"But even if I want to marry him, it's impossible Captain Jullius is willing… uhh…, wait, perhaps he would really agree to marry me."
"That's the main point!"
Clauen snapped at me and he seemed really irritated about that.
"Captain will readily agree to it!"
"But if he didn't have any feelings towards me, then he would definitely refuse, wouldn't he?"
"…, the thing is, he didn't seem to dislike you. Moreover, you guys have slept together. Err, I mean 'just' sleep side by side."
"We're indeed sleep together. What's wrong with that?"
Clauen took a large step to skip the rest of the stairs. Then he let out a long breath.
"Although he doesn't look like it, Captain is a sensitive person. Especially when he's asleep, he don't like having other person besides him."
He slept well though?
"It's probably because I possess holy power. There're many cases where holy power can make other people feel relieved."
That aside, any other average holy power wouldn't give much effect, but I have quite enormous holy power. Perhaps Captain Jullius could sleep peacefully because there's me besides him though? Well, though I'm not quite sure about that because I've never sleep on the same bed with other people except when I was camping with my fellow holy knights comrades.
"The Captain is–, arghh, but still, Captain isn't someone who's easily lowered his guard . Ever since he's young, Captain had been through many hardships and dangerous things so he's always on his guard even though he looks defenseless."
Does this brat know something about Captain Jullius' past? If someone ever felt threatened by the demons, he would be more familiar with holy power than any normal people. But there're only few exceptions in that case. I really wanted to say it but I can't, so…
"Seems like you know Captain very well?"
"That's because I've known him from young age."
…, what? I stopped my footsteps at once and looked at Clauen in disbelief. Wait! Waaiiiit! From young age?!
"…, you trully have known him since he's still a child?"
"I'm much older than how my appearance looks like. I'm older than Captain."
It looked like Clauen thought I was surprised by the fact about his age. He would never thought that I knew about Captain Jullius' past. But, his age isn't what's important right now!
If what he said is the truth and they had known each other since young age, then he's probably someone from demon clan or a sacrifice to the demons similar to Captain Jullius.
If he said he's already old…
This damn brat is someone from demon clan? After some thoughts, it did made sense because he easily noticed I used holy power when he's not a clergy. The reason being that he's someone from demon clan who're sensitive to holy power. Except the demon clan and a few high-tier clergies that have the abilities to recognize holy power, there're also other possibilities such as witches who binded a contract with Demon King, or the shamans that was said they're only a few in numbers at the Eastern part of the continent. But…
It is said that it'll be noticeable if he's really a shaman…
Well, I'm not entirely sure since I've never encounter a shaman before. As I was standing still on the spot, Clauen who was walking two steps ahead of me, turned his body around.
"Does it make you that surprised?"
"O-oh… well…"
I desperately wanted to ask him directly but no matter if he's really a demon or not, he would never admitted it even if I blatantly asked him whether if he's a demon. Moreover, I couldn't say that I knew about Captain Jullius' past.
I'll just ask the High Priest when we meet later.
The High Priest knew about Captain Jullius' origins, so he must have heard more or less about this brat too. If the High Priest also didn't know, I could think of another way later. I continued to walk to Clauen's side.
"Well, isn't that obvious that anyone will be surprised? You look like you're just in your early twenties. Isn't Captain Jullius age around late twenties?"
"I'm not that sure how old he's exactly, but Captain's age should be around 27 to 28 years old. This year, it's precisely ten years since he arrived at the Capital."
Hmm is that so? Ten years ago was when I officially became a fix member of Holy Knight Squad. It could be considered that my rank was escalated rather fast than most. It's all due to my capabilities, or to be exact, the amount of holy power you possessed was what matter the most for a holy knight. The more holy power you have means as a prove that the Goddess bestowed Her grace and favored your soul amongs others. That's why, I as a woman, an orphan, and had nothing other than my combat ability able to reached the Captain position of Holy Knight Squad without much hindrance. Whereas, other knight squads also considered your origins, connections, and political balance to appoint their Captains. I was confident that I could win over any squad's Captain.
"What was Captain Jullius like when he's a child?"
After a fleeting moment of silence, Clauen answered, "Just ask the Captain yourself!"
"I'm curious about others viewpoint of him. Moreover, Captain Jullius might have forgotten his own childhood."
"I'll tell you later after Captain told you first."
Did he behave this way because he's afraid the matter related to demon clan was known by others? Sigh, I'm truly just curious about Captain Jullius' childhood. But, it didn't look like Clauen would easily spill the beans. Ughh, how frustrating! I couldn't say anything when I already knew the truth!
During the trip to the Count's residence, I've tried asking bit by bit about Captain Jullius choldhood but in the end I still got nothing. As soon as I went passed the main gate with disappointed face after parting with Clauen, I was greeted by an unfamiliar man. He's a middle aged man around 40 years of age that I've never met before. Judging from the way he dressed himself, he shouldn't be the Count. I got off from the horse and looked at the man who was standing along with few servants. I haven't told anyone yet about my amnesia other than Sofia, so I couldn't ask who he was. And thus, I just asked him what did he want from me.
"What is it?"
The middle aged man answered with utmost respect, "The Countess has ordered to put Miss under house arrest for you to reflect upon your frivolous behavior."
Frivolous? Oh, it must be because I stayed out last night. Ortzen had warned me that the Countess might used this reason to give me trouble. I directly faced the man whom I guess as the head butler and showed him the gold-rimmed invitation card.
"Well, I'm sorry that I can't comply to my stepmother's request to be confined under house arrest because I'm invited to a banquet hosted by Her Highness the First Princess, Princess Aranea. The banquet will be held in two days and there's not much time left to prepare. I can't attend the banquet in shabby state, right?"
The butler became confused by my words.
"But, in two days…"
"I can't refuse to attend Her Highness banquet just because there's also a banquet inside the residence. Unless if I was in mourning over my parents death."
If one of the Count or the Countess was dying, then I was truly in a precarious situation and it would be reasonable for not attending the banquet. I waved the invitation card right in front of him while smiling.
"Relay my message to my stepmother! If stepmother insist on putting me under house arrest, then ask her to give explanations to Her Highness by herself. She could say that she forbid me from attending Her Highness banquet because I was put under house arrest. If she dare to do it, then I'm willing to accept the punishment."
The Countess wouldn't dare to do so in her current situation. After I looked at the butler's distressed face, I continued my walk to my pavilion.
"Miss!! Honestly, where did you sleep over last night?!"
Sofia who was busily pacing back and forth in front of the main door of the pavilion, immediately shouted as soon as she saw my arrival. She was half running half walking coming to my side and held my hands with teary eyes.
"Do you know how worried I was Miss?! I was really afraid that Madam would try to harm Miss…"
"I-I'm sorry."