might find this place driven by curiosity, just as I had.
“…Why did the Transcendents abandon you? You’re so obedient.”
I heard him laugh softly. This time it sounded closer to a bitter chuckle.
I bit my lip hard, but finally couldn’t hold back and poured everything out.
“Rahnar is fanatical about Guardian Star. Not just the Transcendents—even a king of a nation is. This world would collapse immediately if the Stars left.”
“….”
“I’ve heard the Stars are capricious beings, so what do they trust in them for? Shouldn’t the human world be built by human hands? They abandon one of their own like this while begging only for the power of Guardian Star!”
Still silence.
“Aren’t you angry? Don’t you want revenge? Am I the strange one?”
I gritted my teeth and hurled a luminous stone into the iron cage.
The prison interior blazed with merciless brightness in an instant. The walls stained with brown bloodstains lay bare before my eyes.
“Is it strange that I can’t bear to look at that state?!”
My hands trembled against my will, convulsing.
This was the first time I had seen the prison’s interior so nakedly. A young man abandoned like livestock half-butchered moved only his eyes, glancing toward me.
Breathing, yet not alive.
Eyes the color of blood, steeped in resignation no different from death.
…I don’t like this.

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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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