The Way to Protect the Female Lead's Older Brother

❤Chapter 10

Chapter 10 - Family Discussions Always Revolve Around Torture

Once a month my father, Lant Agriche, held a family dinner with his top three children based on our academic evaluations and….achievements. 

Although many preparations were made in anticipation of the event, in simple terms, it was merely a time for a father to hold a conversation with a few of his children over dinner. Among my siblings and I, to be invited to a family dinner was one of the highest honours our father could give us. It meant he approved of our upbringing and accomplishments. Over dinner, the conversation would casually go over current politics, our academic achievements and goals, and so on. 

Every word my siblings and I spoke to our father was like answering a test, as if he were evaluating everything we said. Conversations tended to be serious. I often planned my responses in advance to weigh my words carefully.

However, there were times when an idle topic came across dinner, just like it had occurred during my first dinner with the family. 

Get ready, I told myself. I was sitting at the table for dinner. My father was grinding his teeth. It was a habit he had before thrashing the Pedelians during every family meal. 

I had realized I had been reborn into a novel when I heard my father mention the Pedelian name to me for the first time.

The Pedelians exist, I had thought. And I am an Agriche. The names can’t be a coincidence. 

Is father going to start again? Jeremy frowned in boredom. His thoughts were etched plainly on his face. He had received the third invitation to come to dinner today. Unlike the first and second invitations, it wasn’t uncommon for the third rank to change. 

The undisputed first rank among the Agriche children was my half-brother Dion. Currently, I had two older brothers and one older sister who had been deemed worthy by my father; they were still alive, after all. 

Dion was the second oldest son. He was nineteen years old and was not present due to official duties. He had been the first rank even before I had attended my first family dinner. 

I wouldn’t be surprised if Jeremy bested all of us in the future though. He was the main villain in the novel. 

I was glad that Dion was excused. I had to pretend to enjoy my food every time I had to sit across from him and stare at his face.

“His nagging has made my ears itch lately. I’ll have to tear Lissel Pedelian’s mouth from his face someday if I want to relieve my stomach,” my father said. 

Lissel Pedelian was the head of the Blue Crests and Cassis’s father. I could see how Lissell Pedelian thought lowly of Lant Agriche, who gave off a bloodthirsty aura. He and my father had never got along, and never would, once the Pedelian head found out about the fate of his son. 

Because of a small spat, my father had been mad enough to abduct his rival’s heir with the intention of killing him. 

I rolled the red wine in my glass before taking a sip. The Pedelians had no way of knowing the Agriche customs. If they did, I doubt they would still understand how insignificant my father viewed Cassis or children in general, including his own. 

My father, Lant Agriche. Someone who killed his children off as a convenience did not deserve to be called a father.

“Today you look well, father,” I said. “You must have done something to deserve his distrust.” I set my drink on the table and raised a napkin to my lips. I smiled softly at him. “Is it because of the game you captured last time?”

My father’s abnormal red eyes locked onto me. The end of his mouth curled up into a smile. “Roxana, you’re quick to notice. You’ve inherited your wits from me.”

I don’t need that sort of compliment, I thought, while keeping a doll-smiling face. 

“What, are you talking about the toy in the dungeon?” Jeremy became interested in the conversation. He dropped his fork on his plate and looked at us in rapture. 

Father leaned back against his chair with the face of a contented beast. 

“Today, I was very sweet to the Pedelian pup.” His expression warped into the face of a villain. His laugh was truly evil. I could not picture a man with a darker personality. Was there a talent to looking this perverse? I could easily imagine fire bursting around him. “No matter how busy I get, my mind keeps wandering to that prisoner in the dungeons,” he said.

“Who is he?” Jeremy said blankly. We didn’t keep prisoners often. Few were important enough to bring home alive.

My father, Lant Agriche, turned to look at me. He wanted me to answer as if this was another one of his tests. I received his gaze coolly, already knowing the answer.

“He is the Blue Scion, Cassis Pedelian,” I said. 

“Really?” Jeremy frowned in disbelief.

My father nodded in approval. He was impressed I had caught on quickly.

“Wow, Father. Wow,” Jeremy laughed. He was impressed that our father had kidnapped the Pedelian heir and accepted my father’s sick behaviour easily.

“Father, how do you plan on educating this toy?” I asked, reading his proud expression.

Jeremy looked at me in surprise for bringing up the subject. If I was discussing this with Father, I must actually be interested in the new toy, Cassis Pedelian.

My father leisurely rested his chin on his hand and spoke slowly, as if he were a beast that was content after a successful hunt.

“Roxana, tell me what you’re considering,” he said.

Lant Agriche was generous today. Seeing Lissel Pedelians’s heart break as he searched frantically for his eldest son must have left my father in a better mood than I had thought.

“I’ve taken an interest in the toy,” I said. I had already prepared a speech that should appeal to him. “The Pedelians are known to be a just and benevolent family. Among them, the Pedelian heir is known in particular for his proud and upright character.” The table grew quiet. We had all stopped eating. My father was listening to my words carefully and I took the chance now to convince him while he was in a good mood.

“The noble, Cassis Pedelian,” my eyes fluttered. I broke eye contact and smiled softly into space, as if I were beginning to daydream. “It would be fun to ruin the ugly Pedelian dog. I want to hear him whimper in pain like a mutt moaning in heat. His neck would look good under my foot.”