The Sword and The Dress - V2C5 PART6

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Upon arriving at the Special Task Squad’s 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 Sieg’s identity. It was said only a very few people knew about it. Turns out he’s pretty well informed, huh?

“I’m incompetent in welcoming a guest so I can’t escort you inside.”

Adjutant Sieg’s eyes narrowed down a little due to Ortzen’s words that mixed with a sigh.

“My Lady is your superior’s fiancee so we’re all like a family. There’s no need to stand on ceremony.”

“…, My Lady?”

Ortzen’s 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. I’m also a victim here.

“…, Speaking of which, didn’t the Captain return together with you?”

“What?”

I spontaneously looked around and continued my words.

“Captain has already returned first to the headquarters some time ago though? Hasn’t he returned yet?”

Ortzen shook his head in response to my question.

“Didn’t you both ride on the same carriage together in the first place?”

“We did, but then he left first!”

Damn it, exactly what’s going on? Needless to say, I thought he’d returned first. Seeing my bewildered face, the look on Ortzen’s face also hardened.

“What happened?”

“That, so the thing is…”

What am I supposed to say? Can I reveal the truth that I’m Roel to Ortzen? While I was contemplating on what to do in this situation, adjutant Sieg who stood next to me stepped forward.

“We should talk about that matter later. Miss.”

“Huh?”

“Do you want me to dispatch someone to search for Captain?”

“That– no, I’ll try looking for him first.”

If Captain Jullius left the Holy Church by foot, there’s 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 couldn’t ride the horse as fast as I wanted to while using woman’s saddle, but we’re 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.

Located 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,

‘I ended up going to the lakeside.’

While 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 it’s 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.

As 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, there’s a fisher who was casting his fishing rod. And then there’s 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 didn’t even notice my presence as I came closer to him. He didn’t look very well…

“Captain.”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.

“…, Lord Roel.”

“Now I’m not the leader of Holy Knight Squad anymore so you don’t have to address me that way.”

Captain Jullius nodded rather slowly. I wonder how should I put it, it’s 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.

“Why did you leave the Holy Church without receiving the blessings?”

His 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.

“Did I happen to do anything wrong?”

“No!”

Captain Jullius hurriedly replied in surprise. Apparently it’s not my fault.

“Just talk casually with me like before. I’m just a Count’s daughter right now.”

“But…”

“You must have heard from the Saintess that I’ve decided to hide my identity. So just use informal speech when you’re talking with me. If you keep using formal speech, then others will be suspicious of me.”

“…, okay.”

(T/N: 알겠다 could be simply translated as ‘okay’ here but it has the nuance of ‘I understand’/’I get it’, but I just use ‘okay’ otherwise it’ll be too stiff(?)or long(?)since our Captain doesn’t want to talk much rn.)

Good, let’s give it another try.

“Why did you leave like you’re running away?”

Right 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.

Should I just grab him by his collar and beat him up? But the problem is I’m 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.

“If you tell me the reason, whatever it might be, I’ll help you get it done somehow.”

Now 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.

“…, it’s impossible.”

“Ah? What is it?! ‘Impossible’ isn’t something simple that could easily coming out of your mouth like that though? I’ll do anything, as long as it’s not reviving the dead!”

Though I raised my voice because I couldn’t 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 d’etat… but if his wish was still within a tolerable scope then I could do him a favor. Even though I’ve said it confidently, Captain Jullius was still hesitating for some time before finally said,

“…, even though my common sense is a bit lacking, but I know men can’t marry each other.”

And that’s what he said. Huh? What did you say?

“…, uh, erm, Captain.”

It’s 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 that’s so, don’t tell me that he–

“Do you fall in love with the High Priest?”

I asked in all seriousness. That grandpa’s face wasn’t only fair but he’s a great beauty, so no wonder you can’t help but fall for him. There’re quite a considerable amount of men admire the High Priest. Even the Emperor’s first love when he’s still a child was ‘older sister’ High Priest. Captain Jullius then widened his eyes to my question.

“Why do you bring up about the High Priest…?”n
“You said that you’re like this because you can’t marry a man. Isn’t that person the High Priest? Don’t tell me that it’s Ortzen? Or Clauen?”

It’s quite unexpected if it’s one of those two. Anyway, it’s a good thing that it’s not the High Priest.

“It can’t be help that you can’t officially get married, but at least you should confess your feelings. Who knows, right? Anyway, who is it?”

What kind of man is he? Frankly speaking, I don’t 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, who’s going to oppose the marriage? When I was thinking that maybe I shouldn’t have encouraged him to confess to no avail, Captain Jullius stared blankly at me.

“…, Lord Roel.”

“Yes?”

“I just, so just… as it’s right now, it’s all good.”
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