It couldn't be just because of the reasons I've heard before, he would be that overly eager to have Captain Jullius to marry me. I guessed there must be greater benefits he could gain for him to act that way. Captain Jullius fully entrusted his head in my care, then said,
"I would also prefer to have Miss Epheria as my partner if I have to do a political marriage."
"Then, once we get engaged, if in the future we meet someone we loved, we can just canceled out our engagement, otherwise we will continue as a couple and just marry each other."
"Can we do that?"
"There's nothing wrong with that so I think Ortzen would agree."
"Well, that's right."
Without a doubt, the condition will definitely adventageous for Captain Jullius, while it's not too bad for me. I don't know whether if I'm going to be a clergy again, but if I'm not going back, then I'll need a place to stay. That being said, fortunately I have considered to ask Captain Jullius to live with me.
"Captain."
"Hm?"
"Do you have any money?"
"I rarely spend my money, so I think I have some."
"Then I guess there should be plenty amount of it."
The commander of Special Task Squad should be more or less earned as much as the leader of Imperial Knight Squad in terms of salary, right? Actually, the Imperial Knights salary are pretty low compared to the duties that come from their respective positions. Most of them consisted of nobles so they didn't dwell on trivial matter such as money, unlike the private knights. Nonetheless, their salaries still can't be considered as small amount of money.
"When we get married, then you should buy a house with your savings."
If it's possible, I don't want to sell the necklace. Captain Jullius nodded without any hesitation. My hand which was placed on the top of his head also moved along with his nod.
"Okay."
Good, then after getting engaged, I'll slowly take my time to think about other important matters until we get married. I have to go back to Sofia who must be waiting eagerly for the news. I have to tell her that my engagement will still be proceeded as planned and for the time being we will stay in Special Task Squad's headquarters.
"…, Miss Epheria."
As I stood up, Captain Jullius suddenly called for me.
"What is it?"
He hesitated for a moment before finally said,
"Can I also touch?"
"What?"
What was he talking about? When I was puzzled by his question, he averted his eyes, unable to meet my probing gaze.
"…, it's nothing."
"What do you mean by 'nothing'?"
I sat down again and moved closer to his side. Although he said it's nothing but I'm definitely sure it's not nothing.
"What do you mean by 'nothing'?"
Quickly spill it! After I asked him for the second time, Captain Jullius hesitantly started to tell me more about it.
"Because Miss often touched me…"
"I thought you didn't hate it. Do you hate it?"
He shook his head in a hurry.
"No, it's not like that. I mean, I also…"
'I also' what? Ah, did he ask if he could touch me too? He didn't have to be hesitant about that.
"Here, touch me. I don't mind at all. No, this is not the first time, is it?"
He had embraced me before and also… hmm. I couldn't think anything other than that because he never touched me without any reasons.
"…, is it really okay?"
"Is there any reason you can't do that? I also have touched your hair and face."
"But I was told to always mind my actions because there're many differences on how I should treat men and women."
"That rules only applied if the man and woman are strangers to each other. We are about to be engaged anyway so it's okay."
Of course he should never touch any women carelessly. But I'm his soon-to-be fiancee so it shouldn't be a problem. Maybe?
"Besides, there're no eyes watching us so it's okay."
"Is that so?"
"Yes. We can make a little trouble if there're no eye-witness."
My deputy said so. He told me not to leave any eyewitnesses if I was to be in a sticky situation where I had to do something that violated the law or against the norm. He said he could easily covered up the accident if there're no witnesses. Of course, it's best not to cause any trouble, but unfortunately things don't always go as planned even if one wish for it.
Even after I gave my consent and said there wouldn't be any problems for touching me, Captain Jullius still couldn't readily do it. I've told you it's okay. Should I give him another push and be more aggressive? Let's see, Captain Jullius is also a man, so…
"Do you want to try touching my chest?"
"…, what?!"
Captain Jullius was really taken aback and immediately moved his body further to the other side, away from me. Don't men usually like to touch woman's breast? His reaction was unexpected.
"Although I might be lacking in common-sense, but I think that's something inappropriate to do."
"Why? Nobody sees it and we are going to be engaged to each other so I think it'll be okay."
"…, no matter how much I think about it, I shouldn't do that."
Hearing his unusual resolute remark, I became confused. Is that so? To be honest, I didn't quite understand regarding this matter. In the past, I was being treated as a man even though I wasn't one to begin with, so I couldn't be totally considered as neither man nor woman. Thus, when it comes to the boundaries between man and woman, I don't know much of it because I only learned from hearsay. Furthermore, since I was a clergy who couldn't get married, I was never interested about it in the first place.
"Then later you could ask Ortzen about what things are allowed to do when it's just two of us alone."
"Alright."
If we didn't know about something, then we could just ask someone in the know. Anyway, it's too much to touch my breasts now. What a pity, these breasts gave out a nice feeling when you touched them.
"It should be fine to touch my hands and face. You can touch my hair now but, when my hair was being neatly styled, you can't touch it. It could messed up my hair."
It's okay to touch my face because I only used light make-up on my lips and cheeks. Silla's skin is white and clean so I don't have to put heavy make up on it. Other than the smell of make-up, I also don't like it when I have to use a lot of make-up because somehow it feels overwhelming.
Here, now you can touch it to your heart's content. I gave him a consent look to touch me but his hands still didn't move an inch. What, what else is wrong again now?
"Why don't you touch me?"
"It doesn't have to be now…"
"You said you want to touch me too. Quickly give me your hand."
In the end due to my persistance, Captain Jullius finally reached his hand out. Somehow my heart beat faster as his big hand moved closer to my face. Because I'm an orphan, since I was a child, I was rarely getting any pats on my head or being carressed on the face. As I suppressed the urge to grab his hand ,-which was about touching my face-, to be bitten down, I felt his callous hand touching my face.
Captain Jullius carefully stroked my face as if he was touching a precious item that could easily broke if he was to put any slightest strenght while touching it, then he quickly withdrew his hand. What? That's all? He's done? I instantly grabbed his hand which started to move away then bit it. I can't break his hand so I'll just bite it. After I bit down his long index finger until a faint bitten mark could be seen on it, this time he slightly touched my hair with his other hand.
"Miss Epheria."
I wanted to reply him but if I let go of the bitting, I thought he would stopped carressing my head so I just kept bitting his finger. Captain Jullius didn't try to talk to me anymore and kept carressing my head for quite a long time.