Parsed with an automated reader. The content accuracy is not guranteed.
(Hellooo~ does anyone miss our couple? This chapter is longer than usual because I want to share the fluff moments ^^)\n
āIāll ask the servants to prepare the bath. Take a bath first before you sleep. Iāll relay a message about your stay over to the Countās mansion.ā\n\nāThanks.ā\n\nI was about to leave the dining hall while holding Captain Julliusā hand when Ortzen suddenly added,\n\nāYou guys are still not allowed to bath together yet.ā\n\nāI know.ā\n\nI also know that much. Exactly, what does he take me for?\n\nAfter Iāve filled up my stomach and soaked in a warm water bath, the drowsiness that I had been suppressed up until now finally reached its peak. I almost fell a sleep in the bathtub and when I was done bathing, a silky nightgown has been prepared for me there. Thereāre only a few servants lived inside the Special Task Squadās headquarters because of various reasons but despite that I was still being served well by them. Maybe because I was used being served only by one maid, this sudden change made me felt satisfied by their excellent service and being served by more than one maid. In the Countās mansion, I felt bad for Sofia when she had to heat the water for my bath and filled the bathtub all by herself, and so I told her itās okay to bath in cold water because the weather is still hot anyways. Iāve raised the issue about the lack of servants in my pavilion but there wasnāt any servant whoās willing to work in my pavilion. If weāre still in the old times when thereās still slavery going on, I would have took some servants by forced to work in my pavilion, but unfortunately I couldnāt do so to the servants in current times because they are liberal people who have their own rights, and thus I could only give up in the end. My poor Sofia⦠I should reconsider to bring her along with me out from the Countās mansion.\n\nWhen I was done wearing my nightgown and put my slippers on, I step out to the hallway and saw some dim lights in the dark. The dim lights came from the mineral ores that were placed inside the castle wall at well-distance space. Those mineral ores were imbued with holy powers so they emitted faint lights, but the downside is once theyāre imbued with holy powers, there arenāt any switch to turn on and turn off the lights, so usually they were only used in hallways as lighting. Not to mention that the mineral ores are extremely expensive to bot. Special Task Squad is indeed rich. Or perhaps itās Clauen who is rich to be precise?\n\nāBy the way, where is Captain Julliusā room?ā\n\nI was lead by the servants to the bathroom, but after Iāve finished my bath and came out of the room, thereās no one here. Based on Ortzenās personality, he wouldnāt forgot to order someone to guide me back. If I wait here, there should be someone who will come to fetch me, butā¦\n\nāHe said that I can do anything and itās okay even if I make mischief, right?ā\n\nAlright! Now that Iāve gotten his permission, tonight Iāll do anything I want. Although I feel sleepy right now, but if I do some little exercises, I will have a better sleep later. It would be a nuisance to take another bath, so I should take it easy so I wouldnāt sweat. So, firstā¦\n\nTap! Tap! Tap! Tap!\n\nI ran through the hallway. It seems like I can run quite fast with this body. At the corner, I lightly step one foot on the ground while I used another foot to step and pressed onto the wall to spin my body in the air for once before landed again on the ground. My thin nightgown skirt got blown up a bit while I did the spin but itās okay, nobody saw it anyways.\n\nāThis bodyās weight is much lighter than I expected so I donāt need to put much force to move it. I think this bodyās agility is decent.ā\n\nHowever, due to the difference in muscle mass in comparison to my original body, this bodyās strenght is too weak, resulting in low efficiency. I suffered a huge loss. At the very least luckily I was once a Holy Knight so I still retained some useful abilities. If I were only a normal knight, my hands would be trembling all over and not be able to even wield a long sword properly.\n
The Holy Knightsā main ability is to be able to strengthen the bodyās physical strength with the holy power they possessed, so even an ordinary womanās body could be made to be useful.\n\nI stretched my arms out in front of me and the smooth skinny arms came into my sight under the dim lights. They looked too skinny in comparison to those of any average ladiesā and even half in size compared to my original bodyās arms. Moreover, I wasnāt that muscular either in the past. I could be considered to be rather slim compared to my fellow comrades.\n\nāI would rather be in a childās body whose age is less than ten years old. That way I will have more chances to grow stronger and wonāt be this hopeless.ā\n\nAt the age of nineteen, this bodyās growth was almost complete, so I would need more than twice the effort to nurture my strength compared to if I were in a childās body. In other words, if I started to madly train my body like thereās no tomorrow, then by the time I reached my original bodyās state, I would have been in my forties- and itās already too late to do anything else. If I tried really hard, I could become an official junior knight within five years, then in ten years it might be possible to become a senior knight, but even so, I would have been in my thirties. Most people would think that itās already an impressive achievement, but to be honest, Iām not satisfied in the slightest.\n\nāā¦, hah,thatās really depressing.ā\n\nYup, itās alright, all is fine as long as Iām still alive, no need to dwell too much on this matter. Iāll just consider it as early retirement and get my hands on the Countās property so I can live the rest of my life leisurely. I scratched the back of my head and went down the stairs. There are several floors here, I wonder where I am right now.\n\nā⦠Iām craving for some sweets.ā\n\nIf I go to the kitchen, I can look for some leftover chocolate there. The dining hall was obviously on the first floor. I even jumped down the remaining stairs at once and searched along the hallway. Not here⦠not here either⦠Where is this⦠Ah! Found it!\n\nāExcuse me, is there anyone here?ā\n\nIt was really dark inside the dining hall because all the lightings have been turned off. There wasnāt any people inside and even Sana, the head chef, seemed to be not in the place either. I saw it before that that door at the corner looked like it lead to the kitchen. I sneakily walked to the door which I assumed to be connected to the kitchen and grabbed the doorknob.\n\nCreakā¦\n
Yes! I know Iām right! When I pushed open the door, I still could see some faint lights from the burned charcoals inside the fireplace. I quickly closed the door and went inside then I turned on the fire lighter onto the charcoals so that the burned charcoals kept their lights to lighten up the dark spacious kitchen even for a bit. Oh, the kitchen here is much better than the one inside the Church.\n\nāThen, please pardon my intrusion, Miss Sanaā¦ā\n\nIāll just take a little bit food here and there and Iāll make sure nobody would ever notice that Iāve stolen some of it. Some well-seasoning frankfurters as big as goatās calf, grilled eels, and other similars food came into my sights but the food Iām looking for right now is dessert. It didnāt matter even if itās just some chocolate powder used for cake decoration. After I scanned the things placed on the counter, I reached out my hand onto the nearby cupboard. As soon as I opened the closed cupboardās door, a round object as large as an adultās fist rolled out from the inside and fell onto the floor. Thenā¦\n\nSqueak! Squeak! Squeak!\n\nāW-what is it?!ā\n\nA grey fur ball which fell on the floor started to spin around while letting out a loud squeking sounds. I subconsciously kicked the round strange object and finally the kitchen turned silence again after the strange object bumped into the wall. Whatās that? Is that a living creature? At the same time, I heard many quick footsteps came closer followed by a loud bang coming from the opened kitchenās door.\n\nāHEY!! Bavar, you bastard! Itās you againā huh? Miss Epheria?ā\n\nāAh, helloā¦ā\n\nI awkwardly smiled to Sana who was wearing her pajamas. She was perplexed to see me here and she widely opened her mouth after she noticed the grey fur ball fell on the floor.\n\nāMy rat number 3!ā\n\nā⦠I donāt know what it is, but Iām sorry.ā\n\nSana held the grey fur ball on her palm while looking sad and suddenly Ortzen appeared. He narrowed his eyes when he saw me inside the kitchen.\n\nāWhat did you do here?ā\n\nā⦠you said that I can do anything I want even if itās troublesome.ā\n\nāItās not⦠forget it. Please get out first.ā\n\nOrtzen just sighed and beckoned to me to follow him. If it wasnāt what I thought it was, then what could it be?\n\nāMiss, you are reallyā¦.ā\n\nāWhy do you stop talking?ā\n\nāThen, shall I continue?ā\n\nā⦠No need. Itās fine.ā\n\nAt least I know for sure that he wouldnāt say anything good to hear. Alright, I was wrong, I was indeed wrong. I was stupid for trusted him when he said that I could do anything I wanted. Tsk.\n\nāNow stop causing more troubles and just quietly go to sleep.ā\n\nāAlright. Where is Captain Julliusā bedroom?ā\n\nāItās in the middle section on third floor. Wasnāt he waiting for you in front of the bathroom? Iāve told him to wash up quickly and pick you upā¦ā\n\nāThere wasnāt anyone though?ā\n\nLet alone Captain Jullius, there was nobody, not even a single rat could be seen in front of the bathroom. Ortzen looked flustered after hearing my words.\n\nāThen where could heā no, he couldnāt have gone anywhere.ā\n\nOrtzen quickly left the dining hall and soon after, he pulled out Captain Jullius who was dead asleep inside his bathtub. Of course I didnāt see it myself. He wouldnāt let me in. Itās barely just a couple of minutes passed by, but Ortzen had a worn out look on his face and looked like heās aged three years older. He shoved us to the bedroom and told me to never ever left the room before the sky turned bright. It hasnāt been an hour since he said that we could do anything as we pleased but now heās going back on his words. Heās just like a reed!\n\n(T/N: ķ“ėź³ ģ ź°ė ź°ģ ģøź°ģ¼ģø is a Korean metaphor which literal translation is āheās like a reedā. It actually means to call out on someone whoās inconsistent in everything he do.)\n\nI climbed up onto the big bed then looked around Captain Julliusā bedroom. All the furnitures inside this spacious bedroom were luxurious but thereāre almost no traces of them ever being used so this room was clearly used just for sleep.\n
The books on the bookshelf and even the decorative items were meticulously placed as if they have just been placed here not long ago.\n\nāDo you feel very sleepy?ā\n\nCaptain Jullius who was laying on his stomach with his back facing up, lifted his head for a bit after he heard my question.\n\nāAfter I had a quick sleep, I can barely hold on.ā\n\nBut still, just by looking at his face and hearing his voice, I could tell that heās very sleepy. I pulled the blanket to cover him up and he buried his black-haired head in the pillow. I also feel sleepy. Now itās time for me to sleep too. I quickly fell into deep slumber after Iāve turned off the lights and crawled into the blanket.\n\n\n\n***\n\n\n\nAfter a long deep slumber, the day has turned bright and faint lights came inside the bedroom through the window. Back in the day when I was still in the church, because of the damn dawn prayer, I had to wake up on time unless thereās any specific reason that hindered me from doing so. It feels good to be lazy once in a while. Even though Iāve already waken up, I stayed inside the blanket for a bit more before getting up. Captain Jullius was still sleeping.\n\nāCaptain Jullius, are you asleep?ā\n\nHe still retained his sleeping posture by laying on his stomach just like that since last night without even moving an inch. I reached out my hand to stroke his head and his smooth silky black hair ran through my fingers. He lifted his head to face me and opened his pale grey eyes to look at me. At this time his eyes looked much more pretty than usual. His eyes are really beautiful.\n\nāDid you sleep well?ā\n\nAs I smiled and talked to him, he blinked his eyes slowly. He turned his body around to lay down sideways with one side of his cheeks on the pillow, then he finally answered.\n\nāMhm.ā\n\nāAre you still sleepy?ā\n\nāā¦mhm.ā\n\nāMay I touch your face?ā\n\nāMhm.ā\n\nI think right now he will just agree on anything IĀ asked him for. Should I ask for Callitus? Nah, nevermind. Even if I got my hands on it, it would be taken away by Ortzen later. Anyways, since Iāve received his permission, I moved my hand which was stroking his head to touch his cheek. His warm cheek is softer than its look. Itās nothing to be surprised about since thereās rarely any knight who has a bad skin. The knightsā bodies are always in good condition, so naturally their skins also wonāt be that bad.\n\nWhen my fingertips touched the area near his eyes, his half-opened eyes twitched slightly. I want to pinch his cheek, but I canāt possibly do that, right? No, Captain Jullius might let me do it. Should I try asking him?\n\nāCaptain Jullius.ā\n\nāMiss Epheria isā¦ā\n\nHis hand held my hand which was stroking his cheek. Huh?\n\nāMiss isā¦ā\n\nāYes?ā\n\nāAre you not scared of me?ā\n\nScared? Ah, were you worried about that? If I was any normal noble lady, then perhaps I might be scared of you. Even when our youngest member who had little experience on battlefield, went to the Special Task Squad and met with Captain Jullius, he whined and said that the Captain of Special Task Force was scary. I smiled and used my other hand to hold Captain Julliusā hand.\n\nāIām not scared. Not at all.ā\n\nā⦠really?ā\n\nāYes. Even if Captain Jullius pointed your sword towards me, Iām not scared.ā\n\nAlthough I might felt a sense of crisis and an urge to escape but I wonāt run away. If I was still in my original body, then I would have happily accepted the duel while saying, āThatās right! Letās have a duel!ā\n\nāActually, Ortzenās nagging is more scary.ā\n\nTo be honest, my deputy was much more scary than Ortzen. That being said, I think Ortzen was being easy on me because Iām not part of Special Task Squad and just a normal noble lady. After Captain Jullius heard my words, he just nodded in agreement and had a blank look on his face.\n\nāI also think so.ā\n\nāRight?ā\n\nā⦠mhm.ā\n\nCaptain Jullius nodded again and muttered, āThatās a relief,ā in a small voice.