What awaited Spica when she returned home was a tremendous dinner feast that made her wonder how all this food had been prepared.

‘……Is today Mrs. Hudson’s birthday by any chance?’

But there had been no mention of it this morning.

The maids greeted Spica, who was waiting to see if a birthday cake would come out last.

“Thank you, Miss.”

Unlike usual when they were only calm without any emotion, their faces were full of happy smiles. The dramatic change made Spica bewildered, like a bonus had fallen from a clear sky.

“Hm? What, what for?”

“Hehe, because you always eat so deliciously.”

“I’m the one who should be grateful.”

But is there someone celebrating a birthday today by any chance?

When she finally asked, even Mrs. Hudson chuckled.

“No, dear. These children are in a good mood, so they showed off their skills.”

“It’s incredible. Even His Majesty the Emperor wouldn’t be able to escape this taste if he tried it.”

She had felt a new sense of crisis while talking to Alkaid. So she had planned to control her eating portions starting today, but this was a taste that even a saint couldn’t resist.

Spica, who had eaten plenty until her stomach was bulging, fell asleep like collapsing after swinging her sword for a long time as the price for not being able to endure.

* * *

She opened her eyes at the same time as always.

Looking at the white moonlight cast like a picture frame on the floor beside her bed, Spica tightly gripped her throbbing right arm.

‘Ugh…… Did I overdo it.’

Her right arm was Spica’s wound and lingering attachment. The arm that hadn’t recovered enough to lift heavy metal chunks like swords since the injury.

But Spica sometimes tried to perform the swordsmanship she used to use with her right arm.

The result was always like this. Spica herself knew it was a foolish act, so she attempted it away from others’ eyes and secretly suffered alone.

The reason she kept trying even knowing it would hurt was because she was afraid she would become weaker if she didn’t do this. She feared that when a miraculous way to heal appeared someday, she would be too weak to seize that opportunity.

Hope was always the most painful thing.

“Huu…… Ugh.”

Her senses, awakened faster than usual due to pain, keenly caught the sound coming from the next room.

‘Again today.’

The sound continued like every day. If she had wondered what that sound was or not and had been uncertain at first, now it was clear enough to make her ears perk up the moment she heard it.

‘At this level, wouldn’t it reach the maids’ rooms……?’

Spica squirmed in her blankets. Day by day, not only could she clearly hear the sounds beyond the wall, but the tickling feeling was also growing bigger and bigger.

A pleasant fragrance wrapped around Spica like it was tickling her back.

“Mmm.”

Spica chewed her lips and squeezed her eyes shut. If this fragrance had substance, she wanted to bury her nose in it and inhale deeply.

Suddenly Alkaid’s hands came to mind. The large hands that had been quietly extended in front of her.

Her fingertips that had brushed against his thick palm tingled, and the cheek that Alkaid had stroked seemed to burn hotly.

If she had grabbed his hand before it moved away from her cheek and buried her lips in his firm palm while interlocking fingers. Then wouldn’t this fragrance have wafted strongly? When she briefly parted her lips after drinking until her breath reached her chin, his thick-jointed fingers would caress over it…….

“Mmm…… Ugh……”

Spica slowly rubbed her legs together that were curled up with her eyes closed.

She felt stuffy like her body was heating up. How could she resolve this feeling? When she was just chewing her innocent lips.

Alkaid’s voice whispered in her ear.

〈Does it bother you?〉

In that moment, her mind snapped awake like she had been doused with ice water.

Spica kicked off her blankets and sat up abruptly.

Her face, which had been flushed until just moments ago, was pale with guilt enough to look whitish even in the darkness.

‘What was I just…… what kind of thoughts was I having about our Commander?’

* * *

When dawn came, she heard the sound of the person next door leaving. Spica only closed her eyes after the sound of footsteps going down the stairs completely disappeared.

When she briefly closed her eyes and opened them, it was her usual waking time. She had slept less than two hours.

“Sigh.”

Whether she had slept or not, she had to go to work. Spica, who had woken up by roughly washing, carefully tapped the wall connected to the next room.

Knock, knock.

She wondered if sounds could be heard because the wall was thin, but what she felt behind the wallpaper was solid stone, not plywood.

Yet she could hear moaning? Spica went downstairs, feeling even more puzzled. When she sat at the dining table and opened the newspaper, the front page headline struck her eyes prominently.

Disappearing Children

It was a title that made even the sleepiness that had stubbornly remained completely flee.

‘A missing case? Children from the capital’s slums and orphanages are disappearing?’

Come to think of it, a few days ago when she came to look at houses with Pony, she had thought the square viewed from the carriage was quiet.

She seemed to understand the reason now. The flower-selling child, newspaper boy, shoe shiner. The children who had always existed like part of the square were nowhere to be seen.

Spica’s expression became serious. Unlike the Royal Guard that protected the imperial family at close range and the First Knight Order that patrolled inside the imperial castle, the Second Knight Order she belonged to was in charge of security outside the castle walls.

In other words, this incident was like a bomb dropped on the Second Knight Order.

‘That’s why an urgent meeting was scheduled in the grand conference room…… By the way, the new capital guard commander seemed uncooperative toward our Commander.’

Spica lifted her teacup without taking her eyes off the newspaper.

But the moment she mechanically took a sip, the newspaper immediately became secondary. Surprised by the taste that made her eyes widen, she looked up, and a maid quietly spoke to her.

“You looked tired, so I brewed it strong. How is it?”

How could she be so considerate. Spica was slightly moved. The sweet taste of pickled lemon mixed with the rich tea fragrance still remained on her tongue tip.

“It’s so good. Thank you.”

“I’ll put some in a bottle for you later. Take it with you and drink it.”

“Thank you for that too. But you know……”

The maid, who had become very kind since yesterday, bowed her head as if to say speak comfortably.

“Yes, Miss.”

“……Didn’t you hear any bothersome sounds at night? It seemed like there were groaning sounds coming from somewhere.”

“Groaning……?”

The maid made a strange expression, then shook her head.

“No, Miss. We’re light sleepers, but we didn’t hear any unusual sounds.”

“……I see. I must have misheard while half asleep.”

Well, it wasn’t like someone was screaming loudly, so it might not have reached the maids’ rooms. Spica herself might have become sensitive to the sounds she heard every day.

Then Mrs. Hudson entered, and all the usual members of the dining table gathered.

The lady smiled brightly with eyes that knew no morning sleep.

“Our Miss is so grateful for eating well. When you reach this age, sitting alone at the dining table can’t be more lonely.”

“If possible, it would be nice if the person next door could also dine with us together. Wouldn’t it be better to have more people?”

Spica brought up the person next door as a topic, thinking this was her chance.

But Mrs. Hudson shook her head from the start.

“I always wish for that too. But our young master is so busy……”

Young master? From very small children to Mrs. Hudson’s peers, relationships that could be called young master flowed through Spica’s mind in a stream.

‘But she calls me Miss too.’

Then it might not be a blood relationship.

Separate from Spica’s complicated thoughts, Mrs. Hudson, who had been sighing, chuckled.

“The time when I could scold him saying he won’t grow tall if he doesn’t eat has long passed, so I can’t help it.”

“You’re happy that I eat well even though I’m all grown up.”

“That’s because our Miss eats prettily. Everyone who sees it is delighted.”

It was such affectionate words that made her wonder if this was what having a real grandmother would be like.

“But that tall person, is he uncomfortable anywhere… does he have any painful spots on his body?”

She didn’t want to pry into the affairs of someone whose face she didn’t even know like this.

But no matter how much she thought and thought again, it seemed she had become strange because of the noise the person next door made. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have had such strange imaginings. Imagining kissing Alkaid. With a superior she had to see the face — no, helmet — of today too!

Mrs. Hudson looked at Spica, whose face had turned bright red, with great interest.

“Well. There was no sign of that? He looked very healthy.”

“I see……”

Why would he groan if he wasn’t sick? Or did he have some problem he couldn’t tell others about?

Seeing Spica’s troubled appearance, Mrs. Hudson muttered while sipping her tea.