The way to Protect the Female Lead’s Older Brother - Chapter 33

Novel Chapter 20.1

While Cassis bathed, I pinched the edge of his torn, bloody shirt on the bed between my thumb and forefinger before setting it on his dinner tray.

He had finished his food today, even the supplements that had been set on top of a white doily. The hard, capsule pills had concealed a multivitamin powder laced with opiates. If Cassis had asked me plainly, I had to admit that I was drugging him with limited resources. I did not have access to a hospital. Sick commoners and nobles were treated outside of Lant Agriche’s purview. Instead, I was a frequent visitor of our apothecary near the greenhouses.

I frowned as I reviewed the prescription I gave him. The drugs were not affecting him as much as I would have liked.

Cassis needed complete control of his faculties to survive in this place, but doping him and lightening his mood hadn’t seemed too off-putting before. I would never tell him it was a bit fun heating viscous substances, cutting roots, and crushing peppercorns with a pestle and mortar (pepper and mustard seed were two of my favourite flavorings). Chemistry in this era was a much more rudimentary science and half-filled with guesswork than analyzing molecular structures in a lab.

If a twig started sprouting from his nose tomorrow, it would only be bonus entertainment, I chuckled.

Jokes aside, I did not know why the prescriptions I gave him were never as potent as I anticipated. Had I guessed his weight incorrectly? Were his healing skills battling the drug’s effects, even if the drugs were meant to stabilize his body functions? I had given him melatonin a few times in the dungeons, but he always sprang awake within the hour when he heard someone approaching.

There are too many variables, I pursed my lips. Perhaps the Pedelians have alien bodies, or the laws of nature are different in this world. I had to admit, even in modern Korea, I was never the best student in science…

At any rate, Cassis Pedelian was trusting me at an unknown length. I had to know more about him; how to manipulate him. Only an Agriche could survive in this household, and even then, the attrition rate among my siblings was appalling. There had been almost no mention of Cassis in the novel after the first few chapters. He was only a catalyst for the heroine to start her journey. Yes, he was smarter and more resilient than I had anticipated, but from the time we had met, I had noticed: he was too kind and righteous to escape this prison. I remembered his bloodlust to slaughter Lant Agriche in the dungeons; self-preservation was second to his ambitions.

It was the wrong mentality. Lant Agriche never cared about fighting fair or honourably. Stabbing a weaponless adversary or sicking five men on a child was not beneath him. Lant Agriche only cared only for results and his acrid-smelling cigars.

An eye for an eye. A tooth for a tooth. If Cassis was too pure to overtake his adversary, I would fight for him, no matter how low I had to stoop.

My beauty was my most powerful weapon. I viewed my hands closely.

My soft, alabaster skin was a façade to how I really felt inside. In my past life, my old body bruised easily. Sleeping seven hours instead of eight used to give me raccoon-looking eye bags during my college days. This body. Roxana’s body. I hardly had to put any make-up on. I seemed to be genetically engineered to be a seductress.

I bit my lip as I viewed my reflection on the silver tray in my hands.

These red eyes. Unmistakably, I looked like Lant Agriche’s daughter.

I cracked the door open slightly and handed the tray to the maid standing nearby. Her mouth gaped when she heard splashing water behind my back. Obviously, Cassis was bathing in my presence. I gave her a distracted smile and told her she was excused before quickly shutting the door again. I was having fun with my toy. Perhaps the kind of fun that mustn’t be gossiped to other ladies, my body language told her. Please Emily, let’s not be a nuisance.

Contrary to how I acted, I tried not to think about Cassis Pedelian’s actions behind the privacy screen. I went over the list of obstacles to his escape in my head: the guards, my family, the monsters that littered every space outside of the towns that were protected by fortified walls until you reached the E—desert border. Every now and then, the sound of a wet, soapy towel being scrubbed his skin made me lose my train of thought. The dog tag attached to his collar once made a clinking sound when Cassis must have leaned over next to the pitcher.

I closed my eyes and listened for another sound. The faintest whisper from a voice that did not speak human language repeated its command over and over.

ㅁㅇㅁㅁㅇㅁㅁ  (Watch him. Watch him).

The dark red butterfly left her perch, spiraling in the air, before hiding itself within the wall’s shadow. It had been immobilized on my hair clip, pretending to be a fake accessory, until now. It was one of my dumber beauties and only understood simple commands. I would keep it in Cassis’s room to alert me if he escaped or received an unwanted guest. I would have preferred a guard inside the room—this butterfly could not provide descriptions in full sentences or use adjectives—but had an idea that Cassis would despise that sort of company. Besides, the guards could always be dismissed by my family members.

My thoughts trailed to the other butterflies at my disposal. I bit my lip again, my front teeth holding the fleshy inside of my bottom lip.

The butterfly in the western border was late. He was supposed to return as soon as he heard of the Pedelian’s search party. I remembered the description in the original novel: a dark, leafy forest that bordered the land of monsters. It described the western border perfectly. Had I recollected the information incorrectly, or had I changed some events in the timeline?

It was a pity the original novel wasn’t an epistolary. Exact dates of when events occurred would have been convenient in this situation.

Should I send another? I thought.