I Will Protect My Brother - Chapter 45

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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 45
There was an attack at the Kirges Observatory.
It was Luize who brought me the news. I was eating breakfast as peacefully as always when I heard it and dropped my spoon.
“Regina is on death’s door?”
“Apparently she was attacked by an unknown assailant at the Observatory yesterday.”
“That doesn’t make sense.”
I asked again, incredulous. Who could possibly dare to attack the Family Head of Kirges and inflict injury?
“It seems the culprit is an existence that makes the impossible possible.”
“So that’s why the front of the mansion was so noisy earlier?”
“Yes. They came to establish Whezel’s alibi. Especially those two uninvited guests in this house.”
Luize shot an irritated glance at Kalien. Kalien, who had been sipping his tea quietly, returned a smile with an innocent expression.
“I went to bed early yesterday with Rosy.”
“That’s right. I slept listening to a lullaby for the first time in ages, Kali.”
Luize made a gesture as if he might vomit. To him, who knew my true nature, my act must have seemed absurd.
“In any case, my brother and I are innocent.”
Luize nodded reluctantly. Indeed, he must have immediately investigated whether anyone had slipped out of Whezel Mansion that night after receiving the news.
Kalien and I were naturally confined quietly to our rooms, so we were in the clear.
“Of course Whezel bears no responsibility, but… Kirges will likely be sensitive for a while, so refrain from any actions that might invite suspicion. Especially you, little Winyak.”
“Understood, Luize.”
Kalien replied kindly and finished his tea. His demeanor suggested he had little interest in whatever was happening outside.
Of course, I was different. I nervously bit at my nails with my teeth.
“Good heavens, what is this…?”
What perfect timing was this? The corner of my mouth, which I discreetly covered with my hand, curled upward in a grin.
My mind began to race furiously.
I didn’t know who had dared to put Regina in such a state, but the timing was fantastic.
It was certainly unfortunate that Regina had been injured. But the wicked Rosien within me whispered temptingly.
Would such an opportunity come again? If not now, I’d never get another chance to set foot in Regina’s Planetarium for the rest of my life!
I surrendered willingly to the temptation of the demon Rosy with black wings.
“Kirges must be in quite an uproar. They haven’t caught the culprit, have they?”
“Probably not. Alpien Kirges is temporarily handling the Family Head’s duties, and his first measure was a lockdown. They’re even mobilizing the Imperial Guard to arrest everyone entering and leaving Kirges for several days, it seems.”
“Ah, then I can’t visit to pay my respects.”
“It’s an emergency situation, so security will be extremely tight.”
“I see.”
Then I couldn’t enter through the front door openly.
‘I’ll have to go through the back entrance.’
That very night, I put my plan into action.
* * *
I moved through the darkness like a flying squirrel.
I was grateful for Kalien’s offer to accompany me, but I declined. Infiltration in the dead of night lives and dies by speed and agility. Especially when dealing with a bunch of Sorcerers with their spines raised.
Of course, to me it was laughable.
My years at Kirges had not been wasted. I easily located the dog hole I’d carved out in my previous life.
‘I never imagined this secret passage I’d sneaked through countless times for sword practice would be useful like this.’
The geography of the main residence was the palm of my hand. Regina’s bedroom was on the very top floor of the main residence. It was far easier to descend from the roof than to climb up from below.
Disabling the layered barriers wrapped around the main residence was even simpler.
Most of them were sorceries I’d invented myself. During my childhood as a student under my Master at Kirges, I’d spent a full three months reinforcing the entire mansion’s barriers on his orders.
‘Now that I think about it, wasn’t that child labor? Making a ten-year-old do that?’
As time passed, new formulas had been layered on top, but the foundation remained exactly as I’d developed it.
I flicked my fingers in succession, nullifying the formulas entirely, then leaped lightly into the corridor.
“W-who are you?!”
“Hey there~ You’ve grown a lot, haven’t you?”
The junior sorcerers blocking my path received a light pat on the shoulder as encouragement.
“Gack!”
“Ahhh, stay back!”
“Cough, hack!”
The sorcerers collapsed like reeds in the wind.
Only I knew that the Planetarium was spinning frantically inside the tightly bound robes.
I reached Regina’s private bedroom without any real obstacles.
After setting a soundproofing sorcery firmly at the door, I stepped inside the bedroom.
My Master lay on the bed as if dead.
Her face was deathly pale, but there were no visible external wounds.
‘Is it not that serious an injury?’
I gently pulled back the blanket to search for Regina’s Planetarium. And then I fell silent.
“….”
The moment I saw the wound hidden beneath the blanket, I was left speechless.
Unable to wrap it with bandages, the affected area was covered only with thin gauze, leaving the injury completely exposed.
‘Rope-shaped marks.’
These were clearly binding marks. It was an injury as if her entire body had been tightly bound with something thick and strong, then released.
‘This doesn’t seem like the work of a human.’
The brutality of it was strikingly similar to what I’d experienced immediately after being struck by Alpien’s sorcery and dying instantly.
She must have suffered terribly. At least I lost consciousness immediately, so I never felt the pain.
Of course, Alpien would have contacted Railo’s Family Head right away, so my Master’s life shouldn’t be in danger.
I gently picked up the Planetarium hanging around my Master’s neck.
I’d been confident on the way here, but now that I was about to act, tension washed over me. I glanced nervously at the door.
As I brought the Planetarium to Regina’s hand, it clicked to life. The small disc expanded greatly, and a miniature cosmos with countless orbits overlapping chaotically in three dimensions floated above the disc.
‘Video recording….’
I carefully touched the planets one by one, searching for the memory storage.
Sixteen years ago, around this time.
With the passage of time, memories had accumulated in layers. I had to sift through them one by one to distinguish them.
Then, I felt someone’s mana from below the mansion.
“…!”
Alpien? No, that wasn’t all. I sensed mana spreading outward in geometric patterns and clenched my teeth.
Dorian Raylo. He’d arrived to treat my Master.
‘Damn it, why now of all times?!’
The image of my future self as a dissection specimen danced before my eyes.
I frantically rifled through my memories, then gave up. It was impossible. There was no way I could sift through over a decade of memories in just a few minutes. So then.
My Planetarium activated.
‘I need to copy everything.’
Vast memories began rotating rapidly, sucking themselves into my Planetarium. The scope was…
‘Forget it, if I’m doing this, I’m taking it all!’
As I copied memories one after another, the auras of two Transcendents drew steadily closer. I glanced nervously at the window and tapped my Planetarium urgently.
‘Faster. Much faster!’
Footsteps grew louder by the second. Ascending the staircase, crossing the corridor. With only a few steps remaining, my Planetarium flashed with light.
Done!
I’d never moved so nimbly in my life. I repositioned my Master’s Planetarium while simultaneously casting a short-distance teleportation spell, erasing every trace of my presence.
The moment the door swung open, my Master’s bedroom vanished before my eyes.
‘Phew, that was close…’
“Who’s there!”
In my haste to input coordinates, I’d apparently made a disturbance crossing the space. I quickly looked around.
Just as light began to sweep toward my hiding spot.
Someone seized my arm firmly and dragged me down a slope I hadn’t even known existed.
“Shh.”
A soft voice brushed past my ear.
I buried my face in the familiar embrace and held my breath.
The commotion outside the thicket soon subsided. Still uneasy, I kept my arms wrapped tightly around his neck and whispered into his ear.
“How did you get here?”
Kalien laughed aloud, as if my breath tickling his earlobe amused him. Then he brushed his cheek lightly against mine.
“I woke up and you were gone, so I followed you. Are you okay? Not hurt anywhere?”
“I’m fine. And you, don’t lie. How long have you been here?”
“Huh?”
“You didn’t just come out, did you?”
Kalien stiffened slightly, as if surprised. Then he pulled me away from his embrace and muttered suspiciously.
“Rosy, you’re pretty perceptive, aren’t you…?”
“I’ve always been sharp. Tell me the truth!”
“It hasn’t been more than a few hours. I waited just in case. I wanted to help if any difficult situation arose.”
Hmm. I glared at Kalien for a moment, then relaxed my gaze. He gently stroked my back in a playful manner, as if trying to soothe me.
“So, our princess, did you bring everything you needed?”
“Of course. I copied all the memories recorded in Regina’s Planetarium.”
“Memories?”
“Yes. Everything from the day I was first taken in by Regina to just yesterday—all of it!”
“…What?”
Kalien’s face stiffened in an instant.
“Yesterday, everything?”
“Yes, I’ll dig into the whole story of the day I went to Gol, and get a good look at the face of whoever hurt Regina. That’s what I call killing two birds with one stone, brother! But why do you look like that?”
Was it just my imagination? Kalien’s expression, with his eyes darting aimlessly, looked exactly like a mouse caught in a trap.

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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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