I Will Protect My Brother - Chapter 99

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 99
Our lips met, the upper and lower fitting together with the precision of interlocking teeth.
Kalien, who had been rigid for a moment, naturally parted his lips and answered my kiss.
I quickly surrendered control to his expertise. I didn’t mind letting go.
Heat flowed across my lips and tongue, transferring to him in a wave of sensation.
In its place, the cool air I’d so desperately craved filled my lungs.
Had Kalien felt this way when I relieved his Seongyeol?
Now I finally understood why he couldn’t easily release me whenever he performed his “treatment.”
I couldn’t let go either. If even the smallest gap opened between us, I felt as though I would die.
“Rosy, you need to breathe.”
He twisted his lips away with effort and whispered softly. I shook my head desperately.
“Just a little longer…”
The plea he’d always made to me now spilled from my own lips. It felt unfamiliar, yet utterly sincere.
“Give me more. More…”
Everything was reversed from usual. I burned hot while he remained cool. I was impatient while he was composed.
The dam I’d so carefully constructed crumbled in an instant. I grabbed his collar and pulled him flush against me.
‘I was afraid of becoming like this. Afraid I would become this way.’
Afraid that he would swell into an absolute presence within me. Afraid I would beg him for more, pleading desperately.
Afraid I would cease to be myself.
But now there was nothing I could do.
The more I tangled with Kalien in this frenzy, the more a cool sense of liberation enveloped me, leaving me helpless.
“It feels like being born anew, all over again.”
Now I understood those words completely. My entire body felt as though it were being shattered into billions of grains of sand, then reassembled.
As if I had been fitted together wrong from the beginning, he dismantled me completely and reconstructed me anew, filling in every hollow place.
All the walls I’d so painstakingly built seemed laughable in how easily I surrendered to this awareness.
My Elixir.
The one lifeline I’d become utterly dependent upon, my only rope to salvation.
I held Kalien with a desperation I’d never felt before.
My consciousness was slipping away again.
* * *
Kalien found himself in a difficult position.
This was the first time he’d seen Rosien cry so openly. And the first time she’d pleaded with him like this.
“Don’t let go. If you do, I’ll really kill you…”
Though her words were somewhat harsh, her reddened eyes, flushed nose, and the rosy bloom across both cheeks significantly softened any aggression.
Rosien, who had nearly bitten his lips and tongue in her fervent hunger, hiccupped.
“I won’t… I don’t want to be a Transcendent. I hate it. It’s so hot. It’s awful. Sob…”
“You’ve suffered so much, Rosy.”
The moment he said this, she burst into tears again, leaving Kalien to spend considerable effort soothing her.
“It’s alright. I’m here. Don’t cry, yes?”
The slender body nestled perfectly against him burned like a coal of fire. He knew better than anyone how agonizing this was.
Seeing him in such pain, helpless and lost, made my eyes sting.
“Do something, Kalian….”
Rosien’s voice trembled with tears as she pressed her lips to his again.
Kalien willingly parted his lips, swallowing the surge of heat that flooded in, while his gaze traced over her flushed cheeks, her disheveled hair, her trembling fingertips, and her body that convulsed with each breath.
How far she must have searched for him—leaves and soil clung thickly to her hair and the hem of her dress.
The scent of crushed grass rose from her hands, which gripped his collar so tightly her knuckles had turned white.
Though her arms lacked strength and kept slipping, she clung to him with desperate urgency.
It was a passionate kiss unlike anything the usual Rosien would offer.
Clumsy yet urgent, her tongue sought his, and the sensation sent a chill across my scalp. Electricity seemed to course through my entire body.
“….”
Kalien closed his eyes, stroking her small head tenderly.
Ah, now I understood. Why Lost Soul had told him to wait. What he had gained as the price of his patience.
At last, he possessed her completely.
From head to toe, perfectly confined within his embrace. Never to escape.
Yet he had never intended to drive Rosien to this extent.
What was the purpose of making Rosy suffer like this? Something was terribly, terribly wrong….
‘…Lost Soul. Cover us.’
Shadows surged like a tidal wave, engulfing everything around them.
The Dark Castle’s aura formed a barrier around them like a breakwater. Something that had caught their scent and rushed toward them barely retreated before touching the Broken Chaos.
Kalien held Rosien close, responding to her fervent kiss while deftly manipulating the shadows.
Lost Soul could not hide its excitement, drawing up its tentacles.
The barrier that the five Stars and their incarnations had laid around the Villa became instead an iron cage that trapped them within.
“Give me a little more, Kalian….”
“Take all you want. It’s all yours.”
Kalien whispered tenderly to her, his left hand clenching into a tight fist. Tentacles split from the darkness and simultaneously crushed the Villa to rubble.
The terrifying tremors and the debris scattering in all directions were swallowed by Lost Soul.
The five Stars desperately dodged Lost Soul’s tentacles, their forms flickering.
‘Where do you think you’re going.’
They bore considerable responsibility for Rosien’s current state.
Carelessly flaunting their aura beside humans—did they think they could endure? Worthless creatures, no different from the Transcendent Families or their Guardian Stars. All the same breed of filth.
‘I’m no better. Damn it all.’
When Kalien brought his fist down upon the earth, the Villa shook violently with a deafening crack.
“Lost Soul. Drop it in the middle of the Sea.”
The Villa, torn from its roots, plummeted into the center of the Sea. Violent waves crashed in all directions, drenching half the White Sand Beach of the island.
The presence of the Stars scattered precariously. They had slipped through the gaps in his grasp.
Kalien’s nails dug into the earth.
‘I must pursue them….’
When the Guardian Stars were trapped in their incarnate forms and could not unleash their full power, this was the perfect opportunity to crush both the Transcendent Families and the Stars simultaneously.
Kalien steadied the limp Rosien, holding her upright.
“Rosy, wait here for a moment. I’ll be back soon. Understood?”
But he caught sight of Rosien’s expression as she slipped from his embrace.
“Don’t go….”
Her complexion had turned ashen. Jewel-like teardrops clung to her delicate lashes.
Rosien clutched at him with a pitiful, trembling voice.
“Don’t go. You can’t leave, what am I supposed to do if you….”
“I won’t.”
His resolve to pursue the Stars evaporated in an instant, flipping like a palm turning over. Kalien sank back down.
“I won’t go, I won’t leave. Where would I go, anyway? Don’t cry, Rosy.”
Words of comfort tumbled from his lips unbidden. And no wonder—a weeping, whimpering Rosien was something else entirely.
It seemed almost mad, yet he couldn’t help but find her adorable. He was utterly, hopelessly smitten.
“If you disappear, I swear I’ll…kill you….”
“Fine. Kill me if you must. As long as you need me, I’m not going anywhere.”
“You should, of course, ugh, hic.”
Rosien hiccupped breathlessly, insisting he had no choice but to stay.
“Don’t go. I’m scared….”
“….”
His Elixir was utterly precious to him—even her feverish weeping, unable to stop, struck him as endearing beyond measure. The surge of tenderness made his entire body ache.
“You’re truly so beautiful.”
That much was certain, but….
His heart kept twinging with a dull ache.
Kalien murmured with self-deprecating irony.
“Though you’re far more beautiful in your usual state, aren’t you….”
Despite clearing away the fever multiple times, her mana remained unstable.
Kalien gently wiped her trembling lips with his thumb, then lifted Rosien into his arms.
They couldn’t remain on the street like this—he needed to lay her down somewhere.
“Lost Soul. Prevent anything from approaching this place.”
【As you command, my avatar.】
“I’ll be back soon.”
His piercing gaze swept across the black sea that had swallowed an entire mansion whole.
“Perhaps sooner than you think.”
【Look after your princess well, Karga. You finally have the power you’ve yearned for within reach.】
“….”
【Seize it carefully. Every last bit, leaving nothing behind. Do you understand?】
Kalien was no longer listening.
Lost Soul watched his stubborn retreating figure grow distant, utterly bewildered.
【…Somehow, it seems our original purpose has been completely abandoned…?】
* * *
I blinked blankly at the ceiling. The wood grain pattern above felt unfamiliar.
‘What is this.’
Where was I, and what was I doing right now.
I moved my body slowly, testing it.
Drenched in sweat from the night before, my entire body felt sticky and uncomfortable. My eyes were so puffy I could barely open them.
‘Seongyeol….’
Peering out the window, I saw a lush blue forest stretching endlessly. I was in a Mountain Lodge situated halfway up the mountain that rose behind the Villa.
‘That’s strange. I should be able to see the Villa from somewhere around here.’
My mind felt foggy.
“…I need to bathe first.”
There had to be a Bathhouse somewhere. I threw off the blanket and set my feet on the floor.
The moment I stood, my vision multiplied into five. The room spun dizzily around me.
I barely managed to grab the edge of the Table to steady myself.
‘God, I’m going to be sick….’
A basin of water sat on the Table. Without thinking, I plunged my face into it. The cold water cooled my feverish skin.
“Rosy?”
It was then that a startled voice came from the doorway.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————