Regression
Helena put the cookie she had left behind in her mouth.
“It’s sweet and crunchy…”
This was the taste Helena often made for me when I was young, before meeting Celine. How adorable it was to see her smiling with soot smeared on her snow-white cheeks.
Although she was only a year younger than me, she still looked like that cute girl in my eyes.
“By the way, even if I die, can I still feel the taste and texture…?”
I had definitely been cut and died.
To check, I brushed my cool nape. The pendant necklace, a memento from my mother, came to mind.
Out of curiosity, I took it out from under my clothes. The bright red gemstone was now dull.
“Before dying… it was definitely shining brightly.”
My mother passed away not long after I was born. Although she remained at the 4-star rank in swordsmanship, I had heard she reached the 6-star level through self-study of magic.
And this pendant, a memento of my mother. I had heard it was something my mother cherished since she was little.
“Could this be…?”
Is this the regression artifact I saw in novels?
In the original story, Neville just died.
Why did I regress?
Suddenly, a sound of running came from beside me. When I turned my head, I saw Helena running towards me with tears streaming down her face.
“Big brother!!! My teacher is not here right now, she went to hunt monsters with sister, ugh… Are you okay? Do you know where we are?”
Helena approached me, sat down hesitantly beside me, and held my hand while speaking. Her red-rimmed eyes were pitiful and cute.
She smeared the burnt powder of the cookie on her nose.
“…Big brother?”
She looked at me with wide eyes. That cute face I remembered.
So I had regressed.
“Sorry, Helena. I’ve made you suffer all this time? I’ve come to my senses. I’m not crazy, so don’t worry.”
“Ugh— big brother— I was because of that woman—”
“That’s right, Helena. But what year is it in the Empire now?”
“I’ll bring my teacher—!!”
“No!! It’s okay, Helena!! Lena?!”
I barely calmed Helena down and learned that the current year was 1756 in the Empire. The year I was 17, the fourth year of being captivated by Celine. Fortunately, the family's prestige was still intact.
“Hah, look at my body and skin color.”
The appearance of a pale mackerel reflected in the mirror. It was the opposite of the scarred, muscular body from before death.
I had quit sword training because Celine wanted me to, and I was a dropout. Moreover, I remembered that because of the advice to care about beauty, I had removed the muscles I had worked hard to build.
Thanks to that, I was cut off by my father and locked in the room. Upon thinking, Celine had told me to stay away from my older sister and younger sister around that time.
Although I asked for the reason, she didn't answer, but as a brainless, perverted, useless dropout, I faithfully followed. No matter how much my younger sister and older sister knocked on the door, I ignored them until the end, and that coldness continued even when the war started.
“This time, I won't do that. I'll get along well with everyone again... and live happily.”
For now, I solved it well with Helena right after meeting her, but Kaina noona is currently out hunting monsters. What will happen when we meet. I'll probably get hit first.
“…For now, let's make the rings first.”
I locked the door and sat in seiza in the center of the room. The mana ring I stole from the Northern Grand Duke is the lost breathing technique. It's the Sun Breath.
Famous families have their own inherited breathing techniques, and the color and characteristics of the aura are determined accordingly. There are also general breathing techniques, but the limit is 5-star.
Inherited breathing techniques have no theoretical limit, but everyone enters families with breathing techniques to train and devote loyalty to the master. The Valkian family uses Shadow Breath. One of the sword families where breathing divides into multiple branches.
But commonly, the aura is black, and the part where the blade cuts rots like poison. Then, what about the Sun Breath?
The part where the blade cuts in the aura burns and prevents regeneration. That's why I cut the saint's arms and eyes. I checked that it didn't regenerate and saw a despairing expression, which was worth seeing.
It's not the end here. Although it's difficult to weave one ring with Sun Breath, the efficiency of power is better compared to other rings. It also has the cheat characteristic of being compatible between rings.
Through breathing, mana rings are created in the heart. One ring per 1-star. From 6 rings or more, it's called Sword Master, and those who reach 9-star are said to become Grand Sword Master in legendary stories.
Normally, to learn other breathing techniques, one has to break the rings and endure the backlash. In this process, one can die, so everyone avoids trying to switch to other breathing. But Sun Breath can be created even with other rings.
Before death, I was a 2-star swordsman with Shadow Breath, but I reached 6-star with Sun Breath. It's a cheat, but I can say I was a 5-star swordsman. Of course, because I trained brutally, my qi was damaged and I couldn't exert proper strength. But now, I can grow stronger without destroying it.
The war happens 4 years later. Until then, I need to safely create the rings through the memories and experiences of this life. Since I know the method.
Draw in the mana of the air deeply into the skin and breathing holes, flowing into the qi in the body. With Sun Breath, the body is heated and the acupoints. The impurities in the body are expelled, and I feel the sticky sweat flowing.
The mana that reached near the heart. I feel the two shadow rings existing in the heart. Next to it, I started to slowly and firmly construct the Sun ring.
If the ring is not properly constructed, the mana will rampage during fights and the qi will become disordered. My mistake in the previous life. Unlike then, the hot ring is constructed densely and delicately.
It feels like the heart is burning, and due to the sweat flowing all over the body, a fierce thirst is born. But I can't stop. I have to endure until the point of exhaustion.
I endured the agony that seemed like I would lose consciousness from biting my lips. How much time had passed?
I felt that the Sun ring was firmly attached to the heart, and I fainted as is.
When I opened my eyes, I was on the bed. My chest was strangely warm.
When I looked down, I saw the familiar silver hair with her face buried in my chest. Gently stroking that hair, she flinched and mumbled.
“Umm— big brother..”
Cute Helena. The lips touching the chest are slightly ticklish, but I want to feel this warmth a little more.
But why are all the top buttons undone. Was it because it looked hot and I took it off.
After stroking the smooth hair for a while, Helena slowly opened her eyes.
“Hah! Big brother? Are you okay? I tried to lock the door and talk, but since there was no answer, I forcibly opened it.”
She hurriedly stood up and arranged her hair. It's a pity. It was warm and good.
“Hah, sorry for barging in without permission.. You were angry saying not to come into the room. But since I was sweating a lot and collapsed, I had the servants wash me. I wanted to do it myself, but I thought you might not like it..”
At the end, I heard an odd word.
“You washing me.. Why would you look at my dirty body. Opening the door and coming in was good, Lena. Thanks to you, I'm refreshed.”
“It’s not dirty.. But Lena, Lena? I must not have misheard! You’re calling me by my nickname again?”
Her sparkling eyes and happy expression made my heart ache even more.
I reached out and gently pulled her soft cheek.
“Of course. My cute little sister Lena is the precious nickname I allowed only for me.”
“Ugh— big brother is back and touching me again— I’m so happy—“
Her words with tears dangling at the corners of her eyes were seriously cute. I slowly wiped away the tears.
“Lena, I won’t act like before anymore, so don’t worry. I’ve come to my senses too.”
“Really..? Until yesterday, you were shouting at me to stop talking because I stepped on the cookie you made.”
“Eh.. tha..”
“Even when Kaina noona said she was going to hunt monsters, you told me not to come back..”
“That’s..”
“Are you really not going to do that anymore?”
In her blue eyes, fear and hope were mixed paradoxically. The karma for the dog-like things I did. My mouth was bitter.
“I promise. From now on, I won’t treat Kaina noona and you carelessly.”
“…Really? You know that the Valkian family can't make promises lightly. You have to talk about the price for breaking them.”
Talking about the price for breaking the promise. It's an old tradition of the Valkian family and the reason they receive the Emperor's protection.
We are bound by the promise to help the Emperor and the legitimate successor, and for 800 years, we haven't broken that promise. The price for breaking it is voluntary dissolution of the family, so we have to keep it. It must be from Helena's words too.
Even though she was adopted and raised, she is a remarkable child who keeps her promises well.
“That’s right. If I do that again, I’ll become a dog for Kaina noona and Lena. A dog that obeys any command of the two of them. Is this enough?”
“Ah, then I’ll put on a leash! An artifact that only the one who put it on can remove. And I’ll even engrave the absolute command mana mark.”
“…What?”
Did I hear wrong? Isn't that a slave mark for slaves?
“It’s a promise, big brother, right?”
Smiling brightly and extending her pinky, I instinctively held it in return.
“Hehe.”
The happy smile made my head spin a bit. I didn't know Helena had such a yandere side. After meeting Celine, we hadn't had a proper conversation.
“Um, okay. I promise, Lena.”
“Hehe… If it’s hard, you can break it too..”
A creepy feeling. What did I do wrong to Lena. Ignore when spoken to, throw away the cookies or food I worked hard to bake on the floor, and curse that I would disappear forever if I went somewhere…
“I will definitely keep it…”
There were a lot accumulated, my little sister. I really have to do well from now on.
*
Helena's heart started to flutter at Neville's changed appearance. From the moment he entered the Valkian family according to Neville's first choice, he was Helena's savior and object of affection.
Big brother…
From the first day I met Celine, Neville ignored me like a possessed person. At the same time as being hurt by that appearance, a twisted desire was born. The desire to confine Neville so he couldn't escape.
Since big brother did wrong first.
I could forcibly realize that dark desire on the weakened Neville who put down his sword. But I didn't try because of Neville's appearance that didn't look at me at all. What I want is not affectionless confinement.
I want to lock my beloved big brother who only loves and desires me in a small room and share love every day. So that I can't live without me.
But today, before meeting that damned woman Celine, he looked at me with warm eyes. With affection. He hugged me, touched my cheek, stroked my hair. Even the nickname Lena again!
A possibility has appeared.
Helena, who woke up refreshed after sleeping. Followed Neville heading to the training ground. In a state of body pressed close, unlike when I was young.