I Will Protect My Brother - Chapter 36

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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 36
The moment the small disc settled into my palm, I clenched my fist and yanked my elbow backward. Reinforced by the blessing of the stars, my grip became devastatingly powerful, and the necklace’s cord snapped cleanly.
Instantly, the Planetarium drained my mana. A circle of light bloomed across the pitch-black lid.
Click. The sound of the lock disengaging sent exhilaration exploding through me like fireworks.
I had finally found it—my true weapon!
The Planetarium rose above my palm and swelled to the size of two hand-spans in an instant. The night sky that had slumbered within burst open overhead like a firework display, spreading wide above my head.
The formulas I had calculated in my previous life, the rune characters I had established through sorcery, the incantation primers of verbal magic.
The true power of Lozietti Kirges was awakening in full.
“Cough, so you’ve finally revealed your true self.”
Alpien wiped the blood from his split lip with the back of his hand and pushed himself upright. He glared at me with fierce, burning eyes.
“Long time no see, Rosien.”
“Indeed. Though I can’t say it’s been pleasant.”
I yanked back my hood, and my crimson hair cascaded down like a waterfall. Alpien, who had been stunned at the sight of my face, let out a hollow laugh.
“Truly… there was no need to be so similar to before. Damnably beautiful, aren’t you.”
“Yes, spare me the belated pleasantries.”
I swept my long hair back sharply and fixed a glare on the one I had once considered a brother.
“I’ve always wanted to ask you something when I saw you, Alpien.”
Now I no longer needed to summon Guardian Star every time I wove complex sorcery.
[ᚳᚺᛟᚲᛖ (Strangle.)]
The moment I spoke the incantation, the Planetarium activated and completed the formula automatically. Golden binding magic flew toward Alpien and strangled his throat.
“That day—why did you hurl a killing spell at me?”
“Gack, hack. Hey, you have to release this, gasp, so I can speak…”
“Don’t you dare claim it was an accident when you drove a piercing wound clean through me.”
The massive needle Alpien had summoned had pierced my back, shattered my ribs, and passed through my heart to emerge in front. There would be no reason to unleash such a lethal attack if he hadn’t intended to kill me.
Alpien clawed desperately at the strangling cord around his neck.
“That wasn’t what I meant to do, Rosien…!”
“Then explain yourself!”
Now that I had reclaimed my power, I felt utterly fearless. I strode toward him and seized him by the collar.
“We were close once—truly close. Before you unilaterally distanced yourself from me, we were quite fond of each other. You even said you liked me!”
“Rosien…”
“Is this because I rejected your confession? Because I turned you down without mercy?”
“Why are you bringing that up…”
Alpien’s face twisted miserably. And he dared to look wounded? I shook him by the throat and shouted.
“If that were the reason, you’d have no motive to erase me. Could you have accepted a confession from a brother you’d grown up with like a twin for over a decade? Besides, you were never my type to begin with! My taste runs far from bookish shut-ins! I prefer someone commanding like Kalian Wynack—muscles rippling with strength!”
“Ah, I see…”
“If it’s not such a trivial reason!”
I had considered multiple possibilities. No matter how much resentment Alpien harbored toward me, there was no reason for him to be so cruel—especially not during the Family Head succession trial where all of Kirges’ disciples were watching.
Which left only one plausible hypothesis.
I thrust my face close to Alpien’s and growled.
“Did someone order you to kill me?”
For just a moment, I saw it clearly—Alpien’s pupils trembling as if an earthquake had struck.
That was when my fury finally erupted.
“You bastard, why won’t you blow it now?!”
I roared and drove my knee into Alpien’s solar plexus. A sickening thud.
“Cough! Hey, at least give me a chance to speak before—”
“Shut your mouth! Not another word! You dog, you deserve to die once yourself!”
“Ugh!”
Struck again in the same spot, Alpien let out a final cry before going limp.
“…?”
I stood there stupidly, blinking while still gripping his collar.
Was I joking? How hard had I actually hit him?
* * *
Slap. Slap. Slap.
It took a full ten minutes before the scrawny Alpien regained consciousness.
I alternated slapping both his cheeks before finally stopping.
“Oh, you’re awake.”
“…You barbaric girl…are you trying to kill me…?”
“Nope. People don’t die from this much. Now that you’re conscious, why don’t you tell me the truth?”
I twirled the Planetarium pendant I’d stolen while he was unconscious around my finger, and Alpien’s face went pale.
“I thought your personality had changed, but it hasn’t at all, cough. Let me be clear though—I wasn’t trying to kill you. It wasn’t my intention, I swear. Hack.”
Using the Planetarium as leverage certainly made him confess quickly. But I still wasn’t satisfied.
“So you’re saying you don’t know anything?”
I drew the Great Annihilation, the Sacred Relic of Wynack, from my waist and pointed its sharply honed blade at the Planetarium. Alpien jolted upright.
“N-No! I don’t know how you died, but I do know how you came back to life!”
“Tell me.”
“The Crystal of Resurrection…!”
If his answer had been even slightly unsatisfying, I would have smashed the Planetarium right then. But this information was quite intriguing.
“The Crystal of Resurrection—Railo’s Sacred Relic? The one that can be used once every ten years?”
“Y-Yes. What else could perform a miracle to bring the dead back to life?”
“That’s an interesting theory. But it lacks credibility. Because I wasn’t resurrected—I was reborn. When I opened my eyes, I was a newborn.”
“Are you certain you were reborn?”
“What?”
“Do you have parents?”
What kind of unfilial thing was I saying?
But I had nothing to refute it with. Whether in my past life or this one, the fact remained that I had no parents.
“I’m telling you, you didn’t reincarnate into another body, Rosien. You were simply made younger for some reason. This face is the proof.”
With trembling hands, Alpien cradled my left cheek as if caressing it. His fingertips scraped away the blessing of the stars that had been layered over my face.
“A single layer of disguise like this won’t hold much longer. Rosien, do you realize how dangerous your situation is right now?”
“Don’t probe me like that. Explain clearly.”
“Fine…As someone who was once your brother, your friend, and harbored unrequited love for you, I’m warning you, Rosien Wynyak Kirges.”
Alpien suddenly leaned toward me, gripping both my shoulders with surprising strength for such a frail frame.
“You should escape before you come of age again. Somewhere that no Transcendent Family’s eyes can reach.”
“Why?”
“Because everyone is hunting you.”
“So, why….”
“The Crystal of Resurrection was stolen. The Transcendent Family Heads are certain that the missing Sacred Relic is inside your body. From what I can see, they’re right, Rosien…. Whenever I’m near you, mana bends subtly. It warps in the shape that Railo’s mana draws.”
“…!”
“Even now, that crystal is surely alive and breathing somewhere within your body.”
“What, what does that even….”
This time, even I couldn’t remain composed. Alpien’s tone grew increasingly rapid and urgent.
“Do you know how Railo keeps demanding that you be handed over whenever he gets the chance? The reason you haven’t ended up on that old man’s operating table is because Wynyak blocks him from the front, and Whezel blocks him from behind. Dorian Railo is constantly thinking about dragging you to his research laboratory and dissecting you from head to toe. He needs to expose every organ to find that Sacred Relic.”
“This is insane.”
“That’s not even all of it. What about Yeljewa? That old man hasn’t given a single prophecy in sixteen years. He’s monopolizing all information about the future. Why? Obviously because he’s after the crystal inside you. But that’s not all you have—you also possess Wynyak’s Sacred Relic. So can you imagine how appetizing you look to us, like a delicious cake?”
Alpien was now breathing so shallowly I could barely tell if he was breathing at all. My own breath caught in response.
This couldn’t be real. I was prey for the Transcendents?
“That crystal—Railo’s Sacred Relic—who on earth stole it?”
“No one knows yet. There’s no evidence that’s come to light. But there is suspicion.”
Suspicion. That meant they had someone in mind.
“From what we suspect, the culprit is….”
That was when it struck me—the sudden intuition that someone was watching me from somewhere.
“Wait, Alpien.”
A chill ran down my spine from the nape of my neck to my vertebrae.
I pressed my palm against his mouth and slowly lifted my gaze.
Directly above, beneath the night sky scattered with countless stars, something was staring down at me.
A pair of brilliant crimson eyes seized my attention first. And then—a body utterly indescribable, formless and undefined….
But in the blink of an eye, it vanished without a trace. I opened my mouth silently.
‘Did I imagine that?’
The glass window of the Observatory creaked open wide.
A familiar mana rushed in. I pulled Alpien close as my gaze dropped.
A sleek silhouette sat perched on the window frame.
“Rosien.”
A voice as warm and gentle as a spring breeze drifted across.

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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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