I Will Protect My Brother - Chapter 27

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

Chapter 27
I stopped two steps apart from Kalian on the staircase, our eyes now level with each other.
The moment I looked at him up close, unease flooded through me like the tide.
‘His eyes… something’s wrong.’
I recognized this version of Kalian Wynack.
When Seongyeol boiled within him, he would wander outside his bed in the dead of night with a corpse-like pallor—and his eyes looked exactly like this.
In this state, simply calling his name with affection wouldn’t restore him to normalcy.
I’d only cast the binding spell under the guise of a lullaby two days ago, so the symptoms shouldn’t have manifested yet.
Then…
What if something other than Seongyeol was consuming him?
Kalian extended his hand toward me.
“Take it, Rosy.”
I heard Luize shouting from behind, his voice cutting through the air with urgent commands to cross over immediately.
It seemed the disciples of the Transcendent Families were arriving in succession, just moments behind. The entrance grew chaotic.
I exhaled a long breath.
“That’s why I said we need to find your brother’s elixir as soon as possible.”
“…What?”
Kalian, not immediately grasping my meaning, asked me to repeat myself. I’d reached my limit.
I scowled fiercely and cried out.
“You have no protective vessel, so these vile creatures are latching onto you!”
A Transcendent without a protective barrier unleashes explosively powerful force while remaining fragile as a newborn. With such a weak body housing transcendent power, it was the perfect lure for unknown demons.
I glanced sideways at the shadows beneath Kalian’s feet.
‘That must be it!’
Within Kalian’s shadow, thousands upon thousands of black serpents seemed to writhe and churn.
Or were they arms? Anemones? Tentacles? Whatever they were, merely imagining them made my skin crawl with revulsion.
This had to be the source of the dissonance I’d felt from Kalian recently.
In short, he was possessed by a malevolent spirit!
I gripped my sword tighter and swung it into position. Even the slightest movement caused the starlight’s blessing to flare dangerously. Kalian, who had been reaching for me forcibly, froze.
“Brother, stay perfectly still right there.”
“…Rosy?”
Kalian sensed something amiss and hesitated. The venom gleaming in his eyes began to fade and dissipate.
“What are you trying to…?”
“Where did you pick up such filth?”
“Huh?”
I erected a wall of speech, preventing Kalian’s shadow from slipping away. The panicked Kalian tried to pull back, but his wrists and ankles were already bound by my restraint magic, immobilized.
“Don’t worry. It won’t hurt.”
“Rosy, release this and let’s talk… wait, surely you’re not going to use that—”
“Hold on, I’ll remove it for you!”
I drove ‘Great Annihilation’ into the tentacle that emerged from the shadow.
A burst. Something exploded within it. The tentacle that had slightly raised its head beyond the shadow’s edge split into five or six strands.
‘Look at this?’
I swung my blade relentlessly, cutting down the tentacles as they proliferated.
“So this is it? The Broken Chaos or whatever calamity you call yourself? What? You can’t even perceive the end approaching until it’s upon you? Who are you trying to fool? How dare a mere trash mob like you cling to my rabbit and cause trouble? Die. Die already. Won’t you die?”
I stabbed the tentacles thrashing to escape the shadow with my blade, again and again. I heard Kalian cough, but I paid it no mind.
“Come here! Where do you think you’re running?!”
Those that dared flee, I incinerated with an incantation—a purification of sorts, leveraging the vast disparity between a star and a demon.
“What did you do to him to make his eyes so vacant?! Get out this instant, you illegal trespassers. Never touch my brother again. Do you understand? Begone!”
“…Rosy.”
“I’m placing a protection spell on Kalian. Do you know how terrifying the Guardian Castle of Kirges is? Ah yes, your name is the Broken Chaos, isn’t it? The Guardian Castle I serve belongs to Winyak—the Judge of Chaos himself! Would you like a taste of judgment?!”
“Rosy… *cough*, please stop….”
“If you know what’s good for you, never come back!”
Kalian stood there, neither weeping nor laughing, before finally exhaling a faint sigh and wiping his face with a dry hand.
Regardless, I continued my relentless extermination of the vermin until Kalian’s shadow regained its beautiful outline. Hiyah, yah.
* * *
Kalian called out to me several times before giving up and falling silent.
Lost in my fervor of trampling and piercing the worms within the shadow, I suddenly sensed presences rapidly approaching and snapped back to awareness.
‘The Family Heads!’
I glanced around the Holy Temple—it was absolute chaos.
I hadn’t noticed before, but the interior of the Holy Temple was twisted like a spiral everywhere except the Altar we stood upon. Moreover, the sensitive Sacred Relic caused mana to swirl violently.
“Now then, ‘Great Annihilation.’ There are no more wandering spirits. Shall we calm down a bit?”
【That one! Don’t let that one get close to me!】
“Yes, yes. Of course.”
I carefully tucked the Sacred Relic into my waistband. Originally, I’d planned to hand it to Kalian….
I glanced at Kalian—his complexion was deathly pale. The wandering spirit had possessed and then left him, so he must be disoriented.
‘First, I need to clean up this mess.’
Luize had been quiet since earlier. When I looked for him, I found black curly hair wedged between the twisted floorboards. It seemed he’d been knocked down while trying to push through the mana vortex to reach me.
Whezel’s transformed body was said to be an invincible armor in itself, yet before the Sacred Relic’s power, even he was merely human.
“I’m sorry, Luize, but I can’t leave you like this.”
I dragged the unconscious Luize to a corner and sat him down carefully, then opened the Planetarium.
A small night sky poured down above Luize’s head like falling stars. Since it wasn’t my own Planetarium, I had to be extremely careful.
Still, it took less than three seconds to erase his memory.
“You saw nothing, little one.”
Earlier, though buried beneath Kalian’s voice, this boy had definitely called me ‘Rosien.’
I cannot return to being Rosien yet. Not while my enemies hold their ground in Kirges. Not until I discover why Alpien cast a killing curse upon me.
And I cannot leave Kalian in this state.
I turned the matter over in my mind, calculating. By the time I reached adulthood, perhaps everything would have fallen back into place?
“Very well. I’ll have you remember everything again in seven years, Luize.”
I brushed the disheveled black curls from Luize’s forehead gently, then pressed a light kiss to his brow. I remembered how even as a five-year-old brat with a stubborn temperament, a single kiss would make him docile.
Good, Luize is settled.
“Brother.”
Kalian Wynack, who had been staring down at his own shadow from a distance, lifted his head at my call.
“Are you alright? You’re not in pain anywhere, or feeling dizzy or anything like that?”
“…No.”
“Thank goodness! Looks like I exorcised it properly.”
Kalian Wynack didn’t even smile. His crimson gaze lingered long on the Sacred Relic hanging from my waist. His fingers twitched.
The moment he reached toward me without restraint, I seized his hand and pulled him back down to sit.
“Listen, Kalian Wynack. Promise me something. What happened today is a secret between you and me alone.”
“….”
“Don’t breathe a word to anyone about what you saw today. Not about what emerged from your shadow, and not about what I did with it. Understand?”
Kalian Wynack, who had been staring at me intently, finally shook his head.
“I heard nothing, and I saw nothing.”
“Good. We’ll talk about the rest when we get back.”
I’d worried that if someone questioned me about using Kirges sorcery, I might need to tamper with Kalian Wynack’s memories too. Fortunately, that wouldn’t be necessary. No matter what happened, he would never break a promise made to me.
Kalian Wynack, still staring at me intently, muttered something completely unexpected.
“Give me a kiss too, Rosy.”
“What nonsense are you spouting? What did you do so well?”
“I think I’d feel less wronged if I got at least that. Give me two kisses.”
“Stop talking nonsense and get up. Before the Family Heads arrive!”
I hastily ruffled Kalian Wynack’s hair and pulled him to his feet.
The power of the Guardian Star contained within the Planetarium was gradually weakening. I barely managed to cover my face with a camouflage confusion spell, then smashed the Planetarium to destroy the evidence.
My apologies, kind brother who lent me this. Since its durability seems poor anyway, I’ll just buy a new one when I get back….
The moment I finished everything, four Family Heads rushed into the Holy Temple together with the Imperial Guard.
“What is this commotion in the sacred Holy Temple in the middle of the night!”
“Oh, stars above. Whezel! Is he dead?!”
Owen, Regina, and the Family Heads of both Raylo and Yeljewa had all gathered. Behind them, the Emperor came hurrying along.
I, who had been about to return the sword to the Altar, froze awkwardly. Multiple pairs of eyes fixed upon me.
I saw Owen place a hand over his chest in relief.
“Phew, it’s Rosien. Thank goodness. I thought…”
Meanwhile, Regina stood with her mouth agape in shock.
“Good heavens… You actually awakened the ‘Great Annihilation.'”
I quietly withdrew my hand from the sword’s hilt.
【Where do you think you’re going!】
But I was caught by the scruff of my neck in an instant.
The Sacred Relic shrieked frantically.
【Take me with you! You are my master!】

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