I Will Protect My Brother - Chapter 82

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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 82
I struck Kalien’s chest with my fist. His lips parted slightly.
Yet even as I struggled to catch my breath, his lips continued to press against mine.
Kalien was relentless. He showed no sign of pulling away from me.
In the end, I clenched my fist again and struck his shoulder. Then I bit down hard on his tongue as it pushed past my lips once more.
“Ah.”
Only then did Kalien furrow his brow and pull away from me. Despite the force of my bite, his tongue must have been throbbing, yet he didn’t seem particularly pained.
Rather, something appeared deeply inconvenient to him, and on the other hand, he seemed terribly, terribly…
Desperate, I suppose one might say.
I pushed him away with both hands with all my strength.
“That’s enough now! It’s sufficient…!”
I was appalled that I had been swept up in the moment, even briefly.
Desire? For him? Absolutely not!
This was merely a therapeutic act. Even medicine becomes poison in excess.
“It’s already subsided. This should be enough.”
“…”
“And…! Kissing without permission—this is the last time. I’m only allowing it because it’s your first, so…”
My heart raced so violently that my words came out disjointed.
I glared at Kalien with a mixture of embarrassment and irritation.
“Notification is not the same as consent. No matter how much we’ve imprinted through the Elixir, as long as I’m a person with emotions and rights, mutual agreement is absolutely…are you listening?”
“…It’s not resolved.”
“What?”
“It hasn’t subsided. Not at all.”
“What are you talking about!”
Even as I flared up in anger, Kalien simply stared at me with both hands shoved into his pockets. Then he muttered as if to himself.
“You’re not afraid.”
“What?”
“I’ve been thinking about what you said earlier. Fine—ten years is a long time to hide things. Since you said you won’t tolerate lies, I’ll show you everything without reservation.”
“What are you…?”
“Just don’t be surprised by what you see. Don’t be afraid. And if you ever run away—”
“…If I run away?”
“I might truly come to resent you. I don’t want to feel that way toward you, Rosy. It keeps hurting here.”
Kalien irritably tapped his left chest.
I wondered what ominous thing he was about to say, only for that to be all he had to offer?
Before I could say anything more, Kalien turned his back to me. The last expression I saw on his face was twisted in a way I’d never seen before.
I rubbed my swollen, reddened lips and glared at his retreating golden head. It was absurd.
He stole my first kiss without permission, so why was he the one acting so petulant?
* * *
Whether Kalien was sulking or not, our journey had to continue.
Five days after arriving in Casanos, the sea finally calmed. Kalien and I at last left the inn and boarded a ship bound for Riltear Island.
The boat we boarded was a small skiff. The moment we set foot on it, I summoned wind through the Planetarium.
Catching a favorable sea breeze, the boat surged forward at tremendous speed toward the distant ocean that seemed to stretch endlessly.
The land soon vanished from sight.
‘It’s a bit unsettling, I must admit.’
No matter where I looked, there was nothing but water. The deeper we went, the darker the water became.
When we first left the shore, the sea had been a clear, transparent cyan-blue. Now it was nearly black—a sure sign that we were above the Deep Sea.
‘If we shipwrecked here, I’d become fish food without a second thought….’
Of course, that wouldn’t happen.
I glanced sideways at Kalien.
Ever since our argument yesterday, a cold silence had settled between us once more.
Even so, I held his hand to fulfill the contact quota. In fact, I was still holding it now.
To be precise, I was sitting on his lap, and Kalien was holding me from behind. The body heat that had cooled to a lukewarm state over the past few days was now burning intensely again.
‘It’s so hot….’
Above, the oppressive sun; below, Seongyeol.
I exhaled a sigh so deep it could have punctured the boat’s hull.
‘I’m really losing my mind….’
The reason Kalien’s body heat had flared up again was obvious.
Because our argument had slightly eroded my trust in him.
Even from such a minor quarrel, the Elixir’s effects had diminished drastically.
In the end, no matter how intimate our contact became, one major fight rendered everything meaningless—a futile conclusion.
So to maintain the Elixir’s effects, I had no choice but to force ourselves to get along.
Indeed, a human Elixir was terribly impractical and inefficient.
‘This is treatment. Treatment. Healing for body and mind.’
After brainwashing myself dozens of times, I finally opened my mouth.
“Don’t sulk with me. By any measure, this is your fault.”
“….”
“You ram into me without any explanation, and then you’re going to pout indefinitely? If you knew how much I care about you, you wouldn’t treat me this way.”
“Of course I know. How much you care about me.”
Kalien answered in a subdued voice.
“But you don’t understand me. Not that I expected you to.”
“….”
“I’m sorry for kissing you without permission, Rosy. My heart kept hurting.”
Based on past experience, Kalien had a tendency to describe his heart as aching whenever he suffered emotional pain.
“You told me to stop pretending to be human.”
“I didn’t say it like that. That wasn’t my intention. Don’t jump to conclusions.”
“But the meaning is the same….”
His face was filled with the look of someone deeply wounded. A sigh escaped me.
‘So that’s why he was hurt.’
Kalien sometimes acted like a child—pure as blank paper, innocent and unknowing. That’s precisely why I couldn’t bring myself to be harsh with him.
The fact that he was wounded by such a reason meant he either saw himself as human, or he desperately wanted to become human. It had to be one or the other.
I didn’t know exactly what name Kalien had been called centuries ago, or what he had endured to become who he was now. I only knew the rough outline.
That’s why I still had no certainty. Was this man human or not?
Right now, I was heading out to confirm precisely that.
I bit the inside of my lip and asked him.
“Brother, do you know why I want to go to the detention camp?”
“No. You didn’t tell me.”
“I’m going to try to recover Rozentia’s memories.”
“What?”
Kalien’s voice pitched high. His reaction was immediate.
He spun me around and sat me down in one fluid motion.
My reflection filled his eyes—those irises rippling with deep crimson. Kalien’s words stumbled out.
“Why would you…?”
“I told you. I’m going to try to handle you somehow. So I need to understand you better.”
“No, I hate this.”
Kalien ground his teeth without waiting for me to finish.
“Turn back. I swear I had no idea you were planning something like this. If I’d known, I wouldn’t have followed you this far. I wouldn’t have let you come. Stop this wind right now——.”
“Kalian, treatment.”
Kalien’s expression twisted sharply.
“Are you playing with me?”
“You’re too worked up right now.”
I could see curses swirling behind his clenched lips. I steeled my resolve.
‘This is treatment.’
After anchoring my heart firmly, I cupped his ashen cheeks in both hands.
I pulled him toward me and pressed my lips against his.
Kalien’s eyes flew wide open.
‘The first time is difficult, but why couldn’t I do it the second time?’
My hesitation vanished in an instant.
I gently stamped my seal on the soft, supple surface of his lips, then parted them and delved deeper. Recalling every touch he had given me, I kissed him at length.
‘Actually, this isn’t bad….’
He was impossibly soft, burning hot, and sweet. I could feel him rigid and uncertain, frozen in place.
His hands, which had remained stiffly at my waist, finally began to move. Warm palms scraped up my spine like fire and suddenly wrapped around the nape of my neck.
But the moment I felt his grip and flinched, trying to pull away, Kalien urgently released the pressure.
That desperate gesture was surprisingly endearing.
‘Ah… is this how it is?’
Now I understood why so many people lost themselves in desire.
Why human Elixir was said to be so addictive.
Acts rooted in instinct undoubtedly brought pleasure to humans in every way.
Kalien’s throat vibrated with a moan.
“Why are you doing this to me, really.”
“Patients are supposed to follow their doctor’s orders. Don’t complain.”
Kalien exhaled a sigh of resignation through his lips.
His fist, which had been clenching and unclenching at the nape of my neck, finally dropped to his side.
The effects of the kiss were beyond question.
I forcibly calmed him down and explained everything step by step.
“I have to keep you with me for the rest of my life, no matter what you are. You may not think so, but you’re my only family.”
“….”
“Besides, we’ve already made an Elixir Contract, so I can’t abandon you even if I wanted to. You’ve wronged me by tying me down like this. And since you took my first kiss, I’ve practically already married into your family.”
“…I rather like that.”
This was truly infuriating. I ground my teeth and spoke sweetly.
“So shouldn’t you at least let me know exactly what I’m going to be living with, so I don’t feel so wronged?”
“Don’t be ridiculous. If you knew me, you wouldn’t like me.”
“That’s for me to decide, not you. And just a few days ago, didn’t you say you’d show me everything without holding back? Where did all that confidence go?”
“That was just something I said in anger!”
“Naive Kalian—words once spoken can never be taken back. That’s the truth of life. So I have no choice but to see through you completely.”
I cut off Kalien’s resistance decisively.
“If you don’t want to go in together, then wait here. I’ll go alone.”
The Planetarium, serving as our compass, spun slowly in place.
While we were arguing, the entrance to the Island had already drawn near.

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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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