You think you're worthy of saving the world?

Because it took a full hour to walk, it was completely dark when I got home.

The corridor was unbelievably quiet; if it weren't for the dust floating in the air, it would have given one the eerie feeling that time had stood still.

"?"

Yuri suddenly felt that something was wrong, but she couldn't put her finger on why. She only regretted not slipping a note under the door like Light Yagami did when she left.

Oh right, that idiot Stella lives here too, so stuffing it in won't make a difference.

After changing into slippers, Yuri tiptoed into the living room.

I nervously looked around the room shrouded in darkness, but found nothing suspicious.

Yuri breathed a sigh of relief and turned to walk towards the washroom.

But as soon as he turned around, his whole body stiffened and he couldn't move.

A red top hat, red lips, a red dress, and red stockings.

A woman, whose entire body appeared to be covered in red, stood quietly at the door of the washroom.

In the dim light, her skin was even paler than that of a witch.

The face beneath the wide-brimmed hat was eerily beautiful, sending chills down one's spine in the cold night.

"Oh... It's Princess Rosalia, don't scare me."

Yuri pressed down on his heart, which was about to explode.

"Didn't you just return to the capital the day before yesterday? Why are you here again?"

How did you get here? Even by train, it wouldn't be this fast! Does Cecilia know you've come to the Vatican again?

One question after another popped into Yuri's mind, the most intriguing of which was why she had come to her house.

Rosalia knew Yuri's address, but had never visited it before.

Although they are now allies, it doesn't mean they've actually become lovers.

Auntie, isn't it a bit inappropriate for you to go to a boy's house so late at night?

Just as Yuri was lost in thought, Rosalia silently took two steps forward and then pressed herself against the boy.

"Auntie! Oh dear...you mustn't!"

Yuri thought Rosalia had finally succumbed to her lust and was about to take him for herself and devour him completely.

And at the time when he was prepared to defend his chastity to the death—

Rosalia collapsed directly into Yuri's arms.

Her soft, plump body was incredibly weak, and her pale, delicate face was completely bloodless.

Even the heavy mass on the boy's face could only be felt as a very faint heartbeat.

Yuri quickly helped her to sit up straight.

"Your Highness?"

The boy nervously shook her shoulder.

"Rosalia?"

"The Empress?"

"The child's mother?"

"Aunt Rosa?"

However, no matter how Yuri called out, the Grand Duchess kept her eyes closed, except when she was called "Red Silk Suspender Old Woman," her eyebrows seemed to twitch slightly.

The palms supporting my waist and ribs felt warm and moist.

Yuri looked down.

Rosalia's slender waist was wrapped in bandages, and deep red blood was seeping through the strips of cloth.

Then look into the washroom.

The blood-stained bandages scattered on the white porcelain floor looked like blooming roses of death.

"..."

Without hesitation, Yuri carried the unconscious woman nestled in his arms back to the bedroom and tossed her onto the bed.

028 Accomplice?

So bright...

Rosalia thought this in a hazy state of consciousness.

The night air was cold and clear, and for the first time in her life, she felt that her body did not belong to her.

Compared to the pain that spreads throughout the body, the sense of powerlessness that comes from losing control of one's own body is more painful, but...

The warm white light filling her vision gave Rosalia a sense of security.

"Little...Yuri...?"

As the light dimmed slightly, a delicate face came into view.

The black-haired boy was standing next to Rosalia, continuously using low-level healing magic since earlier.

Lacking advanced healing techniques, he could only compensate for quality with quantity through this clumsy method.

The boy's calm golden eyes were dimmed, perhaps due to the exhaustion of his spiritual energy, and his breathing was also erratic.

Upon closer inspection, his white shirt was stained and congealed with Rosalia's blood, becoming filthy.

"……What are you doing?"

Rosalia asked the question with difficulty.

Although she desperately wanted to sit up, she couldn't move a single finger and was now at the mercy of the boy.

"Why are you asking me? Didn't you break into someone else's house without permission? You look half dead... I'm telling you, you didn't bring your pursuers with you, did you?"

Euryphus didn't even look up, continuing to complain as if blaming someone, while his hands continued to perform the treatment.

"You actually asked me to heal you? You don't really think my healing skills are that great, do you?"

"Sigh, what can we do? We're accomplices! Just lie down quietly, it'll be over soon."

A white light, brimming with spiritual energy, continuously overflowed from the boy's palm, enveloping Rosalia's body.

"Idiot... Waaah... Who told you to... save me..."

Rosalia, utterly speechless, spoke in a hoarse, beautiful voice.

"I wanted you to... send me to the Blue Cosmos..."

"..."

Yuri slowly raised his head, revealing a dazed expression that said, "Huh? So that's how it is?"

Rosalia's subordinates throughout the lower city include many high-ranking clergy of the fourth rank or above, so Yuri's healing effect is probably not even comparable to that of a single finger of theirs.

Thinking about it carefully, there's absolutely no reason why she would ask me to save her.

At the time, I was just feeling that Rosalia trusted me so much, and in a moment of passion, I kept her there, completely forgetting about this whole thing.

Yuri retorted stubbornly, "Do you think I don't know? Fine, if you don't want me to treat you, then forget it. I'll send you there now."

As he said this, the boy embraced the woman's soft, boneless body and tried to lift her off the bed.

However, two fingers gently pinched his cuff.

Rosalia's beautiful eyes flickered, and with her last bit of strength, she shook her head.

"Let me... stay here..."

After leaving those words behind, she closed her eyes weakly.

In the hazy, distant consciousness, the boy's voice clearly reached his ears.

"Just lie there and rest, Auntie."

A faint smile unconsciously appeared on Rosalia's lips.

"……Um."

……

……

……

When Rosalia opened her eyes again, it was already five o'clock in the morning of the next day.

She propped herself up on her elbows and first checked her injuries. She found that the bandage on her waist had been changed at least twice, and the brand-new white cloth strips indicated that the bleeding had completely stopped.

Next, Rosalia looked around the unfamiliar indoor environment to make sure there was no danger.

Finally, she turned her gaze to the black-haired boy who was quietly lying by the bed.

Euryphus Falción, the only accomplice in the world who knows his own secret and keeps each other's secrets.

The mysterious boy, whose true face could not be seen even by the Empress's Eye, now revealed an adorable, unguarded sleeping face like a child.

Last night, he almost exhausted all his spiritual power and energy to treat Rosalia.

Speaking of which... why did I escape here last night?

My memories have become hazy and unclear.

Rosalia, on the verge of death, did not flee back to the capital, nor to the Grand Duchy.

She wasn't going to find her daughter or her subordinates; instead, she instinctively went to Yuri's house, a place she had never visited before.

If the initial intrusion into Yuri's house could be explained as a loss of consciousness due to excessive blood loss, then...

So when Yuri suggested sending her to receive better treatment, Rosalia's insistence on staying was completely inexplicable by common sense.

If we had to find a reasonable explanation, it would be that the pure white light that enveloped me at that time was very warm.

At the same time, there was a hint of heartache in Yuri's eyes as she looked at herself...

"Hehe, that's incredible..."