Chapter 35: Using Your Flowers to Praise You
That afternoon, in order to buy enough tomato sauce, Evelia rushed around the marketplace during the end-of-month shopping rush.
She searched every corner of the market and finally managed to get everything she needed. With this, she wouldn’t need to visit the market again for a while. She just had to keep track of the expiration dates and use everything in time.
To manage it properly, she even made a chart showing how much to use each day and how many days it would last. According to her plan, she would use up the sauce right before the expiry date. She even marked the next shopping day ahead of time. This way, she finally achieved what she jokingly called “tomato sauce freedom.”
At the same time, while Armand was feeling troubled about his relationship with Evelia, she was also lost in thought, wondering why she hadn’t seen him.
That whole afternoon, Evelia was busy at the market. She even ran into one of the old men from the estate whose job was to buy supplies. He kindly shared which stalls had the best quality, which ones were more expensive, whose products were freshest, and which shopkeepers had the nicest personalities. Evelia learned a lot from him. She took her time choosing the best tomato sauce, which made the trip longer than usual.
After returning to the estate, she tried a new brand of tomato sauce and baked a fresh batch of tomato tarts. Then she waited, hoping Armand would return from the Knights’ Order that afternoon. She stayed in the kitchen, keeping an eye on her tarts. If they cooled down, she’d eat them and make a new batch. After all, she had bought extra tomato sauce.
But she waited and waited… and even after she was full, Armand still hadn’t come back.
‘Why won’t he come home?’
Evelia sat in a small chair near the back kitchen window of the estate, biting into a tomato-filled tart. The red sauce dripped slightly from the sides.
When she found out that the orange cake she had made for Armand at lunchtime had been returned to the kitchen without even a bite taken out of it, she started to believe he was truly upset with her. Normally, no matter what, he would at least taste a little.
Of course, Evelia didn’t know that Armand usually gave away the tomato-flavored desserts to others. She also didn’t know that the reason he didn’t eat the orange cake this time was because he was upset she hadn’t made lunch for him, so he had no desire to eat anything.
The last words Armand had said to her were, “Evelia, please step out for now.” He had said it formally, hoping to make a clean break, so he didn’t call her “Eve.” Because of that, Evelia thought she must have done something terribly wrong to make him angry.
She watched the sun go down. Then the moon rose, and stars slowly appeared in the evening sky. The estate, once full of people, gradually became quiet again.
She had saved the last piece of tart for Armand, but the carriage from the Knights’ Order never appeared at the gate.
“How annoying…”
She mumbled softly. She didn’t even know who exactly she was blaming.
In the now-empty kitchen, lit only by the candlelight the head chefs had left behind, Evelia took the final tart and brought it to her lips.
Crunch.
The crispy tart shell broke under her teeth. Red tomato sauce stained her lips. She stuck out her tongue to lick the corners of her mouth. The sweet and sour taste lingered in her mouth for a long time.
Evelia stood up in the night air, put the small chair back in its place, and blew out the kitchen candles. Under the faint light of the stars and moon, she quietly returned to her dormitory.
The next morning, she heard that Armand had only come back late at night. She had planned to wake up early and bake another batch of the tomato tarts she was proud of. But before she could even finish gathering the ingredients, while walking toward the kitchen, she heard the sound of Armand's carriage leaving again.
She asked the gate guards, but they said they had no idea when he would be back.
“……”
Evelia looked off into the distance. The carriage was already long gone. It was a new day, and she still hadn’t gotten the chance to speak with Armand.
‘…This can’t go on.’
Evelia went back to her usual spot, under that same tree.
If Armand really hates her now, then her mission might fail.
Gaining Armand's trust and gathering information about the Crown Prince was a strict, non-negotiable order. A task she had to complete.
But if she couldn’t even manage to meet with him now, how could she possibly earn his trust?
“…What a headache.”
She tilted her head up and closed her eyes, letting the morning sunlight shine on her face. But for some reason, her heart was filled with frustration.
Was it the mission that was troublesome? Or was it her relationship with Armand that was hard to deal with? Evelia couldn’t tell. She just knew, things couldn’t stay like this.
‘What should I do… what should I do…’
Evelia took a deep breath to calm herself and quiet the restlessness in her heart.
“……"
In the middle of her breathing, she caught a light scent of flowers in the air.
She opened her eyes and turned her head toward the back garden of the estate. She remembered that last time, when Armand had “escaped” with her, he had taken her in that direction.
Normally, in noble families, the back garden was off-limits to servants. But things were different here, there weren’t so many rules. As long as they didn’t damage anything, the servants were allowed to walk around or rest there during their free time.
The back garden was beautiful, filled with gentle flower scents, fountains, and blooming flower beds. People thought the place was very romantic. Because of that, many maids and knights who were in love would sneak here to whisper sweet things to each other or take quiet walks hand in hand.
It became the go-to spot for gossip among the maids and knights. If anyone saw a man and a woman in the garden, it usually meant they were confessing their feelings or already in love.
Evelia didn’t like that kind of clingy, sweet atmosphere, so unless she was doing chores there, she usually avoided the garden. But this time, following the scent of flowers, she stepped into the garden, something she almost never did. It seemed that because it was still early morning and everyone was busy, she was the only one there.
【The knight nervously held a single rose. He tried his best to keep a calm face, but his fingers wouldn’t stop shaking, like he had no idea what to do with his hands. It was just a thornless rose, but he didn’t even know how to hold it properly.
The maid rushed to the meeting place and saw the knight standing straighter than in military training. He stared stiffly at the rose in his hands. The sharp-eyed soldier didn’t even notice the maid walking up to him with a playful smile. It wasn’t until he caught the familiar scent next to him that he blushed and suddenly handed her the rose.】
‘Hmm… something like that?’
Evelia quickly recalled that scene from a novel. The story was simple, but the result was effective. After receiving the rose, the maid happily accepted it and later kept it in a glass jar filled with water.
This time, Evelia wasn’t going to play the maid’s role. She wanted to be like the knight holding the rose.
The gift didn’t need to be expensive. As long as it showed how much she cared, it would be enough.
So, Evelia took out a small spare knife she had hidden in the folds of her maid dress, disguised as a piece of decoration. She searched around and finally stopped in front of a cluster of blue roses.
If just one rose could work that well, then a whole bunch must work even better, right?
Thinking that, Evelia used her excellent cutting skills to quickly snip off all of the rare, thornless blue roses. She planned to wrap them up simply and give them to Armand as a gift in return.
On her way back to her room, the old butler saw Evelia from afar, carrying a big bunch of blue roses in her arms. From the distance, he couldn’t tell that the flowers were actually from the estate’s own garden. Remembering how secretive she had been the last time, the butler didn’t bother asking where the flowers had come from.
He watched Evelia walking happily, her steps light and cheerful, and started thinking.
After all, Evelia was a pretty young lady. In the butler’s eyes, even if her background was a bit questionable, it would be perfectly normal if some young man wanted to pursue her.
For the first time, the butler saw the usually emotionless girl smiling. He almost thought he was seeing things. She seemed so happy with those flowers… Maybe some young man was trying to win her heart?
But then, thinking about how troubled Armand had looked lately, the old butler sighed in his heart and muttered.
“Master Armand, you really need to put in some effort now…”