Chapter 46

Chapter 46

Cassis gritted his teeth as the voice weighed down on him like a ton and a half of metal.

“We are the righteous judges—the Pedelian clan. Our name and its meaning are two things you must never forget.”

Yet...

“A man devoid of dignity deserves only ruin.”

Yet...

Could he really allow someone to die right in front of him without regretting such a decision? A spark flickered in his golden eyes as they appeared to shine like the brilliant sun. His answer was already determined.

“From now on, there will be a restraint spell on you.”

Cassis began drawing upon his long-dormant powers.

Crack! Clang!

Unable to withstand the concentrated energy that Cassis exerted, the magical cuffs shattered to pieces. At the same time, the butterflies fluttering around him turned to dust, then disappeared. With the cuffs off, the sense of death in the air weighed down even more. Just as he had suspected the moment he saw Roxana regurgitate the dark blood, she was suffering from severe internal damage. With all the toxic fumes emanating from her, it was almost impossible to breathe.

Cassis lowered his head, then firmly placed his lips over hers.

Whoosh!

In an instant, a fresh life force crossed from him to Roxana. The pure, clear energy traveled all the way to her extremities. As the warmth spread throughout her body, her pasty face slowly began to regain color. Since Cassis was using his own body to guard her, the butterflies didn’t dare to feed on her again. Then eventually, they vanished one after another.

Before long, he began to feel her stir. It was only then that he took his lips from hers. While looking closely into her eyes, he noticed that they were still out of focus. He suspected she was probably still a little dazed since she had been in a dream-like state of unconsciousness. Unaware of what was going on, Roxana parted her lips slightly with a puzzled expression on her face. Cassis didn’t try to explain, but instead placed his lips over hers once again. Since her injuries were internal, it was the best way for him to heal her.

Soon he could feel Roxana seem to catch her breath as if she were finally starting to sense what had happened. Just as she had done before losing consciousness, she grabbed his shirt. However, this time she resisted less and less. Cassis supposed this was evidence of her realization that he was attempting to heal her. The energy he was sending throughout her body began to morph into its next phase of detoxifying her blood.

Without warning, Roxana immediately pushed him away. Cassis was conflicted, but pulled away without arguing with her.

“Please stop.”

Her reedy voice was still far too weak as it escaped from her lips. The gaze she was directing at Cassis was steely enough, but it was evident that she wasn’t protesting merely having her lips locked to his.

“Why should I? Don’t you know how terrible of a state you’re in?”

He had surmised that Roxana’s body was essentially a living pool of poison, and that poison was eating away at her at all hours of the day. After their intimate exchange, he was more certain than ever. To his surprise, she responded without hesitation.

“I know. That’s why I’m telling you to stop.”

Cassis did not press her for an explanation, but instead caught and held her gaze. He was well aware of the meaning behind the look her crimson eyes held. It was a stare that said, “I live every moment prepared to die.”

Cassis realized that the reason he worried so much about her both consciously and subconsciously along with his inability to disregard her suffering was due to her deadly resolve. He had no idea when such a current had surged through his heart, but the faint jolt would eventually shake him to his core in the near future.

* * *

Cassis’ ability was indeed very impressive. The excruciating pain that had doubled me over moments prior, had completely vanished. My breathing had also become much less labored. Although all the blood I had coughed up had left my clothes and hair sticky, the rank smell wasn’t nearly as bad thanks to the room’s ventilation. The only audible noise was my breathing.

It was hard to believe that Cassis was holding me to him while we lay stretched out on his bed. Just lying with him like that seemed to be healing me. What was the source of his strange power? I couldn’t fathom what was going on, but whatever it was, the detoxification sensation had caught me entirely off guard. All the effort I had put into accumulating all that poison in my system was almost for naught.

It suddenly occurred to me that in the novel Cassis’ sister Sylvia also possessed a special power. Even now I can’t believe how I could have ever forgotten such a thing. Then again, I had a good reason. It had slipped my mind since hers was an R-rated special power made to match the gothic romance theme of the story, and such a detail meant hardly anything to me while dealing with her brother.

As I lay there, some of the details that slowly came back to me were that her kiss could aid a person to regain energy, but that far more carnal actions increased the potency of her powers to the point of even healing severe injuries. As I started to remember that, even more details started to come to mind, such as the fact that her special power had been one of the reasons she had been held captive by the various male characters in the novel. What I couldn’t recall was any mention in the original story about such powers running in their family. On top of that, Cassis’ power seemed to work differently from what I remembered about hers.

What I’m referring to here is the fact that the writer’s idea of an apt talent for the heroine of their R-rated novel was to make Sylvia’s power only take effect after exchanging bodily fluids with another person. Whereas I could feel that Cassis’ healing powers took effect just from holding me. Perhaps his powers were more advanced than his younger sister’s, which might also explain his ability to detect toxic plants.

Once I finally escaped my stream of random thoughts to look up, I caught Cassis gazing down at me. By then, my blood was all over him, but he seemed oblivious to the troubling stains. He still seemed slightly tense, so I attempted to speak again.

“You can stop worrying. I wouldn’t die this easily.”

Almost as soon as the words had left my mouth, I realized seeing me cough up close to a bucket’s worth of blood only moments ago was hardly likely to reassure him.

“Besides, I’ve already told you that I have to be around to protect you until you manage to escape safely.”

After a while he finally spoke as well.

“Why do you say such things?”

At first I had simply stared up at him, but his next words caught me off guard again.

“You know I’m not your brother.”

What the hell did he feel the need to say that for? Of course, he wasn’t my brother. As I pondered over what he had just said, it dawned on me that he might have gotten the completely wrong idea about our dynamic. I mean, sure, I admit I said some sappy things about how he reminded me of Achille and whatnot, but that was simply to build a rapport. I couldn’t believe he was mistaking my actions as some sort of delusional attempt to make up for missing my dead brother. As if! The two weren’t even remotely similar. My only goal was to avoid the horrible death I was destined to face as a result of Cassis dying. I actually had to bite back telling Mr. “I’m not your brother” to get over himself.

“I know.”

It was a simple enough response, but for some reason I couldn’t draw out what I wanted to say next. I wanted to make it clear that I never thought for a sec—no! Not even for a nanosecond that he was my brother. If anything, the suggestion alone annoyed me.

“You don’t resemble him in the slightest, so...”

Why I blurted out those words is beyond me since even I knew I had been cozying up to him after planting the idea that he was somewhat like my brother. I was acting like a boxer with my gloves up even though my legs were succumbing to a gut punch.

“...So don’t assume anything.”

It probably would have been best to let Cassis continue to worry about me as he had clearly started to, but for some reason I just couldn’t. First, it was Deon, then out of nowhere Cassis was also acting as if Achille was literally my Achilles’ heel. They had both got me thinking about my brother and how he used to say “I will protect you” all the time when we were little. That had never sat well with me since I never truly thought of him as my big brother or protector. But honestly, how could I? Including my experiences from my previous life, I was years older than Achille. I actually often thought of him as my little brother.

“What a joke... Just who is going to protect whom?”

Words that had been hiding away in some corner of my mind suddenly escaped from my lips in a whisper. Whether they had been directed at the late Achille or at myself remains uncertain. Cassis simply watched me in silence as I continued my dazed soliloquy. Perhaps that had been the most honest version of myself.