The weather was cloudy but somehow she kept smiling bashfully. Even when she bit her lips, worried that people might think it strange if they saw, it was only momentary.

This emotion was a first. Spica kept pressing down her rising cheeks.

“What should I do. I’m so happy.”

Even her steps walking toward the imperial palace while humming were light and bouncy. Even passing by the house that had been taken away on that path didn’t make her as depressed today.

Spica’s small humming echoed through the street.

“Hmm……?”

It’s echoing? Spica’s voice gradually died down as she felt something strange.

It was still far from the time when the sun would set. The sounds of ladies going out, musical instrument lessons flowing from open windows, servants enjoying brief free time, and busy sounds of people delivering things to each house should normally be heard.

So it didn’t make sense that it was quiet enough for Spica’s humming to echo.

‘I don’t know what it is, but I should get away quickly.’

The bright smile that had filled Spica’s face was completely erased. She checked the scabbard at her waist and hurried her steps.

But nothing particular happened even when she got close to the square. Had what she felt earlier been a misunderstanding? It was the moment Spica turned around with an uneasy feeling.

“Please save me!”

Several connected houses, the wall dividing the garden area behind them. A skinny boy burst out from between the narrow wall crying out.

“Please help! Please save…… mmph!”

The child’s cry was blocked. A rough hand stretched out from between the shadows of the alley covered his mouth and pulled him back. The boy’s feet were just before stepping on the neatly stone-paved road outside the wall’s boundary.

For a brief moment, the boy and Spica’s eyes met perfectly through the rough hands. They were sky-blue eyes similar to hers.

“Mmph! Mmmmph!”

The boy struggled toward Spica, but it was meaningless. He was dragged into the alley and disappeared.

It happened in less than a minute.

“That was definitely…… a kidnapping, right?”

Spica bit her lips that had already dried up.

‘I shouldn’t chase after them!’

Her instincts were shouting that.

It was a familiar feeling. Long ago, when she saw a senior being swept away by collapsing ground during field training, she had felt this way too.

“That means it’s definitely a trap.”

Even while muttering, Spica walked straight toward the alley.

She knew better than anyone that it was a foolish act.

“But I’m a knight.”

A knight who had sworn to uphold justice and protect the weak.

There was a time when she thought she wouldn’t be able to become a knight. She had heard people say what was the point of clumsily swinging a sword when she wasn’t even left-handed.

But in the end, it was Spica, not them, who wore the knight order uniform. She didn’t want to do anything shameful to this uniform, to her beliefs. Even if it was foolish.

“……Because that child might really be asking for help.”

It was also a knight’s duty to throw oneself for the slightest possibility.

Spica’s feet moved faster and faster.

She who had been running between the narrow walls smiled bitterly and muttered.

“If that earlier performance was acting, I’ll definitely make you this country’s best actor.”

However, confirming the boy’s aptitude remained a distant task.

Where on earth did they go. Spica muttered anxiously. The back alleys connecting between the neat and stylish buildings were more intricately connected like spider webs than she thought.

‘I didn’t know there were such paths without going toward the outer walls……’

It was a mistake to simply think of it as gaps between walls. It would have been good to call for support, but there was a high probability of completely losing track in the meantime, and currently the knight order personnel were conducting searches by closing in from the capital’s outskirts.

Whew. Spica caught her breath and thought of the strongest knight she knew.

‘Alkaid. Please help me do well.’

Whether her prayer had an effect or it was just a coincidence, the moment Spica muttered in her heart, a faint scream came from somewhere.

“Help me……!”

Spica immediately identified the direction and ran quickly while concentrating on her ears.

Effort didn’t betray her. When she turned the winding corner, she saw a barefoot boy struggling. Spica drew up her remaining strength and shouted.

“Stop!”

It was the moment the rough-looking man looked straight at her.

‘……Behind!’

It felt like her hair was standing on end. Spica immediately drew her sword and struck down what was flying from behind.

Clang! Along with the sound of metal clashing strongly, Spica’s left arm ached.

The opponent clicked his tongue. An unpleasant breath smell wafted over.

“I thought you couldn’t handle a sword?”

Both the person who took the boy and this one were men she had never seen before. If this was indeed a trap, the fact that they didn’t cover their faces meant……

Spica tensed up but replied bluntly without showing it.

“Thanks for believing the rumor that I’m a one-armed cripple.”

“Smarter than I thought. Different from the information I received, I should get paid more.”

“Whatever they gave you, I’ll pay double. Who’s the client?”

“Sorry, but in this line of work, trust is important, so switching sides like that……”

“How about ten times?”

“Ten times?”

She didn’t know exactly how much such work cost, but it would be enormous. But Spica blurted it out recklessly.

Where would such money come from?

‘……There’s no way it would.’

It was just nonsense to create an opening!

“Huh?”

The opponent made a strange sound, perhaps realizing his mistake, but Spica was already running toward the child.

Once she had drawn her sword, there was no hesitation. The man with a rough face and hands drew a dagger, but Spica took advantage of the difference in weapon length to swiftly stab his shoulder blade.

“Ugh!”

The sword tip with proper weight behind it pierced deeply, cutting through the shoulder. Spica let go of the sword hilt without regret and barely caught the boy the man had dropped in her arms.

Because of that, her back was completely exposed. She felt the other man delivering a strike. Spica rolled on the ground while protecting the child.

No, it was the moment she thought to roll….

Craaash!

An incomparably louder roar than when she had blocked his sword strike earlier rang out. Spica realized a beat late that the sword aimed at her legs had been blocked by something and broken.

‘What was that, exactly?’

Unfortunately, there wasn’t time to think long. Even though his sword was broken, the opponent didn’t stay frozen for long and was immediately thrusting the remaining blade toward the child.

Spica had no sword. That meant there was no way to block it.

But she didn’t close her eyes hoping for the same miracle as before. Her body moved before she could even think such thoughts.

“……!”

Along with searing pain, a terrible sound that was neither a stab nor a crack resonated through her entire body. Her vision spun, but Spica gritted her teeth and grabbed the blade that had fallen to the ground, driving it into the opponent’s nape.

The man who had been gurgling while momentarily stopped collapsed with a thud.

Spica watched him, unable to rise again, and assessed the condition of her right arm that she had used like a shield.

‘Haha…… This time it really seems like the end.’

The pain was so tremendous that it was hard to breathe properly even while staying still. Blood was gushing out even with the sword embedded. It seemed the blade had cut through to the bone.

If she pulled the sword out here, she would die from excessive bleeding, and even if she safely reached a hospital, they would have to amputate her arm.

Fortunately, the rough man with a sword in his shoulder had disappeared somewhere.

‘If he received an advance payment, he probably just ran away.’

For people like that, their bodies were practically their assets. For Spica too, fighting more in her current state was impossible.

Whether relieved by the thought of being saved, or more frightened by the situation before her eyes, the boy was making hiccupping, breathless sounds while crying loudly. He looked so pale he might faint at any moment, so Spica deliberately grabbed his shoulder firmly and spoke.

“Get a grip! What happens to us depends on you.”

“Hic, uugh……”

“Go to the knight order at the imperial palace and show them this. You can do it, right?”

Spica handed over her entry pass. The boy’s mind seemed to clear a little at her clear voice, and though trembling violently, he grasped it tightly.

“Tell people that a knight has collapsed. That’s the end of your role. The knights will protect you and find your home too.”

“Co, come together…… The blood……”

“It’s okay. People don’t die from this much.”

She deliberately smiled brightly, but the child didn’t seem to believe her. He might have noticed that Spica’s vision was spinning.

The boy hesitated briefly, then ran away with a more determined face than before.

‘This should do it.’

Spica finally exhaled. Bright wheat-colored hair and sky-blue eyes. The same colors as the two siblings of the Atrain viscountcy. He was a boy who reminded her of her younger brother Heze, making her want to save him more.

But now that she had succeeded in that, the person Spica wanted to see wasn’t Heze but someone else.

‘……Alkaid.’

Just one or two hours ago, hadn’t she been laughing while shoulder to shoulder with him? Strangely, it felt like something that had happened months ago. And she missed him that much.

Spica slowly got up from her spot. It was fortunate that her legs weren’t injured. To get out of here even a little faster……

“……Ugh.”

Suddenly her strength drained and her body swayed. Spica barely leaned her shoulder against the wall.

Could she get out? No, could she hold on until people came?

It was when she unconsciously had weak thoughts that a thin string stretched out from behind her, targeting that gap.

“Kugh!”

Her neck was strangled in the blink of an eye. It was the man Spica had stabbed in the shoulder. Spica kicked backward and struck his knee, but he didn’t budge.

Her vision was becoming hazy. Between the choice of being strangled to death or dying from excessive bleeding, Spica chose the latter. With trembling hands, she grasped the sword handle embedded in her right arm.

Then a bizarre sight appeared in her blurred vision.

‘A blade……?’

The broken blade embedded in the neck of the man who had died first was writhing, tearing at the wound. Even though no one was touching it, by itself.

‘Is this the hallucination you see right before dying?’

The thought mixed with bitter laughter escaped with her shallow breath.

‘I…… end like this.’

It had been a life lived quite earnestly…… Her heavy eyelids closed against her will.

But what she saw wasn’t a hallucination. The writhing blade was wrapped in red aura and flew up into the air.

“Gasp!”

The moment even the man strangling Spica’s neck was startled, the blade that flew like an arrow cut the string he was holding.

In that instant, someone caught Spica who was falling forward. The scent she loved rushed in violently with the air.

“……ca! Spica……! Get a grip……!”

The voice of someone she loved. She thought Dad who had passed away would come when she died.

Spica smiled faintly and fell into abyss-like sleep.