The way to Protect the Female Lead’s Older Brother - Chapter 4

2.4: I Hate My Second Life

The next day, I returned to the dungeons.

My second visit started off more smoothly than yesterday. The guardsman had not changed. He opened the door for me as soon as he saw my face.

Before I entered the corridor, I gazed at the guardsman curiously. “Since I came, has anyone else visited the prisoner besides me? Jeremy, Charlotte, or someone else…?”

“No, Lord Agriche told me that none shall pass,” he said.

“I did,” I smiled.

The guardsman paused at my words before crinkling his eyes and laughed.

“You are the only one I gave permission to enter,” he said. He seemed to be speaking truthfully.

“What is your name?” I said.

“Yes, Miss?”

“What is your name?” I repeated.

Although I was younger and spoke offhandedly, the guardsman blushed as if I had spoken kindly instead. He seemed to be the sort of man who wasn’t used to being treated well and thought I favoured him.

“My name is Yo-an, Miss.”

“Thank you, Yo-an. I hope my visits won’t inconvenience you,” I said.

“Yes, Miss!” His face had coloured a deep red when I had called his name. He began to laugh again. Red spots continued to blossom along his neck as if he were getting drunk. He shivered in excitement.

“It’s an honour to see you, Miss Roxana, whom I have only heard about through rumours. I am glad to assist you…”

I smiled at him. The guardsman stopped speaking and I took the chance to enter the prison.

I disliked the dungeons. The air was putrid and I often excused myself from visiting. It couldn’t be helped this time since Cassis Pedelian was locked in here.

Creeeaaak.

The prison door screeched as if it hadn’t been oiled for a hundred years. Were all prisons like this? In novels, films, and dramas, most prison doors were depicted as moldy wooden doors with rusty iron bar windows. The prison here was no different. The poor maintenance was obvious, or maybe it couldn’t be helped because of the humidity.

When I entered the prisoner’s space, strong golden eyes, the colour of a blazing sun, stared back at me. His gaze was almost blinding as if he weren’t holding back his hostility towards me by a single inch.

“Oh, you’re awake today,” I said.

For some reason, I had expected him to be unconscious again. I paused.

Just as I had hesitated, it seemed he had been holding his breath when he had heard me approach. Finally, he broke the silence.

“You,” he frowned.

Did he recognize me? He seemed uncertain, as if I were a person he had dreamed of.

He stiffened when I stepped into his prison cell completely.

“What did you feed me yesterday?” His voice cracked, but his gaze was still steady. Should I say he was brave or stupid to maintain his pride while his limbs were still tied up? I was curious. I had a question I had wanted to ask him since yesterday. Would he answer me?

“I detoxified you with a chemical reagent for your liver to negate any poisons,” I said coolly. “You may have been fed a paralyzing drug. If I hadn’t intervened, you wouldn’t be able to think straight for the next five days. The drug addles the mind.”

I noticed that he had procured more wounds since yesterday. Usually, prisoners who were whipped had teeth marks over their lips; souvenirs from when they tried to endure the lashes. I had no intention of healing him if he had been whipped. Whiplash wounds were too prominent. Someone would notice if I tried to heal the gaping flesh on his back.

“Do you really think I ought to believe you?” Cassis said.

“You seem more lucid than yesterday,” I said. “Now, we can finally hold a conversation.”

His lips tightened as he took in my words, his mind still on the verge of believing me or not. His eyes brimmed with anticipation as if he wanted to ask more questions, but he seemed to have a cautious personality.

He chose his words carefully. “The antidote you gave me, is it supposed to heal me completely? What sort of medicine did you give me?”

“Not completely…” I said.

I could see his tormented feelings flash briefly behind his eyes. Just as quickly, his face hardened again. He licked his lips.

“Who the hell are you?” His cracked voice trailed and reverberated against the ground. Although his tone was impressive, his face was still closer to the floor than anywhere else. I wanted to tease him a little. If you wanted to know someone’s identity, shouldn’t you introduce yourself first?

“Cassis Pedelian,” I said.

He flinched as I uttered his name.

“Am I correct?” I said softly. “It’s nice to meet you. Hmmm, and what could my name be?”

Up until now, I still had some hope that perhaps this man was not Cassis Pedelian and I had not been reincarnated into a novel at all. The prisoner might have been different from who I had expected or the storyline may have changed upon my birth. His harsh tone shattered my train of thought.

“Yes, that is my name” Cassis said. “So you know who I am and ambushed me with your underhanded numbers. You captured me on purpose to bring me here.”

D*mn it, I was right. I had been transported to an R-19 novel.

“You’re quite hesitant about revealing your identity. Are you a filthy Agriche henchman?” he said.

This pitiful bastard. He somehow seemed to know that he had been abducted by an Agriche.

Then again, my father didn’t have the personality to conceal his identity or his involvement in a crime. He did whatever he desired regardless of public opinion and only laughed at any scornful or disapproving remark.

I stood in place and gave a low sigh. “I’ve been curious for a while,” I said.

“I asked who you were. Answer me first,” he said.

I ignored Cassis Pedelian’s outburst and asked what I had been wondering about since yesterday.

“You can’t see anything with your eyes, can you?” I said softly.

Silence hovered between us in the dungeon. Cassis did not lose an ounce of his pride when he responded to me. “That’s right. I’m blind.”

I stepped closer to him. His eyes followed the sounds of my steps exactly. When I had opened the prison door, Cassis had seemed to follow my movements naturally and made eye contact with me. It wasn’t surprising why I hadn’t been sure if he was disabled or not.

“How many fingers do you see?” I checked. I raised my hand and waved at him.

“Stop it,” he said. Of course, he didn’t give me a direct answer because he did not know. I was starting to understand his personality. He was too righteous to lie outright.

“It makes sense,” I said. “You were a bit unresponsive when we met yesterday.”

If his eyes could have seen me properly, he would have shown the slightest hesitation when he first laid eyes on me. His eyes wouldn’t shift back and forth as they were now, even though our noses were almost touching. I knew more than anyone that my beauty was a weapon and besides….

Cassis hadn’t recognized me. Once he suspected me of being a henchman, I knew almost for certain that he was blind.

When he had first entered the castle, his eyesight was fine. He had glared at my father, my siblings, and I before he had been dragged to the dungeons.

One of the guards must have struck him with a club since then, thereby impairing his sight. I suppose he hadn’t been fed a paralyzing drug after all. I looked closely at his restraints. His hands and feet were still tied by thick rope. The rope included strips of demon leather; almost unbreakable. It must have been tricky to detain Cassis if the guards had to resort to high quality restraints to subdue him.

I had been impressed by the glare he had given me yesterday in this cell. Since he was blind, had it only been a coincidence that we had made eye contact before?

My gaze lowered towards his body, looking for other signs of major injuries or handicaps.

I spotted something. Without hesitation, I bent down and tore his shirt, revealing his whole chest. His eyebrows rose in shock at my touch.

A small swirling tattoo had been etched over his stomach. The black lines dipped up and down, following the ridges of his abs. I was familiar with this magic. The spell brought intense pain to its subject. I was surprised that Cassis could still act rebellious.

“Don’t worry, the spell is only temporary,” I murmured. I narrowed my eyes and looked at his face when I spoke to him. Again, he seemed to make precise eye contact with me.

His oppressive presence was unmistakable. Yesterday, he had left a nice and gentle impression on me when he was unconscious. Today was different. Instead of giving off the aura of a seventeen-year-old boy, his authoritative attitude and golden eyes exerted the presence of a nobleman.

“We’ll leave your eyes alone for a moment,” I said.

He didn’t seem afraid or nervous. His eyes only observed me coolly.

“I recognize this spell,” I said. “Your eyesight should begin to gradually return after two days. It would be unwise to try to heal you earlier. The hex may worsen if I try to interfere.”

Cassis said nothing, as if he were debating whether there was truth in my words.

“You might not believe this, but I don’t want you to die,” I said quietly.

“You—,” he said. His expression changed when he heard the sincerity in my voice.

“Please excuse me,” I said.

“Wait!” Cassis reached out blindly to me, but I avoided him easily and left the dungeons.

To Katty: I am not in love with Cassis, but I do have a soft spot for him. Things are about to get more interesting now.

Proofread by InquisitiveKat