I Will Protect My Brother - Chapter 67

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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 67
Kalian Wynack managed to compose himself into an expression of perfect calm.
“Humans die without sleep, Rosy. I read it somewhere—sleep deprivation is supposedly the cruelest form of torture.”
“Hmm.”
“…I collapse the moment my head touches the pillow. And I wake at the slightest sound—even an ant moving. My sleep is light, but the quality is excellent, I’d say.”
“Ah, I see.”
Rosien merely offered a meaningful sigh. She pressed the matter no further.
‘That was close.’
Kalian Wynack exhaled in relief, but her keen eye had only just begun.
What should have been a warm breakfast hour was instead scrutinized by Rosien with the gaze of a hawk.
“Brother. Are you actually eating properly?”
“…”
“The day before yesterday, yesterday, today—I’ve been watching your meals carefully. Just yesterday alone: two bites of goat cheese, half a plate of salad, one bite of smoked salmon, exactly three sips of white wine. That was it?”
“I had fruit for dessert in the evening too.”
“Ah. One cherry pit removed?”
“…And blueberries…”
“Right. You did eat some blueberries. Three? Four?”
“…”
“How are you even maintaining this body? How haven’t your muscles atrophied?”
“I eat when you’re not watching. Rosy isn’t glued to my side every single second, after all.”
“Right, so I asked around. The Young Family Head has never once requested separate meals or snacks. Not even once. The only thing you have regularly is tea after meals.”
“…”
“So I started wondering what you could possibly enjoy.”
“…”
“That’s why I dug up that preference survey from years ago, and there it was—all your likes and dislikes written down according to my tastes. The only thing actually written according to your real preferences was black tea. Just one thing.”
“…”
“What are you, a Star Fragment Fairy? Living off dew alone?”
This wasn’t close—this was a disaster.
Kalian Wynack quickly covered Rosien’s mouth with his hand as she rattled off her deductions. Then he pushed her back toward the Breakfast Hall.
“Eat. Just show me you’re eating. I’ll consume everything you put in front of me. Watch how well I eat, Rosy.”
That day, Kalian Wynack forcefully shoved three meals down his throat while Rosien watched. The moment she looked away, he slipped quietly toward the Bathhouse.
Even after that, he suffered all day long with a foul taste rising with every breath. The act of consuming food was one of the most agonizing ordeals for him.
Whether Rosien had noticed his suspicious behavior or simply let it pass by fortune, Kalian Wynack could not say.
But one thing was certain: she no longer cherished him with the boundless affection she once had.
“Rosy. Just one more lullaby…”
“No. I won’t use it again.”
“…”
“If you don’t want to spiral out of control like you did days ago, find the Elixir yourself.”
Rosien had drawn a cold line and turned away, but she paused. Kalian Wynack harbored a flicker of hope, yet her voice returned as merciless as ever.
“And Kalian. Don’t you dare show your face near Jake’s Infirmary. Actually, just stay in your Room for now. Don’t come out.”
“….”
“I can’t have you wandering off to some strange place without realizing it. It’s only right that Transcendents who haven’t found an Elixir be kept isolated from ordinary people anyway.”
“….”
“Besides, the servants are uncomfortable around you. It’s better if you keep your distance from them.”
“…I understand.”
“Good. Stay strong, brother.”
Rosien offered a faint smile through the crack in the door before pulling the handle shut.
Kalian Wynack thrust his hand through the gap before the door could close completely, forcibly holding it open as he called out to her.
“Rosien.”
“What?”
“If I stay quiet here, you’ll come back, won’t you?”
“….”
“You’ll come tomorrow too?”
Anxiety gnawed at me. Something about the way she was closing that door made it feel as though she would never return to me again.
That couldn’t be. Rosy would never betray me.
She had promised to always be by my side, even if she couldn’t become my Elixir. Yet ever since that night a few days ago, my unwavering faith in her had begun to crack, piece by piece.
I grasped at Rosien desperately, seizing her unresponsive hand and shaking it with pleading urgency.
“You have to wake me up.”
“…Of course. I always do.”
“Let’s have lunch together tomorrow too.”
Rosien nodded, then twisted her hand free from my grip.
I watched her wave lightly at me from beyond the closing door, and I smiled faintly.
“Sleep well, Rosy.”
“You too.”
With that brief exchange, the door shut. Coldly, decisively. A sharp click.
I stared at the closed door, then muttered impulsively.
“Sleep well for both of us, Rozentia.”
They say humans suffer without sleep.
I must have known that once. There had surely been a time when I surrendered myself to the sweetness of deep slumber without resistance.
But now I had almost forgotten. Even forcing myself to sleep had become an agonizing ordeal.
My nights were always hollow. The hours when darkness blanketed everything were the only times I could truly move about freely, yet I found no pleasure in it.
Most living creatures vanish when the sun sets. In those moments, I felt as though I alone remained in the world.
There were times I stood alone in the dead of night, gazing at a world silent as a tomb, suddenly aware of how I defied the natural order of things.
Times when I despaired, thinking I had truly become something no longer human. There had been such times.
But emotions wear away with time, bit by bit.
Even as I grew numb.
Ten years ago, the day I brought Rosien to my side, I began to hate the night. It was the only time she left me. I spent those hours always waiting for her.
When dawn breaks, Rosy will come.
Always, without fail.
‘When dawn breaks….’
Yet faith had cracked, and Kalian could no longer continue his thoughts.
When the sun rose and the world began to move again, would Rosy come?
What if she didn’t? What if she refused to open that door?
What if she locked me away here forever and simply disappeared?
A memory from the distant past suddenly surfaced.
“Everything is for Rahnar’s sake, Karga. You must understand.”
“Confining me here is the path to Rahnar’s prosperity? Why? You created me. You told me to protect this land…?”
“Yes. And I am grateful to you, Karga. But unfortunately, Rahnar no longer has need of you. Your existence has become nothing but a calamity.”
“Why….”
“That is why this place suits you.”
“Wait, don’t go. …Don’t go!”
“Damn it.”
Kalian couldn’t contain the rage welling up inside and kicked over the side table.
Over the hazy past, Rosien’s cold voice overlapped.
“For now, stay in your room. Don’t come out. The servants are uncomfortable around you.”
“I know.”
He muttered a few vicious curses he would never voice in front of Rosien.
“Still, you shouldn’t do that. You….”
Irritation and anger made his stomach churn unbearably. Yet strangely, that wasn’t all.
Kalian suddenly swept his left chest with his palm. Something felt wrong.
“…It hurts here.”
A sharp, tingling pain coursed through him. He pressed his fingers repeatedly against his chest for a moment, then unfastened the buttons of his shirt as if tearing them open.
Looking down at his bare chest, there was not a single wound.
He had been certain blood would be pouring out.
It was strange.
* * *
“Did you two have a quarrel?”
Owen regarded me and Kalian alternately with suspicious eyes. I flinched and looked up.
“What do you mean, Family Head?”
“The atmosphere seems….”
“It’s nothing like that.”
We were inside a carriage heading toward Abuie Castle.
Today was the day of the festival and ball at the Royal Palace. It was also the birthday celebration ball for the King of Abuye that Kalian attended exactly once a year.
I composed my expression and glanced across at him.
As the next Family Head of Winyak, standing at one of the few official occasions, Kalian was dressed magnificently for the first time in a while.
Golden shoulder boards, a medal engraved with the five-pointed star symbolizing the Transcendent Families, a sapphire brooch fastening his collar, and a golden chain—he wore every glittering ornament imaginable.
Yet the aura his face emanated overwhelmed all attention.
Today, Kalian Wynack had swept his hair back to reveal half his forehead. With his bangs lifted away from beneath his brows, his handsome forehead and brow bones were fully exposed, as were his sharp, keen eyes.
Hidden by his hair as it usually was, I had never noticed—Kalian’s gaze was piercingly sharp. His crimson eyes held not a warm red light, but a complete cold intensity.
Throughout the carriage ride facing him, Kalian never once took his eyes off me.
I fidgeted with my gloved hands clasped together, turning my gaze toward the window with deliberate casualness—careful not to make it obvious that I was avoiding eye contact.
Yet deceiving the eyes of Transcendents proved far more difficult than I’d anticipated.
“Just as I thought. You two are definitely suspicious.”
Owen saw through it perfectly. Between Kalian Wynack and me, an indescribable current had been flowing.
Ever since that fateful night, it had persisted for nearly two weeks straight.
‘I’m trying my best to treat him as I always have, but it’s not working.’

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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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