The way to Protect the Female Lead’s Older Brother - Chapter 1

Chapter 2.1: I Hate My Second Life

Roxana’s Past – The Beginning 

In the beginning, I didn’t know that I had been reincarnated as a character in a novel.

I remembered my past life. I had been a senior college student walking home after another long night at the library. My mind was still half-absorbed on my thesis as I had walked one step at a time during a blizzard. It was just my luck then to have a car skid off the road and hit me.

When I woke up, I was someone else.

It wasn’t bad at first.

“It’s a girl this time. What a nice surprise.” My mother’s voice was warm and tender. As her new baby, I already felt loved in her arms. Her comment also made me think; in my new family, it seemed I also had at least one older brother.

Of course, it was a blow to realize that I had died and had to relive another life again but I quickly accepted my fate.

What else could I do? My past life was already over and no matter how much I missed my old life there was no going back. In Korea, I had been raised as a pragmatic child, not a sap.

My new mother was a beautiful lady with Eurasian features. Her rich, blond hair fell softly over her shoulders like shimmering gold and her blue eyes reminded me of a deep lake. Her beauty was akin to a princess in a fairy tale.

Wow, I thought. My father must be happy to have such a stunning wife. I could see myself admiring her face every day of  my childhood.

Was the rest of my family just as lovely? I grew even more excited to see my potential older brothers and sisters.

“So this is the child,” a man told my mother. “She resembles you.”

It turned out that my father was even more handsome than my mother although in an unusual way. For some reason, his handsome features hadn’t caught my eye at first. I gazed somberly at the face underneath the black hair. Somehow, he seemed to exude a dangerous aura while standing at ease in this dark room.

“Her eyes remind me of you,” my mother said kindly.

At this point, I was looking forward to seeing my reflection. My parents were both beautiful. Since they had been generous enough to have me, wouldn’t it be natural for me to be beautiful too?

“Roxana.” My father’s voice was deep and strong. “Her name will be Roxana.” After providing my birth name, he left the room.

I understood his personality quickly. He was used to being obeyed. When my father had looked down at me in my mother’s arms, he had seen me as an insignificant being. I was barely acknowledged as his daughter.

“Roxana. My pretty baby,” my mother gave me a sad smile. She did not seem surprised by my father’s behaviour. “Please grow up to be a strong and wonderful Agriche.”

I had a foreboding when I found out my surname was Agriche.

Agriche…the name seemed familiar.

It was obviously a foreign name. Where was I now? My parents hadn’t been speaking Korean or English, but I seemed to have understood them naturally. That was one good grace I had received after being reincarnated.

Soon I couldn’t resist falling asleep. Babies sleep a lot, and the tired sensation I felt was too real to be a dream. My arms curled against my mother’s neckline while her hand gently patted my back.

Agriche. I remembered that name.

If this was related to the same Agriche family I had read about, I was in a horrible situation. It was madness to reincarnate into a fantasy world, but if I had, there was nothing I could do about it now.

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I didn’t have just one brother.

In this world, polygamy was allowed. When I was born, my father had five children total, including me. His first wife, the senior wife, had one son. My mother was his fourth wife and had given birth to me and my older brother, Asil.

“Sana, my cute little sister. I’ll protect you,” Asil had whispered to me.

Asil was a perfect replica of my mother in male form, unlike me who had inherited a mix of my mother’s blond hair and my father’s red eyes.

He was a timid beauty, too innocent to belong to such a wicked family, and had a soft laugh that tinkled like a bell when he was excited. When I was still young enough to rest in a cradle, he would enjoy spending time with me even if all I did was breathe. Looking back, it still seems absurd to me to think that a four-year-old boy would want to be responsible. Asil’s character had always been generous, and he took the role of my protective older brother seriously.

With Asil’s support, I began to adapt to my new, terrible life.

The Agriche family was unique. We were the mafia of this world: criminals that stole, scammed, threatened, and organized mercenaries for hire. We traded drugs and poisons in the black market. Killing was not beneath them.

Of course, the scale of our operations did not go unnoticed by the rest of the kingdom, yet we met minimal opposition. I was amazed that we were still a legitimate noble family that appeared in public. All children born with the Agriche name had to follow this immoral lifestyle and were educated accordingly from an early age.

As a modern Korean, I struggled to accept my new family’s values. Rote memorization came to me easily, but laying my hands on weapons, consuming drugs and poisons to understand their effects or build my immunity, knowing how to approach people confidently or by stealth…I often struggled when I practiced these skills and did not love any of the subjects.

You don’t succeed in life without effort, I would tell myself.

On my eighth birthday, my father appeared before me again.

My father, Lant Agriche.

Would Darwinism best describe him? Our family had grown under him until I now had seven mothers and ten other siblings. Even if he had been a responsible parent, he would not have had the time to cater to us all. His view was that only useful children deserved his attention; all other members of the family were neglected. Thus far, I had only seen him eight times over the entire course of my life.

“From the start, I did not think you were a capable child,” he had told me.

Hah, had I really once believed that I was lucky to join this family?

I wanted to retort, but held back for my mother and Asil’s sake. The two of them were standing beside me. My mother was especially nervous.

My father observed my face calmly for another moment before continuing. “However, I’ve changed my mind. It is time I specialize your education.” He began to speak more about his expectations in detail.

The Art of Seduction.

This crazy bastard. I could see how he had gotten the idea. I was beautiful from inheriting my mother’s looks. I was freaking gorgeous. Did that still mean he should discuss sex and seduction tactics with me while I was still an eight-year-old child? F*&[email protected]

This was a disgusting family. Ultimately, I had to know how to seduce a man to assassinate him or learn his secrets. As a child, I had to learn the importance of ambience and conversation for foreplay, practice beautifying myself for a man’s affection, and know how to pleasure a man at night.

“Mother, I don’t want to learn any of this. Why do I have to study these subjects?” I said.

“Sana, you mustn’t say that,” she told me. “Be blessed that you are a beautiful Agriche. You must learn well to live up to your name.”

At that time, there had been a hint of desperation in my mother’s voice. She had held my shoulders tightly. I couldn’t bear to argue against her sad and pathetic eyes.

In this feudal era, it was impossible to go against the wishes of my father, who was the patriarch. It was sick and wrong, but in the end, I accepted that I couldn’t go against his wishes. However, my heart continued to disagree with the fundamentals taught to me by my instructors. The progress in my education was appalling compared to my siblings. I learned slowly and with effort.

Meanwhile, my darling brother Asil became known as ‘trash.’

It happened when I was eleven years old…..

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Translator’s Note: Lol I just realized that there’s a censored and uncensored version of this novel. In the uncensored version, the author says “방중술” which means courtesan training / sex training / the Art of Seduction. In the censored version, it says “바로 미흑술이었다” which means” the
wine has just soured” or “OMG, I can’t believe he just said that.” – LN

Beta Note: Thank you all for reading! I hope that you can stick with us as we try to bring you this story! Poor Roxana! – InquisitiveKat