I Will Protect My Brother - Chapter 133

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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 133
As I fell silent, breathing heavily, unable to form words, he manipulated the formless energy and shattered the luminescence. Everything was swallowed back into darkness in an instant.
“If you’re afraid, don’t come.”
That wasn’t his true intention.
“I’m sick of seeing you tremble like that.”
This, too, was not his genuine heart speaking.
Even in the silent darkness, his eyes pursued only me. That blind gaze. Every element except the words tumbling from his lips was striving to hold me captive.
Do I appear to you as a savior?
One who will rescue you for the briefest moment, only to depart forever?
Is that why your face wears such an expression—resignation and supplication and obsession all tangled together?
I looked down at my hands. They were merely beautiful, unmarked by any transcendent power, untouched even by the traces of hardship.
‘If only I possessed more strength…’
If I were one of those Transcendents beyond these walls, if I had the authority and influence to lead the Continental Conference.
Then couldn’t I have freed that man from this place?
I wouldn’t even dare hope for the influence of Yeljewa—if I merely possessed the standing of Kirges.
They said the one who led the experiments was the Kirges of that era. Had I occupied even that position, I could have protected The Author from such a fate.
If I were a Transcendent instead of a mere princess fretting over being sold off tomorrow.
Yet there remained one thing I could still do now.
“…Karga.”
I asked impulsively.
“Don’t you want to leave?”
* * *
The next morning, I awoke to the sound of Urs knocking on the door.
[Miss, it’s time for your medicine.]
“Ah….”
[My, I thought you’d be up early again today. The timing was off?]
My entire body was drenched in sweat. As Urs slid the medicine bowl through the gap in the door, she noticed my pallid complexion and asked in alarm.
[Goodness, you look like a corpse. Did something happen last night?]
“No, nothing happened. I just… had a dream.”
[You’ve been dreaming frequently lately.]
“Indeed….”
When I drew back the curtains, the sun had already settled upon the mountain ridge.
Having slept so long, this dream had yielded abundant harvest. New information came pouring forth.
‘Transcendents. Transcendent Families. The Stars. Whezel and Wynack, Kirges….’
Whezel—was that the house of Luize Whezel? Wynack—that of Kalian Wynack?
It seemed I harbored profound resentment toward those called the Transcendent Families. It appeared the Transcendents were the ones who had reduced Karga to such a state.
Yet I couldn’t understand why Karga had come to bear the name Kalian Wynack….
But one thing became certain through this.
It was I who had helped Karga escape from that Deep-Sea Facility.
‘I opened the prison door. I was the one who opened it.’
Because I wanted to open it for you.
I bent at the waist and buried my face in the blanket. As I recalled the desolate landscape of the prison from my dream, my body was seized by chills once more.
The terrible helplessness that Rozentia had felt was transmitting to me in reality with terrifying speed.
My stomach felt heavy and unsettled, as though I’d eaten something that wouldn’t digest. The discomfort wouldn’t subside.
The blanket covering my face had grown damp without my noticing.
The boundary between dream and reality blurred. Rozentia, dormant within me, murmured sorrowfully.
“That was the only thing I could do back then….”
* * *
After wiping the sleep from my eyes, I descended to the first-floor Kitchen and was startled. Karga was seated before the Table, brewing tea.
He turned his head at the sound of my footsteps, the teapot tilted as he poured black tea into a cup. And he smiled at me with warmth like sunlight.
“Hello, Rozentia. You’re waking up late these days.”
“Oh, hello.”
I’d been about to ask if he’d slept well, but stopped myself. Now I knew he was a being incapable of sleep.
‘From now on, I should ask if he had a good night.’
I was about to sit down at the Table when—
“Wait, Princess.”
Karga’s eyes lit up brilliantly as he checked my left hand.
“Why aren’t you wearing my gift?”
“Oh, that. I’m keeping it safe.”
“Rings are meant to be worn on your hand. Like this.”
Karga held up his left hand. A ring nearly identical in design to mine, differing only in size, adorned his fourth finger.
“Were these a matching pair?”
“Yes. I made mine at the same time.”
“Is that so…?”
So we were sharing a matching pair of rings.
‘We’re not even lovers, and yet——’
Or was it stranger that we weren’t lovers?
Yesterday’s me would have recoiled, claiming ignorance of such implications, but today’s perspective was different. The lingering afterimage of the dream still clung to the corner of my vision, refusing to fade.
‘So I opened the door for him, and let him out.’
Then was the memory of kissing him on the Open Sea yesterday the memory from right after our escape?
‘That makes sense.’
It was the happiest ending I could imagine.
As I busied myself fitting the puzzle pieces of memory together, I forgot to answer Karga about where I’d placed the ring.
“Where did you put it that your answer is so late?”
He whimpered at me reproachfully, yet with his other hand, he gripped the teapot so tightly it seemed he might shatter it.
His eyes curved tenderly, but the pupils within them were dark and sinister.
“If you threw it away, I’ll cry again.”
He really does threaten over the strangest things.
I pulled out the necklace string that had been hidden beneath my collar.
“Why would I throw it away? It’s right here.”
Since I didn’t normally wear rings, the band felt awkward against my skin. So I’d taken to hanging it from the necklace chain I always wore.
That chain with its flat, disc-shaped pendant of unknown purpose.
Color returned to Karga’s previously ashen face.
“Put it on your finger.”
“…Well, I suppose it doesn’t really matter, but…”
“Now. This instant. Do it.”
Karga removed the ring from the necklace himself and slipped it onto my finger. The cool metal band brushed against my ring finger, sending a light shiver down my spine.
The ring fit perfectly, leaving not a single gap. Only then did he look satisfied.
Since his mood seemed to have improved, perhaps I should broach the subject. There was still much I wanted to ask him.
“Could you tell me just one thing?”
“Sure, what is it?”
“Did I… happen to get married?”
The corners of Karga’s mouth, which had been regarding me with amusement, stiffened slightly. Then he smiled with a grimace.
“Well, I suppose you will soon?”
“‘Will soon’? I’m asking about my current state.”
“I’m unmarried, so how could you be a married woman? No, you’re not.”
“I see… Thank goodness. So I wasn’t sold off into marriage after all.”
Luize, who had been silently staring at his teacup, shot me a look of utter disbelief.
“Don’t you think something odd just slipped into what this fool said, Sister?”
“Be quiet, Luize.”
“What exactly is the connection between him being unmarried and you not being a married woman, you—”
Something crashed loudly beneath the table. A salt shaker suddenly flew onto the surface.
I watched the two young men growling at each other across the table and fell into contemplation.
‘So I managed to avoid marriage with a Transcendent. But could the little heir of Whezel that Father was trying to marry me off to possibly be Luize Whezel?’
Judging by the fact that he calls me Sister, he must be younger than me.
‘But if that little boy was going to grow into such a handsome man in the future, I could have just gone ahead with the marriage…’
“So, so. Rozentia.”
Karga asked in an excited voice.
“Why did you suddenly ask if you got married? Did you want to?”
“Hmm? No. It seems I didn’t want to.”
“…?”
“Who would want to be dragged into a forced marriage? In any case, since it didn’t happen, I suppose that’s a blessing in disguise.”
Luize, who had been gripping the sugar bowl, set it down with satisfaction. Meanwhile, Karga’s eyes fell, his spirit visibly dampened.
“You didn’t want to marry me? That’s not it. You were the one who asked for this in the first place…”
“Huh?”
“You promised we’d have a child or two and live an ordinary life…”
“Who did? Me?”
“Yes, you.”
Karga let out a shallow sigh.
“I wish you’d forgotten. But don’t lose the ring. With a token of our promise in hand, forgetting doesn’t make it disappear. Whether you like it or not, there’s nothing to be done about it.”
“…Is that all?”
“What else do you need?”
“No, that’s not it.”
For someone so sensitive about my not wearing the ring, his response was surprisingly generous. Luize Whezel, sitting across from me, seemed to share the thought—his brows furrowed slightly.
Only after turning over our earlier conversation in my mind did I realize there was a critical misunderstanding between us.
“The thing is, it’s not that I don’t want to marry you. I was once in danger of being sold off into marriage to someone whose face I’d never even seen, and I was talking about that.”
“…Really?”
“Yes. So, in the dream. I’ve been dreaming about old memories lately.”
“Then you do want to marry me? Is that what you’re saying?”
“Huh, yes?”
Karga didn’t miss the opening created by my confusion. His voice turned smooth and coaxing.
“You said yes, didn’t you? You’ve already accepted the ring, so you can’t back out now. Understood?”
“Uh, well. I’m not sure.”
I glanced sideways at the person across from me. Luize Whezel was shaking his head frantically in front of me.
“Let me think about it.”
When I gave a vague answer, reading the room, Karga’s expression turned thoroughly dissatisfied.
“You used to let things slide this easily. You’ve grown cold, Rosy….”
“Call me by one name. It’s confusing.”
“Yes, Princess.”
“….”
“But you’re marrying me, no matter what.”
This one seems to be quite different from the one in my dreams.

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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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