V3C1 Part4

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The Madam ,-who’s a famous dress designer-, had a friendly smile as she was holding and displaying the ruffle fabric that’s expected to be popular this summer.\n\n“Your skin is as white as snow, so a bright light-colored dress will look good on you. If you use dark fabric, it’ll make you look pale.”\n\n“Ah, yes.”\n\n“Because of the season itself, bright colors are better than dark colors.”\n\n“Yes.”\n\n“It’s considered to be early for an unmarried lady to wear a design which expose one’s shoulder, but I think it’ll be fine since you’re already engaged.”\n\n“Ah, is that so?”\n\nAs I blurted out some dull answers and looked at the overly excited Sofia, adjutant Sieg has been keeping an eye on me to make sure I wouldn’t escape. Adjutant Sieg called in various famous dress designers in the Capital because he thought there wasn’t any dress that suited me so he might as well order a custom-made dress, and this Madam was the fifth designer to come here. In other words, I was so sick and tired of doing these. Can’t I just live my life wearing whatever I want since when we die, our bodies will rot away and disappear anyway?\n\nAs such, after matching and adjusting the fabric with the design for quite a while, finally the last taylor left. Sofia went out to see the dress designer off, and I slumped into the long sofa, feeling exhausted then looked up at adjutant Sieg.\n\n“You see…”\n\n“Yes?”\n\n“Can I tell Sofia?”\n\nSuddenly, I asked him casually without going into details, but adjutant Sieg understood right away and he had an ambiguous smile.\n\n“There’s nothing wrong with it. If you’re okay with sending her off then go ahead.”\n\n“What, if I tell Sofia, then you’ll drive her far away?”\n\n“Of course it depends on her reaction. If she accepts Miss’ identity and be as cooperative as usual, she doesn’t need to leave.”\n\n“Then, if she doesn’t…”\n\n“Not to mention it’s impossible to keep her by your side Miss, but naturally we would have to make sure to silence her as well.”\n\nI frowned slightly. Though I didn’t like that fact but, what adjutant Sieg said was right. Adjutant Sieg, who was reading my expression, opened his mouth.\n\n“Otherwise, it’s also fine to keep hiding it like this. All Miss has to do is be careful. If you keep it hidden and later on she comes to know something, by then, I’ll take care of it.”\n\n“That’s too much.”\n\nIf I keep my mouth shut like this, Sofia can stay with me just like how it used to be. But it means that I would be deceiving Sofia and Silla Epheria. Now that I’ve already regained some of my standing as Roel, unless I completely gave up on my past and lived as Silla Epheria, I couldn’t keep my mouth shut.\n\n“… I will tell you about my decision before I leave to catch the Demon King.”\n\n“If that’s the case, you should have told me earlier. It will be difficult to persuade her smoothly if the involved person just escapes without hesitation right after telling her about it.”\n\n“Th, then ten days–, no, I’ll let you know within five days.”\n\n“Yes. I’ll prepare for it.”\n\nAdjutant Sieg slightly bowed his head before leaving the room. Umm, the time limit has become too short. While I was feeling nervous to take the next step because I didn’t have a very good feeling about it, Sofia returned. Her face was beaming with a smile as she approached me.\n\n“I never thought I can meet all the most famous boutique owners in the capital in your bedroom! It feels like a dream. And it happened in just one day to boot!”\n\nLooking at her who made a fuss over something trivial like that, I became somewhat melancholic. In five days, I may not be able to see her like this anymore. Should I just not tell her anything? But I can’t do that, honestly, it’s a matter of one’s conscience. Damn it.\n\n“… Sofia.”\n\n“Yes, Miss. You’re really looking forward to it, right?”\n\n“… Uh, yeah.”\n\n“Oh right, have you read the book I gave you?”\n\n“I’m going to read it tonight. You also saw it yourself that I was busy dealing with adjutant Sieg’s pestering.”\n\n“Yes, please make sure you read it no matter what. I tell you, it’s really fun! Perhaps you can learn many things from it.”\n

She seemed very excited, and as I was looking at her, I let out a little sigh.\n\n\n\n                                           ***\n\n\n\nAfter I was fully awake, -with eyes wide open-, I glanced at the window and I could see there’s still a dim light permeated in. It’s not six o’clock in the morning yet. I raised my upper body suddenly to sit up straight and looked at the book that was placed besides the pillow.\n\n\n\nThe Crown Prince’s Garden.\n\n\n\nIt wasn’t an advanced gardening manual, but a story about a commoner young lady ,-whose job was a gardener-, got a job in the Imperial Palace garden. Then she got close to a man she met while working there. The man she was having a relationship with was actually the Crown Prince. In the end they got married after dating for a while and that’s it. That’s how the story of the novel I ended up reading went.\n\nIt was fun somehow, but there were quite a lot of ridiculous parts. First and foremost, there’s no way they’ll let a commoner woman without any connection, and is a gardener no less, to freely enter the Imperial Palace garden frequented by Imperial Family, you know? If you get a job regardless of your origin due to your outstanding talent, naturally, you’ll receive an education to familiarize yourself with the faces and names of the Imperial Family and major distinguished guests. It doesn’t make any sense to say that you don’t know the faces of the Imperial Family when you frequenly visit the Imperial Palace. If you keep making a slight mistake like that, many people will have a hard time.\n\nAnyway, the conclusion is…\n\n‘In the end, she fell in love with his face.’\n\nI looked down at the book cover and sighed deeply. When the charming Crown Prince was dazzingly bright and the beautiful gardener lady was glowing as well, I told you, I knew they would fall in love with each other. Sofia, you liar. You said that it’s not a true love if you fell in love with someone’s appearance.\n\n‘Nevertheless, her attitude as a fiancee was worth referring to.’\n\nIn the book, it’s said love came first then followed by the act of affection, but I wonder if behaving affectionately could arouse the feeling of love. I think it wouldn’t hurt to try it out. And for that reason, I woke up this early.\n\nI changed into a simple dress which was usually worn inside the mansion and left the bedroom. I should go to the seperate building before Captain Jullius gets up. He lead an orderly life so it was obvious that he was still in bed. Contrary to the time when he stayed at the Special Task Squad’s headquarters, he has to commute to work now, but it won’t take long since he’ll ride a horse. That being said, he’s going to get up at similar time as usual.\n\nI opened the door slowly without making a sound and came out to the corridor. It seemed like Sofia was still asleep because her room was quiet. I passed through the corridor, went down the spiral staircase and then opened the back door. As I opened the door and went out of the building, the damp air brushed against my cheeks. There was a faint wet fog in the air around the pond. I could also see some dewdrops hanging at the tip of the drooping willow branches.\n\nThe air in the early morning is always refreshing.\n\nI took a deep breath and began to cross over the stepping-stones, then walked through the artificial island to reach the other side stone bridge and crossed over again, kept walking straight and soon arrived at the seperate building. The elegant 2 story seperate building, like any other places, was immersed in silence. Captain Jullius’ bedroom was on the first floor. There’s a terrace attached to the seperate building connecting a small garden and the bedroom of the former owner of this seperate building…\n\n‘It looks girlish.’\n

Whether the owner of the seperate building was a little girl or an adult woman, the bedroom which was adorned with elegant white furniture, lace curtains, light pink canopy that hung over the bed and so on, was absolutely not a suitable place for a grown-up man to stay. However, the other ready-to-use bedrooms were only available in main building, and Captain Jullius didn’t seem to mind it so he just used it.\n\nI was thinking of entering through the main gate, but I decided to just climbed over the wall of the seperate building and descended inside the garden. I could see a small mermaid sculpture fountain and a tea table with its bench under the shade of the heavily loaded purple wisteria flowers hanging down from the wisteria tree. I think a shy girl wearing a ribbon bonnet must have sat there. However, the temporary owner of this place was a big man with a cold looking face. He’s actually cute though.\n\n“Jullius, I’m here. I’m coming in.”\n\nI said in a small voice before opening the glass door on the balcony. If he was awake, he’d have noticed I was here. I passed by the living room which was smaller compared to my residence, then I stood at the bedroom door. I grab the doorknob and turned it to open the closed door, and inside the room, there was a bed with a half-drawn light pink canopy hung over it. There, I could see a man who was still sleeping soundly like an angel, drowsily half-opened his eyes. With stealthy footsteps, I crept up to the bed. His pale grey eyes blinked slowly and looked up at me.\n\n“Are you still sleepy?”\n\n“… a little.”\n\n“You look really sleepy though.”\n\nI sat sideways on the bed then stroked his messy black hair on the pillowcase. As my hand touched his head, Captain Jullius lay down on the pillow still with a light smile. When he’s about to turn his body, I pressed his shoulder lightly to prevent him from trying to get up.\n\n“Just lie down. You can sleep a little longer.”\n\n“But…”\n\n“It’s still early.”\n\nWe have more than an hour to spare. I moved my hand from touching his head down to caress his cheek, then slid under his chin. Even though he felt ticklish as I held onto the tip of his chin, Captain Jullius was compliant and didn’t resist. Alright, now…\n\n“Good morning, Jullius.”\n\nAnd then I proceeded to kiss him. His pale grey eyes widened in surprise as he didn’t see it coming. It’s okay, it’s okay. It’s just a morning greeting. It’s called as a morning kiss. When I slightly licked the top of his tightly closed lips with the tip of my tongue, he’s startled that his body shuddered and he parted his closed lips.

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