Eileen sat on the edge of the bed in the tower room, her thoughts still weighed down by the heavy memories of the underground chamber from earlier and the pressure of the upcoming journey to the Empire.
Lillisa quietly brushed her silver hair with gentle movements.
Knock, knock, knock.
The knocking carried a familiar yet somewhat restrained rhythm.
“Please come in,” Eileen responded.
The door opened, revealing Regilith’s figure in the doorway.
She was still pale from her severe wounds but seemed to be forcing herself to stay composed.
She wasn’t wearing her Paladin armor but a set of dark, practical clothes suitable for movement, covered by a cloak. Her deep blue hair, as dark as the night sky, was simply tied back, losing some of its battlefield sharpness but gaining a sense of worn neatness.
However, her eyes did not match the relaxed appearance. Instead, they held a complicated emotion—apology, gratitude, the sadness of imminent separation, and a faint… almost imperceptible awkwardness.
She stepped inside and closed the door behind her with a stiff motion, clearly hindered by her injuries.
Unlike usual, she didn’t walk straight up to Eileen but stopped at the entrance, gazing deeply with unmasked concern and a heavy burden weighing on her.
“Eileen…” Regilith began, her voice low, hoarse from her unhealed wounds and tinged with subtle difficulty. She omitted the surname, betraying their long-standing camaraderie. “How is your condition… really? When I saw you faint, I was almost terrified. And you… you’re really going to the Empire?”
The pact with the Empress wasn’t a secret; all comrades were well aware.
Still, Regilith couldn’t help but feel reluctant. She had only just managed to leave the past behind and become truly herself again, yet they were about to part once more—barely even a moment for repentance or making amends.
As the memories surged back, she realized just how much she owed this young woman before her.
She took a few steps forward, stopping a few paces from Eileen, her gaze carefully scanning her face as if to confirm her condition. “Haelga already told me… about the laboratory inside the Empire… and those…”
She hesitated, not wanting to mention the horrors of the underground chamber again. Her voice dropped even lower. “You always…”
The room fell silent for a moment.
Lillisa stopped brushing and quietly stepped aside.
Regilith took a deep breath, as if gathering her resolve.
She lifted her head and met Eileen’s eyes without a trace of scrutiny, only deep apology and sincerity.
“Eileen,” her voice carried a weighty solemnity, “I… came to apologize. And to say sorry for not being able to do better.”
She lowered her head slightly. “Back when we were with the ‘Rainbow Bonds,’ I always placed the burden of my family above all else, unknowingly hurting you deeply. I wanted to make it right, but now you’re leaving again.”
She raised her eyes, burning with intensity. “And I also want to thank you… Thank you for saving the Holy Capital, saving Roswither, saving so many people, and pulling me back from the brink.”
Her voice tightened. “Without you… everything here, including me, would probably have turned to dust among the ruins. This debt… Regilith will remember it for a lifetime!”
“But…” Regilith’s tone suddenly dropped, heavy with regret and reluctance. She even unconsciously clenched the fist hanging at her side. “I… can’t go with you and Haelga to the Empire.”
She lifted her gaze, eyes struggling but more resolute from the weight of responsibility. “The Holy Capital was destroyed too thoroughly. The Order of the Restoration Knights needs someone to rally the flag again. The surviving believers need guidance, the ruins need clearing, and order needs rebuilding… Roswither, everyone needs her. So…”
She looked at Eileen, her deep blue eyes filled with reluctance and an urgency that bordered on a promise: “So… I have to stay behind for now… But Eileen, please believe me!”
She stepped forward, her tone suddenly firm, almost urgent. “Once this place, once the Holy Capital is somewhat stable, once I’ve arranged what needs to be done, I will come find you! No matter where you are in the Empire! No matter what you face! I will come find you! We promised—the ‘Rainbow Bonds’ will always be together! Even though we’ve hurt each other before, even though there were deep misunderstandings…”
She forced a smile, though it was strained and only made her sincerity more apparent. “So… so until then…”
Regilith’s voice suddenly caught, and an expression appeared on her face completely at odds with her usual heroic and poised demeanor—a shy awkwardness.
She seemed hesitant to meet Eileen’s eyes, her gaze flickering slightly, and a faint flush coloring her cheeks. Yet her tone was earnest, even clumsily urgent:
“…Before then… could I… could I do something for you, Eileen?” She finally returned her gaze, with a hint of pleading that brooked no refusal. “I can do anything! As long as you need it!”
The room fell silent again.
Eileen’s eyes, carrying a subtle playfulness and a deeper warmth, slowly and unabashedly scanned the slightly flustered Paladin before her.
From her loosely tied but slightly disheveled deep blue hair, to the clearly defined and powerful shoulders and arms honed by years of training beneath her dark clothes, down to the faint curves and tight waist visible even under loose garments.
This healthy, vibrant beauty, under the emotion of parting and her awkwardness, seemed especially vivid.
A strange smile, tinged with a little mischief and… well, definitely not “innocent,” slowly curved at the corner of Eileen’s lips.
The smile was lazy and seductive, carrying a hint of “since you’re coming to me willingly” meaning.
“Oh? Anything at all, you say?”
Eileen’s voice dropped low, with a lazy drawl, golden eyes narrowing slightly and sparkling with ambiguous light. Her gaze swept over Regilith as if tangible, finally resting on her chest, rising and falling slightly from nerves (and inexplicable emotions). “Then, those ‘other things’—I mean the other ones, you know… how about that?~~”
She deliberately dragged out the tone, her words dripping with ambiguity.
Regilith froze, stunned by Eileen’s sudden, aggressively intense gaze and that wicked smile!
A strange warmth, unlike anything she’d ever experienced, surged from the base of her neck straight to the top of her head!
Her cheeks instantly burned like fire!
She tensed instinctively, feeling that gaze like a heat, penetrating her thin shirt, leaving her utterly exposed.
What knightly composure? What captain’s authority? At this moment, they all fell away! She could even hear her own heart pounding wildly like a frightened rabbit in her chest!
This person who just saved the world—this look, this tone… why did it feel even harder to resist than the Abyss Lord?!
“Ei… Eileen?! What… what do you mean?!”
Regilith’s voice cracked, thick with panic and confusion. She instinctively stepped back half a pace, losing all the bravado and confidence she had just displayed moments before.