Sira lay on the bed, staring blankly at the girl whose face was twisted in pain.
A golden beam of light rose from her hand, hoping to ease some of her suffering.
But the moment she touched her, black smoke curled up from the girl’s skin where contact was made.
‘I know the Demon Race can’t come into contact with Divine Healing Art. Why did I use it on a whim?’
Sira hastily withdrew her hand, regretting it as she stared at the blackened patch of skin.
But what was done was done.
That was a lesson her brother had taught her.
She always remembered it.
Her eyes full of guilt, she looked at the girl again.
To her surprise, the corroded skin was healing at a visible rate.
The charred area had already peeled off, new, tender skin growing in its place.
Her small mouth opened slightly.
She covered her gaping mouth with her pale hands.
By the time she made that motion, the wounds on Raphael’s body had fully healed.
There was no trace of the injured state from before.
The skin was now so smooth and delicate, as if the damage Sira had inadvertently caused had never happened.
She looked once more at that furrowed brow and fell into a daze.
Raphael’s face seemed both familiar and strange.
A look of dejection settled on Sira’s own face.
‘That’s my brother, Emil La’an.’
She hadn’t seen him in a long time.
The last time was half a year ago.
The girl before her bore some resemblance to her brother.
Well, only some.
When she first saw her, she thought it was him.
But upon closer inspection, she realized they weren’t the same person.
Their facial features were very similar, even the black mole on the chest was in the exact same spot.
But her brother definitely didn’t have those curves on his chest.
If he did, he wouldn’t be a brother, but a sister.
Sira shook her head, a bitter smile spreading across her face.
‘I must be sick. The person in front of me is clearly a girl, but I keep seeing her as my brother.’
Suddenly, as if realizing something, she jerked her gaze to the center of Raphael’s chest.
It was covered by cloth, but she could faintly make out a dark mark there.
A bold idea surged into her mind.
‘Is it possible that my brother turned into a girl?’
Sira thought this without any real basis.
Such a thing couldn’t possibly happen.
But she felt it was true.
She lay there, staring at Raphael with some confusion.
The pained expression on the girl’s face had eased a little.
Without Sira noticing, a faint white glow had begun to emanate from Raphael’s body.
—
She kept her eyes fixed on Raphael all night, until the sun rose.
Raphael’s eyelashes fluttered slightly, and her steady breathing stopped.
Sira looked at her nervously.
‘She seems to be waking up.’
She forced down the fear in her heart.
She was terrified that this was just her own speculation.
That she was basing this belief on some not-so-obvious traits, thinking Raphael might be her brother.
Such a thought was utterly unreasonable, but she truly believed it.
Raphael’s eyes slowly opened.
She turned over, staring blankly at the white ceiling with her purple eyes.
Sira’s heart surged with excitement.
The feeling within her grew stronger.
‘Purple pupils… purple pupils… They’re purple pupils!’
‘Right. How could there be so many coincidences in the world?’
If the mole and facial features could be explained away as coincidence, then the purple pupils linked everything together.
From beginning to end, the only person with purple pupils had been her brother.
She let out an excited, soft cry, laden with tentative caution.
“Brother…”
Raphael’s somewhat dazed eyes cleared for a brief moment.
She closed her eyes in confusion.
“Heh, I guess I’m not awake yet. What a strange dream. How could Sira possibly be here? Since it’s a dream, I might as well… wake up soon.”
Hearing Raphael say that, Sira’s tears nearly fell.
Her guess was correct, absolutely correct.
The person in front of her was none other than her brother, Emil La’an.
No, she should be called Sister Raphael now.
Excitedly, she hugged her brother, who was only an arm’s length away.
Tears slowly slid from the corners of her eyes, and a choked sob escaped her throat.
“Sister… I missed you so much. I really, really missed you. I thought… I thought you were dead… sob“
Raphael’s body stiffened slightly.
‘That voice… isn’t that my sister Sira?’
‘This dream feels pretty real.’
She opened her eyes in some confusion, turning her head to look.
Sira was now clinging tightly to her arm, muttering something intermittently.
Raphael instinctively placed her hand on Sira’s golden hair, gently patting her, as if comforting a wounded little animal.
A warm, wet sensation came from her arm, along with the touch of the girl holding it.
Everything felt so unreal.
She hesitated before speaking.
“Sira… what’s wrong? Did someone bully you?”
Raphael looked at Sira, whose body was trembling slightly, her own hands starting to shake.
Sira lifted her head, wiping away the tears from the corners of her eyes with one hand.
She forced a smile, breaking into laughter through her tears, and said, “Long time no see… Brother. Sira, Sira really, really missed you.”
Raphael’s heart ached.
She pulled the sobbing, trembling Sira into her arms, gently patting her back.
She spoke softly, “Long time no see, Sira. I missed you a lot too.”
The two girls, one older and one younger, hugged tightly on the bed.
Raphael had previously wondered how she would reveal herself to her sister when they met again.
She was also afraid of how Sira would look at her if she knew her brother had become her sister and was serving as a maid.
But now, she realized she had worried for nothing.
Her sister wouldn’t care about any of that.
It was because…
She was her brother.
The one she trusted and relied on the most.
Raphael felt the still-trembling body in her arms, her face full of sympathy.
No one knew how long it had been when the crying finally stopped.
Sira lifted her head slightly, looking at Raphael’s face.
Her eyes were red and swollen from crying.
Raphael wiped the corner of her eye with her slender hand, a faint glistening stain left behind.
She patted her back gently, saying, “Don’t cry… don’t cry. I’m here.”
Then Raphael showed a sweet smile.
Sira was a little stunned by that smile.
Her brother seemed to have changed, yet somehow remained the same.
Looking at Raphael, Sira asked, “So now, should I call you… brother or sister?”
Raphael’s body stiffened.
She gently stroked her golden hair.
“Sira… just call me brother.”
Sira nodded vigorously, hugging Raphael’s arm even tighter.
Raphael’s eyes widened.
She could barely breathe, barely holding herself back from pushing her sister away.
But eventually, she was suffocating.
Her face was turning red and purple, and her eyes were bulging slightly.
Only then did she gently tap Sira’s shoulder.
“Cough… cough… let me go first.”
Sira rubbed against her brother, then let go of her arms.
They separated a little.
Sira yawned, her eyelids starting to droop.
Raphael took a deep breath, the suffocating feeling easing.
She looked at the drowsy girl.
She smiled.
Soon, only the sound of Sira’s steady breathing filled the room.
Occasionally, she would mutter in her sleep, “Brother… sigh… Sister… mm…”