When Brunhild awoke, she found herself in an unfamiliar chamber. She had been laid down in a bedroom that could scarcely be called clean. She sat up and looked around. The chamber was small. There was nothing but a table and a chair. She wondered why she was in this dreadful place and recalled what had happened before she lost consciousness. Then it clicked—her brother had taken her away.
There was a weight on her neck. She looked down and saw she was wearing an unfamiliar necklace. It wouldn’t come off.
She tried to leave the room, but it was locked from the outside, and the door wouldn’t budge. She called out, “Please open the door,” figuring it wouldn’t hurt. Surprisingly, the door did open, and two men came in.
“Who are you?” Brunhild asked, but the men said nothing. “Where am I?” she asked as well, but they didn’t respond. It appeared they had no intention of speaking to her.
Wordlessly, the men restrained Brunhild. Then they forced her to take drugs, cut her with a knife to take samples of her blood, stripped her naked, and inspected every corner of her body. Based on what they had done, Brunhild was able to surmise who these men were.
In all likelihood, they were scholars from Etherium, the organization that researched the Power of God.
That meant she had to be at their facility.
They were here to investigate her for associating with dragons.
She could imagine why—the dragon’s final words.
<I will bequeath to you a gift.>
In that moment, she had felt something flow from the dragon to her. A supernatural power. Surely, it was the Power of God. That must have been what the scholars were after.
Day after day, the researchers investigated Brunhild’s body. She didn’t know precisely how long this went on. Locked in that room, she had no sense of the passage of time.
She heard bits and pieces of the scholars’ conversations. “What about just having her take the drugs…?” “Dissection might be our only option…” “But if we can’t extract it that way, then there’s no going back…” “Inhuman experiments are forbidden at Etherium these days, so where can we go from here…?”
Brunhild feared she would be torn to pieces in this place.
She might end up covered in wounds, just like the dragon.
But she was okay with that.
The dragon had died. There was no point in living.
The scholars came into her room again. But they didn’t make her drink any drugs that day. Instead, they took her out of her chamber. Brunhild assumed they were transferring her to a facility where they would do some serious experimentation.
She followed the men obediently. They left the room and went up some stairs. When they ascended, some knights met them to take Brunhild away.
They left the building, and she was placed in a carriage waiting outside. For some reason, the knights were treating her with care.
The carriage set off. She rattled around inside for about an hour.
They reached the royal castle. She had returned to her family home after several years away.
The knights escorted Brunhild to a room in the castle and made her sit on a magnificent chair. Upholstered with beautiful velvet, the seat was so large that it dwarfed her small frame. It was certainly worth more than the entire hut where Hilda had once lived.
There, she waited. She still had no idea why she had been brought to the castle.
After a while, someone came into the room.
It was Sigurd.
Brunhild was startled to see him. It felt like she had come across a fearsome predator.
She had never liked him. It was that sharp look in his eyes. When he looked at her like that, Brunhild would always shrink away. Her brother had a rough disposition.
Her fear must have shown on her face. Sigurd seemed exasperated by her.
“We’re discontinuing the experiments at Etherium,” he said. “We tried plenty with the dragon, and it was no use, after all. My reputation will be tarnished if you’re ruined entirely. I’ve decided to treat you with kindness.”
“…I never knew you felt such familial affection, Brother,” Brunhild replied aggressively, scrounging up what little courage she had. “Even if you show me such kindness, I won’t forgive you. You…killed my family.”
“A dragon and human being family, huh?” Sigurd snorted. “That’s just playing house.”
Brunhild clenched her teeth. “I’m going to kill you, Brother. I will take revenge…with my own two hands…” Her words were hateful and the greatest possible curse she could spew at him.
But even though she’d said that to his face, Sigurd’s expression was cool. There was disappointment in his eyes. “So be it. Go ahead and try.”
He showed her just the slightest bit of hostility. But that was enough to make her shoulders twitch. “To kill me, I mean. It would be quite an impressive feat. And even if you can’t, if you truly are prepared to do that…then I will acknowledge you as my sister.” He walked up to her.
Brunhild recoiled. “S-stay back…”
“Do you have the determination to accomplish exacting your vengeance, even if it means abandoning everything? The courage to stand up to even the greatest enemy?”
“I—I said to stay back!” Brunhild got out of her chair and retreated.
But Sigurd mercilessly pressed closer. “You have neither determination nor courage. You’re a born loser. The words you spit at me are weightless.”
The next thing she knew, Brunhild’s back was against the wall. She had been cornered.
Sigurd had already gotten right up in her face. She couldn’t back away any farther. She closed her eyes without hesitation.
I’m scared.
She was frightened of her high-handed and violent brother. Brunhild was introverted and timid, his complete opposite, so she couldn’t understand him.
“I have reasons for keeping you in the castle. You’re as dull as ever, but unfortunately, there is something quite valuable inside you.”
“The gift from the dragon…”
“Yes. It rightfully belongs to me. Since you bear the gift, by extension, you belong to me as well.”
“Don’t…speak of me like I’m an object…”
“You are one.” He grabbed her face with his left hand and fixed it there to keep her from moving, then brought his face close to hers.
“I-it can’t be… Sto—”
Before she could even finish, Sigurd had stolen her lips.
“Hmph!”
That was not all. He brought his hand under her jaw to grip her cheeks and squeezed, forcing her mouth open. Sigurd’s snakelike tongue penetrated Brunhild’s mouth.
“Hng… Ugh!”
It was an assault and ridicule. Her brother was saying, Go ahead and bite my tongue if you have the determination. And he knew—Brunhild didn’t have the courage.
After being released, she wiped her mouth and broke down in tears.
Her brother spat at her, “Get used to this. You’re going to be my wife.”
“What nonsense is this…? We’re siblings…”
“That’s no matter. With my character and your gift, our children will undoubtedly inherit the Power of God. They will certainly be of help in lifting the Siegfried family from its weakened state.”
With that, Sigurd left. Watching her brother go, Brunhild grieved. But not because he had assaulted her.
He’s completely changed.
She thought back to when they had been young.
“Why…?”
She still wanted to believe her brother couldn’t be doing this of his own volition.
The life they had been brought into was to blame.
Brunhild was born as the only girl of the Siegfried family, and Sigurd the only boy. The Siegfried family bore the Power of God, and it had been expected that they would both gain that power.
But neither of them had been able to manifest any abilities at all.
It wasn’t either of their faults. It had been decades since someone in the family had been able to inherit the Power of God. Both their mother and their grandmother had been ordinary humans who just happened to have black hair and eyes.
And so, despite its royal status, the Siegfried family’s position had become very precarious.
Their decline had started a century ago, with the reign of a foolish queen. Her time on the throne cemented the Siegfried family’s poor reputation with the people. To make matters worse, the children she sired neither inherited the ability to wield the Power of God nor contributed to the development of their nation. This only amplified the citizenry’s dissatisfaction with the royal family. Since the Siegfried clan lacked the authority to assert their rule, they responded to their people’s discontent by oppressing them, but this only achieved the opposite effect. Eventually, the people rebelled and assassinated a member of the family. The successful assassination proved the Siegfried line was now made up of just ordinary humans without any mystical powers to speak of, and this further stoked the people’s disillusionment. Now the family’s top priority was to give birth to a child with the Power of God and regain their lost authority.