6. Imprinting

What woke Spica’s consciousness was the pain rising from her right arm.

‘Ah…… Phantom pain.’

That thought came first instead of joy at being alive. It was probably because of the bitterness that she had really become like her nickname.

One-armed Atrain.

‘……’

Spica belatedly turned away from the miserable nickname. Then the suppressed joy of being alive finally began to raise its head little by little.

‘I think I’m really lucky.’

Both during the school accident and this time, she hadn’t thought she would survive, yet here she was able to breathe again. She was able to feel depressed about being unfortunate all because she was alive.

‘It’s practically like getting a third life as a bonus, right? It’s luck that others want but can’t get, right? So I should be grateful…… and think of it……’

It was strange. The more she continued her thoughts, instead of feeling better, her eyes grew hot.

The path she had devoted her life to, all the efforts she had made so far flashed by. Using a sword with her left hand would become much more difficult than before. When one arm disappears, the body’s balance changes completely.

It felt overwhelming. Something hot rose to her throat.

Nevertheless, Spica eventually swallowed the complex mass of emotions.

Just because she was sad didn’t mean reality would look out for her or pass her by. Since she was alive, living while doing what she could just like before — she knew that was the best course.

More than anything, she wanted to see them right now.

Her younger brother, and Alkaid.

‘So…… let’s open my eyes.’

Along with her resolution, Spica slowly lifted her eyelids. Her vision was blurry like she had woken up after sleeping for an incredibly long time.

“Huh? Huh? Hey!”

Someone next to her shouted noisily. When she squinted and barely focused, her younger brother Heze was pulling the bell cord like crazy.

The drowsy feeling flew away completely. Spica bolted upright.

“How are you here? Isn’t it your exam season right now?”

“Hey! Is that what’s important to you right now?”

“This brat doesn’t know how precious tuition is right now!”

Spica, who had been about to give Heze a loving thump on the head, flinched.

“……Huh? My right hand……”

It was there.

Her right hand, her arm was attached perfectly fine!

‘How can this be? The blade had definitely pierced to the bone.’

With Heze covering his head with both hands in the background, she repeatedly spread her right hand wide and clenched it tight, but unlike feeling pain before opening her eyes, now she felt nothing.

Spica smacked her lips with a ‘tsk’ sound.

‘Of course. It must be a dream.’

She seemed to be wandering through unconsciousness due to shock and pain. Only Heze calling her ‘you’ repeatedly felt real……

Anyway, if it was a dream, there was something she had to try. Spica hurriedly got down from the bed.

“Heze, give me a sword.”

“What sword? You’ve been unconscious for over three days!”

It must be that kind of dream. That’s probably why her whole body was overflowing with strength. She wasn’t even hungry despite supposedly sleeping that long.

Spica spoke louder.

“Give me your sword! If you really don’t want to, then a stick or anything!”

If it was a dream, she didn’t know when she might wake up. She had to do it quickly before then.

A blind light glittered in Spica’s eyes. Overwhelmed by that momentum, Heze couldn’t say anything more and reluctantly held out his scabbard.

Spica drew the sword without hesitation. The feeling of it wrapping around her grip, gauging the sword’s weight was brief — her wrist, her arm, her body began moving on their own.

It wasn’t forced either. The sword she had practiced since childhood, the path she had envisioned thousands, even tens of thousands of times in her mind, remained with her even after losing the ability to wield a sword with her right arm. The moment she gripped the sword, the swordsmanship that had existed only in her mind surged through her body.

The movement that started like a gentle breeze gradually became closer to a storm.

Watching that sight, Heze’s eyes were reddening.

‘Sister has returned. Just like that person said, she’s really…… completely healed.’

If Spica had chosen the knight’s path under their mother’s influence, Heze had picked up a sword following his sister who was serious about training.

Like all younger brothers in families, Heze also acted grumpy toward his sister for no reason. But in truth, Spica was Heze’s pride. When the academy’s knight department head evaluated that ‘if she develops like this, she’ll establish herself with swift swordsmanship,’ Heze puffed up with pride like he had received the praise himself.

That sister had injured her arm. Even after receiving treatment from a priest, her muscles hadn’t recovered enough to hold a sword.

Swift swordsmanship was fast. But being fast alone wasn’t enough. She had to accurately pierce one point to neutralize the opponent. That required tremendous muscle strength.

That was what Spica had lost through Diblin’s scheme.

‘Good…… Really good……’

While Heze was shedding tears, Spica’s swordsmanship was finishing like wind dying down.

“Ah, I feel alive.”

What would it be like to hold a sword with her right hand again? She had worried that her body would forget everything and fumble, but perhaps because it was a dream, it was satisfying to a degree that couldn’t be better.

Spica, who had sheathed the sword with a refreshed feeling and turned around, was finally startled when she saw her younger brother’s face.

“Heze. Are you crying?”

“N, no.”

Embarrassed, Heze belatedly covered his face. But Spica smiled brightly and bent down to peer at her younger brother.

“You’re crying. You are crying, right?”

“I said no! Go away!”

“He’s crying, this really must be a dream.”

“Argh! This brat is really!”

In the end, Heze exploded with a crash.

“Stop talking nonsense! Why would this be a dream! This is perfectly real!”

Get a grip! He threw Spica onto the bed and smacked her back. Spica writhed her shoulders and back wildly while screaming.

“It hurts! Ugh, it hurts! Why does it hurt!”

“Why do you think.”

“Because it’s reality? B, but that’s troublesome……”

Spica looked around her surroundings anew. The tapestry that had been torn to shreds from being caught up in sword strikes, the bed posts that had been hacked up, the table that was broken beyond recognition.

“……Heze. Where…… exactly is this place?”

Just then, the servants Heze had called came looking for them. Seeing their horrified expressions, the siblings simultaneously buried their faces in their palms.

They guided the two people to the reception room without saying anything, but they probably thought of them as siblings who rudely wielded swords in someone else’s house.

‘I have to compensate…… It’ll probably be incredibly expensive……’

Spica kept her mouth shut for a while out of worry and embarrassment. When she learned that this was the Winterhold ducal family’s mansion, she wanted to crawl into a mouse hole.

Then she suddenly remembered the boy she had saved.

“There’s a boy I sent after giving him my entry pass. What happened to him? Did he arrive at the knight order safely?”

He looks like you, when Spica added, the corners of Heze’s mouth twitched.

‘She saved him because he looked like me — should I be happy about this or not.’

Anyway. The child Spica had saved was really a victim who had been confined and escaped. Everyone was dying to investigate quickly, but they said treatment came first for now because he was young and the malnutrition and psychological shock were too severe.

Heze, who had slowly finished explaining, said.

“I’m curious about something too.”

“What?”

“You, what’s your relationship with Young Duke Winterhold?”

Alkaid had stayed by Spica’s side day and night to nurse her. He personally fed her every pill and sip of water. If her fever rose even a little, he would place a wet towel on her, and when Spica groaned, he would personally massage her stiff muscles to loosen them.

Heze felt sorry that Spica had opened her eyes while he was away meeting some important person.

Honestly, even he as her real younger brother wouldn’t be confident if asked to provide such care, and if this was just between a knight order commander and adjutant, then all those people should be married couples from now on.

Whether Heze glared or not, Spica smiled shyly.

“We like each other.”

Heze’s expression became sour. Though he respected and was proud of his sister, that was separate from not wanting to see his blood relative blush red.

“Th…… at so? You like each other?”

“Yes, we like each other very much.”

“Huh…… What weakness did you grab to make someone like that…… like you, argh!”

Heze, who finally got hit once, shut his mouth.

‘Damn. This is the first time I’ve seen sister act like that?’

Brother Lepus, no wait, Heze also knew about the broken engagement now so he corrected the title to ‘that bastard.’

Even after being with that bastard for so long, she had never made such a face. So he had complicated feelings. He also wondered how upset his sister must have been if even he felt this way.

Meanwhile, Spica also became a little worried about Heze’s reaction.

‘Does Heze not like Alkaid?’