I Will Protect My Brother - Chapter 143

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

Chapter 143
Late in the evening, after dinner had concluded and the household had retired to their chambers, a knock sounded at my door.
“Come in, Kalien.”
Kalien entered without a sound, dressed for travel. It was clear he had made his preparations—not in casual attire, but in a robe as though he were about to depart for somewhere at any moment.
I rifled through the documents listing Kirges’s new disciples, asking absently.
“You’re leaving right after we finish talking?”
“As I said.”
He answered in a subdued voice. My grip on the documents tightened imperceptibly. The letters blurred before my eyes. Kalien pointed out carefully.
“You’re holding the documents upside down, Rosy.”
“It’s nothing important anyway.”
“Mm, I see.”
I turned the documents right-side up, feigning indifference. There was no way I could focus on anything like this.
“Come here. If this is truly the last time, we should at least look at each other while we say goodbye.”
I heard him hesitate. When I turned my chair to the side, Kalien approached slowly. Despite his reluctant pace, a soft moan escaped him.
“It’s been so long since I’ve seen your face….”
It had been equally long for me to face him at this distance. Kalien cradled both my cheeks in his hands, tilting my head to look at him. His fingertips traced my features with his thumbs, lingering with unmistakable longing.
“When did you decide to leave?”
“Since Alfheim.”
“That’s quite a while ago.”
“Yes. So this wasn’t an impulsive decision.”
Kalien’s tone remained consistently calm—a rational voice I rarely heard from someone so temperamentally volatile and emotionally naive.
“I’m sorry for only telling you now. I needed time to organize my thoughts.”
“Tell me how you’ve organized them.”
“I think it’s better if I disappear from beside you, Rosy.”
….
“It was Lost Soul who first told me that—right after you vanished before my eyes, pierced by a blade. Lost Soul told me not to forget my true nature.”
Kalien released my upturned chin and lowered himself, kneeling before me. Now I looked down upon him. He continued gently.
“You know what my nature is, don’t you, Rosy? Rozentia. I’ve even summoned the version of myself from when I was Karga in Alfheim, but I am undeniably different from that past self. This is… yes, an objective fact.”
….
“From the moment I made a covenant with Lost Soul and escaped the detention camp, I abandoned my humanity, Rozentia. So if you were to face death before my eyes again, I would resurrect you the same way. I might even lose myself entirely and transform you into something like me.”
….
“In fact, that’s what I wanted to do first when I found you.”
His grip on my hand grew progressively stronger. He seemed to be speaking more to himself now, muttering rather than addressing me.
“I was so very angry. My Princess, you don’t know it, but your loss of memory was the best thing that could have happened to you. It gave me time to think rationally.”
Kalien pressed his lips to my wrist.
“I want you to exist in my eternity. Even after all of this.”
“So you have no regrets?”
“None whatsoever. But….”
His breath against my palm quickened slightly.
“It saddens me that I keep arriving at the same conclusion every time.”
“….”
“Anyway, my conclusion is this. The only way I can love you without destroying you is to disappear like this.”
As if unwilling to lie to me, Kalien used the vague expression ‘disappear.’ I waved my hand to push him away and instead gripped his left shoulder.
He is a being who shed his previous flesh through a covenant with the Lost Soul and was born anew. Now that the covenant has been nullified, maintaining this body would be difficult.
Eternity? A journey? That’s absurd. Leaving now was no different from saying he’d go to his death as a human would. He was saying he wouldn’t return.
“What about our Elixir Contract?”
“I’ve left you the flame of sorrow. In a sense, that’s part of me too, so as long as it remains with you, you won’t suffer from Seongyeol. If you ever become seriously ill, use the Revival Crystal I gave you from time to time. Don’t worry.”
“What about you?”
“I don’t necessarily need Elixir. As you know. I’ll just experience some pain and fatigue occasionally, that’s all.”
“I see. Well, you just need to endure through the period when Seongyeol rages.”
“That’s right.”
When I smiled, Kalien finally seemed relieved and pulled up the corners of his mouth. Surely he didn’t think I was smiling because I was satisfied. My twisted emotions spilled out in a cold tone.
“Then I have one last gift to give you.”
“What is it?”
I picked up the wooden box resting on the desk and held it out to him. Inside the small box, no larger than a palm, was a silver ring adorned with an emerald gemstone.
Kalien’s complexion turned deathly pale.
“I’m supposed to take this?”
“Yes.”
“…All right. I understand.”
He reluctantly consented and reached out his hand.
Before Kalien’s fingers could touch the box, I clutched it back to myself.
“Is that really all you have to say?”
“What?”
“Whether you’re Karga or Kalien, is there nothing else you want to tell me? If you leave like this, I won’t reach for you again.”
This was the last chance I was giving Kalien.
In truth, no matter what he said, once I had decided, our fates would not change. But at least in this moment, I wanted to hear something from him.
Everything Kalien had said so far was wrong. I stopped pressing him. Instead, I leaned forward and drew his confused face close to mine.
“Be honest, Kalian.”
“….”
“From the moment I disappeared before you until now, haven’t you had anything you wanted to say to me?”
Because I lost my memories, there must have been things he couldn’t voice and had to swallow down inside.
“You said you were angry. It’s fine to be angry. Other words are fine too. I’ll forgive you no matter what you do, so speak honestly.”
Kalien blinked several times, as if unsure whether he understood correctly.
“Honestly…?”
“Yes. It’s all right.”
In the blood-red eyes that held me, intense emotion gradually took root. It wasn’t anger. It was sorrow.
The moment the precariously wavering breakwater of his heart finally crumbled, Kalien’s eyes twisted painfully.
“Why… did you?”
“….”
“Why didn’t you say anything. Why….”
Tears streamed down his wide-open eyes without even a moment to gather. His voice began to shake violently.
“I’ve asked you countless times—if you’re hiding something, tell me.”
“You’re right. You did.”
“You said you didn’t trust me? Luize said it—how little you must trust me to keep your mouth shut like that. And it’s not just anything, it’s a prophecy about your death. How could you not say a single word to me about it….”
“….”
“And then. Why did you talk about traveling together? Why did you bring up having two or three children and living that life? Why did you make me so happy only to vanish without a trace? That’s your fault. Why….”
His voice, drenched with tears, became a desperate plea.
“Don’t leave me behind.”
“I won’t.”
“Don’t hate me. I don’t want to wrong you. I’m sorry for bringing you back to life on my own. But please, don’t leave like that again.”
“Did it hurt a lot?”
Kalien nodded. Then, as if he couldn’t believe his own state, he let out a hollow laugh. He roughly wiped his tear-soaked cheeks with the back of his hand.
“How could I think you’d be fine? In my eyes, you’re still covered in blood. How could you go like that, and then, ugh, act as if nothing happened….”
“Come here.”
“As if you’d been waiting for the moment, you erased me so completely from existence….”
I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him close. The fabric of my clothes where Kalien buried his face began to grow damp with his tears. As I gently stroked his trembling back, suppressed sobs leaked out.
“The bloodstains won’t disappear. That moment won’t leave my mind. It must have hurt so much, didn’t it….”
“Yeah. It really did hurt.”
“I’m always the one making you die in such agony.”
His voice, coming in fragments, was now nearly drowned out by his sobs, becoming almost impossible to understand.
“How can I guarantee something like this won’t happen again? No matter how much I think about it, my conclusion is that it’s impossible, Rosy. Rather than go through something like this again, I’d rather never see you for the rest of my life. And there’s a good opportunity to disappear right now….”
“No, that’s not it. Kalian.”
I had heard everything I needed to hear. Now it was time to stop this endless self-recrimination. I continued with a firm tone.
“I’ve always wondered. Setting you aside, why am I so blindly devoted to you?”
“…?”
“Now I have the answer. It was I who brought you back to me.”
“Why would that….”
“Because I wished for it. So think of this as my selfishness. Or if you prefer, a small form of revenge on my part.”
“I don’t understand what you’re saying.”
“Look, you’ll understand soon enough.”
I separated him from my embrace and withdrew the bundle I had been carrying with me all along. As I pulled back the cloth wrapping it, a transparent crystal revealed its luminous form.
The Revival Crystal. Kalien blinked in bewilderment.
“Is this your selfishness?”
“That’s right. Because I’m going to use this to bring you back.”
I flicked open the lid of the Planetarium with my fingernail. The incantation circle I had drawn beforehand rose above the orbit.
[ᛈᛖᚱᛖᚾᛏᛁᚨ (Confine)]
Kalien, who couldn’t understand the spell I uttered, flinched as he watched. The Revival Crystal, wrapped in the incantation circle, settled upon his left chest.
It seeped into his body like sugar crystals dissolving in water. The spell I had painstakingly woven through sleepless nights confined both Kalien and the Revival Crystal together.
I contentedly caressed the area near his heart with my fingertips.
“Now it’s your turn. No matter how many times you die, you’ll keep coming back to life.”
Only then did alarm flash across Kalien’s face.

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