I Will Protect My Brother - Chapter 24

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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 24
Chapter 3. Begone, Wandering Spirit
Night descended swiftly.
I locked the bedroom door and spent the entire day lounging about with Kalian Wynack, only rising quietly as midnight approached.
Kalian Wynack followed me all the way to the door.
“Where are you going, Rosy?”
“I need to ask the administrator when the Emperor will visit the Harem tomorrow. I should know the time so I can prepare in advance.”
“Can’t I come with you?”
“It’s late. You should rest.”
Kalian Wynack fixed me with an unreadable gaze. My heart pounded with unease.
Why was I acting like this? I’d never been this way with Kalian Wynack before.
After a long silence, Kalian Wynack finally shrugged.
“Well… okay, go ahead.”
“Don’t open the door for anyone you don’t know!”
I hurried out into the Corridor and closed the door. Kalian Wynack’s smiling figure waving at me was trapped beyond the threshold.
‘I’m sorry, brother. It seems I can’t entrust you with the Sacred Relic until I’ve resolved this unease.’
I didn’t want to suspect Kalian Wynack. Yet, reflecting on recent events, I’d grown increasingly aware of subtle inconsistencies in his behavior.
Three years serving as Kalian Wynack’s caretaker. My maternal instincts had grown razor-sharp.
‘I thought his strange reactions stemmed solely from Seongyeol, but perhaps that’s not the case.’
But unease was unease, and a promise to the Sacred Relic had to be kept. I should have scheduled this meeting ten days later instead of at midnight tonight.
It wasn’t much of an alternative, but I had no choice but to go myself.
While I’m at it, I should verify whether the Sacred Relic is truly a safe object. The Family Heads were watching earlier, so we couldn’t have a proper conversation.
I’d already memorized the entire path to the center of the Harem.
I quickened my pace through the Corridor.
* * *
The door clicked shut.
Small footsteps echoed down the Corridor, growing distant.
Kalian Wynack stared at the closed door with his smile still in place, then suddenly pressed his palm against his left chest.
His heart was racing wildly.
“Ah…”
Cold sweat trickled down his spine. Kalian Wynack gripped the doorknob and slammed his forehead against the door.
Only then did his ragged breathing escape.
I’d almost been caught. Damn it.
I’d momentarily forgotten that Rosien could conceal her presence flawlessly.
If Rosy decided to hide, slipping away to somewhere I could never reach would be effortless, yet I’d carelessly forgotten this crucial fact and acted so recklessly. I wanted to kill myself for being so stupid.
‘What do I do?’
She’ll think I’m suspicious.
Anxiety bloomed in my trembling crimson eyes.
“She suspects me. That’s why she didn’t take me. Damn it, I’d think the same thing if I were her…”
The chill still ran down my spine remembering the look in Rosien’s eyes as she watched me crawl out of the Wardrobe.
I had no idea how anxious I’d been, watching Rosien’s expression while mechanically consuming dessert after dessert that tasted like nothing.
Did she notice my voice trembling ever so slightly?
Rosien didn’t hide her expressions. So when the young girl opened her bright green eyes wide and stared directly at me, I found myself at a loss for what to do.
It felt as though she could see through the deceptive depths beneath the beautiful facade.
My heart still hammered wildly in my chest.
‘Where did she hear about the Broken Chaos?’
Could the Family Heads of the Transcendent Families have mentioned it?
‘No. In this era, no Family Head knows of its existence.’
Then what about the Guardian Star of Wynack or Kirges? That possibility was equally remote.
The stars cannot make direct contact with humans. Their dimensional power would crush a human’s fragile body and mind to dust.
‘Then it must be the Sacred Relic.’
The only bridge connecting stars and humans. The Sacred Relic of Wynack, hidden and silent within this Harem.
It had sensed the aura of the Broken Chaos from Rosien. Since I’d been attached to her for the past three years, faint traces must have clung to her as well.
【You weren’t planning to hide it forever anyway, were you?】
Dozens of black tendrils emerged from the shadow’s edge around me.
The Broken Chaos, revealed as if to prove a point, let out a sinister laugh.
【That’s why you just blurted it all out, wasn’t it? About the end of days and everything.】
“…Rosy is curious by nature. If I hadn’t answered her, she would have run straight to the Sacred Relic and demanded answers.”
It was far better for me to tell her than to let her hear it from someone else’s lips. Even if it bred some suspicion, I could bury the truth beneath carefully constructed lies.
But looking at Rosien, who had ultimately torn herself away and left, I questioned how effective that strategy had truly been.
‘This won’t do. Rosy can’t find out…’
If she discovered that I wasn’t as beautiful a being as she thought, she would stop caring for me. We could never maintain this relationship as it was.
The mere thought of Rosien looking at me with the same fear the others did drained the color from my limbs. Of all things, I could never bear that.
I pressed my forehead against the cold door for a long moment to cool my mind, then suddenly straightened my spine.
“There’s no time to indulge in hesitation.”
I had to intercept that Sacred Relic before it could reveal anything more to Rosien.
The shadow rising from the ground enveloped my form.
I crossed the space lightly, riding the darkness.
The Harem was a vast labyrinth. I began moving through the darkness without hesitation.
Toward the place where the Sacred Relic’s aura burned strongest.
The heart of the Harem drew closer. The moment the darkness that swallowed me slipped through the shadows beneath the marble sculpture and turned the corner—
A beast growled low in the distance.
“…!”
One of the black tentacles extending from my shadow sensed the other’s presence first. The darkness quickly expelled me and silently retreated into shadow.
The instant my form reappeared in the light.
A jaguar’s front paw, claws curved like hooks, seized my throat.
“So you were hiding after all, Wynack!”
It was Luize Whezel. His yellow eyes, fixed on me, gleamed with malice.
“Was this what you meant by ‘see you again’? Sneaking into another nation’s heart?”
Luize snarled, baring his teeth. His right arm, transformed into a beast’s limb, tightened around my throat and slammed me against the wall.
Crash—!
“Ow.”
Kalian Wynack let out a casual groan without so much as raising an eyebrow. Luize’s expression darkened considerably.
“‘Ow’ my foot. At least pretend to wince or something!”
“It really does hurt, though…”
“Drop that nauseating mask, Kalian Wynack. What exactly are you?”
Luize’s suspicions had reached their peak.
Since last night, he’d reinforced the Harem’s security to maximum. Members of the Whezel Clan, adept at detecting foreign energies, had blanketed the Harem and prowled the Corridors, sniffing out any intruders.
Yet there was only a subtle sense of wrongness—no concrete evidence. After a full day of fruitless searching, Luize had taken to standing guard directly before the Holy Temple where the Sacred Relic was enshrined.
Just moments ago, Rosien Wynack had entered the passage leading to the Holy Temple.
If this ominous feeling was genuine, he’d reasoned, whoever was pursuing that child would soon reveal themselves.
And wasn’t this quite the catch?
“If you said it hurts even once…”
Kalian lifted his downcast eyes. Crimson irises, hidden beneath his eyelids, flashed with sinister brilliance.
“Then believe me, you bastard.”
The violent language—so unlike his usual demeanor—made Luize flinch. But it was already too late.
Kalian folded his right leg up to his chest and kicked Luize’s torso with brutal force.
“…!”
Luize, sent flying toward the opposite wall, transformed at the last possible moment. The massive black jaguar’s body crashed against the stone with a deafening boom.
Crash—!
The wall caved inward as though struck by a battering ram, a massive cloud of dust erupting into the air.
[…About time I dropped the act.]
The jaguar shook its head, scattering stone dust as it emerged from the haze.
Kalian Wynack was now touching his neck and jaw—areas that had just been pinned beneath the creature’s massive paws. His expression was unmistakably displeased.
“Fair warning, Luize. Touching this face is off-limits. Do you have any idea how much effort goes into maintaining it?”
[What the hell…?!]
Dozens of black tendrils erupted from the shadows draped across the Corridor, coiling tightly around the jaguar.
[What is this?]
Luize snarled menacingly. The tendrils, which had been nothing but shadow, were gradually taking on physical form.
Tentacles bristling with razor-sharp spines burrowed into the jaguar’s thick hide.
It was an ability he’d never heard of or seen before.
‘Not a Wynack power. But this can’t be human strength either. What Power of Stars is he wielding?’
Kalian Wynack kicked aside the debris blocking his path and approached Luize.
“Let’s end this quietly, Whezel. I don’t shy away from fights that come to me, but I’d rather not cause a commotion right now.”
[Why, because your precious little ‘sister’ is here?]
At the word ‘sister,’ Kalian’s eyebrow twitched.
It was a minute change, but Luize sensed he’d found his opening.
[What if I went and told that girl what you really are?]
“That won’t be possible. Because you’ll be dead by then.”
[Oh, sorry, but I think she’s already caught on.]
At that precise, infuriating moment, both Transcendents sensed a small presence rushing toward them with thundering footsteps.

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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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