"Yes. Every month Captain Jullius receives blessings from the High Priest, right?"
All leaders of all knight squads, the Imperial Family, including The Emperor himself, and also all the high officials receive blessings from the High Priest every month. It was done as a preventative measure against calamities such as the curse on the Crown Prince. The Crown Prince had been regularly receiving the blessings but there was still a mishap when His Highness went to another country for diplomatic reason… could it be that this wasn't a coincidence? But, I don't think the Count's family have the power to arrange it.
"Right."
Captain Jullius gave a short reply.
"Please take me with you when you go to receive the blessings. Just once is enough!"
"Alri–"
"Wait!"
The assistant quickly prevented Captain Jullius who almost readily agreed to my request. Tsk! He's really annoying.
"You can't bring any strangers who are unrelated to you to meet with the High Priest!"
"Really?"
"Yes! I beg of you to please remember it!"
Both I and Captain Jullius looked at the assistant with same expression. I know it's his duty to remind the Captain about the rules, but can't he say it without nagging? So, it's fine as long as I have some relationship with Captain and we're not considered to be strangers, right?
"Then, Captain Jullius, let's get married!"
"… Huh?"
"… What?"
"Ah, is marriage a bit too much? How about an engagement? My fiancé is dead anyway and also it would be easier for Captain Jullius to meddle in the Count's affair if he were my fiancé. I'm the only legitimate descendant of the Count's family, so that makes my fiancé the next Count Epheria."
This is a win-win solution. By doing so, I could meet with the High Priest faster and Captain Jullius could interfere openly in the Count's family affairs.
"But…"
The assistant opened his mouth while looking at me with a puzzled face.
"Miss, are you sure about this? Your reputation would be damaged if you get engaged again in such a short time after the death of your previous fiancé."
"Well I don't really care about that. Anyway I'm planning to be a clergy so it's fine. Oh, could it be there's problem on Captain's side? Does Captain Jullius already have a fiancée?"
Hearing my words, the assistant just sighed.
"That's not it, but…"
"Then, let's get engaged."
If it's possible, I want to meet the High Priest by the end of this month. I stared at them eagerly as if I was urging them to agree. This kind of fake engagement would only be unfavorable for the woman, while the man wouldn't have any trouble, so it should be fine, right? Captain Jullius who had been going along with all my demands, stayed silent this time. I watched both of their reactions and rolled my eyes. Is it not possible? Is getting engaged really too much?
"What do you think?"
After some time passed, the assistant turned to Captain Jullius and asked his opinion.
"This is actually a good idea. They would raise their guard, but if there's no other way, we could eliminate the current Count by removing all trace of him and then Captain Jullius could fill in as the Count because of his engagement with Miss Silla."
His pale grey eyes glanced suspiciously at me .
"… well, I don't mind."
As long as he agreed, then all is fine.
"Then, it's decided. So… Mr. Assistant?"
Thinking back, I haven't heard his name. The assistant also seemed to realize this and said his name, "Ortzen Versena."
Huh? Where did I hear it? The name sounds familiar. Ermm… hmm…
"The demon of Sicaros?"
"That's all in the past."
Oh… hmm…
"… I thought I heard that Ortzen Versena was sentenced to death."
"I was quite lucky to be able to keep my life. But in exchange, I can never leave the headquarters of the Special Task Squad. So it could be considered as a lifetime imprisonment."
…, but still, is it allowed? Ah, of course he could be here with his head still attached to his body because His Majesty The Emperor gave him a special amnesty.
I stared at the assistant of Special Task Squad as if it was my first time seeing him. I initially thought he was around my age-I mean my original age-but the riot in Sicaros happened more than 10 years ago, so his age should be in the late thirties?
"You look really youthful."
"Everyone says that."
"Oh, I see."
But, is it really okay to let him live just like this? Even though he could live inside the palace because he's permitted to do so, but what were these uneasy feelings inside my heart? Ortzen seemed to guess what I was thinking, he smiled a little and asked, "Are you afraid, Miss?"
"… what?"
In a blink of eye, I felt offended. Me? Afraid? Did he really ask 'Are you afraid?' to a holy knight? I couldn't do anything to him when he had no idea who I really was, but it still pissed me off. Blatantly asking a holy knight about fear was the same as insulting. That's because it was as if he questioned our faith to the Goddess. It could also be interpreted as throwing down the gauntlet to the holy knight who was the Goddess' sword.
I sharply glared at Ortzen without trying to conceal my discontent.
"Are you trying to provoke me?"
I tried to say it calmly, but unconsciously I spoke rudely.
It caught Ortzen off guard and he cleared his throat.
"Ugh… I became a bit emotional because I heard something unpleasant. Anyways, I don't have any reason to be afraid of Assistant Ortzen."
"Well, that's right. Miss is a brave lady who fearlessly chased after Clauen."
Assistant Ortzen raised his hand and continued talking.
"Then, firstly Miss needs to bathe."
Ah? His red eyes glanced at me from top to bottom.
"Miss also needs to change your dress. If Miss is going to act as Captain's fiancée with those looks, then it won't do anything good for the Captain."
Hearing his words, I spontaneously looked down at my dress… why don't you try to stay in jail for a couple days by yourself? Then see what you will become after that. I doubt you could keep your neat appearance! At least I had changed my dress once and washed my face. Nevertheless, I still followed Ortzen's suggestion because it had been quite a long time since I had last bathed, so the thought of having a bath sounded good to me.
Normally there would be a spacious public bath inside the headquarters of the knight squad. That's because it would be too much hassle to wait your turn if we used a one-person bathroom after a long training. A knight squad under the Imperial's order consisted of a minimum of 30 members. If they each bathed separately, then they would need 30 bathrooms, 30 bathtubs, and at least 30 servants to fill the hot water. That being said, those knights couldn't just go straight home with bodies covered in muds and even bloods, so they went together to public bath. But of course, I bathed separately as I was one of the two female knights of Holy Knight Squad.
In other words, this is the first time I had ever entered a public bath to bathe.
Hmm… this place is great.
I soaked my body inside the big bathtub while looking up at the round ceiling. The ceiling's height was about two or three storey high so the hot steam from the water wouldn't make the bathroom turn foggy. I used to feel suffocated by the hot steam whenever I used a personal bathroom.
"It is really extravagant, isn't it?"
When I looked around the spacious bathroom that was occupied all by myself, I chuckled a bit. At first, Ortzen showed me to a personal bathroom but when I said I wanted to try the public bathroom, he readily agreed to my request. His attitude really revealed that as the assistant of a knight squad under the Imperial Family, he had many funds! I couldn't have even uttered that kind of request, even as a joke, due to the nature of the holy knights, who live a humble life.
Sigh… once again I'm a little hesitant to restart my life as a clergy.
I leaned my body on the edge of the bathtub and let out a sigh. I don't necessarily need to become a clergy if I follow Captain Jullius to meet with the High Priest. Besides, I could take control of the Count's household, which I was told is as wealthy family, after all the problems are solved. Although I lived all my life inside the Church, this doesn't mean that I have never wished for a luxurious life. If I have money, I want to buy delicious foods, then… ermm…
"… Is this what people mean when they say only those who splurged know how to spend their money?"
Hmm, what should I do if I successfully took control of the Epheria household? First, I should donate half of my wealth to the Church and get rid of the tax-burdening mansion, and instead get a decent house for myself, then build a stable and get a dog as a pet… Huh? Wait! What would I do for the rest of my life if I don't become a knight? I wouldn't be lost if I had only tried to do other jobs before. That aside, I'm not suited to the stay-at-home lifestyle.
Other than being a holy knight, what kind of other jobs are out there? Farmer? Hunter? Merchant?
What could I do…? Nah, whatever. If there's a will then there's a way. I'm not used to thinking with my brain, I prefer to use my body. To be more precise… what do I really want to do?
"Ah… I really have no idea either."
Well, I'll take my time to slowly consider my future.
Splash!
I made some splashing sounds when I got out from the bathtub. I still felt weird whenever my long hair gets wet and sticks to my back. Since I was 9 or 10 years old, I always cut my hair short but now… each of my steps followed by drops of water fell from my body to the floor. I halted my steps and bowed my head to observe my current body.
This current body of mine is slender, small, and delicate. My skin is soft and clean without any flaws. The only negative is that this body is too skinny but if a little fat were added, this body would become alluring.
But still not useful enough.
Although I've tried to train, this body's frame is too weak and also too short. Sigh… as expected. How am I supposed to return to my original position with this body? I wore the bathrobe that had been prepared for me and exited the public bathroom.