CH 85

Emily, who went on vacation, was kidnapped.

—By her damn brother. 

When she woke up, she was already tied up.

Emily, realizing her own condition, hurriedly looked around her.

She was trapped in a remote place.

Silver spider webs hung disgustingly from the ceiling, and the musty dust settled.

“Anri! You bastard! What are you doing!”

Emily glared at Anri while trying to break the restraining ball.

Anri clicked his tongue as if he had expected her behavior.

“Calm down, Emily. It will be difficult even for you to break that restraint ball by force. Don’t bruise your pretty hands for nothing, just stay still.”

Emily went on vacation to find a place to leave. It was a so-called preliminary investigation.

She planned to convince Rosie to run away with her—.

“You bastard! What are you doing all of a sudden?!”

“Calm down, Emily.”

“Do I look like I’m going to calm down now?”

“As expected, Emily. Your voice is good, too.”

Emily shouted at Anri, but he smiled and treated her.

To the point where people might think he’s a kind younger brother.

“Remove this right now. What are you doing now? Aren’t you going to release it?!”

“Ugh. I want to release you too, but then you will hit me.”

“Of course!”

“Then I will get hurt. Does Emily like me when I’m sick?”

“Get out of here, you bastard.”

Anri let out a sigh at Emily’s unstoppable swear words.

He hadn’t seen his older sister in a long time, but she was still the same.

“Emily, you’re not happy to see me at all, are you?”

“I wish I hadn’t seen you forever, but why did you show up?”

Emily stared at Anri as if to kill him.

Anri smiled as he looked at her with his chin in his hand.

“Hey, I came to pick you up.”

“….” 

“Don’t tell me, did you want to spend the rest of your life taking care of that girl?”

“….” 

“You’re not.” 

Anri sat down on one knee next to Emily who was tied up.

“You didn’t like her very much. No, you hate her.” 

“….”

“Then why are you so kind to Rosie?”

Anri tilted his head as if he really didn’t know.

Emily tried to shoot something back and realized that what Anri had said wasn’t completely wrong.

Because a long time ago, there was a time when she hated Rosie.

But that too is a thing of the past.

“…It has nothing to do with you. Mind your own business.”

Emily bowed her head weakly. Because she remembered the first time she met Rosie.

A slender woman lying on the floor buried in the pure white snow.

If she hadn’t found the pendant she was holding in her hand, she would never have touched her for the rest of her life.

Anri looked at Emily, who had lost her fighting spirit as if he didn’t like it.

What in the world did she do to Emily that made her change?

“…There was nothing special.”

She just smells good.

But Emily can’t smell it.

Then what’s so special? Anri couldn’t understand her at all.

“…You didn’t do anything to Rosie, did you?”

“What?”

“Just touch Rosie. I’m going to kill you.”

“I promised not to touch her, so why would I? But.”

“But…?” 

Anri suddenly had a look of confusion on his face.

“No, I didn’t do anything.”

“What have you done!”

“I told you I didn’t do anything.” 

“You look like you did something! You said you’d keep your promise!”

“I really did. I didn’t do anything. I was kind enough to tell her to run away because something dangerous was going to happen.”

Anri looked upset like he was being wrongly accused of not keeping his promise.

“You promised. Not to touch her. And together, we hope that Rosie is safe.”

“Don’t worry. Because she is safe.” 

“Come on, release this. I need to see Rosie.”

Really, that brat’s Rosie. 

What did that girl do to Emily to make her hang herself?

Anri put on a hateful expression that Emily hated.

“Hey, what are you going to do? Even if you went back to the Marquis, Rosie wouldn’t be there.”

“…What? Why isn’t Rosie there? You said you didn’t touch her!”

“I didn’t touch her. She just ran away.”

“…Rosie ran away?”

Emily muttered wildly. She must not have understood the situation.

“It would be better for you if Rosie ran away.”

“…What are you talking about?” 

“Rosie thinks you’re a devil worshipper. It was a face that felt betrayed because she was fooled. But can you go back?

“…What have you done?” 

“Isn’t that very wrong? Go ahead and explain something.”

Anri tapped Emily’s forehead.

“You are not innocent.” 

“….” 

“How many people would love to be with someone they feel uncomfortable with? Even if you go back and explain something, it will be difficult to treat you like she used to.”

“….” 

“Rosie is not bad. It’s just everyone is like that.”

Emily couldn’t deny it.

She just looks at the floor with a gloomy face.

Anri didn’t really like that look, but he didn’t show any discomfort.

“Come with me, Emily.”

“…What?” 

“Why would I have crawled in as Marquis’ slave? I came to pick you up.”

Emily frowned.

“You and I ended a long time ago, Anri.”

“…I’m your brother. You care about Rosie without a drop of blood, but you don’t look after your brother?” 

Emily remembered her faint childhood.

A long time ago, he was definitely a precious younger brother. She has to protect him.

But. 

“Not anymore.”

Even though it was the answer he expected, a part of his heart broke. 

Anri wiped away his smile and looked at Emily.

Yeah. He’s no longer her younger brother, right? 

“You’d better not say no. I’m trying to make a good offer for you, too.”

“Offer?” 

Anri, whose whole attitude had changed, said in a cold tone.

“It doesn’t matter what happens to me, your little brother, but your Rosie will be precious. Don’t you think so?”

“…Why is Rosie coming out of nowhere?”

“It seems like a lot of people are looking for your precious Rosie.”

“What? What are you talking about? Who’s after Rosie?”

That brat’s Rosie. 

Just as Emily took care of Rosie, there were times when she took care of Anri.

Even though it was meaningless now. 

“Why aren’t you talking? Who’s after Rosie!”

“Temple. Imperial family.”

“…Why are they after Rosie?”

“As you know, the temple and the imperial family have long been troubled by the Transcendent. That’s why we went through that hardship when we were young.”

Although there are few in the world, the power of the Transcendent was certainly a threat to those in power.

The Transcendents have disrupted the order and the rules with their power.

Everyone has different powers, but very few of them have reached the level of Gods.

Such Transcendents brought chaos to the world.

The Imperial family and the Temple were wary of Transcendents to protect their power.

But that’s also a thing of the past. And now—.

“The Emperor wants war.”

Transcendents had the power to decide how the war would end.

The Imperial family, which wanted to get this kind of power, spent a long time doing experiments.

An experiment that tried to create people with powers comparable to those of the Transcendents.

Anri and Emily were victims of the experiment. Yet, at the same time, they were divided between failure and success.

“…What does that have to do with Rosie?”

“An existence capable of attracting transcendents and handling them at will. Do you believe there is such a thing?” 

“….” 

“I didn’t believe it.”

But when he saw Rosie for the first time, he realized.

The sweet scent that he used to smell.

The sweet scent makes his heart racing and fascinates his mind.

Perhaps he would have gone mad and run into it if he had been a “real” transcendent. 

“You have to protect Rosie, Emily.”

“….” 

“Or, like me, you don’t care if she die or not?”

Emily clenched her teeth.

…She will protect Rosie. 

Because she made a promise to her ‘benefactor’. And—. 

Emily remembers the time she smiled, even though she usually didn’t show any emotion.

She wants to keep her smile.

Emily’s green eyes flashed.

“…If you lie, I will kill you.”

“When did I ever lie to you?”

Thus, the deals between the two were established.

When the conversation was over, Anri left the warehouse.

“Is the conversation over?”

“Ah, Hayden.”

Anri turned back with a smile.

Hayden, who looked unhappy, stood behind him.

Feeling the question in Anri’s expression, Hayden responded briefly, wiping the blood from his scarred cheek.

“Something happened.”