I Will Protect My Brother - Chapter 96

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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 96
Spending so much time with the Guardian Stars had likely crushed my meager mental fortitude beneath the weight of their overwhelming presence.
The moment my headache subsided even slightly, I forced myself to move.
Honestly, I wanted nothing more than to bury myself in bed and sleep like the dead, but…
‘I can’t leave him alone at night.’
During the day, at least Kalian engaged in something productive—sipping tea, stroking the tortoise, retrieving picture books from the study to read, or admiring the view beyond the window.
But night was different.
Once I realized that for Kalian, night existed solely as time spent waiting for me, I found myself unable to leave him alone in the darkness.
Besides, having been unable to stay by his side all day, he must have been starving for my attention.
Even knowing now that he was far removed from innocence or kindness, Kalian still seemed like a child to me.
A being who needed me to stand guard beside him.
‘I really am an angelic person. Here I am, walking toward him on my own two feet even after hearing he tore out my heart…’
Perhaps because my condition wasn’t good, my heart began pounding loudly as I drew closer to the chamber Kalian occupied.
I’d barely taken a few steps before my breathing grew shallow and rapid.
“Brother, I’m here…”
Before I could even fully turn the doorknob, the door swung open from within.
I was helplessly pulled inside.
“Rosy.”
A cool, grassy scent struck my nostrils.
Kalian, standing just inside the doorway, caught me like a trap and pulled me into his embrace.
His voice turned sharp with reproach.
“Why did you come so late? I was waiting.”
“I came as fast as I could. Were you waiting long?”
“I’m always waiting for you. I was going to come find you if you didn’t arrive by the time I counted to a thousand sheep, but you came on the nine hundred eighty-fourth count.”
I couldn’t tell if that was meant to be reassuring or disappointing.
I gritted my teeth and struck him with my fist, but my weakened state reduced it to barely more than a tap.
“Nine hundred eighty-four?! While you’re saying that, I’m over here losing my mind with worry about you!”
Why had my entire life been split in half like this?
These past few days had been absolute torture, constantly ensuring that Kalian and the Absolute Gods never crossed paths.
You couldn’t throw mortal enemies into the same space. Besides, no matter how much Broken Chaos was a Star that devoured Stars, the opposition numbered five.
“Ah, you were doing this for me?”
Kalian’s expression brightened instantly, and he smiled with eyes narrowing softly.
“Then that changes things. Were you thinking about me all day too?”
“Most of the time, yeah…”
Sweet kisses were pressed repeatedly and briefly against my temple.
“Then I’ll make a concession.”
“Yeah… okay.”
“But you have to come every single day. If you’re even a moment late or don’t arrive on time, I won’t know what I might do.”
“…Am I the only one walking the tightrope here? Is it only me feeling this sense of crisis? These wretched Stars…”
“Crisis? Did those bastards threaten you?”
“Your very existence is a threat. How many times must I say it—I’m human….”
“What do you say about me, then?”
Of course you curse all day long. Just as I relentlessly curse the Guardian Star to you.
I lacked the energy to list it all out, so I simply shook my head.
Kalian posed the question that had become his recent habit once more.
“You’re not wavering, are you, Rosy?”
“Stop asking the same question already. Just take what I’m offering—your ‘meal’….”
Kalian didn’t refuse. He tilted my chin upward.
I passively accepted him as he parted my lips and pressed deeper.
Perhaps it was my imagination, but pressed against him like this, the heat seemed to ease by a layer.
Yet Kalian soon withdrew his lips. With one eyebrow furrowed, he cradled both my cheeks in his palms.
“Rosy, you feel rather hot today.”
“Surely… it’s you who’s hot.”
“Is that so…?”
Kalian, wearing an uncertain expression, soon pressed his lips against mine again.
As if measuring the temperature inside my mouth with his tongue, he swept and licked here and there. When the sensitive mucous membrane was touched, my body flinched.
“Mm….”
Without my knowing, a sound like a moan escaped me. I felt every curve drawn by our joined lips.
‘Ah, wait.’
The moment I realized it, my senses returned.
On a day like today, I might truly lose myself.
“S-stop.”
I barely twisted my head away. As I pushed away the hand that had been subtly trailing down my body, Kalian openly clicked his tongue in frustration.
“There’s always a wall with you today too.”
“You… is this really all you think about when you see me?”
“Yes.”
“Wow….”
So he wasn’t just a fox—he was a perverted fox.
When I glared at him with cold eyes, he affectionately rubbed his cheek against my neck.
“I’m constantly scheming about what more I need to do to have you entirely to myself. Almost every hour of the day.”
“Why go that far….”
“Especially at night, I spend hours planning. How to break through the walls you build and reach your deepest place. It seems I imagine all sorts of things on my own.”
“….”
“How can I make Rosy love me….”
At this point, it was hardly an exaggeration to say he was obsessed with me. I managed a hoarse murmur.
“I hope you don’t reach some strange conclusion. If you stray even slightly from the right path, you will lose me forever.”
“That’s up to you. Tell me you love me.”
His eyes, holding pupils that gleamed like rubies, curved seductively. Even the serpent offering the forbidden fruit couldn’t have been this alluring.
Kalian issued his command again, tenderly.
“Tell me you love me, Rosy.”
The final condition for establishing an Elixir Contract was consciousness. The moment I clamped my mouth shut, his eyes turned fierce.
“Then don’t sleep tonight. Keep talking with me.”
He’d said the exact same thing yesterday. The words clawed their way up my throat.
‘When morning comes, the Guardian Stars will swoop down and snatch me away. If I can’t sleep tonight either, this is really going to be unbearable…’
But Kalian was relentless, as if he’d made up his mind completely.
I spent the entire night under his barrage of questions, unable to fall into proper sleep. He was determined to reclaim every moment the Guardian Stars had stolen from him during the day.
“Kalian, just one hour…”
“Then will you allow me to touch you while you sleep?”
“The premise itself is wrong from the start. If you keep doing this, how am I supposed to sleep? I’m seriously exhausted…”
“I know.”
He knows? Then why is he saying such things?
I couldn’t voice that question rising to the tip of my tongue.
My body grew heavier and heavier, like waterlogged cotton.
In between, Kalian pressed his hand to my forehead and asked.
“It doesn’t hurt, does it, Rosy?”
“It doesn’t hurt… just my head a little.”
“If you really can’t endure it, you have to tell me. Don’t hold it in.”
“If I tell you, what could you possibly do…”
“If Rosy permits it, I can do many things. If you open more of yourself to me.”
“…My heart, regardless…”
“Ah, that.”
Somewhere in the middle, I thought I heard an awkward groan.
By the end of that night, my consciousness had nearly faded away. Kalian continued speaking after that, but I have no idea what I answered.
It was certain that from that night onward, abnormal symptoms began to thoroughly consume me.
Starting from noon the very next day, a relentless surge of Seongyeol engulfed me.
* * *
‘It wasn’t just a suspicion—it was real.’
It was Seongyeol I hadn’t felt in ages. Had it been nearly twenty years?
‘Right. This was exactly how miserable it felt.’
I rummaged through the entire storage room of the villa and barely managed to find a few mana suppressants. I crunched them down without water, but ominous premonitions never miss their mark.
‘It’s not working…’
I irritably wiped away the beads of sweat forming on my forehead. No matter how much I tried, the perspiration wouldn’t stop.
‘Even the Planetarium can’t help.’
The lullaby I used to sing for Kalian had almost no effect when I directed it at myself.
The culprit was undoubtedly those five Stars hovering around me right now.
No matter how much their true power was sealed through the Avatar Contract, Stars are Stars. Their mere existence exerted a burden I couldn’t bear.
My entire body felt heavy, as if weighted down with anchors on my limbs. It was hot and suffocating, so I’d long since discarded the armor I normally wore like everyday clothes.
The headache was growing progressively worse.
‘How did Kalian endure this? How did he manage it for years on end…?’
Even so, the Stars’ determination to persuade me remained unshaken. Today was the turn of the Judge of Darkness and Chaos.
“It’s a gift.”
“….”
“I’ve woven my protection into every gap. It’s likely the most powerful weapon currently in existence in Rahnar.”
The Dark Soul Heart pressed the Great Annihilation into my hands.
“Drive this into his true body.”
“Well, I’m not sure I can….”
“Sever the Avatar’s lifeline in one stroke and pin down the Broken Chaos. Once you do, I’ll seize the back of his neck and return to the Abyss myself. When it’s all over, you can keep this Sacred Relic.”
“….”
“You’ll become the foremost in Rahnar and receive the protection of the Cosmos, Rosien.”
A weapon brimming with the Power of Stars. If I touched it now, the heat already accumulated in my body would surely explode from within.
‘What good is a weapon when I look like I’m about to die anyway….’
My vision blurred. The overwhelming heat clouded my mind with fog.
My thoughts wouldn’t process properly.
I blindly grasped at whatever was directly in front of me.
“Family Head… Family Head.”
“What?”
“Owen….”
Owen had once sworn to protect me as long as I remained in Wynyak.
He had been my shelter during those ten years I spent in Wynyak.
But….
‘No. It’s not enough.’
He wasn’t enough to give me infinite peace of mind.
I kept wiping my neck with the back of my hand as I stumbled backward.
Then I collided with someone.
As I turned around, wavy black hair came into view.
“You should be more careful, older sister.”
“…Luize.”
“I thought something was off with you lately, Rosien. So it’s that time for you?”
Luize bent at the waist to meet my gaze, observing me with interest.
The reflection of myself in his golden eyes looked terribly pale and fragile.
“Well then, let’s see if there’s any hope left in you, shall we?”
Luize uttered something incomprehensible and suddenly wrapped his arms around my shoulders.
I stumbled and was pulled into his embrace.

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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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