It was long past lunchtime, so Captain Jullius must have already returned from the Imperial Court. I went straight to Ortzenās office and opened the door. I saw Ortzen standing with a stack of papers and Captain Jullius sitting next to him.\n\nāAre you busy? Can I take the Captain with me?ā\n\nOrtzen happily nodded at my words.\n\nāTake him with you as long as you want.ā\n\nThatās exactly the answer I wanted. I took Captain Jullius with me and headed to his bedroom. After moving to our house, it became a place that was rarely used, but it was neat and clean. After the Captain sat on the sofa first, I was going to sit next to him, but I decided to sit on the table across him to make it easier to talk. Now then, first of allā¦\n\nāI donāt know if youāve heard about the rumors, but itās a lie that Sieg has an unrequited love for me.ā\n\nI have to tell him this first lest he misunderstand me. At my words, Captain Jullius tilted his head.\n\nāUnrequited love?ā\n\nI guess he hasnāt heard the rumor yet.\n\nāIt happened at the banquet yesterday. He pretended to have a fake unrequited love for me, created a reason to remain as a butler, and raised Captainās reputation. Well, something like that. Itās not real, itās fake⦠fake. Sieg doesnāt love me.ā\n\nHe personally said he doesnāt love me, so Iām sure of it.\n\nāBut because of that, there may be some women approaching Captain.ā\n\nāMe?ā\n\nHe titled his head once again.\n\nāBut usually women are afraid of me.ā\n\nāIf they arenāt able to just meet your eyes, donāt you think that they arenāt worthy to deal with you in one way or another? Anyway, those women will approach you for a different purpose, so ignore them all.ā\n\nFor a moment, I wondered if I was restricting his actions too much, but the Captain nodded obediently. Even though I was pleased to see him complying with my request, I also felt frustrated. The reason I canāt relax is because he behaves docilely like this! Iām telling you, if some women actually pull his arm, doesnāt that mean heāll be dragged around docilely like a tame horse with a bridle attached? As expected, I canāt trust him. Just like how he did with me, if another woman asked him to get engaged, he would say yes; if someone asked him to get married, he would also say yes.\n\nCould it be that he really canāt say no at all? No, it couldnāt be the case. But heās too⦠the way he complies with everything is really too naive. Somehow I felt so anxious that I jumped up from my seat. His gentle eyes that were looking at me made me feel even more anxious. Ah itās reallyā\n\nāI have no intention of keeping the promise.ā\n\nI blurted this out but the phrasing was all wrong.\n\nāPromise?ā\n\nāYes. The promise to break off our engagement if we happen to fall in love with someone else.ā\n\nI had been toying with whether or not to say this, but somehow the words just slipped out. I donāt care if heās going to be angry. Surely it would be better to get this off my chest and say it now, rather than deal with him later when he asks me why Iāve broken our promise.\n\nāI wonāt break off our engagement.ā\n\nAs I stood still and looked down at the Captain, I continued.\n\nāTherefore, if you have someone you love, please run away. If you donāt run away, Iām going to hold on to you.ā\n\nIāll give you one chance to run away. Though of course, even if you run away, it doesnāt mean I wonāt chase after you.\n\nāIf necessary, you can even borrow the power of His Majesty the Emperor as well as the Church, so if you want to escape from me, you have to run away secretly and quietly so you donāt get caught.ā\n\nBut even if you draw upon imperial power, I have performed a meritorious deed by saving the Crown Prince at the cost of my life, so if I ask for his help by revealing my identity, I donāt think heāll refuse. Thereās also Her Majesty the Empress.\n
After pouring out my heart like that, I couldnāt look at the Captain directly. I know that Iām insisting on having my own way and not thinking about the Captainās wishes. Of course I also should keep my promise. No, even without the promise, we got engaged as a way of furthering our separate goals, not because of love, so if one of us found someone they love, it was reasonable to annul it. Even though I know that, Iām being greedy and selfish.\n\n⦠Turns out Iām quite evil too.\n\nActually, my personality isnāt that good. Iām pretty stubborn, I often act as I please, and Iām a bit self-righteous⦠I do listen to othersā advice well in general though.\n\nāRoel.ā\n\nAt that moment, I heard Captain Julliusās voice. What to do? Should I be angry, protest, or give up meekly? When I turned my head to face him, I could see his face was no different than usual.\n\nāI donāt want to love someone else.ā\n\nāBut itās beyond your control, isnāt it?ā\n\nIf it were up to me, I would have loved Captain Jullius long ago. Weāre both doing this right now because itās beyond our control, arenāt we?\n\nāBut still, I like how things are now.ā\n\nHis voice continued calmly.\n\nāSo, Iād rather not fall in love than part with you, Roel.ā\n\nHis words are so touching, theyāre even making my heart pound at the moment.\n\nā⦠Really, Iām telling you, itās beyond your control.ā\n\nI sighed and murmured. Itās impossible to decide whether itās up to you to love or not to love someone. There was even a time when someone brandished a knife because of infatuation.\n\nāEven so, I hate it if itās not Roel.ā\n\nSurprisingly, he knows how to speak rather willfully.\n\nāTherefore, if you just stay by my side, whatever you do to me, Iām okay with it.ā\n\nāWha, whatever I do? I justā¦ā¦.ā\n\nI was only thinking about kidnapping and confining him though. But, for him to say heās okay with whatever I do to him, thatās too much consent. Well, I donāt have any thought of doing something extreme anyway.