Chapter 567: The Lonely Saintess (II)
The Captain nodded without hesitation. "I did."
She remained silent for a moment before gently shaking her head. "I told you, the Cardinal wouldn’t like this."
A faint smile appeared on the Captain’s face. "That’s exactly why I’m giving them to you in the middle of the night," he said. "There’s no one around to see us. No eyes. No witnesses. So... it should be alright, don’t you think?"
The Saintess could only stare at him, completely speechless. "You can’t just ignore the rules and do whatever you want," she said helplessly. "And someone might see you since you’re standing on one of our holy statues."
The Captain looked down beneath his feet and let out a startled gasp. "Oh... sorry." He scratched the back of his head with an awkward smile. "Then... may I come onto your balcony instead, Your Holiness?"
The Saintess lowered her eyes, her voice barely above a whisper. "Captain, I must remind you that I’m the Saintess of this temple."
He raised an eyebrow. "Yes, I’m aware of that, Your Holiness."
She quickly continued, afraid he had misunderstood the situation. "And I have to protect my virginity to keep this title. I can’t become your bed companion, Captain." She paused for a moment before adding, "That’s why... if that’s what you want, I suggest you—"
"What?" The Captain looked at her with genuine confusion, clearly unable to understand what she meant. "I... I have no intention of going into your bedroom, Your Holiness," he said quickly. "Your balcony is more than enough."
The Saintess blinked several times, but it seemed she was still misunderstanding the situation. "Do you mean... you want to do that on the balcony? Captain, I—"
"Your Holiness," the Captain interrupted awkwardly. He let out a soft sigh before speaking as gently as he could. "I came here because I wanted to keep you company. But not ’that’ kind of company." A faint smile crossed his face. "We can simply sit together on your balcony and keep a respectful distance from each other."
He paused for a moment before adding, "That’s all I wanted."
[I want to hold her hand if I can—what? No! Why would I even think that?!] Edmund immediately scolded himself, just as he often did in the future timeline.
Primrose sighed inwardly. The whole situation was so awkward, but since she was already used to seeing her husband act this way, she couldn’t help finding it sweet as well.
He had even started calling himself a pervert. If only the Captain knew the kinds of thoughts the future Edmund had, he would probably think he was the purest man in the world.
"Why?" the Saintess finally asked softly. "Why do you want to keep me company?"
The Captain answered without the slightest hesitation. "Because you look lonely." His voice was calm and sincere. "So I thought... maybe I could make you feel a little less lonely. But if my presence makes you uncomfortable, I’ll leave right away."
"No!"
The answer escaped the Saintess before she could stop herself. Her eyes widened, and she quickly covered her mouth with both hands.
After a few seconds of silence, she lowered her hands and spoke again, this time in a much quieter voice. "You... you may keep me company here."
Then, as though she had to remind both him and herself, she quickly added, "At a respectful distance, of course."
The Captain smiled. "That won’t be so hard." After a brief pause, he asked, "May I come in?"
The Saintess slowly nodded. "Yes. But please do it quietly."
As soon as he received her permission, the Captain lightly jumped onto the balcony. Just as he had promised, he sat several steps away from her, leaving enough space between them. He didn’t even try to move any closer or take advantage of the moment to touch anything he shouldn’t.
The two of them simply sat beneath the night sky, surrounded by the soft glow of the stars.
After letting the silence settle for a while, the Captain finally spoke. "Why doesn’t the Cardinal like seeing you hold flowers?"
The Saintess lowered her eyes to the flowers resting in her hands. Her fingers slowly traced the stem, gently turning it over and over.
"He said..." she murmured. "I’m not allowed to touch anything impure. And anything that comes from outside is considered impure."
The Captain frowned, unable to hide his confusion. "Impure? But all the food you eat comes from outside. Even the furniture in this temple was brought in from somewhere else." He shook his head. "That doesn’t make any sense."
The Saintess slowly raised her head until her golden eyes met the Captain’s blue ones.
For a brief moment, neither of them spoke. Then, with a small smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes, she finally said, "Sometimes... rules aren’t made because they make sense."
She lowered her gaze again. "They’re made to control people."
The words left her lips so softly that they were almost carried away by the night breeze.
The Captain fell silent. He had expected many answers, but not that one.
After all, words like that were not something that should come from the lips of a Saintess.
Without realizing it, the Captain asked, "Do you even... like being here?"
Rose looked into his eyes again. She gave him a gentle smile, but her eyes were filled with uncertainty and deeply buried sadness.
"I don’t know," she replied softly. "Does it even matter? It’s not like I have any other choice."
"I can help you make a choice," Edmund suddenly said, surprising even himself.
Rose couldn’t help but chuckle, as if his words were nothing more than a joke. "How?"
"If you don’t like it here, I can help you run away," he said. "I can pretend to kidnap you."
The smile on Rose’s face slowly faded. After all, this was the first time someone had offered her a choice like this since Zarius.
For a brief moment, she wanted to say yes. She wanted to tell him that she wanted to escape this place, but then the memory of Zarius’s death came rushing back into her mind.
"This is where I belong, Captain," Rose said in a low voice.
After a short pause, she added, "And maybe... it always will be."