I Will Protect My Brother - Chapter 51

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

Chapter 51
At least there was that mercy. Whoever she was, the Princess of Abuye seemed to possess a mind that functioned with admirable clarity.
“So then, what exactly was the prophecy that the Yeljewa of that era foretold?”
“That the princess would inevitably be reborn someday in Kirges.”
Regina recited the prophecy’s full text slowly.
The dead Princess of Abuye would surely be reborn one day.
Raised in Kirges, beloved by the myriad stars,
She would bring forth terrible chaos, and moreover, the annihilation of the Transcendent Families.
Therefore, Sorcerer, prepare yourself with utmost vigilance.
The annihilation of the Transcendent Families? It was at those words that I felt a chill run through me.
“I knew from the moment I saw you that you were the protagonist of that prophecy.”
“…What did you just say?”
For a moment, I thought I’d misheard. But Regina’s eyes were filled with absolute certainty.
“I couldn’t help but know the moment I laid eyes on you.”
Had this woman lost her mind?
I couldn’t help but laugh at the absurdity.
“So I’m the reincarnation of that princess in the prophecy, and I’m destined to annihilate the Transcendent Families? What kind of astrological nonsense is this?”
“‘Raised in Kirges.'”
“Master, surely you jest…”
“‘Beloved by the myriad stars.'”
Regina repeated the prophecy’s verses mechanically.
“In my generation alone, there were five sorcerers who matched that description. The moment the Guardian Star showed even the slightest hint of favoritism, I placed them under special surveillance.”
“…You killed them?”
There were others I’d killed besides myself. Merely because the Guardian Star had shown interest in them.
“‘Sorcerer, prepare yourself with utmost vigilance.'”
Regina answered once more with another verse from the prophecy.
A sudden wave of exhaustion washed over me. I pressed my throbbing forehead with the back of my hand.
“So you killed all those sorcerers, yet you’re certain it’s me? What did you discover in me that made you know at first glance?”
“A portrait of her remains in the Kirges Observatory. Once you see it, you’ll understand naturally.”
A portrait—so she was saying our faces resembled each other. My brow furrowed involuntarily.
‘This isn’t something I need to experience past-life regression to understand.’
I don’t believe in stories that lack proper evidence to support them.
Yet to dismiss this as merely a lie to escape danger seemed impossible, given how resolute Regina’s expression and tone were.
Her face twisted as she glared at me.
“So you had to die.”
“…”
“I prayed it wasn’t true. That such an ominous prophecy had nothing to do with you. But as days passed and years went by… watching you grow ever more beloved by the Omniscient Word Sorcerer…”
“You thought it would be acceptable to kill me. Or rather, that you had to kill me for Rahnar’s sake?”
I let out a harsh snort.
“No. From where I stand, Master, you simply needed an adequate justification. A plausible excuse to wrap your own petty jealousy in respectability.”
Regina Kirges simply disliked me. The prophecy was merely a convenient excuse.
If she had truly cherished me in her heart, she should have protected me more fiercely and taught me with greater devotion.
Before I could possibly stray and develop the goal of annihilating the Transcendent Families entirely.
I reached for Regina’s throat.
“What can I do, Master? I’m not a martyr capable of making noble sacrifices for Rahnar and the Transcendent Families like that man who was once the Wynack Family Head.”
Regina’s Planetarium hung around her neck—the very same one I had discovered days ago.
Without hesitation, I tore it free and hurled it to the ground.
“Rosien, what are you trying to—”
She couldn’t finish her sentence. I had already raised the Great Annihilation lightly and gripped it firmly.
“O Omniscient Word Sorcerer.”
My Master’s Planetarium responded with a faint glow of light.
“Please do not be too angry if I destroy this vessel imbued with your power.”
A Planetarium infused with the power of stars does not shatter easily from external attacks.
But another power of stars? Especially a Sacred Relic imbued with the power of annihilation?
I drove the blade down with all my strength into the Planetarium.
Regina let out a piercing scream.
“Rosien Wynyak—!”
The moment she desperately pushed herself up and reached out her hand, a flash erupted from the sword’s tip.
Crack, crack, crack…
Cracks began spreading across the Planetarium, and then it shattered into countless fragments with a sharp sound.
My Master collapsed to the ground as if her legs had given way.
“No, no, no… My, my Planetarium…”
With trembling hands, she grasped at the pathetically shattered pieces. The power of the Guardian Star that had dwelt within the Planetarium was rapidly draining away.
Regina cried out in anguish.
“Ahhh…! Rosien Wynyak, how could you, how could you!”
A Sorcerer without a Planetarium cannot use sorcery unless the stars grant special protection. In essence, Regina’s life as a Sorcerer—as the Family Head of Kirges—had come to an end.
What I destroyed was the very path she had walked as a Sorcerer and as the Family Head of Kirges.
“It’s better than losing your life, isn’t it, Master?”
“Ugh, no… Stars, please…”
“Well, you should have refrained from doing it in the first place if you couldn’t bear the consequences.”
I embraced my Master’s back with the last remnants of my affection.
“You’ll be sent to the International Detention Facility soon. Just like that pitiful Wynack Family Head from five hundred years ago that you mentioned. The other four families, excluding Kirges, will unite to lock you away there.”
“Ugh… Rosien.”
“Don’t worry. There won’t be any need for complicated trial proceedings.”
The charge is murder of a Transcendent.
They throw innocent people into that abyss, so why would a murderer need any fuss?
“You’ll probably be confined to that dreadful Space of Nothingness by this evening. After that, I’ll take my time deciding your fate. Whether execution would be better, or life imprisonment.”
I held her waist as if I could crush it.
“I desperately want to execute you right here and now, but I’m not as wretched as you. You truly raised your student wonderfully, Master. As a final farewell, I’ll even heal your wounds.”
“Rosien Wynyak, no. Don’t go!”
“Farewell, Regina.”
There was no need to call her Master or Family Head anymore.
The being I had secretly regarded as my mother no longer existed.
Regina Kirges had closed its curtain today.
I coldly peeled away the woman clinging to me and rose to my feet.
As I turned to leave the bedroom, a sudden thought made me pause.
“Ah, right. There’s one last thing I wanted to ask.”
Regina lifted her tear-stained face. A glimmer of hope bloomed in her expression, shadowed by despair and helplessness, but I had no intention of fulfilling her expectations.
“The Wynack Family Head that the Princess of Abuye released. What is his name?”
Regina stared at me with trembling eyes.
After a moment, she whispered as if spitting out the words.
“…Karga.”
Karga.
It was a name with a chilling resonance, as if hooks were scraping across my heart.
* * *
Regina Kirges was dragged away by the Whezel Clan before an hour had passed.
Alpien and the other sorcerers protested, but the moment I drove the Great Annihilation into the center of the main house’s garden, they all fell silent.
The garden decomposed into hundreds of billions of microscopic particles that scattered into the air, leaving behind a massive crater as if a meteorite had struck.
“Anyone else want to resist?”
“…N-no….”
“Good thinking. If you piss me off again, it won’t end with just the garden.”
“….”
“I’ll reduce you to dust and send you to the Guardian Castle, so feel free to try if you’re confident.”
No one answered. They merely nodded their heads frantically up and down, their faces drained of all color.
‘Threats and intimidation really are the best approach.’
Just then, Railo crept up beside me. The elderly man’s lips trembled anxiously as he scrutinized me.
“R-Rosien. W-what must I do for you to return the crystal to me?”
“Ah, right. That matter too.”
Well, I had always intended to eventually extract the crystal embedded somewhere in my body and return it to Railo.
As long as I possessed it, Transcendents would drool endlessly, intoxicated by my scent. If multiple of them were to mark me as an Elixir, that would be truly catastrophic.
“First, I need to catch the real thief. I don’t know where in my body the crystal was embedded or how it was done.”
Whether it was ground in or transplanted intact.
‘Transplanted, you say….’
A sudden unease washed over me.
But conversely, it meant that until I found a method, I could manipulate Railo and Yeljewa however I pleased.
I chuckled and drew out my intimidation card once more.
“Railo. So I should be careful not to let you draw a blade against my body without permission, shouldn’t I?”
“….”
“Should I be worried about you wanting to dissect me alive? Answer quickly. Maybe then I’ll consider sharing something like a fingernail with you~.”
“Ah, I won’t! No, I didn’t! Not a single strand of hair on your body will I touch!”
“Yes, you should have done this long ago.”
I stretched luxuriously, feeling the weight lift from my shoulders. Good. With this, I had secured all the necessary foundations for my safe return to Kirges years from now.
I returned to Whezel’s Separate Residence with a lightened heart.
‘Though a nagging unease lingers….’
I had pieced together most of the circumstances surrounding my death, yet in exchange—or perhaps as a result—I had only gained more perplexing mysteries.
A prophecy, and the Wynack Family Head and the Princess of Abuye.
Amid all this, the Broken Chaos still shrouded in darkness, and the crimson-eyed beast….
‘It feels as though crucial clues are scattering everywhere, yet I cannot weave them into a coherent pattern.’
My tangled thoughts had apparently betrayed themselves across my face.
Someone suddenly thrust their face before my eyes.
“What are you brooding over now, Rosy?”
It was Kalien.

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