The Way to Protect the Female Lead's Older Brother

❤Chapter 8

Chapter 8 - Sorry, Bud. Second Punch

Cassis POV

D*&m the Agriche family.

Cassis rolled the liquid in his mouth before hawking the entire mix of phlegm and blood outward with a quick dart of his tongue. The jailer had tortured him again. It was the second time he had been tied into an uncomfortable position and whipped. He was being punished for the fun of it. There hadn’t been any signs of interrogation. Instead, the people here only seemed to revel in causing him pain.  

He felt as if he’d been imprisoned here for ages. In the past, he had been called the ‘Blue Scion’ among the other nobles. He had been known as the heir to his father’s title and the leader of the next generation of Pedelians. Today, his face and body were scarred and bruised. He had been whipped, drugged, hosed by scalding water, and cursed with a dark magic that made his insides writhe as badly as the broken skin on his back. Yes, occasionally, the bits of his skin that had been torn from his flesh fluttered with the occasional breeze.  

In the four days that he had been imprisoned, Cassis had become familiar with how cruel and sadistic the Agriche servants were. 

He still did not understand why he had been captured. His death would mark the start of a war between the Agriche and Pedelians. What reason did the Black Crests have to intrude on his father’s land? What right did they have to abduct him, the Pedelian heir, and drag him back to their hellhole as a prisoner?

Instead of whimpering from the throbbing bruises on his body, Cassis began to boil over with anger. He wanted to cut down Lant Agriche and leave this dungeon forever. For now, escape was impossible. He was still half-blind.

He glared at the iron bars in front of him. His vision was still blurry, but he could see a faint, flickering torchlight outside of his prison cell. Much better than yesterday. As the girl had said, his eyesight was slowly beginning to recover. 

The door to his cell rattled and opened. Cassis held his breath as he heard light footsteps walk closer to him.

It wasn’t the sadistic guard again. He could hear the skirt of a dress swish. It was that girl, the one who had visited him twice before.

“Still recovering,” she murmured. She sighed, disappointed. 

Suddenly, he became aware of an enticing scent and the warmth of another body coming close to him. 

“Don’t touch me,” Cassis said coldly. 

“Stay still,” she said softly. “I only want to check if your injuries have become critical.”

His body stiffened as the girl’s hand carefully lifted his torn short away from his torso. He struggled to get out of reach from the girl’s touch, but soon gave up. 

He searched for her face and tried to read her expression. To his frustration, he could only see the outline of her body as if she were a mere shadow. He frowned.

“There seems to be no infection,” she said, grimly satisfied. “You’ve received more injuries since the last time I’ve visited you. Should I bring painkillers?”

“No need,” he said.

Cassis was unnerved by the light lilt in her voice. Her voice sounded young, clear and soft. It reminded him of the gentle tapping of his mother’s jade beads as they rattled together in his hands. He had played with them often as a child, substituting the beads for marbles. His ears concentrated on every syllable the girl spoke, almost as if he were under a spell. He would recall her voice again when he was alone in the dark.

“Eat this if you want to get better,” she said.

Something soft and round was pressed against his lips. The object had a faint smell of wild grass.

Cassis recognized the pill at once. It was a common meal replacement for soldiers, packed with enough nutrients and calories to sustain a man for three days. No other supplements were needed in the field. Cassis had last eaten one of these pills right before he had left his home to scout the border. 

The girl must have seen the pathetic meal his caretaker had left for him. The food had already had a rotting smell before the guard had set the bowl on the ground. The guard had laughed at him and said that if Cassis ever decided to bow his head like a dog, he could lap up the contents with his tongue. His meal was replenished every day, even when he refused to eat. It seemed that the Lord of this house did not want him to die yet.

Although he was slowly starving to death, Cassis had refused all meals given to him since his abduction. It wasn’t because of the disgusting smell of his food or because he was too blind to view his meal carefully. Even if he had been offered the finest delicacies of the Dead Sea, he had no intention of eating anything offered by an Agriche. 

He felt the same way about the girl. He didn’t trust her or anyone else in this godforsaken place. Of course, the girl had not been a threat to him so far and she had admitted that she wanted him alive…

No, he still refused to eat anything she offered him. Moreover, he didn’t even know her identity.

The girl grew silent for a moment before responding to his stubbornness.

“It can’t be helped,” she said.

Cassis felt his instincts sharpen. He opened his mouth urgently. “Wait—.”

He lost his breath as a small fist punched his gut. He groaned, feeling a painful, throbbing sensation on his abs. She had hit him in the exact same place as yesterday. This time, he did not faint outright. His condition had improved. The hex was wearing off.

“I was too soft,” the girl said, a little embarrassed.

“You don’t mean—“

“Sorry, let me try one more time,” she cut him off.

The second punch was harder and seemed to rearrange his insides.

That sneaky…Cassis fell unconscious in mid-thought.