I Will Protect My Brother - Chapter 90

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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 90
Kalian withdrew the blessing of the Dark Castle he had summoned. The Star’s will dissipated like a lie.
The Formless Messenger muttered with hollow disappointment.
“True to form for an incarnation—your methods are identical to The End’s. I never anticipated you’d formed a fusion contract.”
I hadn’t expected this either.
I’d assumed at best he inhabited a fragile human body like mine, but now it seemed that form wasn’t his true vessel at all?
Kalian had already returned to the sofa where I’d been sitting. He gazed regretfully at the teapot scattered in broken pieces across the floor.
‘I rather liked that tea set….’
The Formless Messenger borrowed Luize’s voice to speak.
“This is unexpected, but very well. Let us settle this fairly and squarely.”
‘I need to clean this up before Rosy comes down.’
“Since you show no intention of surrendering the Lost Soul willingly, I’ll have no choice but to approach your Elixir. Besides, when this incarnation formed a sacred covenant with me, there were conditions he demanded.”
‘Too troublesome. I’ll just cover it up.’
Kalian unfolded a blanket and spread it carefully over the scattered debris on the floor.
The Formless Messenger continued his prattling.
“Even so, I honor the promises made to my incarnations—my pride demands it. Aren’t you curious what this one wagered as the price of our covenant?”
“Not particularly.”
“He asked me to strip your Elixir from you.”
“What?”
Kalian, who had been half-ignoring the creature’s nonsense, finally reacted.
The absolute god smiled meaningfully and pointed to himself.
“This one—Luize—harbored deep concern for Lozietti Kirges. He begged me to prevent the mutual Elixir Imprinting between her and Kalian Wynack.”
Kalian snorted dismissively, offering no response.
‘Who does he think he is?’
The Formless Messenger tapped his fingers against the sofa’s armrest using Luize’s hand.
“So I reconsidered—is there truly a need to strip your Elixir? Why bother? What if I simply made her Imprint me as her Elixir instead?”
“….”
“Your Elixir is Rosien, and Rosien’s Elixir becomes me. How does that sound?”
“How utterly sordid.”
Kalian murmured without interest.
“Rosy desiring Luize’s body instead of mine. The very thought is abominable.”
“Precisely. But doesn’t it sound entertaining?”
The Formless Messenger lightly struck his left chest with his fist. Then he smiled with an expression the original Luize Whezel would never wear.
“In truth, it’s the desire this one has long harbored in secret. He simply hadn’t awakened to it, suppressed as it was by reason.”
“Go ahead and try, if you can.”
Kalian replied with indifference.
The Formless Messenger’s expression twisted at the unexpected response.
“What?”
“Try. Make Rosien your Elixir.”
A sneer played at the corner of Kalian’s mouth.
He swept his gaze over Luize Whezel’s shell with a look of disdain.
“I’m not sure if it’s even possible.”
Rosy’s walls were impossibly high. Kalian had been quite vexed lately by how she offered nothing but hollow “I love you”s no matter what he did.
But even so, it was nothing compared to Luize.
After all, the time he and Luize had invested in Rosien differed as vastly as heaven and earth. If one had to choose whom she favored more, it was obviously him.
Yet even he was not succeeding easily.
If he was struggling despite this beautiful exterior, how could that fool possibly succeed?
Besides, Rosy certainly did like him. For now, he was the most beautiful thing she possessed.
Kalian granted permission with a leisurely smile and magnanimous grace.
“I won’t interfere, so go ahead and struggle all you like. As if Rosien would ever look your way because of it.”
With such pathetic acting skills, it was hopeless. Rosien wasn’t so oblivious as to miss such sloppy disguises.
“There. Now I’d appreciate it if you’d stop touching things unnecessarily. It’s annoying.”
After finishing his words, Kalian left the disheveled reception room in search of a cleaner space.
“…Tch, tch. Luize. Your pride’s a bit wounded, isn’t it?”
The Formless Messenger, left alone, began to chuckle to himself.
“Let’s see. Who will truly become her Elixir?”
* * *
After I stormed out of the reception room, the inexplicable tension between Luize and Kalian subsided somewhat.
At least while I was with Kalian, Luize made no appearance.
Kalian was quite satisfied with that alone.
The frequency of his embarrassingly demanding physical affection decreased noticeably. It was clear he simply wanted to flaunt our relationship in front of Luize.
‘Like a child…’
Of course, that didn’t mean he ever skipped fulfilling his daily quota.
I resigned myself to offering my lips to him while thinking.
‘I wish he’d forget just once…’
Heated breath caught painfully in my throat. The palm wrapped around my nape remained warm.
His hand threatened to breach my collar at any moment. Though there was no coercion in the act, my body tensed purely from the temperature and grip strength of those hands.
As I traced and scratched the back of his hand, Kalian loosened his grip. Yet he didn’t release me.
“Ha, mm…”
The moment I exhaled a short breath, our lips sealed together again without gap.
He coils around me like a serpent.
I felt myself growing wet from head to toe, very slowly. With each ragged breath, fragments of reason evaporated and scattered.
Sometimes I wonder if it’s even possible to approach this “treatment” without mixing in desire.
Whether this is even treatment at all, to begin with.
Following Kalian’s touch, goosebumps prickled across my skin. I attempted resistance once more.
“You said you wouldn’t touch.”
This was one of the rules we’d recently established.
To maintain a consistent Elixir effect, we kiss once a day. In exchange, his hands must never go below my shoulders.
Without any restraint mechanism, Kalian grew increasingly indulgent. It was a measure to stop him, and simultaneously a way to suppress my own impulses.
Even when Kalian clings to me desperately, I must remain calm and composed—but lately, that’s become difficult…
If I catch fire too, then this truly ceases to be treatment.
Even as Kalian occupied my mouth, I managed to pull his hand away. He let out a displeased sound from his throat.
“This isn’t something I’m doing consciously. Don’t pull away, Rosy. There’s still more.”
All my effort in creating that gap proved utterly worthless.
His persistence was so relentless that I nearly wanted to cry.
‘Once a day already feels like too much….’
I shouldn’t have assumed one session meant we’d reached an agreement. I should have set a time limit!
After my chest heated and cooled five or six times over, Kalian finally released me.
Only then did my ragged breathing escape.
“Ha, uh, gasp.”
While Kalian’s heartbeat remained steady and calm, mine thrashed about like a fish dragged onto shore.
I squeezed my eyes shut and waited for the Revival Crystal to do its work.
The Sacred Relic’s effect appeared as swiftly as always. My body grew heavy, like waterlogged cotton collapsing inward.
Once the searing heat constricting my chest vanished, an irresistible drowsiness always washed over me.
“Come here.”
Kalian lifted me effortlessly. I weakly pushed against him as he tried to kiss my cheek.
“It’s over now… let me go. I’m going to read.”
“Not even this? It’s just a gesture of gratitude.”
“No.”
Deep, intense kisses could somehow be rationalized as treatment, but the tender touches that followed could not.
No matter how I looked at it, that was pure selfishness. From both the giver and the receiver.
Lying there drowsily while receiving his kisses, my heart kept tingling in ways it shouldn’t.
“Rosy, I love….”
“That word is forbidden too.”
I hastily covered his mouth with my palm. This was selfish too!
Kalian murmured against my hand.
“Then can’t you say it for me?”
“I don’t… fine, I know. I love you.”
“That’s not it. You’re not sincere.”
“Stop pouting. Now really let me go. Today’s treatment is finished.”
“How cold.”
Kalian sighed in displeasure and finally released me completely.
As he leaned back against the sofa, he slowly licked his lips with his tongue. The moment I realized what that glistening moisture on his lower lip was, heat flooded my face.
Kalian smiled at my flustered state.
“Anyway, thank you, Rosy. I received the Elixir’s effects well today too.”
“Y-yes. I’m… going out for a bit.”
I bolted upright and snatched the picnic basket I’d prepared earlier. Without looking back, I fled the room.
‘Don’t be fooled by him, you idiot Rosien!’
Residual warmth still lingered around my chest.
I definitely needed to go to the riverside and splash some water on my face!
* * *
“….”
Kalian watched Rosien’s retreating figure until she disappeared through the doorway, moving as though fleeing for her life.
Only after the sound of her hurried footsteps faded completely did he lower his head.
Then he roughly tore at his hair.
“Damn it. What’s wrong with me?”
Why won’t she open her heart?
Ever since leaving Riltear Island, I felt as though I were suffocating.
Whether I begged her to say she loved me, kissed her so persistently she found it burdensome, or followed her around all day long.
No matter what I did, there was no sign of Rosien’s heart opening to me.
The way she looked at me remained the same—as though she were indulging a particularly fussy child.
‘Yes, as if raising a pet. Not as a man!’
Only when our lips touched did she show any reaction acknowledging me as the opposite sex, yet she never attempted to cross that line.
“I must have buttoned the first button wrong. Damn it. I shouldn’t have played the older brother role in the first place.”
Why didn’t Rosy desire me as desperately as I needed her to?
Why didn’t she want me as much as I wanted her?
These sudden, deep kisses were ultimately meant to satisfy Rosien, yet I alone received all the reward and then it ended.
Kalian unconsciously brought his index finger to his lips.
Her clean, pure scent still seemed to linger there. My body burned hot, my heart thundering beyond control.
Yet Rosien always left me in this heightened state, only to slip away like a cat at the crucial moment. Just as she had moments ago.
Days ago, she’d even imposed an absurd restriction.
“Once a day….”
Rosy, what kind of rule is that?
I was dying of frustration.
Kalian sank into melancholy, recalling the soft interior of her lips that he’d explored so thoroughly just moments before.
‘Something’s missing. It doesn’t seem to be my fault.’

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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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