He's My Real Brother, Duke

To analyze the artifacts left behind by Bazel, or rather Yvor, I had to meet with Warret. 

But I ran into difficulties. The Duke’s overprotection of me heightened since the sword tournament.

He hadn’t allowed any of the servants to see me, except for my maids. But I had to see Warret, and I tried to invite him discreetly.

— ‘Why do you wish to see him?’

— ‘Oh, that’s…’

The Duke was curious as to the purpose of the meeting, but I could not be frank. 

Apart from being wary, I could not reveal to the Duke anything about the artifacts.

Nonetheless, the Duke trusted me and called Warret.

At last, I sat opposite Warret at the table in the room.

“How have you been?” asked Astel.

“Oh, yes, I… My hair grew a lot!”

Warret said, smiling while rubbing his spiky hair.

‘I’m glad you look happy.’

I decided to get straight to the point.

“Now. I want you to examine this artifact.”

I intended to examine the medal artifact with Warret.

“Uh, I need to take a closer look at this.”

Breaking away from my thoughts, I nodded toward Warret.

“Let me check for a moment. Oh, my…”

Warret squinted, I looked at him and clenched my fists.

“I’ll have to study this one in detail, but for now, I’ve managed to break the evil link between this artifact and the others, check it out.”

I took the artifact he handed me and examined each vertex of the triangle inscribed within.

Like Sam’s brooch artifact, a triangle was shining on the inside of the medal.

‘Deception, transformation, fear.’ The ancient words were written.

Deception and transformation were virtually destroyed, but fear was still well.

Frowning, I asked Warret, “Well, how long do you think it’ll take?”

“Ah… After the swordsmanship tournament, we have the after-party, ‘La Bohème’.”

La Bohème was the name commonly given to the after-party of a swordsmanship tournament.

“Oh, yes. That’s right.”

I nodded in agreement.

“I suppose I can make it by then…”

Warret cleared his throat. I looked at him and smiled brightly. 

“Let’s make it that day, then?”

“Very well.”

My heart pounded in my chest.

‘Come to think of it, the situation is getting worse. If anything happens to Warret while analyzing the artifact, I’ll be in trouble….’

When I took Sam’s artifact, the identity of the final villain was not even revealed, so let’s say so, maybe not now.

I was feeling indebted to Warret, who I had lured with a hair growth agent.

It was the same in the novel.

While my brother was out for revenge, many of his acquaintances had died.

“Hey, Warret.”

“Yes?”

“If there are suspicious people around you, please tell me first.”

I tried to hand him the necklace around my neck.

“Huh. Is this a security artifact?”

“Oh, yes. That’s right.”

He shook his head and held out his hand in a gesture of disapproval.

“What do you see me for?”

“… What?”

“I’m in the business of artifact appraisal and disassembly, and I’ve been through life-threatening situations, hundreds, maybe thousands of times.”

“Ah…”

I nodded. He had a point.

In the blood-soaked original, he’d been called upon by all sorts of people, and he hadn’t died.

Cassian wasn’t the only one who sought him out, many others, from petty thugs to big villains.

To use or to kill.

In that sense, he was one of the characters who survived the end of the world, where the main character died.

Even as I read the original, I wondered what the secret was…

Warret, who interpreted my silence in a different sense, asked with a grin.

“Is it hard to believe? That bald guy with that powers… Oh, not anymore. I’m a man of ability. Look!”

He instantly loosened his jacket and undershirt. The blazer’s buttons on the outside were loosened, followed by the inside shirt.

“Come on, look!”

It happened before I could stop it.

I shouted, hastily covering my eyes, “What are you doing!”

You took off your clothes all of a sudden!

“Ah… Oh. You must be mistaken. ”

I could only hear his voice in the darkened vision.

“I can’t show you my flesh, I’m a man faithful to one woman, and I’ve chosen Lily,” said Warret.

I opened my eyes carefully at his words.

“Well, then why did you take off your clothes…”

“… Yes.”

I carefully loosened my fingers apart.

Then, through the slight gap, I could see an artifact wrapped around his entire body.

The artifacts on his body alone must have been worth an astronomical amount of money, almost a lethal weapon.

Not to mention the dragon heart on his chest.

“Sigh…”

My hands dropped hastily.

“Yes, I am blessed by a dragon, so don’t worry. My life is very precious to me.” 

He smiled and shook his head.

“Then in three days, I’ll see you at La Bohème.”

“Ah, yes…”

That would be… reassuring.

Astel nodded. It was part of why he survived to the end of the original work.

In the three days that remained between the end of my work at the clinic and the start of La Bohème, I thought I would spend every single day waiting only for Warret’s visit.

But then a letter came through Cello, addressed to my brother…

[If he’s threatening you, please run away…]

“… What is this?”

I couldn’t figure out why my brother was suddenly so intent on the Duke. 

‘Maybe he found out something about the Duke?’

But there was no such description in the original story.

I stared down at the tattered letter.

At the end of the letter, I saw my brother put a postscript in small letters.

[Sorry that I couldn’t send you the allowance today, but when I make more money, I’ll treat you to something better.]

“… I said I don’t need it.”

From this, it was clear that my brother’s finances were in bad shape.

The most important thing to my brother was me.

Even when he didn’t have any money in his pocket, he was able to find enough food to feed me, but he couldn’t give me any allowance.

It meant that his financial situation was tight.

Cassian Gray certainly became an imperial hero, but he didn’t get much compensation because of his limitations of being a commoner.

In particular, he received a very little monetary reward.

But revenge costs money, and a lot of it. 

‘The robe he wore last time was worn out…’

Unlike me, who’s enjoying the favors of people around here, my brother was busy preparing for his revenge with barely enough to eat.

I poured out the bargain money I had saved up in the past.

‘… I don’t need this money that much yet.’

But I knew if I sent it, it would be sent back.

I wondered how I could help my brother, and the day passed quickly.

And the next day.

The Duke continued to dine with me every morning.

Of course, nothing much happened during the meal.

“I’m very good at picking up swords.”

“Ah…”

At mealtime, the Duke usually bragged about himself, and he would stare at me.

Then I earnestly clasp my hands and praise him with admiration.

“You’re amazing!”

I liked how he would smile a little when I complimented him like that.

By the way, I wonder if the Duke knows.

That my daily life has changed drastically because of him…

After the swordsmanship competition, there was a ban on access to several people around me, but it was soon lifted after I requested it because it interfered with my daily routine.

The problem was that the number of people who visited me has increased to a burdensome extent since then.

“Miss. Astel, I’d like to have a conversation with you just once!”

Of course, this was typically handled along the lines of my maids, Jenny and Sally.

“We need to get rid of all those useless bastards!”

Nonetheless, there were also beasts standing in front of the door like today as if they were protesting.

Their hands seemed full of great gifts.

“Miss Astel, These are your rare decadent wild ginseng!”

“Get out.”

Fortunately, such people fell under the purview of Rudel.

Of course, there have been occasions when they couldn’t.

They always came in with a polite knock on the door. Some were a high rank that was on top of the chain of command to be stopped.

Such was the case with the Head of the Silver Fox family.

“I’ve come to repay my family’s favor.”

“Oh.”

His crimson eyes locked onto mine with a mesmerizing gaze.

At that time, the maid ventured to speak.

“I beg your pardon, my lord, but Astel needs to rest.”

When I was told to go back, the baby who was hiding behind my big father appeared with a fox and a bell.

As if on cue, the baby silver fox, Bell, who had been hiding behind his father, popped up. 

“Really? Why? Can’t I see you?”

Bell giggled as he looked up at me with twinkling round eyes.

His adorable eyes curved up cutely.