CH 27

“Do you need something from me?”

Cassadin must not have slept well, since there was a distinct fatigue in his voice. Facing away from the sun, Cassadin’s shadowed face felt not just indifferent, but even distant.

“Do I need to want something to meet you?”

Cassadin’s eyes closed about halfway, then he laughed softly.

“Of course not.”

He slowly reached over my shoulder and opened the door to his room.

“Let us go in first. It feels too impersonal for us to talk out here, isn’t it?”

A gentle voice rang through the hallway.

“Sister.”

Cassadin added, his eyes curled. After staring at his face for a moment, I walked into his room.

As soon as I entered Cassadin’s room, I heard him follow behind. But then,

Click.

‘Click?’

That’s strange. That didn’t sound like just the door closing.

Only after turning around did I see that the sound was from Cassadin locking the door.

Cassadin’s face glowed in the light of the setting sun. The smile that had been on his face was gone, with only cold eyes staring back at me.

His purple eyes were especially luminous when facing the sunset. The closer he came to me, the more silver his locks of hair looked.

Now at arm’s reach, Cassadin’s slender fingers started to move. From his expression, it looked as if he wanted to strangle my neck right this moment.

“Sister.”

But the hand that I expected to strangle me carefully caressed my cheek instead. And what came out of Cassadin’s mouth was a highly affectionate voice that was unlike the one he used outside the room.

“Where have you gone today?”

His voice sounded as if he were surpassing something, barely managing to squeeze it out so that it left no room for liveliness or vitality, almost to the point where he sounded desperate. The hand caressing my cheek felt warm.

But I wasn’t tricked.

The reason why the man who claimed he hated me last night suddenly flipped his attitude was because he saw with his own two eyes that his raw form was not working.

This once again proved Cassadin was smart. He was incredibly adept at handling people. There would have been close to nobody who would have realized this until now.

Which is likely the reason why Cassadin is confused at the moment. Placing my hand over Cassadin’s, I smiled bitterly.

“Cassadin, if you are that curious about where I went.”

“…”

“You should have followed.”

Cassadin’s caressing hand completely stopped. A small sigh left his slightly parted lips.

“Sister.”

“You never let me know your true feelings.”

“…”

“What are you so scared of? That I will expose your identity to everyone? Or that I’ll send you back to that damned arena? If not that, then…”

I stared straight back into the eyes of the man looking at me, who seemed to have stopped breathing.

“Are you afraid of me?”

Cassadin’s eyes quaked at my question. His straight eyebrows were frowning, and the eyes under them were aghast.

Whether it was from fear or resentment, Cassadin’s body was trembling. Taking the whole state of my brother into my eyes, I took his hand that was on my cheek and brought it down to my throat.

“What are you doing right now?”

“How nice it would be if this made you feel better.”

I pushed all the strength in my arms against Cassadin’s wrist. Contrary to my frail neck, Cassadin’s large hands looked as if they could suffocate me effortlessly.

“Feel free to squeeze harder. As much as you want to.”

“…!”

“And as much as you don’t trust me.”

Cassadin jumped back in surprise and withdrew his hand. He stared at me in disbelief.

“Don’t you fear death? Or are you just insane?”

“…..”

“How can’t you hesistate to…”

Cassadin must have feared I would hurt myself, as he hugged me tightly. His body was still trembling as he wrapped his arms around me.

Ah, my kind younger brother.

I slowly closed my eyes in Cassadin’s comforting embrace.

When I heard Cassadin’s voice once more, it was drowned in deep sorrow. But what he said were the words that I had been truly waiting for.

“I’m sorry. Sister. It’s… It’s all my fault.”

“…”

“So don’t do anything like this ever again.”

Cassadin was truly talking to me now. His quivering shoulders were wide enough to entrap me, but they felt so small.

“Please.”

Has Cassadin ever pleaded with me before? I was so touched by his attitude that I almost cried. And I thought I used up all of my tears in my past life.

“I love you, Cassadin.”

When I whispered those words in a watery voice, Cassadin hugged me even tighter, to the point it felt like my bones were about to crumble.

And Cassadin kept me in his embrace for a long time before letting me go.

Alone in his room, Cassadin sat on the edge of his bed and looked down at the hands that had just been embracing his sister.

Aren acted as if she had several lives. When he was reminded of the woman who brought his hand to her neck without any hesitation, Cassadin clenched his jaw.

If he hadn’t stopped her, Aren would have probably strangled her own neck.

The woman’s blue eyes did not waver once as they looked at him. Those eyes held a look that showed she truly did not care if something happened to her. Aren was not sane.

But the one who was even more insane than that woman was himself. Cassadin hadn’t been able to sleep a single second last night because of Aren.

Why?

He wanted to ask himself. Why he went to that damned palace, and why he felt as if his heart was plummeting into the abyss when he heard Aren say to the green-eyed bastard that she fell in love at first sight.

This uncontainable anger was directed all toward Aren. It would have been understandable for her to become angry at his aggressive behavior, but Aren only said,

‘…If it makes you feel better, you’re free to do so any time.’

Aren accepted whatever he did and said. It was through those words that Cassadin once again felt his heart plummet to the ground.

Didn’t she tell him to use her for his needs? But these days, it felt as though it wasn’t him who was using her, but his sister was controlling this entire situation.

For some odd reason, his inner self always seemed to be exposed in front of Aren. What word could be used to describe this feeling of vulnerability?

Why was it that the more he tried to lure Aren, his emotions felt entangled?

It was for this reason that Cassadin did not follow Aren out, even though he knew she was going out. He judged that it would be better for her to be out of sight if she was bothering him so much. But that wasn’t the case.

The moment Aren was out of sight, she consumed even more of his attention. He was no different from a dog waiting for its owner.

Pushing away these feelings to the maximum, he treated Aren tenderly when she returned to the mansion. But Aren knew that he was lying.

‘Are you afraid of me?’

Seeing her say those words as she brought his hand to her throat, how did he feel?

Was the emotion simmering inside of him fear or deep anguish?

Hearing Aren’s watery voice whisper her love to him, her voice felt like a swamp one could not see the bottom of.

Foolishly step into the swamp, and one could drown in an instant. Despite knowing that, Cassadin tightened the hold that he had around Aren’s body.

Because he felt that if he didn’t do so, then Aren was going to vanish from his sight like the stars in a cloudy sky.

After that day, Cassadin started to treat me much nicer. His routine of visiting my room every night never happened again.

‘Did I go too far?’

But I did not regret my choice. Since I didn’t really plan to die after all.

What I did was a sort of ill-intended gamble that I initiated because I was frustrated by the fact that Cassadin still didn’t trust me.

Cassadin’s habit of lying to me had also disappeared. Instead, the occasions where Cassadin quietly stared at me increased. When I asked him why he was staring at me, he just smiled.

The past week has been peaceful.

That is, until I heard the news that Damian had been released from prison.

“They said he was completely released due to a lack of concrete evidence.”

“…”

“I’ve also heard that the Grand Duke filed a lawsuit against the imperial family for defaming him without the presence of proper evidence.”

I clicked my tongue at the information Sasha told me. Not only was he released from prison, but he even filed a lawsuit against the ruler of the kingdom.

It was in his nature to turn a crisis into an opportunity. Then or now, Damian was clever.

This was better for me as well. Since my goal was to drag Damian down from his peak, it would be much more despairing for him to meet his downfall with everything he wants in his grasp than when he has nothing to lose.

The one who approached Damian was none other than myself. The day that he obtains everything he wants will be the day he loses it all.

‘Then I will need to properly plant trust into him that I’m on his side.’

Now that Damian was out of prison, he was going to suggest a meeting very soon. When we meet next time, it would be best to act like a foolish girl who was easy to control.

Done planning, I nodded my head.

Exactly a day after hearing that news, Sasha hurriedly scurried up to me in the morning and said to me.

“Someone sent Miss a gift.”

“What’s the gift?”

“I don’t know who the sender is, but they said Miss will know if you were told it’s a powerful slave.”

…Damian’s gift had arrived.