The way to Protect the Female Lead’s Older Brother - Chapter 37

“Sana noona!”

My grip on the door handle tightened before I looked away from Cassis’s door. I relaxed.

It was Jeremy this time. My little brother was practically skipping towards me with a look of adoration in his eyes.

This wasn’t the best place to meet him. I wanted all of my siblings to stay away from Cassis. At least Jeremy was the easiest Agriche to control.

Jeremy froze several steps before me. I raised my head a little higher, curious at his shocked expression now.

It took a moment before Jeremy could curl his lips into a faint smile again, but his eyes were still fixed on my arm. I would have to teach him how to adopt a better poker face. Honestly, never mind me. Anybody besides Charlotte would be able to trick Jeremy into doing anything.

“Why are you bleeding? Are you hurt, Sana?” his voice quavered.

I wanted to press the tip of my finger to where his nonexistent adam’s apple should be. It was probably twiddling up and down his skinny neck.

“Hardly,” I pressed my arm against my body. There was no other way to hide the stain.

I began to wonder if I should only wear dark colours like the knights. I was getting caught off guard far too often since Cassis Pedelian had arrived.

I covered my mouth and looked away delicately, as if something very troubling had just occurred to my privileged noble lady’s regime.

“The toy was being rude and I disciplined him. Have I dirtied myself, too?” I sighed. I rubbed the edges of my mouth with my fingers to make sure I had wiped off the dried blood on my face.

“Oh, it’s that dog sh*t’s blood,” Jeremy’s shoulders relaxed.

He began to cheer up, now that he knew Cassis was being punished.

It was an automatic, defensive mechanism to lie to Jeremy. While every child born with the Agriche name were required to intake poison at an early age, each child’s prescription was a secret, usually only known to our mentors and Lant Agriche himself. (Our mentors were killed often by Dion or our eldest brother’s hands, which coincidentally helped with maintaining secrets within the household).

In essence, since each child took different poisons as part of our education, we each had different side effects. Obviously, we never divulged our weaknesses to any living soul.

After all, the highlight of our education was having the nerve to kill each other.

I looked at Jeremy’s face. For a second, I saw Asil’s sad blue eyes look back at me.

In addition, all of my siblings and I were competing against each other for the monthly invitation to dine with Lant Agriche. It was where we got his approval and his blessing to receive missions as we got older; to prove that we were useful enough to stay alive and serve him.

“Noona, let me see. Is the stain getting bigger?” Jeremy said, concerned.

“I was afraid you’d be repulsed by my appearance now,” I smiled, and lowered my arm.

There was a dark stain against my bodice. It would be hard to tell if it was mine or someone else’s blood that had ruined my dress.

“I should wash up,” I looked past Jeremy, in the direction of my room.

Jeremy’s smile became genuine. He was a beautiful child, but this time, his heinous smile made him look quite mischievous, like an evil Cheshire cat. He seemed to bask in the thought of Cassis Pedelian being tortured. I wanted to give him a lollipop. It would have been funny to watch him lick it on a large armchair, the stereotypical villain’s son.

“Most of the rooms on this corridor are unoccupied,” I tried to get Cassis off his mind. “Did you come to see me, Jeremy?”

“Yes, I didn’t see you in your room so I thought you might be playing with the toy,” he said.

Astute boy. It was a good I hadn’t dawdled in Cassis Pedelian’s room. I would also have to remember to lock the door behind me whenever I visited Cassis. Jeremy shouldn’t barge in on us later when I started telling Cassis the plan for him to escape.

“Shall we leave then? You can have refreshments in my waiting room while I clean myself up a bit,” I said.

Jeremy leaned closer to take my hand before stopping again. He sniffed.

“Sana noona, did you go to the poison butterfly hatchery again?”

I blinked. Was my brother half-wolf? How could he smell something so subtle?

“It’s hard to tell, but I can smell the poison on you,” Jeremy said.

“Yes, I stopped by a while ago,” I looked up thoughtfully, raising a finger to my cheek. There was no need to keep that part of my day a secret. Jeremy already knew I was trying to hatch a poisonous butterfly.

I hadn’t noticed that I reeked of the greenhouse poisons though. I would have to be more careful. Cassis was still in a delicate state and may not have a natural immunity. From now on, I had better wash and change clothes every time after leaving the greenhouse.

“You have one egg left, don’t you? Do you think this butterfly egg will hatch this time?” Jeremy said. “Can’t we throw it away or give it to someone else?” he burst out.

I narrowed my eyes.

Jeremy never liked the poisonous butterflies from the beginning. Once, while Emily was handing me an egg, Jeremy had swooped in between us and had tried to cause an accident. He had wanted that egg destroyed.

“Jeremy,” I began. I had to make sure he wouldn’t do something rash and stupid again. “If you plan on betraying me, I won’t stand still.”

“No, it’s not that!” He cried out. His bottom lip trembled. He hated my indifference and disapproval more than anything. I had never physically abused him, but the first time I had ignored his presence was when he tried to break my butterfly eggs. He had been completely shocked by my response.

“I hate those parasites,” he muttered. “They have to feed off of Noona’s blood.”

I couldn’t deny this fact. The myth had inspired the white magician and consequently me to pursue the poisonous butterflies.

It had started off as a cautionary tale. A long time ago, a sorcerer appeared. Through trial and error, he made the poisonous butterflies imprint on him and eventually commanded these butterflies to follow his every whim. In return, they would feed on his blood. The sorcerer made his colony grow, until he fell weak one day from blood loss. He had raised a hand, begging the swarm to stay away. Alone, on the forest floor, where he trained them, the hungry swarm continued to swoop.; in on him, cutting flesh, digging into his skin and into his mouth, sucking him dry.

Unbeknownst to anyone besides Emily, I had actually stopped by to see the sorcerer’s skeleton once. There were cracks along his bones, in between the moss and decay that had accumulated. Pinpricks that seemed to match the steel-like suckers of my butterflies now…

I didn’t move, refusing to agree or disagree with Jeremy. It was true that taming monsters was always a risky business, but still a safer option than receiving the heroine’s wrath if one of us killed her brother.

I raised a hand to comfort Jeremy before hesitating. He looked at me with his puppy-dog eyes.

“I want to pet you, but there’s blood on my hands,” I said.

“I don’t mind,” he said quickly. I was the only person he knew that didn’t cringe at the sight of him or ignore him.

I stroked his hair and he gave me a winning, innocent smile.

“I’m glad this is the last egg, though. I hope it’s a dud,” Jeremy said carelessly.

As if a boomerang had hit him, he looked at me with a guilty expression. “I mean, I want whatever Sana noona wants,” he said.

I gave a tinkling laugh, trying to placate Jeremy. I had played with his feelings enough for today.

Jeremy looked relieved that I was in a good mood. How could I not be? I had mussed his cowlick until he now looked like a boy with a crow’s nest on his head.

We walked away together with my hand resting lightly on the crook of his elbow. I didn’t bother to update Jeremy.

Today, just as I was leaving the hatchery, I had seen the butterfly egg crack open.

Translator’s Note:  Now I’m going to have nightmares about being eaten by butterflies.