I Will Protect My Brother - Chapter 136

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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 136
Even as I deliberately evaded his question, Karga refused to relent, pressing me further.
“Why did you suddenly think that? Did you think it in a dream? That doesn’t make sense. You looked absolutely hideous back then.”
“Not particularly.”
“You certainly weren’t as handsome as you are now, were you?”
“Ah, that last comment was rather tactless….”
“What I mean is, you probably didn’t look very endearing to my eyes back then.”
Despite my playful deflection, his expression remained grave.
“I didn’t have arms or legs then. I might have looked like some beetle with its limbs torn off.”
“A beetle? What are you talking about? Never mind—stop asking me and tell me first. When did you start to love me?”
I had rambled on carelessly to change the subject, but once the words left my lips, I found myself genuinely curious.
Back in that damp Prison Dungeon, meeting across the iron bars—what had he thought of me then? What had I been to him, and how much had he cherished me?
The Karga in my dreams had been taciturn, his expressions limited. In truth, we had never stood this close, face to face.
“…Me, loving you?”
Even at such a trivial question, Karga deliberated for a long while.
“I don’t remember the very first time I saw you. When I regained consciousness at some point, you were simply there. As if it were the most natural thing.”
“And?”
As we conversed, we had unconsciously passed our destination. It had been long since we’d crossed the path leading to the Lower Village.
“It had been so long since I’d seen a human that I was somewhat startled.”
By the time we passed the slope climbing back to higher ground, a hill came into view.
It was a hill densely covered in violet lilac blossoms—a place Urs and I frequented to harvest lilac roots.
Since we were already here, I settled down with the intention of gathering a few medicinal herbs.
Karga, who had seated himself beside me, watched my expression carefully.
“Should I continue?”
“Honestly, yes.”
“I thought about killing you since you came from the surface.”
“…You’re being far too honest….”
The hostility he’d shown even through our third meeting had been ominous, but it seemed I had truly come close to death.
“Why did you want to kill me?”
“Just because. I hate humans.”
A heavy weight settled on my right shoulder as Karga rested his head against me, his voice becoming a soft hum.
“Even now, that’s true. Humans are not to be trusted. Giving your heart yields nothing but loss, and relationships almost always end in betrayal.”
“I see.”
“Every time I saw their backs as they turned away from me, my stomach would twist. When I see them trembling and fleeing, it infuriates me. Why do they fear me? Humans are the ones who made me like this.”
“….”
“But the irony is, who else but a human could ever save me?”
With perfect naturalness, Karga took my hand and pressed his cheek against my palm.
“Who else but a human could remember me? Who else could call my name and stroke me with such tenderness? Only humans can do such things…. I cannot commune with rats or fish.”
A warm breeze drifted past. His voice, carried on the wind and flowing directly into my ears, was monotonous to the point of being haunting.
“Realizing that, I couldn’t bring myself to kill you. My Rozentia.”
“….”
“Perhaps, Rosy, I was quite lonely in there.”
That unfamiliar endearment kept tumbling from his lips. But this time, I decided to let it pass. Perhaps he had no one else to share such quiet conversations with.
His emotionless, flat tone of voice only made him appear more exhausted.
“And what else?”
“What else?”
“When you looked at me, weren’t there other thoughts? You nearly killed me when we first met, and after that?”
Karga fell silent for a long moment, as if rummaging through old memories. His fingers continued to fidget with the back of my hand before he murmured softly.
“I thought you were a very righteous person.”
“Righteous…?”
“And fearless.”
“Hmm.”
“To be honest, at first I thought you were mad.”
“Well, I appreciate your honesty.”
“I thought you’d come to ruin.”
“….”
“Humans must live among humans, yet you pitied something inhuman—what calamity would befall you? So I should have told you not to come….”
Karga let out a hollow laugh, his shoulders trembling.
“Even though it was obvious you were freezing, I couldn’t bring myself to say ‘stop coming.’ The next month, the month after that, I kept asking you to come. Even after you married, I begged you to visit me sometimes.”
“What was I even asking for?”
At that point, I too felt some displeasure.
“I didn’t hold you back—I pushed you away.”
“So you were hurt?”
“Of course I was.”
I bristled and objected.
“Though I hate to admit it, I did care for you. I went to see you despite the danger, and when your response was lukewarm, naturally I felt hurt. In moments like that, a simple ‘I wanted to see you too’ would have sufficed.”
“You didn’t care—you pitied me. My princess is kind and righteous, after all.”
“Don’t jest. You think I felt such things out of mere pity?”
“Your heart is tender. I was certainly pitiful to anyone’s eyes back then, so you simply couldn’t overlook it.”
I fixed Karga with an intense stare.
The emotions I had revived through my dreams were not so simple. It was not merely the kind of pity one feels for an injured puppy.
I had certainly wished for him to escape the Prison Dungeon and find freedom.
That gaze of his, seeing me as his last hope, pained me. His words of rejection broke my heart, and his resigned demeanor angered me.
And I had cherished the rare moments when he showed me his obsession.
I wanted the strength to protect him. Unable to possess it, I felt deep disappointment in my own helplessness, and finally, when all those emotions overcame the barriers of reality and conquered fear, I found my courage.
The man, oblivious to my grievance, continued to murmur as if speaking to himself.
“I barely remember that version of myself now, yet Rozentia remains oddly vivid in my memory.”
“How so?”
“You always brought a luminous stone, so I could see you clearly. In that cold, dark place, only where you stood shimmered with warm orange light.”
“….”
“I’ve never been fond of the metaphor of shining like a star, but I couldn’t find any other way to express it, so I remember feeling a little sad about that.”
My one and only star found in the vast cosmos. He murmured as if speaking to himself, then broke into a soft smile.
“The day has come when I speak of such things with my Princess.”
“….”
“In the end, it doesn’t matter who you are to me. Whether you’re Rozentia, Lozietti, or Rosien. Even if you’ve forgotten me entirely, you treat me with such kindness. Though you do call me a pervert.”
He tilted his head slightly and stole a kiss on my left cheek before pulling away quickly. His mischievous smile was utterly boyish.
“My Guardian Star, my beautiful star. You must continue to shine just like that.”
“…What is that?”
I couldn’t help but laugh at the absurdity of it.
So this is how he operates—stealing a kiss before I can even sulk, smoothing everything over with that smile? But of course, his smiling face was absolutely beautiful.
After that, our conversation continued, one thread leading to another.
“What about the name Kalien?”
“I gave myself that name when I needed one. It was apparently the name of Owen Wynack’s dead son. He died of a fever as an infant. Since he said he needed a son, I offered to take the role. Ah, Owen is the Family Head of Wynack. Well, as for what Wynack is….”
We sat carelessly in the middle of a tall lilac field that blanketed the hill, chatting away for quite some time.
It was very peaceful, beautiful, and perhaps even happy.
The tight exhilaration that had kept me on edge was slowly transforming. It melted into a soothing sense of stability, pulling my consciousness down beneath the surface with a heavy weight.
My eyes began to grow increasingly hazy.
It seemed I had accumulated quite a bit of fatigue from dreaming the entire time I slept over the past few days.
As I rubbed my drowsy eyes, Karga chided me in an unfamiliar tone.
“So it’s still connected after all, the Elixir.”
“Right, what exactly is this Elixir….”
Luize had said I would know if I touched it with my hand. That I would understand immediately upon touching it, that it was the Elixir imprinted upon the soul.
I tried to reach for the arm I was leaning against and grasp his hand, when he suddenly spoke.
“Rosy, don’t dream tonight.”
“Why…?”
“Just don’t have that dream anymore. I wish you hadn’t witnessed Rozentia’s end.”
“That’s not something I can control by will alone.”
“I know. Still, I wish you wouldn’t remember.”
“….”
“But that won’t go according to my wishes either. You’ve always gone in the exact opposite direction of what I expected.”
He pressed his forehead gently against mine and rubbed it softly. The moment our skin touched, the muscles throughout my body, which had been stiffly tense, began to unwind. Karga seemed to experience the same, as the furrow between his brows slowly smoothed out.
‘Ah, right now. Somehow it feels like….’
His presence seemed to become suddenly more vivid. Was it an illusion?
But before I could sense it more clearly, drowsiness washed over me.
In the end, I began to nod off without hearing the rest of what he was saying.

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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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