CH 43

Time continued to pass almost too quickly. Several days passed, but Cassadin continued to treat me like normal. It was quite a calm attitude for someone who confessed his past to me.

He never mentioned the happenings of that day. It might have been his way of showing his consideration after I had cried in front of him.

“Sister, what are you thinking about?”

If there was just one thing that had changed since then, it was that if I took my eyes off of him for even a moment, Cassadin would ask that question.

“I was thinking about you for a moment.”

Cassadin smiled brightly, seeming to be satisfied with that answer. His pretty eyes folded into beautiful crescents, and his light pink lips curled up gently.

The moment he smiled, it felt like not just the flowers in the garden, but even the sun lost their luster, almost making it meaningless for us to have come out to the garden.

It’s already been months since I brought Cassadin, but I still couldn’t get used to that smile. Did he show others this smile as well?

“It was a hot summer day that I brought you in.”

Taking my gaze off Cassadin, I turned to the blooming flowers scattered across the garden. Out of the variety of flowers, the blue rose immediately caught my attention.

Reaching out to touch the blue rose that Cassadin had once said looked like me, I continued.

“But it’s already autumn.”

There had once been a time when I did not trust Cassadin, only tried to tame him. Unable to trust each other, we lied to one another, hurt each other, and fought.

I could feel that Cassadin now partially opened up to me after a series of events. Of course, that was likewise true for me.

Cassadin, who had once put on a fake mask and constantly lied to me, was now my most dependable aid. Thinking back on those times, I couldn’t help but laugh a little.

“Do you remember this blue rose, Cassadin? It’s the one that you said looked like me.”

“Of course, I remember.”

I was playing with the blue rose when I felt something warm press against my neck.

When I flinched and looked back in surprise at the sudden temperature change, I found Cassadin burying his face in my neck with his eyes closed.

“How could I forget anything related to you, Sister?”

The calm nature of Cassadin’s voice reminded me of the serene afternoon sunlight.

“Sister.”

Calling out to me, Cassadin wrapped his arms around my waist. He still had his face buried in my shoulder. Thanks to that, I was trapped in his arms without any way to escape.

“Sister.”

Was it because his hot breath blew against my neck, or because his large hands wrapped around my waist? I felt like a deer that had been captured by a ferocious beast.

“You’ve said to me in the past that you love me.”

“…”

“Why don’t you say that to me these days?”

Love.

How naive I was to say such a heavy word. I now knew what results the words I said could bring.

Eyes crazed with a longing for affection. The one who made Cassadin like that was none other than me.

How foolish I was to use the word love to Cassadin, who did not see me, his sister, as a sister.

It was because I realized the weight of that word later on that I did not hastily use it.

“What are you going to do if someone sees us like this?”

I changed the subject and tried to push away Cassadin’s muscular arms with my hands. But the rock-hard arms didn’t even budge.

“Is it not right… for others to see?”

“…”

“Why is that so?”

Normal siblings do not hug each other like this, not even the closest of siblings. Doing such actions that only lovers would think of doing, Cassadin asked me in such an innocent way,

“Isn’t this something lovers would do, not siblings?”

“…”

Cassadin didn’t answer. Instead of answering my question, he instead asked me in return.

“…Then, do you not like it?”

His voice had sunken into a deep ravine. Hearing him ask in what almost sounded like a desperate voice, I had to contemplate what to say.

Cassadin, who still had his head on my shoulder, slowly opened his eyes.

Thankfully, the emptiness I felt when I first met Cassadin seemed to be completely gone. But instead, what filled that empty space was a burning heat similar to lava.

‘But your eyes, when you look at Aren, do not seem like those of a sibling. Rather, it’s more of a primitive look. Yes, like…’

Why was it that I recalled the Crown Prince’s comment the moment I saw Cassadin’s eyes?

Not even the eyes of a passionate lover would burn this brightly. Unable to build up the courage to meet those burning eyes head-on, I hurriedly turned away.

Maybe he didn’t like that I avoided his eyes. Cassadin spoke again in a depressed voice.

“We are not related anyway, are we not?”

My breath hitched after hearing the depth of the fall in his voice. And I felt as though I was sinking into the abyss just listening to him speak.

I had been so flustered that I didn’t notice I had pricked my finger on the rose thorn.

“…You’re bleeding, Sister.”

Like Cassadin pointed out, there was blood pooling out of my left index finger.

It was almost simultaneously that I realized I was bleeding when a dark shadow fell over me.

I didn’t spend too much time realizing that the dark shadow was made by Cassadin straightening his crouching body.

The force Cassadin had been using to clasp his arms around my waist loosened. Using that moment, I slipped out of Cassadin’s embrace.

But Cassadin then wordlessly pulled my left wrist towards him, making my efforts to escape pointless.

“What are you…”

I was unable to finish my sentence because what Cassadin had done next froze all of my brain’s functions.

Pulling my left hand straight towards him, Cassadin brought my hand to his lips and started to lick my wounded finger.

I was unable to do anything, like a person who had forgotten how to speak. That was because Cassadin looked incredibly happy licking my finger.

When our eyes met, his eyes curled into a beautiful crescent. The feeling of his tongue sucking up the blood from my wound felt incredibly strange.

Like a predator who finally caught their prey after a grueling chase, Cassadin smiled contently as he licked my finger. I couldn’t find the words to say to the man who looked genuinely happy.

With the purest, most innocent face, Cassadin was doing something completely opposite.

After quietly licking at my finger for a while, Cassadin stopped for a moment and looked up at me.

“I will stop if you tell me to.”

Like he said, I just had to tell him to stop. Then he was going to end this strange behavior right away.

But I was unable to do so.

Why hadn’t I stopped Cassadin? Was it because I remembered Cassadin telling me his past without hesitation? Or because his expression as he licked my finger was genuinely happy?

Maybe it was both. Like he had become assimilated to me, I had become assimilated to him.

Nothing was going to change, no matter how much I tried to deny it now.

That night.

Planning to sort through my thoughts, I dipped my body into the warm bathwater without the assistance of the servants.

An hour later, I opened my wardrobe and changed into a comfortable set of clothes.

I changed my clothes alone.

It was something that a normal noblewoman would be horrified of doing, but because I was always alone in Damian’s duchy, not having a single maid I could trust completely, I had done everything that was possible to do alone.

Whether that was reading, changing my clothes, or reviving withering plants.

Just as I was staring out of the window at the twilight skies, reflecting on my foolish past, someone knocked on my bedroom door.

Knock knock.

“Miss!”

Recognizing the familiar maid’s voice, I immediately opened the door. There were beads of sweat on Sasha’s forehead, and something resembling a newspaper was in her hand. She must have run all the way here, as her brown hair was a mess.

“What is it, Sasha?”

To my question, Sasha panted heavily and handed the newspaper in her hand.

“Look, look at what’s in the newspaper, Miss.”

I scanned over the contents of the newspaper Sasha gave me. The newspaper she had handed me was from a large news company that had a high influence over their market.

Matching the interests of both the commoners and nobles, this newspaper was the most popular in the empire, as well as the most sold.

And they were also famous for only treating the biggest issues.

Seeing how pale Sasha looked as she ran here, the news wasn’t going to be good. I carefully read through the newspaper.

The moment I spread out the very first page of the newspaper, there was one large sentence that caught my eye.

[One of the Most Popular Nobles in the Empire! Son of an Earl Praised to have Beauty of Gods Revealed as a Gladiator Slave.]

It seemed like the newspaper company hadn’t written Cassadin’s name out of concern for their wellbeing, but the article was clearly talking about Cassadin. And I knew immediately who it was that caused this to happen.

‘Damian.’

Because he couldn’t put his hands on me because of the Crown Prince’s promise to protect me, he changed his target to Cassadin.

In order to defame our family, which was already struggling with our reputation, and to completely isolate Cassadin.

As I’ve already known, Damian was a dirty rat. His reaction to what I had announced as the truth only proved even further that I was right.

I felt like slapping myself in the face for the fact that I had once loved that man.

Since I’ve seen how Damian reacted, what I need to do next is clear. I called out the name of my kind and faithful maid,

“Sasha.”

“Yes, Miss.”

“Spread this rumor far and wide. Bribe people to do so if you must. I will provide whatever expenses you make.”

Hoping that the rumor I was spreading would reach Damian’s duchy in the northern region, I then added on.

“Tell them that there is a person in this empire that is able to heal any disease and even restore a severed tongue.”