Chapter 16: Evelia’s Strategy Notes
After hearing that Armand had finally returned from the palace to the estate, Evelia decided it was time to begin her plan.
——Step one in Evelia’s Strategy Notes. First, become a sweet and lovely maid girl and steal the man’s heart.
“Master~ Welcome home! ❤️”
“...?”
When Armand opened the door to his room after coming back to the estate, he was greeted by the sight of Evelia standing inside. Though she wasn’t doing anything improper, the heart symbol that practically smacked him in the face along with her greeting made him pause in confusion.
What was even stranger was that although Evelia said such sweet words, her face didn’t change at all. Her voice stayed flat and emotionless. That heart symbol? It felt more like a cold, heavy heart-shaped brick smashing into his face.
...That's so awkward.
With Evelia staring at him like that, Armand instinctively rubbed his cheek.
He casually closed the door, then sat down at the dining table that Evelia had already prepared. As the owner of the estate, his meals were always ready for him, so even though he had returned much later than expected, his food was still at the perfect temperature and taste.
“Master, would you like to eat now? ❤️”
Smack. Another heart-shaped brick to the face.
“Eve, you’re...?”
“Of course I’m here to help you with your meal~ ❤️”
That made three heart-bricks already.
Without noticing Armand's strange expression, Evelia lifted the lid from the food tray. Inside were the usual well-prepared nutritious dishes. But in addition to the visually pleasing food, there was also a bowl of dark, gooey soup.
——Step two in Evelia’s Strategy Notes. Be a thoughtful and caring girl.
Since Armand had a stomach problem, she wanted to take care of his health. So Evelia had gone to the kitchen and consulted the most experienced chef there, learning how to make this medicinal soup specially designed to help with stomach issues.
To show that it was lovingly made by the maid herself, she even cut out a heart-shaped herb leaf and placed it on top. She made sure it wouldn’t affect the medicine’s effects.
But since most medicinal herbs are dried out and dull in color, the result was a withered, gray heart-shaped leaf sitting on top of a pitch-black potion-like soup. It looked more like a witch’s curse than a healing drink.
...The heart even looked a little broken.
“You made this...”
Just from the smell, Armand knew exactly what it was. It was a type of medicine he used to take often for his stomach condition.
It looked awful, smelled bad, and tasted worse. In terms of color, aroma, and flavor, it had nothing going for it. But when it came to the five main tastes, sour, sweet, bitter, spicy, salty. It somehow had all of them at once. Drinking it was like tasting all the miseries of life in one gulp.
This medicine was the only thing Armand was picky about. For him, drinking it felt like torture.
If someone asked him what it actually tasted like, even a battle-hardened knight like Armand couldn’t find the words. The taste was so weird that if you tried to wash it down with water, it would weaken the medicine’s effect, meaning the awful flavor would just stay stuck in your throat, making it hard to even speak properly.
Back when he had to drink it often, his knights used to joke, “Our captain must’ve learned some huge secret and got silenced,” whenever they saw him opening and closing his mouth with a pained face, unable to speak more than a few words.
And since every medicine has some poison in it, and Armand's body was immune to all poisons, the medicine never even worked on him in the first place. The fact that he had drunk so much of it with no result just made it feel even more like torture.
“Master ❤️, open your mouth and say ‘ahhh~’”
While Armand was busy recalling his painful memories with that awful medicine, Evelia had already picked up the bowl. Like she was feeding a baby, she lifted the spoon filled with the dark, sticky liquid and held it up to his face. The thick, gooey stuff clung to the spoon and slowly dripped down in long strings, looking like it didn’t want to leave, as if it were being dragged to hell but trying to stay behind.
—Step three in Evelia’s Strategy Notes, the feeding play.
Gently bring the “supposedly” delicious food to the master's lips, lift your fingers slightly to show off your slender, pale hands, lean forward just enough to let him see your pretty collarbones, and let the soft curves hidden under the bow of the maid outfit peek out a little. If he looks carefully, he might even spot the white lace of your bra.
“I mean, Eve… shouldn’t we eat lunch first before taking medicine…?”
Armand leaned back awkwardly, unsure of what Evelia was trying to do. Her affectionate lines and movements felt stiff, almost like she was forcing herself to play a part.
That spoonful of medicine was definitely big enough to need a censor blur on it, and the black, leaf heart in the bowl looked half-melted. Even though Armand had seen all kinds of horrors on the battlefield, this thing gave him goosebumps just from the psychological pressure alone.
“Ahh~ Master ❤️, open your mouth and eat!”
But Evelia didn’t seem to care. She was totally committed to this feeding act. She’d already raised the spoon, there was no way she was letting Armand back out now.
“But Eve…”
“Ahhh~”
“Eve… come on, stop. This stuff—”
“Aaah~~”
“… …”
—‘Wait a second. Could she have poisoned this?! Is she really that impatient to act? Well, lucky for me, I’m immune to poison. If she really did poison me, that could be my chance to catch her red-handed.’
Thinking that, Armand opened his mouth like a man accepting his fate.
—‘I knew it. With my charm, there’s no way he could resist me. He’s finally opening up to me. Next, I’ll definitely win his heart.’
Thinking this, Evelia happily put the spoon into his mouth.
The moment the medicine touched his tongue, it felt like a full-out world war had broken out among his taste buds. Armand instinctively tried to spit it out, but Evelia quickly slapped her hand over his mouth to keep him from doing so.
“Mmff—?!”
“This is for your own good, Master. You have to eat all of it ❤️”
—‘She really is trying to kill me, isn’t she?!’
While Armand was thinking about how to dig up more clues from her, Evelia was thinking like a good maid should, determined to help her master finish his meal and medicine. Even if it was bitter, it was all for his own good. She was going to make sure he drank every drop.
After a painful struggle, Armand somehow managed to finish the bowl of medicine. Normally, he could’ve taken it little by little and been fine, but Evelia’s aggressive feeding method made it so much worse. It was pure torture, so much that he couldn’t even speak properly.
“You’re amazing, Master ❤️” Evelia patted Armand's head with a flat face and a heart symbol. “Make sure to stay strong tomorrow too ❤️”
With that, she picked up the tray and left Armand's room. She figured there was no way he’d be able to eat a normal lunch after what just happened.
Meanwhile, Armand sat there with his hand over his mouth, looking like his soul was about to float out of his body, buried under a pile of heavy, heart-shaped bricks.
—‘I must’ve made a deep impression on him.’
Walking through the hallway with the tray in her hands, Evelia felt like she was one step closer to success.
Still, she was a little curious, what did that medicine taste like, exactly? What kind of taste could make someone like Armand suffer that much?
She licked a bit of the medicine left on the spoon, and the moment the taste exploded on her tongue, she could only think one thing about Armand, who had just swallowed a full bowl of it.
Deepest respect.