I Will Protect My Brother - Chapter 70

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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 70
The moment I drew back the terrace curtains and led Kalian outside, he turned me around to face him.
As if those mere minutes of the journey had exhausted the last of his patience, Kalian let out a stifled, anguished cry.
“Tell me what’s wrong, Rosy. Tell me what I need to do to get back the Rosy from last week.”
His grip on my shoulders grew progressively tighter.
“I haven’t laid a finger on Jake.”
“….”
“I haven’t killed any beast.”
“….”
“I haven’t done anything, Rosy. I swear it…. You’re convinced I must have done something terrible while I wasn’t aware, aren’t you?”
It felt as though he were peering directly into the depths of my mind.
“And you’re doubting whether I’m still the person you’ve come to know.”
Kalian let his head drop weakly and pressed his forehead against mine. As expected, he was burning with fever—alarmingly so.
“No.”
“…Kalian.”
“Just as you remain yourself regardless of what name you bear, I am simply myself. Not something else—the same person from the moment of my birth until now. Believe me, please.”
“….”
“At the very least, tell me how I can prove to you that I didn’t do it.”
When I remained silent, Kalian began to grow increasingly desperate.
“Rosy, Rosy…. Why won’t you say anything?”
“….”
“Do you still suspect me? Have you come to hate me now? Is it that….”
“Kalian.”
“Do you find me beautiful no longer?”
“…Of course you’re still beautiful.”
I opened my mouth despite myself.
The Planetarium hanging at my neck kept flashing red. Lately, whenever I was with Kalian, it had a habit of glowing like this on its own. Perhaps it was broken.
I irritably tapped my chest to suppress the Planetarium’s light.
‘Kalian’s right. I can’t keep avoiding this forever.’
The feeling of circling endlessly around the heart of the matter. I had to dispel this suffocation somehow.
I gripped his sleeve tightly.
“…I’m afraid.”
“Of what?”
“There’s a prophecy that has been passed down through Yeljewa and Kirges for ages. I’ve never told you the exact details.”
I recited the contents of the ancient prophecy. Kalian’s trembling lips grew rigid.
“The prophecy given by Yeljewa will surely come to pass one day. I will eventually lead forth an entity that will annihilate the Transcendent Families.”
I poured out the fear that had dwelt deep within me, something I had never confessed to anyone until now.
“I’m terrified of what I might do to this Rahnar. I’m afraid because I don’t know.”
The mere thought of it drained the blood from my body each day. But that wasn’t the real problem.
“I’m afraid of The Stars watching me.”
“….”
“What are The Stars trying to accomplish by moving a mere human like me? Why do they so readily grant me their power?”
Because they cherish me? Because they love me in some special way? No. The Stars were not beings capable of such sentimentality or delicacy. Then there could be only one reason.
I am useful to them.
Change that, and it’s simple.
Kill!
Kill what, exactly?
The Sacred Relic of Wynack Castle, the Great Annihilation, had once spoken those very words.
【The Guardian Stars believe you are the only human capable of standing against the Lost Soul.】
The Guardian Stars and the Broken Chaos stood in opposition to one another.
That Broken Chaos had hidden itself within Rahnar. If it was not merely some nameless monstrosity but the Dark Castle itself—a Star—then like all other Stars, it too would need to forge a covenant with a life form of Rahnar in order to observe this land.
There were two types of covenants. The indirect method, as practiced by the Transcendent Families, where a Star granted its blessing by binding itself to a family’s name; and the more direct method of contracting with a human to serve as an incarnate vessel.
In the latter case, the Star could directly possess the incarnate’s body, manipulate them like a puppet, or simply remain at their side. Anything was possible.
A one-to-one covenant between a Guardian Star and its incarnate vessel persisted as long as the Star did not abandon its chosen form….
The Great Annihilation had warned me countless times. That Kalian Wynack had once been an incarnate vessel of the Lost Soul.
Though it said that from some point onward, it could no longer detect the scent of the Lost Soul upon him, the Great Annihilation had always found Kalian distasteful.
What if the covenant between the Broken Chaos and Kalian remained valid? What if the Broken Chaos had not unilaterally consumed Kalian, but rather some transaction had occurred between them?
And if, in the end, the ‘Chaos’ mentioned in the prophecy referred to Kalian himself?
‘The dead Princess of Abuye’
‘Shall one day bring forth terrible Chaos, and moreover, the annihilation of the Transcendent Families.’
Was I to become the instrument that led him toward becoming the architect of the world’s destruction?
Was that why the Judge of Darkness and Chaos had warned me to kill Kalian and alter that future?
Chills ran through me from head to toe.
“You don’t understand my heart, Kali. What thoughts consume me these days. How desperately I try not to imagine the worst possible outcome…!”
I exhaled those words in a strangled whisper, then turned my gaze away beyond the terrace.
But Kalian reached out and turned my chin back toward him.
“Tell me.”
“….”
“It’s all right, Rosy. I won’t be hurt. I don’t mind what happens only in your mind—tell me. What is this worst-case scenario you imagine?”
I fixed him with an intense stare.
The prophecy coming to pass terrified me, but even changing that future was equally horrifying.
Kill!
The will of The Stars that I had felt coursing through my entire body years ago still drummed within me like a war drum.
“I’m… I’m afraid that a situation will come where I have to kill you, Kali.”
Humans cannot defy The Stars. If the Guardian Star commands me, I have no choice but to obey.
But if I continued to feel this disappointment in Kalian,
‘Regardless of the Guardian Star’s will, I might conclude that killing you is the right thing to do.’
That was truly the worst future I had envisioned.
What if I drew my blade against Kalian? What if he became my enemy?
What if I came to genuinely hate Kalian Wynack—what then?
I couldn’t bring myself to say that much and closed my mouth.
An indescribable silence descended upon us.
It was Kalian who broke the silence.
“All that matters is that prophecy doesn’t come to pass, right?”
“What?”
“Words alone won’t earn your trust anymore, it seems. If that prophecy didn’t exist, could you believe in me?”
“….”
“The Transcendent Families continue to flourish as they do now, chaos doesn’t engulf Rahnar, and everything remains peaceful just as it is. That’s all it would take?”
I deliberated for a moment before nodding. For now, that ancient prophecy was indeed the primary source of my anguish. Though it wasn’t the only thing.
“Then….”
Kalian blinked his eyes erratically. After hesitating for a while, he seemed to steel himself, closing his eyes for a long moment before opening them again.
“Then Rosy. I’ll protect you.”
“What?”
“So that ominous prophecy doesn’t spread into the world. So that such things never come to pass.”
“….”
“Rahnar won’t….”
Struggling to continue, Kalian swallowed dryly several times.
“I’ll make sure this world doesn’t perish.”
“….”
“If I set my mind to it, I can do it. Even though I’ve never properly protected anything before, it shouldn’t be difficult. You’ve shown me how, after all.”
It was less like he was speaking to me and more like he was trying to convince himself.
Kalian’s words grew faster, increasingly elaborate.
“What could matter more to me, Rosy? Actually, it’s absurd that I’m even weighing this. The answer is already crystal clear.”
“…How?”
“I’ve waited long enough. Far, far too long.”
“….”
“And I’m supposed to render all that suffering meaningless because of one person? Because of a single human? You, of all—damn it. Why does it feel acceptable to let you go?”
I simply listened to Kalian’s incoherent muttering.
I couldn’t know which of his unconscious words might become a clue.
‘Even now, I’m thinking like this.’
Clearly, I still didn’t trust him at all. Kalian roughly washed his face with one hand.
“Even if I abandoned everything else, I couldn’t let you go. You’re the only one on my side. Only you can restore me to being an acceptable person, and throwing that away would be such a waste. I haven’t even properly had you yet. Damn it, I haven’t even touched you….”
How could I trust him when he speaks like this?
He’s just spouting suspicious nonsense, and you expect me to—
How could I trust something that isn’t even human?
Over the past week, I’ve come to understand several truths about Kalian Wynack.
Kalian doesn’t sleep.
For several days, I didn’t leave his bedroom after showing him in. I crouched against the opposite wall with my presence completely suppressed, using the Planetarium to see through the door into Kalian’s bedroom.
And I confirmed that he truly doesn’t close his eyes for even a single moment.
Second, he doesn’t eat anything.
To be precise, it would be more accurate to say that he doesn’t need to consume something periodically like humans do.
The act of eating itself didn’t seem impossible, but he appeared to derive no enjoyment from it whatsoever. I witnessed the awkwardness that flickered across Kalian’s eyes multiple times when I forced food upon him. I suspect the issue lies with his sense of taste itself.
If he couldn’t taste, his sense of smell couldn’t possibly be intact either. There were occasions when I found it peculiar how he would brew his tea with unusual intensity, but I couldn’t determine exactly how much he could perceive.
In any case, one thing was certain: his senses were not the same as a human’s.
And Kalian showed no such gentleness or fragility toward anyone else but me.
So what on earth was the true nature of this creature who had been masquerading as a helpless little rabbit and occupying the space beside me all this time?
‘But….’
Yet on the other hand, I could never bring myself to hate him.
I still cared for Kalian. This wasn’t a passionate, aesthetic affection toward a romantic interest. It was something far more fundamentally human.
“When you turn away from me, Rosy, it hurts here.”
Kalian brought my hand to his left chest. The heartbeat I felt beneath my palm was unnaturally rapid, nothing like a human’s.
Kalian asked desperately, as though seeking an answer.
“It feels like my heart is being slashed to ribbons with a blade. It feels like blood is flowing, but when I look, there’s nothing there.”
….
“It’s been like this since the day you started avoiding me. Do you know why?”

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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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