The dragon was confused. “Wh-why are you here…?”
The dragon and Sigurd both understood.
There was no saving this girl now.
The dragon broke down. “This…this wasn’t supposed to… Aaahhh!”
But Sigurd was quiet. He looked down at Brunhild and asked her, “Why didn’t you wait?”
She looked up at him with empty eyes. Her trembling lips moved. On the verge of death, the words on her lips were very soft. “Because I…don’t want to…see my family die anymore.”
Then she closed her eyes.
And she died.
Sigurd gazed at the body in his arms. Touched and full of reverence, he said, “Astonishing. Would you avert even my doom?”
The king was supposed to have died tonight. And Brunhild had changed his fate.
“But even so, the king will leave this world tonight,” said Sigurd.
The only person in the world this arrogant king respected was himself. Yet he had no hesitation in what he was about to do next.
Sigurd was one of the few Children of God in generations. He bore power comparable to that of the First Queen. The only ability of hers that he lacked was God’s Command.
The First Queen had been able to turn water into the Miracle of Life by touching it with her right hand. Sigurd had a power similar to that.
However, he couldn’t deny that it was somewhat inferior to the First Queen’s ability. But if he staked his whole soul on it, then he might be able to revive someone who had just died.
Sigurd clasped Brunhild’s hand. It was still warm. Before that warmth vanished—
He brought his injured hand to her wound.
Warm light spilled from his palm, making Brunhild’s cooling body warm up once again.
This was, so to speak, the act of turning his own body into the Miracle.
Brunhild regained consciousness.
On awakening, she was confused. She remembered having died. But her wound was closed, and her right arm, which had been blasted away, was back.
Sigurd lay at her side.
“Brother…?”
She had a sense of why she was alive. This sort of thing had happened before.
“So you saved me again.”
He smiled at her. It was different from how it had once been, but his smile was kind.
“In the end, I was finally able to act like a brother should,” Sigurd said and stroked her head. She understood he was imitating the brother she had loved.
Above her head, his hand crumbled. It turned to ash. Not only his hand but his whole body.
She didn’t understand what was happening, but nevertheless, she knew Sigurd was about to leave her.
“Wait.” She tried to touch him, but the ash passed between her fingers. “Don’t go.”
But Sigurd had turned to ash. In the place where he had been, there was nothing but a gray pile.
Stunned, Brunhild gazed upon the mound of dust.
The rotten dragon came up to Brunhild and stomped on the ash. He opened his great maw and spat, “‘Act like a brother should’? A ridiculous man to his last breath.”
Brunhild watched, dumbfounded, as he crushed the ashes underfoot. Next, the dragon said in a gentle tone, “You’ve done well to put up with everything for so long, Brunhild. While the route to get there was full of twists and turns, the tyrant is finally dead. Your days of suffering are over.”
“…Is that you, Richard?”
“It is. Not even death would stop me from coming back to see you. But in the morning, I will be a corpse again. I’m glad I could save you before that happened. Before then…” The rotten dragon embraced Brunhild. “I’m glad I could touch you.”
He tried to comb her hair with his crumbling claws. Rotten ooze dripped down and got stuck in her locks.
“Even after I’m gone, you must not cry since I won’t be able to comb your hair like this anymore.”
With her hair being combed, Brunhild murmured, “What in the world are you doing?”
The dragon was taken aback. She had spoken so coldly, said something so uncharacteristic of his sister.
“It’s true. There was a time when I suffered. But I overcame that. I was able to forgive. But you let my family die, right in front of me. Do you want me to suffer further? Did I do anything to make you hate me?”
The dragon was flustered. “You’re mistaken. Sigurd just used your sympathy to control you. You mustn’t forget how much he made you suffer…”
“No one has made me suffer more than you,” Brunhild spat.
Then she looked at the dragon and said, “Monster.”
She said it again. They were words of hate. “You monster.”
Not understanding what she was saying to him, the dragon was unable to move for a while. “Mon…ster?”
Slowly, he digested the words. It took some time for him to understand what she’d just said, and once he did, the dragon was filled with a violent heat.
“You just aren’t aware of how much I’ve cared for you. I’ve only ever had eyes for you. I’ve helped you countless times without you knowing. You shouldn’t have loved a man like him—you should love me. Because I’m your…”
Richard steeled himself and said it—the thing that he hadn’t been able to say until today.
“…I’m your real brother.”
He didn’t know whether she believed that right away. But it appeared she didn’t care whether it was true or not.
Because she replied, “So what?”
And then she delivered a fatal remark: “You’re no family to me.”
At that moment, Richard felt as if he heard the sound of glass shattering in his head. It was the sound of his illusions breaking.
Brunhild was looking at him with cold eyes. But that vision was a lie.
The truth was this:
Brunhild would cry tears of joy upon reuniting with her real brother, and she would realize how great her brother was to have protected her all this time. She would rush up to him and embrace him, whispering sweetly, Welcome home.
And then they would embrace until morning. Once it was morning, he would be a corpse again, but he wouldn’t be scared anymore. Since his sister, the sister he loved, was embracing him. Even if it was only temporary, he would have been able to return to Brunhild as her brother.
They were their only family in the world after all.
But—
But why was Brunhild not moving?
Why was she just glaring at him instead of embracing him?
It was like she was glowering at the enemy.
“This is…this is ridiculous… You…”
Why wouldn’t she say “Welcome home”?
Hadn’t she promised to welcome him back?
The heat that had been smoldering within the dragon blazed up all at once. It was the fire of anger. He had been betrayed. Brunhild would not reward the love he’d shown her, not even a little. It was all Brunhild’s fault.
“You!”
The dragon rose up to bear down on Brunhild, bowling over the petite girl. There was no way someone as small as her could beat a dragon.
The dragon howled at her. Scattering spittle, crumbling flesh, and dripping rot covered Brunhild.
“Die. Just die. You’re no sister to me.”
The dragon wielded his fangs, ready to crush Brunhild’s head in his jaws.
But she ordered him coldly, “You die.”
The dragon was the one to break. Everything above his neck exploded. A watery sound, like a rotten fruit being crushed, dissipated into the tranquility of the night. Filthy black blood, half-melted rotten flesh, and exploded brain plopped down to the ground, scattering over Brunhild. A moment later, the remains of the dragon collapsed.
It moved no more.