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Upon arriving at the Special Task Squadās headquarters, Ortzen came out to welcome us, but right after he saw adjutant Sieg besides me, he took two steps backwards. Judging from the look on his face that looked like he wished to escape from there if he could but still endured himself from doing it, meant that he seemed to know about Siegās identity. It was said only a very few people knew about it. Turns out heās pretty well informed, huh?\n\nāIām incompetent in welcoming a guest so I canāt escort you inside.ā\n\nAdjutant Siegās eyes narrowed down a little due to Ortzenās words that mixed with a sigh.\n\nāMy Lady is your superiorās fiancee so weāre all like a family. Thereās no need to stand on ceremony.ā\n\nāā¦, My Lady?ā\n\nOrtzenās face was darkening. I felt guilty seeing the depressed look that was directed to me but I was also helpless and could do nothing about it. Iām also a victim here.\n\nāā¦, Speaking of which, didnāt the Captain return together with you?ā\n\nāWhat?ā\n\nI spontaneously looked around and continued my words.\n\nāCaptain has already returned first to the headquarters some time ago though? Hasnāt he returned yet?ā\n\nOrtzen shook his head in response to my question.\n\nāDidnāt you both ride on the same carriage together in the first place?ā\n\nāWe did, but then he left first!ā\n\nDamn it, exactly whatās going on? Needless to say, I thought heād returned first. Seeing my bewildered face, the look on Ortzenās face also hardened.\n\nāWhat happened?ā\n\nāThat, so the thing isā¦ā\n\nWhat am I supposed to say? Can I reveal the truth that Iām Roel to Ortzen? While I was contemplating on what to do in this situation, adjutant Sieg who stood next to me stepped forward.\n\nāWe should talk about that matter later. Miss.ā\n\nāHuh?ā\n\nāDo you want me to dispatch someone to search for Captain?ā\n\nāThatā no, Iāll try looking for him first.ā\n\nIf Captain Jullius left the Holy Church by foot, thereās one place I could think of on his whereabouts. I rushed to the stable and took out a grey horse. Though I was frustated that I couldnāt ride the horse as fast as I wanted to while using womanās saddle, but weāre not allowed to ride a horse exceeding the maximum speed limit inside the Capital anyway. As I was about to leave after getting onto the horse, several members of Special Task Squad, including Clauen, were seen heading towards the stable. Ortzen must have dispatched them to search for Captain. I glanced at them and then left the headquarters.\n\nLocated at the southern part of the Capital, the Holy Church was surrounded by a range of complex alleys since long time ago. It was a perfect place for any first-time visitors to get lost of their ways, if they wandered around carelessly. I had also wandered around in search for the exit several times before. And every time I wandered,\n\nāI ended up going to the lakeside.ā\n\nWhile walking aimlessly through the puzzling alleys, I could feel a cool wind breeze. Then, inadvertently, I would follow the direction of where the wind breeze came from and headed to the lake. Ordinary people would find it hard to point out where the gentle wind breeze came from, but Captain Jullius should be able to do it for sure. So most likely he would have reached the lakeside like I did as well. It would he nice if he waited there calmly, but itās also possible for him to find another path and moved to another place again. I immediately rode the horse to White Wings Lake in a hurry.\n\nAs I walked out of the alleys, a not very big lake came into sight. There you could see wild ducks floating around between dense reeds. Far on the other side of the lake, thereās a fisher who was casting his fishing rod. And then thereās a figure of a man crouching down and spacing out under a big tree which branches hung above the lake water surface. I alighted from the horse and approached him. Captain Jullius was so preoccupied that he didnāt even notice my presence as I came closer to him. He didnāt look very wellā¦\n\nāCaptain.ā\n
He blinked his eyes once and raised his head slowly when I called him. The pale grey eyes that soon captured the sight of me, was slightly distorted.\n\nāā¦, Lord Roel.ā\n\nāNow Iām not the leader of Holy Knight Squad anymore so you donāt have to address me that way.ā\n\nCaptain Jullius nodded rather slowly. I wonder how should I put it, itās as if his mind was still drifting away somewhere. Why did he become like this? I sat on my knees on the soft grass to face him at the same eye-level.\n\nāWhy did you leave the Holy Church without receiving the blessings?ā\n\nHis flattened lips twisted slightly after he heard my question. What the heck was going on? Why were you like this? I was frustrated and felt like I wanted to grab him by his collar to ask what happened to him, but I endured myself from doing so and asked him again calmly.\n\nāDid I happen to do anything wrong?ā\n\nāNo!ā\n\nCaptain Jullius hurriedly replied in surprise. Apparently itās not my fault.\n\nāJust talk casually with me like before. Iām just a Countās daughter right now.ā\n\nāButā¦ā\n\nāYou must have heard from the Saintess that Iāve decided to hide my identity. So just use informal speech when youāre talking with me. If you keep using formal speech, then others will be suspicious of me.ā\n\nāā¦, okay.ā\n\n(T/N: ģź² ė¤ could be simply translated as āokayā here but it has the nuance of āI understandā/āI get itā, but I just use āokayā otherwise itāll be too stiff(?)or long(?)since our Captain doesnāt want to talk much rn.)\n\nGood, letās give it another try.\n\nāWhy did you leave like youāre running away?ā\n\nRight after I asked him again, Captain Jullius ended up shut his mouth again with a gloomy look in his eyes. Damn it, what the heck.\n\nShould I just grab him by his collar and beat him up? But the problem is Iām not capable enough to do it, but it looks like Captain would just give in without resisting at all. I clenched my right fist then spread it out again and asked again one more time.\n\nāIf you tell me the reason, whatever it might be, Iāll help you get it done somehow.ā\n\nNow that my identity has been revealed, I could solve lots of problem easily by getting some helps from the people around me. So just spill it out, talk to me. Captain Jullius slowly opened his mouth after he listened to my firm voice.\n\nāā¦, itās impossible.ā\n\nāAh? What is it?! āImpossibleā isnāt something simple that could easily coming out of your mouth like that though? Iāll do anything, as long as itās not reviving the dead!ā\n\nThough I raised my voice because I couldnāt contain my anger, but as expected saying that I would do anything was still over exaggerating. For instances, murdering the High Priest inside the Holy Church, assasinating the Emperor, or having a coup dāetat⦠but if his wish was still within a tolerable scope then I could do him a favor. Even though Iāve said it confidently, Captain Jullius was still hesitating for some time before finally said,\n\nāā¦, even though my common sense is a bit lacking, but I know men canāt marry each other.ā\n\nAnd thatās what he said. Huh? What did you say?\n\nāā¦, uh, erm, Captain.ā\n\nItās an unexpected answer. Why did he talk about marriage between men all of a sudden? Could it be that when Captain Jullius finally find his first love, that person is a man? If thatās so, donāt tell me that heā\n\nāDo you fall in love with the High Priest?ā\n\nI asked in all seriousness. That grandpaās face wasnāt only fair but heās a great beauty, so no wonder you canāt help but fall for him. Thereāre quite a considerable amount of men admire the High Priest. Even the Emperorās first love when heās still a child was āolder sisterā High Priest. Captain Jullius then widened his eyes to my question.\n\nāWhy do you bring up about the High Priestā¦?ā\n
āYou said that youāre like this because you canāt marry a man. Isnāt that person the High Priest? Donāt tell me that itās Ortzen? Or Clauen?ā\n\nItās quite unexpected if itās one of those two. Anyway, itās a good thing that itās not the High Priest.\n\nāIt canāt be help that you canāt officially get married, but at least you should confess your feelings. Who knows, right? Anyway, who is it?ā\n\nWhat kind of man is he? Frankly speaking, I donāt like both of them. That fellow Ortzen is a felon, and on the other hand I doubt whether if Clauen is human or not, so between those two, whoās going to oppose the marriage? When I was thinking that maybe I shouldnāt have encouraged him to confess to no avail, Captain Jullius stared blankly at me.\n\nāā¦, Lord Roel.ā\n\nāYes?ā\n\nāI just, so just⦠as itās right now, itās all good.ā