-1007- A dark secret..

Afterward, Kojou and Nagisa directly moved into Rozen's house.

There was no choice. Due to the fierce battle between Rozen and Balthazar Zaharias, the area around Kojou and Nagisa's apartment suffered varying degrees of damage.

Even though Rozen and Balthazar Zaharias deliberately held back, the aftermath of the battle between Hokuto and the three Primogenitors' level of Beast Vassals was still enough to cause significant destruction.

Considering that the area was now sealed off by the Sanctuary Security Force, Kojou and Nagisa couldn't return home. Consequently, they ended up staying directly at Rozen's house.

Fortunately, Akatsuki Gajou was currently wandering outside Itogami Island, and Akatsuki Mimori, despite being the head of the MAR medical department, happened to be absent that day. The damage to parts of the southern district and the complete freezing of the northern district didn't affect Kojou and Nagisa's family, allowing Kojou to feel relieved.

Of course, saying he felt relieved was relative.

Regardless, Nagisa remained unconscious, seemingly engaged in a fierce struggle with the spirit inside her body, unwilling to let the other party take over her body, making Rozen reluctant to wake her up casually.

Therefore, Rozen could only perform the exorcism ritual on Nagisa again to weaken the power of the spirit inside her and reduce its influence on Nagisa.

As a result, Nagisa's condition improved slightly. Although she still hadn't woken up, she no longer looked as tormented and could sleep peacefully.

In this situation, Kojou took the initiative to stay in the room, looking after Nagisa, while Rozen went back to his own room, preparing to sleep.

Or so he thought...

"Unfortunately, my bed has already been occupied."

Looking at the fairy girl sleeping soundly in his own bed, Rozen shrugged.

Although there were other rooms in the house, he didn't feel comfortable letting the girl sleep elsewhere.

"Once she wakes up, who knows what she'll do."

That was secondary.

The more serious issue was...

"If Natsuki-nee comes back and finds me bringing a stranger girl home, the consequences..."

Rozen pondered for a moment, shivering involuntarily.

So, Rozen could only hide the girl in his own room. In case of any emergency, he could immediately move her away.

"Come to think of it, I haven't prepared clothes for her yet."

Rozen looked at the fairy girl tucked into his bed, covering her barely clothed body, feeling a headache coming on.

"I wonder if Natsuki-nee has any clothes I can give to this child."

With that said, Rozen went to Natsuki's room. When he arrived at the door, he tried to open it.

However, just as Rozen was about to touch the door...

"Crack!"

With a crackling sound like an explosion, a burst of magic turned into an electric shock, pushing Rozen's hand away.

"Ouch!"

Caught off guard by the shock, Rozen recoiled, both in pain and surprise.

It was only then that Rozen realized.

"Natsuki-nee... actually set up a barrier around her room...?"

After using Spirit Vision combined with Mind's Eye to see through this, Rozen was speechless.

While it made sense to set up a barrier around one's home to guard against potential attacks from unknown enemies, why set up a barrier on the room door?

"It's not like it's a treasure vault..."

Rozen felt somewhat annoyed, but then remembered something.

"Come to think of it, Natsuki-nee once specifically instructed me never to enter her room under any circumstances."

That was something from childhood, and Rozen had almost forgotten about it.

But he remembered that back then, Natsuki-nee's expression was particularly serious, even with a hint of killing intent, as if she would destroy anyone who dared to disobey her words, making the young Rozen nod repeatedly.

Now, many years later, Rozen suddenly realized that he had never actually entered Natsuki-nee's room.

And Natsuki-nee had set up a barrier at the door of her room...

"Could there be some extraordinary secret inside?"

Rozen's curiosity surged.

This led Rozen to subconsciously use Spirit Vision to observe the barrier in front of him.

"Defend against external enemies, repel touch, automatic rebound, space fixation... How many spells did Natsuki-nee use to create this barrier?" Rozen's mouth twitched.

The barrier in front of him was obviously meticulously arranged, of a level far beyond the ordinary. If it weren't for a witch of Natsuki's caliber, ordinary witches wouldn't even notice the existence of this barrier. Rozen himself wouldn't have detected it if he hadn't observed it specifically. This led to his inadvertent touch of the barrier, revealing its high level.

However, was it necessary to set up such a high-level and complex barrier for just one room?

"Now, I really want to see what secrets are inside."

Rozen's curiosity soared.

Rozen's knowledge in magic and jujutsu surpassed that of world-class libraries, accumulated over several worlds.

With the help of his Heaven's Eye, he had already integrated all his knowledge. He could proficiently use any kind of magic and jujutsu, even summoning the top-tier familiars successfully.

With his skills, he could have researched even the highest-level summoning spells like Divine Invocation if it weren't for his insufficient inherent magic power.

With such ability, even if the barrier was set up by a witch of the highest level, Rozen could secretly break it without being noticed.

"If it weren't for the space fixation, I could just teleport inside."

But Natsuki probably considered this, hence the specific spell for space fixation?

"So..."

Rozen extended his hand, placing a finger on the barrier, and began chanting a spell.

"Clang..."

A faint halo shimmered on the door.

Rozen didn't destroy the entire barrier but instead let the magic bypass other spells and only distort the part responsible for space fixation.

Presumably, even Natsuki couldn't have expected that Rozen possessed such techniques, right?

Thus, Rozen successfully deactivated the spell for space fixation temporarily.

"Now's the time!"

Ripples of space engulfed Rozen, swallowing him and making him disappear in front of the door, transferring him to the interior of the room.

The next moment, Rozen saw the state of the entire room.

"This...!?"

At that moment, Rozen widened his eyes, dumbfounded.

Because what appeared before him was a sight he never could have imagined.

In Natsuki's room, it was filled with dolls.

They were dolls of a young boy.

Some were miniature dolls, some were cartoonish dolls, some were life-sized adult dolls, and some were small dolls like cellphone charms, all of them dolls.

And these dolls, Rozen was extremely familiar with.

They were unmistakably...

"Me..."

Yes.

All those dolls were replicas of Rozen, from his infancy at one year old to his current fifteen years old, depicting his entire growth process, each year's doll present.

"...."

Rozen fell silent instantly.

"Just... just pretend I didn't see this..."

Rozen, sweating coldly, disappeared on the spot, fleeing like an escapee.

And the scene in this room was destined to become a dark secret.