CH 9

He must have just bathed, as his silvery hair was still glistening with moisture, and water droplets were falling down from the strands of his hair to the floor.

Wearing a silk bathrobe, Cassadin tilted his head and looked at me.

“I was worried when no one answered my knock, so I let myself in.”

“I’m sorry, Sister. I couldn’t hear from inside the bathroom.”

“Well, there’s no need to apologize.”

I smiled at him and held out the box I had in my hand.

“What’s this?”

Cassadin took the gift I handed to him as he dried his hair with a towel.

“Open it if you’re curious.”

Hearing that, Cassadin carefully opened up the box decorated with a ribbon. Inside was the small dagger that had a golden bell attached at the end of its black grip.

Cassadin’s pupils widened when he saw the item.

“It’s… a sword?”

“You said you needed a sword last night. This is a gift for you as a commemoration of becoming my brother.”

“…”

Cassadin continued to stare at the sword as he asked me,

“Where did you buy this?”

“?”

“I mean the sword. Where did you get it?”

Cassadin’s eyes seemed incredibly calm as he asked the question. But as someone who lost her life to her fiancé in her past life, I could read a couple more emotions hidden within that look. They were the emotions called sentiment and resentment.

“I was passing by a stall when it reminded me of you, so I bought it.”

“…”

“Why? Do you perhaps not like it?”

Cassadin shook his head sideways and smiled brightly.

“Of course not. I like it very much. Thank you, Sister.”

“I’m glad you like it. But that dagger didn’t have a sheath.”

He muttered to himself when he heard that.

“That couldn’t be. It should have the sheath with it.”

“How do you know that?”

It was only for a moment, but in that split second, Cassadin’s neat brows crumpled. However, he instantly recomposed himself and pretended as if nothing had happened, then responded,

“Ah, daggers such as these usually come with a sheath. Especially if it’s such a fine one like this, it’s even more unlikely to be so.”

“…really?”

“Yes, so it’s strange that it doesn’t have a sheath.”

“The store owner said that the sheath disappeared a long time ago.”

Though I’m not sure why such a valuable sword was in such an old stall.

“This sword was said to have been used by the Crown Prince of a fallen kingdom.”

“…is that so?”

“Yeah. I think the name of the kingdom was the Hyran Kingdom.”

Then I took a peek at his face. Cassadin was staring at the dagger in his hand with a strange expression.

“I see, Sister.”

“Do you want me to order a custom sheath if you want one?”

“There’s no need for that.”

His tone sounded very firm.

“Ordinary people might need a sheath, but I have handled all sorts of swords in the arena, so handling a sword without a sheath is not a problem for me. Besides…”

“Besides?”

“Sister selected this gift for me. I like it as it is.”

Lifting his gaze from the dagger, Cassadin looked at me with a beautiful smile. His wide eyes formed a thin arch, and his lips also curled gently.

The smile could have made even the sun jealous, but to me, it felt incredibly forced.

“Cassadin, I sincerely welcome you as a member of our family.”

“The honor is all mine, Sister.”

“Oh, and I’ve prepared a variety of swords for you apart from the dagger, so let me know anytime if you need them. Also, you should find lots of new clothes in the closet. They’re all yours, so feel free to pick and wear whatever you like.”

“Thank you so much. Sister, you are the kindest person I have ever met.”

Yes. Keep treating me as that kind and naive woman. Let your guard down, and let me seep through those guards like water until I fill you up with me.

I’ll do anything you wish for, so please protect me and my father.

“Sister, I don’t deserve you.”

“…”

“Meeting you, Sister, is the biggest fortune in my life. If it were not for you, I would still be in that arena.”

Cassadin placed the towel and dagger in his hands neatly on the desk, then stepped closer to me.

When the distance between us was close enough that we could feel each other’s breaths, he carefully wrapped his arms around my shoulders. Trapping me from escaping with hands several times larger than my own, Cassadin softly spoke into my ear.

“Thank you so much, Sister.”

“…”

“I don’t want to lose this warmth. It still feels like a dream to me. Among the countless people in the arena, only you, Sister, were visible in my eyes. To me, you were like an angel descending from the heavens.”

Despite being embraced by Cassadin, I didn’t try to resist or push him away. I simply stood there, quietly listening to his nonsense.

“It’s all so amazing.”

The words he was spitting out as he embraced me were nothing more than mere schemes for his own benefit. I knew that better than anyone else in the world after being killed by Damian.

“Yeah.”

Even knowing that, I closed my eyes.

I wonder how foolish I must look in your eyes. How I’m ready to do anything you ask for, even though it’s only been days since we met. How I accepted your request to sleep together when you barged in during the middle of the night.

“Cassadin.”

I softly called out his name, who had been holding me all this time.

“I’m thankful, too. That you decided to become my family.”

Since he was supposed to become the closest aid of the Crown Prince but became a part of our family instead. My new younger brother that didn’t have a drop of blood related to me, Cassadin.

“But siblings normally don’t embrace each other like this.”

“…is that so?”

In response, he reluctantly pulled away from my body, then continued speaking,

“It’s been such a long time since I’ve felt warmth like this… I must have made a mistake.”

A mistake? How hilarious. He could read and even knew a noble’s etiquette, yet he was now claiming what he did was a mistake. It was an utterly ridiculous excuse.

But in this current situation, the right answer was to say the complete opposite of what I was actually thinking.

“No, it’s okay, Cassadin. Don’t call anything you do a mistake.”

“…”

“You can always lean on me whenever you’re tired. If you can’t sleep at night, I’ll sing you a lullaby. On sunny days, we can go out to the garden to see pretty flowers. We only have happy days waiting for us now.”

I acted like an innocent child lost in their daydreams. As Cassadin listened to my affirmations, his lips curled up into a smirk as he tested me.

“…so, if I can’t sleep, may I visit your room again?”

“Of course, you can. I will hold your hands until you fall asleep.”

“But isn’t that something normal siblings don’t do?”

“Then let’s not be normal siblings.”

Cassadin chuckled lightly at my answer. I also smiled back at him, thinking about where exactly the end of this strange sibling game was going to be.

Late at night, when everyone was asleep, Cassadin visited my room once again.

“Why did you take me in, even risking being expelled?”

Those were the first words he said as he crawled onto the bed, just like last night. Placing the blanket that I had been using over Cassadin, I answered his question,

“Because I promised.”

“…you promised?”

“Yes, I promised. Remember what you said last night? Even if I abandoned you, you wouldn’t resent me. What came after that?”

I gazed at Cassadin, who was lying next to me.

‘I won’t abandon you.’

‘I promise.’

Then, Cassadin seemed to recall what I had said, as he softly uttered, “Ah.”

“So you’re doing this to keep that promise?”

“Well, I do want to keep the promise, but…”

“?”

“It looked like you were crying out to me not to abandon you. So I wanted to make you happy no matter what.”

“…”

Cassadin just quietly observed me for a while without saying anything. And I could see a clear reflection of myself through his deep purple eyes.

After staring at me like that for some time, Cassadin reached out his hand to touch my platinum hair. With his big hand, he gently tucked back the hair stuck on my forehead behind my ear and said,

“I’m happy. So very happy.”

Cassadin made a faint smile. Whether he was trying to manipulate me or not, I had my eyes and ears closed.

“Sleep well, Cassadin.”

Once again, I was the one to say goodnight first. Then I closed my eyes.

I could feel his persistent gaze above my closed eyes, just like yesterday. Opening them a tiny bit, I saw Cassadin looking down with a cold stare, just like I expected. It felt like a snake was slithering all over my body. Considering it’s Cassadin, he might have realized I was pretending to sleep last night.

‘You continue to be cautious of me. Or else, you wouldn’t look at me with those kinds of eyes.’

I already told Sasha earlier to look into Cassadin’s past. It was a good thing I spoke to her while Cassadin was outside taking the test Father had given him. Otherwise, he would have figured it out immediately.

I decided not to pretend I was asleep today, and chose to actually sleep to loosen Cassadin’s wariness.

That night, Damian appeared in my dreams.

Dressed in black like a grim reaper, he was laughing as he stabbed me in the heart. I could not avoid the feeling of my consciousness slowly fading away as I lay in my own pool of blood.

It was a very stupid dream. To dream of Damian out of all things. It was like the dream was reminding me of my impending death.

“Hahhh…”

When I woke up, I found that I was the only one in the bed. I touched the spot where Cassadin had been lying down yesterday. There wasn’t a single trace of human warmth left. It looked like Cassadin had returned to his room before sunrise.

Rubbing my face with fatigue, I got up from the bed. As I got up, I pulled on the bell rope to call Sasha.

While waiting for Sasha, I stretched and turned my gaze toward the window, where the sun was pouring in. But then I noticed something strange.

Among my books on the bookshelf, there was one missing.

‘Huh? Why is one missing?’

“Miss.”

Just as I cocked my head in confusion, Sasha’s voice echoed through the door.

“Come in.”

Soon after, I heard the sound of the door opening, and Sasha came inside. After confirming that the door was fully closed, I whispered to Sasha,

“What did you find out about the thing I asked you to investigate?”

“…Miss, that’s the thing. I looked into it, but…”

“…?”

“It’s odd. That man, he might not have originally been a slave.”