Between Your Letter and My Reply

Chapter 99

Lilliana looked up at Damian with a dumbfounded expression, but Damian gestured towards Casey with his chin, urging her to speak.

“What is it, Lily?”

Casey smiled and tilted his head. He looked like a typical older brother who adored his younger sister, which confused Lilliana.

The Casey that Lilliana remembered was someone who lacked emotional expression, couldn’t read other people’s emotions, and was something other than human.

Lilliana swallowed hard. She reflexively grabbed Damian’s sleeve. Noticing her reaction, Damian whispered in her ear,

“It’s okay, Lilliana.”

Lilliana looked up at Damian, and his handsome face smiled at her.

“Casey is okay. He won’t hurt you.”

Then he asked Casey for confirmation,

“Right, Casey?”

Casey nodded with a clear expression.

“Yes.”

“See? Spirits can’t lie.”

“And I love you, Lily.”

Lilliana’s eyes widened at Casey’s careful addition, and she asked reflexively,

“Why?”

“Why…,”

Casey tilted his head.

“Because I’m your brother?”

At those words, Lilliana loosened her grip on Damian’s sleeve. She hesitated, but then took a step towards Casey.

“Aunt Pascal told me to trust you. So I’m asking you, brother. You won’t hurt me?”

“No.”

“Will you… protect me?”

“Yes.”

A deep smile spread across Casey’s face as he gave his final answer. And he added something Lilliana hadn’t even asked.

“I will protect you for the rest of my life, Lily.”

“But why?”

“Because I’m your brother.”

Lilliana didn’t know what had happened to Casey during the time she couldn’t remember.

The last thing she remembered was Casey at the age of 18. Although he wasn’t as inhuman as he was when they were younger, he was still an ambiguous and unstable being, neither human nor spirit, and his true nature was unreadable.

That scared Lilliana.

He could hurt me again at any time. He could covet my power at any time. Does he even think of me as his sister? Does he even know what a sister is?

That’s why she didn’t want to see Casey alone. The memory of almost dying when she was younger was etched in her mind, and whenever she saw Casey, her body trembled involuntarily.

She knew that Casey didn’t mean any harm. But harmless malice was even more frightening.

Yet, Casey was now calling himself her brother and saying he would protect her.

The reason was nothing special. Just… because he was her brother.

Spirits couldn’t lie. They didn’t know how to lie. That also applied to Casey, who had a strong spirit power within him.

But Lilliana couldn’t help but be confused.

She felt conflicted, unable to believe or disbelieve Casey’s words.

“Lily?”

Casey tilted his head and bent down towards Lilliana, and she flinched and stepped back slightly. But she wasn’t trembling like before.

When Lilliana didn’t say anything, Casey turned to Damian and asked,

“Why is Lily acting like this?”

As Damian was wondering how to explain Lilliana’s feelings, they heard the front door downstairs open, followed by Asher’s scream.

“Uwaaagh! What is this dog?!”

“Come to think of it, did you feed Timo?”

Casey asked Lilliana, and she nodded.

“Even so, aren’t humans more important than dog food…?”

Damian sighed and went downstairs. As expected, Asher was lying on the floor, pinned under Timo, flailing his limbs in terror.

“Are you okay?”

“Does this look okay to you?! Help me!”

As Damian helped Asher up, Annette peeked out from her room with her head poking out and clicked her tongue.

“Oh my, what a fuss over a dog. And he calls himself a man…”

Asher straightened his crooked glasses and gritted his teeth.

“Are animals allowed in this house?”

“If I like them, they’re allowed.”

“Mr. Asher, do you hate dogs?”

“I don’t hate them. But I don’t like them either.”

Asher nudged Timo away with his foot and then made eye contact with Casey, who was coming down the stairs. His eyebrows shot up at the sight of the unfamiliar person. Casey greeted him with a grin.

“Hello. Are you my next-door neighbor? I’m Casey Carnell, I just moved in.”

“Carnell?”

Asher murmured, and Lilliana chimed in playfully,

“He’s my twin brother, who’ll be living with us from today. I was surprised to find out today too.”

“Twins? You two don’t look alike at all.”

At that, Casey and Lilliana looked at each other and burst into laughter.

“I resemble our mother, and he resembles our father, so it can’t be helped.”

“That’s not important, so it doesn’t matter.”

Asher looked them up and down, as if he found the siblings’ amicable appearance strange.

“I don’t care if the new housemate is your brother or whatever, as long as they don’t disturb my rest, so…”

Asher yawned and walked into the kitchen. He opened the refrigerator, took out the leftover dinner, and started heating it in a pan.

“Oh my, it won’t taste good if you heat it like that. You should cover it with a lid and steam it to keep it moist.”

Annette nagged and started instructing Asher from beside him. Asher frowned but followed Annette’s instructions.

“Ah, that’s Mr. Asher Olon, who made my prosthetic hand…”

Damian, realizing belatedly that Asher was too busy filling his hungry stomach to introduce himself, gave a brief introduction to Casey on his behalf.

“Is he trustworthy?”

“For now… I guess?”

“Well, if Pascal chose this house, the people in this house must be trustworthy.”

Casey shrugged. Just then, Annette called out to Casey.

“Casey, would you like a drink? Actually, the mother of one of my students gave me a bottle of good alcohol as a gift today, but this Asher refuses to drink with me.”

“I told you, I prefer to drink alone,”

Asher grumbled at Annette’s reproach.

“I waited until you came back to open the bottle instead of drinking it during dinner, and you’re ignoring my kindness?”

“I’m not ignoring it, but why did you wait for me?”

“If we drink it without you, you’ll be left out of Casey’s housewarming party.”

“Since when did you care so much about me…”

Asher waved his hand dismissively. Annette punched the air in Asher’s direction and then asked Casey again,

“Casey, will you drink with me?”

“Yes, I’d love to.”

Casey headed towards the kitchen without refusing, asking the other two,

“Aren’t you two drinking?”

“Lilliana and I are patients, we’ll die if we touch alcohol.”

Casey immediately made a regretful face.

“Lily, how did you get so weak? You used to be so much fun when you were drunk.”

“What?! How do you know about my drunken behavior?”

“Because I’ve seen it many times.”

“So when, and what were we doing when you saw it?!”

Casey trotted over to the table and sat down. Lilliana hurriedly followed him and sat opposite him.

There was a rather expensive-looking bottle of brandy in the middle of the table. Asher, who was eating his late dinner, said to Annette while chewing his food,

“Isn’t that expensive alcohol?”

“Why? Do you want some?”

“I told you, I don’t like drinking noisily. You guys drink it. I’ll just finish this and go upstairs.”

Annette took out two glasses and three cups and placed them on the table. She smiled and poured the fragrant alcohol into a glass, pushing it towards Casey.

“This is what makes working worthwhile.”

She then poured some into her own glass and filled the rest with juice.

“I want to drink too…”

Lilliana pretended to cry. Then she glanced at Annette and Asher. It didn’t seem like the right time to bring up the topic she wanted to discuss with Casey.