Two Rings
“...What does this new maid know that she's acting like this?”
Helena gritted her teeth inwardly.
'A maid talking back...?'
She wanted to scold her harshly, but in front of her precious brother.
With her kind and delicate brother, asserting authority might disappoint him. And she sensed something strange about this maid.
She couldn't say for sure, but her instinct told her not to act rashly.
Because of her sensitive senses, Helena had sensed Anna's strength.
“I apologize for overstepping. But since His Highness must be hungry, it seems you were eating slowly.”
Anna said this, pulling a chair over and sitting beside Neville.
“So, I will feed him from the side as well.”
“Hah?”
“Eh...?”
Helena's dumbfounded rebuttal.
And Neville's confusion.
'Is feeding someone normally the default? It shouldn't be.'
Helena feeding him directly, and suddenly Anna sitting next to him were both full of questions.
“Ah—”
“Eh, eh? Ah.”
Anna, with a blank expression, extended a piece of steak.
She looked at me with apathetic eyes while saying 'ah'.
Unable to refuse, Neville opened his mouth and ate it.
Seeing this, Helena's veins bulged on her forehead.
'I thought you were obedient, but you bite back?'
Neville, with confused eyes, mumbled and swallowed.
She quickly speared another piece of steak and offered it again.
“Oppa!! I want some too!!”
“Eh? Ah, ah—”
“Next is vegetables. Ah—”
“Ugh, ah—”
“Hah!! Eat the baked potato too, ah—”
“Uwaah, w-wait—”
Consecutive fork attacks.
His throat clogged midway, but neither listened to his words. They just offered food at a rapid pace as if competing.
Finally, after emptying all the food on the table, the fork fights stopped.
Both looked at the empty plates with regret.
They had filled their stomachs satisfactorily, but it was too fast for what they wanted.
It felt like they might be scolded if wrong.
“...From tomorrow, I'll eat.”
“Hee, it's a shame, but from tomorrow, I'll eat with you too.”
“If you need anything, please let me know anytime.”
Another eye battle between the two.
They weren't meeting for the first time today, so the reason for this was incomprehensible.
“...It's fine, so let's both go rest now? I'm tired, so I want to sleep.”
“Ah... It's a shame, but I understand. Sweet dreams, Oppa!”
Helena, who whispered behind “if only it were my dreams” and turned around.
Thankfully, her affectionate personality hadn't changed.
When she was brought from the back alley, she was a bit awkward at first.
Looking at the place where Helena had left with a warm feeling, Anna approached.
She extended her hand, and a pretty small bell was placed on it.
“Your Highness, if something happens even at night, please ring this bell. I will come immediately.”
“Oh, thanks. So there are such things.”
“You only need to ring it whenever and wherever.”
“Yeah, then Anna, rest quickly too. You worked hard today.”
“...Thank you.”
Anna, after greeting, left.
Neville stared at the golden bell handed by Anna in wonder and lay down.
While expecting Celine's reply tomorrow.
The bell Anna gave Neville was a kind of artifact.
When the bell is rung, it is immediately delivered to Anna's ear.
Normally, she would hide in Neville's shadow, but it was a decision made because she judged she might be discovered.
'...She's watching again tomorrow.'
An oddly excited feeling.
Anna tilted her head at her strange own feeling and entered the room.
...
...
By now, the training ground where the sun rises.
She woke up early in the morning and moved her body.
Because of the sweat soaking her whole body, she took off her top and started strength training.
Similarly, when her body was about to give out from the pain, she rotated the ring.
When she could no longer move, she sat on the floor to rest, and her gaze felt directed, looking up it was Anna.
'Can a normal maid approach so silently?'
She wasn't a normal maid after all.
However, she didn't say anything while looking at him.
She looked a bit dazed, maybe sleepy.
“Anna? Good morning.”
“...Ah, good morning, Your Highness. A reply from the Celine family has arrived.”
“Hmm, fast. Thanks, Anna.”
“...I will place a towel here. If you need extra clothes, please let me know.”
“No, it's fine. If I keep seeing this ugly body, I won't think of building it.”
“It's not ugly...”
“Huh?”
“No.”
Somewhat bland.
Neville, muttering quietly, started reading the letter.
Anna continued to observe Neville moving his body in the training ground.
Like yesterday's running, she rotated the ring just before she was exhausted in the strength training.
'As expected, amazing.'
After that small admiration, her gaze went to the muscles finely divided on his thin body.
Even if his body grew and muscles swelled, it would be cool, but the beauty of just thin muscles was felt.
She stared for a long time without realizing, and her mind returned to Neville's voice.
“Good morning.”
The first greeting she heard.
Having a conversation with Neville gave her an itchy feeling.
It was a big mistake to observe his body and answer late, but she didn't scold him.
'Good person. But at the same time, thorough Valkian. Strange and mysterious.'
Anna believed that.
While being amazed that someone with Valkian's blood could be so warm.
'Behind, you damn girl.'
A small misunderstanding born because she didn't know about Neville's rough personality.
A monster who lived for 5 years for revenge.
She naturally suppressed his true nature with remorse and affection for the people in the family.
She was always ready to sink her fangs cruelly.
And the letter's reply quickly made Neville's heart beat.
“I plan to visit tomorrow, so let's meet and talk.”
A simple but extremely satisfying answer.
Neville's red eyes glowed with greed.
He had to become stronger by tomorrow.
He wiped his body with a towel and put on the wet clothes again.
The sensation of the clothes clinging to his body was quite unpleasant.
Asking Anna, who continued to look at him dazedly.
“Anna, Father allowed the royal medicine. Can you bring it? But you look a bit dazed.”
Although her body hadn't fully formed yet, she needed to extend the Sun ring for the future.
Then, the royal medicine was essential.
“Ah, it's fine. Sorry if it bothers you. His Highness said I can eat the royal medicine anytime he requests. Just exclude anything that doesn't suit the body.”
“Good. Do you have the Alkapros Root and the Heart of the Monstrous Bird too?”
“Of course. But those two...”
“Yeah. Different temperaments. I'll eat them separately, so don't worry, I'm not an idiot.”
“Yes. I overstepped. I'll prepare after breakfast.”
“Yeah, thanks. Let's go now.”
Neville smiled faintly and led the way.
...
...
After refreshing his body and eating breakfast, Anna brought the royal medicine he requested.
She said she would receive the order to prevent anyone from entering and left.
She seemed to know a lot about the royal medicine, so perhaps her father had raised a special knight.
She was probably hiding her territory.
'Father was really thoughtful.'
He held the received royal medicine in his hand.
The root of the Alkapros flower that survives in the harsh northern cold.
And the heart of the Monstrous Bird, rarely appearing in the southern volcanic region.
Both were filled with ice and fire mana respectively.
Without hesitation, he bit and ate both at once.
If Helena saw it, she would cry and make him vomit, and if Anna saw it, she would crack on her blank face.
Neville's action was literally insane.
When consuming the royal medicine, its properties had to be changed to match the breathing technique's characteristics.
It's hard to catch the mana surging in the body and make it into a ring or absorb it into the ring, let alone change the properties.
But hitting two opposite energies at once.
It's like putting dry ice in boiling water and finding a needle that fell on the floor.
If you can't find it in 1 second, you assume you'll die.
Neville's large determination action made his skin turn red then pale again.
His skin changing repeatedly.
Black waste and turbid blood flowed out from his whole body.
The waste was being pushed out by the competing mana of the two opposite energies.
But if he couldn't properly convert this energy.
'He dies.'
Intaking mana of different properties at once.
One of the crazy things Neville tried in his previous life.
The reason for his antics was one.
To become strong quickly.
When mana that contradicts the body comes in, it entangles like competing and the amount increases.
Normally, everyone dies from their body bursting during this process, so they don't do it.
But Neville, who desperately needed strength, tried it with the mindset of gambling and succeeded.
A body with insane recovery power.
And the will for revenge.
With these two, he endured the agony that seemed like his body would burst.
From the end of the mana that was swelling in resistance, he slowly converted the properties with the breathing technique.
Stubbornly and surely.
Neville, whose lips were chewed and blood flowed from his mouth while enduring the pain. His whole body swelled as if his veins would burst and his body trembled.
In a quiet room where the sound of pain didn't flow.
How much time had passed.
Gradually, the abnormal symptoms in his body subsided and he began to calm down.
At some point, he pulled out the teeth he had put in his mouth and concentrated.
Neville, who had sat motionless from after breakfast until late at night.
When he slowly opened his eyes, his red pupils were dyed with pleasure.
“Now two rings.”
The Sun ring extended by one more.
Even at an unbelievable density.
With a happy face, he rotated the ring, and hot heat spread through his body.
“Perfect.”
With the Shadow ring and the Sun ring, a total of four.
This much, the 5-star, or if lucky, the 6-star knight could be dealt with.
Neville tried to stand up, but fell to the floor and lost consciousness.
...
...
He woke up the next morning.
Two sweet voices echoed in his ears.
“I will bathe you.”
“...I am your exclusive maid. I will do it.”
“I'm your younger sister. And the maid doesn't need to bathe the master.”
“...You are not my real sister. And since I am the one who serves you, it is only right that I do it.”
“Hah? You know so much, you're not just a maid. But nominally, I'm your younger sister. You're just a maid. Of course, I should do it.”
“I can do it. No, I will do it.”
“I will do it.”
“I—”
What kind of situation is this?
Neville, who opened his eyes on the floor.
His body rose at the voices of the two conversing with him between them.