I Will Protect My Brother - Chapter 39

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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 39
Every disciple of the Kirges family attended Rosien Wynyak’s funeral.
The Imperial Palace sent its condolences, and Leonin Whezel, the Family Head of Whiszel—a Transcendent Family within the Delpiam Empire—arrived with his son and clan members.
Leonin Whezel clutched the glass coffin containing the young girl and wept with anguished sobs.
“I had already betrothed her to be my daughter-in-law, and now this tragedy befalls us…!”
“But Father, Rosien and I have a twelve-year age difference….”
“What does that matter!”
Five-year-old Luize exhaled a weary sigh. He climbed the steps and approached the coffin, placing a flower atop Rosien Wynyak’s casket.
“…Farewell, Elder Sister. And.”
Luize hesitated briefly before adding softly.
“I wanted to thank you, but I never got the chance. I will never forget the grace you showed me that day. I swear I will repay that debt in the next life. …Goodbye.”
The Whiszel clan departed thus. The funeral was conducted with great ceremony, and Rosien Wynyak’s coffin was to be interred in the Kirges Family Cemetery.
Just before the lid of her coffin was sealed for the final time in the burial ground.
“Wait.”
Regina stopped the workers. Seeing the shadow that crossed her face, her disciples quietly stepped back.
“Alpien.”
“Yes, Master….”
“Retrieve Rosien Wynyak’s Planetarium.”
“Pardon?”
Bewilderment flickered across Alpien’s face. He looked between Rosien Wynyak and Regina in confusion.
“But Master, it is customary to bury the Planetarium with the sorcerer as a mark of respect for the deceased….”
“She was called a genius who appears once in a century. That Planetarium is nothing less than a complete compendium of Rosien’s life and research.”
“….”
“I will keep that Planetarium separately, if only to preserve the memory of Rosien Wynyak.”
Alpien’s lips moved as if to protest, but he soon resigned himself.
He leaned over the coffin and carefully removed the necklace connected to the Planetarium from the young girl.
With trembling hands, Alpien offered it to Regina.
“Here it is, Master….”
Regina’s hand closed around the Planetarium. She gazed at it in silence for a moment, then placed it in the inner pocket of her robe.
“Now close the coffin.”
A heavy stone lid descended over the dead girl. The grey casket slowly sank into the earth below. Soil was scattered over the grave, and soon only a small headstone remained, standing solitary in that place.
The memories preserved in the Planetarium ended there.
* * *
I stared at the darkened screen for a long time.
‘So it was Master who took the Planetarium from me?’
This was unexpected….
As Alpien said, it is customary to bury the Planetarium with the sorcerer as a mark of respect for the deceased. If something was needed to commemorate me, other belongings would have sufficed.
‘Something feels off. There’s a foul stench to this.’
I thought that far before trembling violently.
What am I thinking, Rosien Wynyak! How could I harbor such doubts toward the Master—a heavenly figure who took in an abandoned orphan with no parents and raised and taught me!
‘But that’s beside the point. Something suspicious is still suspicious.’
I replayed the recording. This time, I paused the footage at the exact moment the sorcery struck me, then stared at it for a long while.
Yes, something was definitely off about this….
I enlarged the Planetarium hovering above Alpien’s head. The celestial bodies orbiting their paths, and the rune characters that shimmered distinctly above them. Reading such things happened to be my specialty.
“No doubt about it. What Alpien cast was just ordinary binding sorcery.”
This was a spell that lacked the lethal force to instantly kill someone.
Then who summoned the thorn vines that pierced through my body?
I nervously bit my nails while rotating the footage in different angles. If the sorcery came from this angle, the real culprit had to be positioned directly behind Alpien.
That was where Regina and my direct seniors were seated to observe the match. With more than a dozen people sitting there, and obscured by Alpien’s body, it was difficult to discern who was behaving suspiciously.
I clicked my tongue and was about to skip ahead when I spotted a dark, undulating object in the lower left corner.
“Wait! This! This creature…!”
This monstrosity with those blazing crimson eyes like roaring flames. Not only had it appeared in my dreams, but it was plainly present in Alpien’s Planetarium as well.
Then it wasn’t a phantom—it was something real?
I hurriedly rewound the footage, and the same form appeared in the funeral scene, no larger than a fingernail. It had definitely been following me.
‘Could it be….’
Was this creature the true culprit who killed me?
* * *
The next morning, the moment Luize Whezel stepped into the study, his expression twisted into a scowl. An uninvited guest was brazenly occupying his study sofa, sipping tea.
“Little Winyak. I distinctly told you not to leave your room, didn’t I?”
“Let’s be precise with our words. You said not to be seen by anyone’s eyes, not that I couldn’t leave the room, Whezel.”
“Don’t talk nonsense. Then who brought the tea?”
“Your attendant. Don’t worry. He didn’t see my face.”
Luize recalled the attendant trembling outside the study. The man had looked positively pale!
“Could you at least move within the bounds of common sense? You haven’t changed a bit even after four years.”
“Aren’t you asking too much of me? You told me to stay quiet, so I’m staying quiet—what’s the complaint?”
“Do you know who holds the leash right now?”
“Well, it doesn’t seem to be you, at least.”
Kalien, who had answered with infuriating nonchalance, savored another sip of tea. The refined aroma softened his eyes.
Witnessing that distinct change, Luize’s eyebrows twitched.
‘Is the act of drinking tea this creature’s elixir?’
For transcendents, an elixir was both a stabilizer and their sole weakness.
Whenever transcendents assessed each other, the first thing they scrutinized was whether the other possessed an elixir. Naturally, transcendents were desperate to conceal their own.
‘I’m not entirely certain, though….’
Kalien leisurely emptied his teacup and offered an apology without hesitation.
“I apologize for the inconvenience. Since you provided me shelter for the night, I’ll ensure proper compensation.”
“…How exactly?”
“From now on, just once—I’ll give you a chance to survive from my hands.”
Damn it. Luize’s expression soured. Kalien added with infuriating composure.
“Of course, that’s assuming such an unfortunate situation ever arises.”
“Fine. I’m the idiot for trying to reason with a lunatic.”
Luize spoke with irritation, yet his body remained taut with vigilance.
‘There’s not a single opening.’
Kalien’s leisurely enjoyment of his tea resembled a painting—refined and immaculate without flaw, an inorganic portrait.
In short, he lacked all humanity.
“Tell me the real reason you came to Delpiam, little Wynyak.”
“I came to see Rosy. She wanted to see me.”
“Surely you’re not claiming that’s the only reason?”
“Should there be another?”
Kalien turned the question back on him. Luize felt as though he might choke on the sheer innocence of that expression.
“What exactly do you intend to do with that girl?”
“Is it strange that I want to look after my own sister?”
“Don’t talk nonsense. You don’t covet Rosien—you covet the Sacred Relic she possesses. Prove me wrong if you can.”
Kalien merely shrugged instead of answering. Neither confirmation nor denial.
There was no way to know what he truly thought. Even after all this time, he remained an unsettling presence to contend with.
Whezel’s instincts sent warning after warning through Luize. Before he realized it, he muttered aloud.
“I feel as though I once glimpsed your true self. The real core hidden beneath that abominable mask.”
“Is that so?”
A meaningful smile played at the corners of Kalien’s mouth.
He glanced at his watch to check the time, then rose from his seat. He leaned his upper body toward Luize.
His lips drew close enough to brush against his ear.
“Luize.”
The hushed voice grazed Luize’s earlobe. Goosebumps erupted across his entire body.
It wasn’t revulsion at the man drawing so near.
A sinister dread enveloped him entirely, settling like a suffocating shroud.
As Luize froze, Kalien whispered in a low voice.
“Don’t suspect me. I want us to get along well. Rosy seems to like you quite a bit, so I’ll treat you kindly too. That’s why you shouldn’t try to remember. Otherwise….”
“….”
“You’ll get hurt, sweetheart.”
Kalien’s words trailed off with a soft, sinister chuckle.
Witnessing his eyes narrow with predatory malice, Luize’s body went rigid.
It was impossible to discern whether the words spilling from those seductive lips were sincere or merely jest.
A sharp sense of danger raked across his spine.
‘Get a grip. Don’t let yourself be drawn in!’
Then came a soft knock, shattering the tension that hung thick in the air.

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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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