Chapter 38: He’s Anxious
The conversation between the three men finally ended when the busy Crown Prince had to go back and deal with royal documents. After he left the knights’ headquarters, the room became quiet again, only the sound of Carle flipping through papers could be heard.
Even though this was technically Armand's office as the captain, it was Carle, the vice-captain, who handled all the paperwork. So the office basically became Carle’s as well. A hardworking vice-captain doing all the management while the captain just sat around spacing out. It was a very common scene.
“If you’re tired, just take a nap,” Carle said.
As soon as the Crown Prince left, Carle went back to work, while Armand returned to lying on the couch, looking like he was deep in thought. He pulled his black-and-white coat with gold trim over his head again, just like before.
“I’m not really sleepy,” Armand mumbled from under the coat. He peeked through a gap in the fabric and looked over at Carle, who was still focused on his work. “How much more is left?”
“A lot,” Carle shook his head. “Every knight has to be accounted for. It’s not something we can finish in just a day or two.”
“Ugh…”
Armand sat up from the couch and tossed his coat, decorated with medals, on the back of the sofa. Then he plopped himself down on the empty part of the desk and picked up some of the unfinished documents.
Armand didn’t like doing paperwork, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t do it. If he wasn’t someone who did things himself, he wouldn’t have stayed up late last night with Carle, working until midnight before returning to the estate.
If Carle’s wife hadn’t been worried and their daughter wasn’t so young and needing her father around, Carle might’ve stayed and worked through the night with Armand.
“Are you staying here all day again today?” Carle asked during a short break from the paperwork.
“Yeah.”
Armand lightly tapped the wooden desk with his heel, turning slightly so that Carle could only see his side profile. The loose hair near his temples made it hard for Carle to see his full expression.
“You’re not going back to the estate?”
“I’ll think about it tonight.”
“That’s not a good idea.”
“What? I’m staying here and helping you with overtime. Isn’t that a good thing?”
“……"
Carle still couldn’t see Armand's face clearly, but from his tone of voice, he could tell Armand was pretending to sound calm.
Rustle.
Carle’s papers made a sharp sound as he put them down. Then came the click of a pen being capped, followed by the scrape of a chair being pushed back. Even though Armand didn’t turn around, he could tell Carle had stood up and was walking toward him.
“You brat—”
“Wha—?!”
Carle suddenly kicked Armand off the desk.
Of course, he didn’t use full force. Otherwise, that sneak attack would’ve made Armand's back hurt for real.
“What the heck was that for?”
Even so, Armand was now lying face-down on the couch, rubbing his waist. The surprise attack had caught him off guard, especially since his mind had been elsewhere.
“You're suffocating yourself and driving your brothers crazy with worry. Since when did you become such a sulky little wife?”
“Huh?” Armand brushed the footprint off his waist, picked up the papers that had fallen to the floor, and placed them back on the desk. “Why are you getting worked up?”
“……”
Carle didn’t answer. He just crossed his arms and stood in front of the desk, tapping his fingers against his arm in a way that clearly showed how annoyed he was.
“Ugh…” Armand scratched his head with one hand while resting the other on his waist. “It’s not as simple as you think.”
“What’s wrong then? Is she underage? Some forbidden love? Don’t tell me… you like men?” Carle frowned, tapping even more impatiently.
“Of course not! I’m totally straight!”
“Then what are you so scared of?”
“I’m not scared... I just—”
Armand's voice suddenly stopped at its loudest point and turned into a deep sigh.
“Armand. Is she pretty?”
“Huh?”
Armand was surprised by the sudden change in topic. But as soon as Carle asked that question, a very clear image of Evelia’s face, so beautiful it looked like a painted portrait, appeared in his mind. Embarrassed by his brain’s reaction, Armand rubbed his ear and nodded.
“…Yeah, she’s really pretty.”
“How’s her body?”
“…Amazing.” Armand slowly covered half his face with his hand, remembering what had happened in the carriage that day.
“She’s an adult, right?”
“Yes, she is.” At least, her documents said she was.
“Then what are you waiting for? Just go for it!”
“What the heck are you saying?!”
Carle’s bold words shocked Armand so much that he shouted back.
“I meant you should take the initiative. Women like men who make the first move.”
“Ahh…” Armand wiped his sweat. “So that’s what you meant by ‘make a move’…”
“Huh? Then what were you thinking of?”
“……” Armand didn’t say anything. He looked away, feeling a bit guilty.
“Anyway, hiding here like a turtle won’t help. The most important thing is that you two need to talk it out clearly. Like I said before, find a chance and apologize.”
“But I didn’t do anything wrong—” Armand stopped halfway, because Carle gave him a sharp look that shut him up instantly. Even though Armand was technically the higher-ranked knight commander, he still got completely overwhelmed by his vice-commander who was four years older.
“Alright, go now. I’ll handle the rest of this. Just take care of yourself,” Carle said, seeing that Armand finally understood what he meant. Then he returned to his desk, working on the papers like nothing had happened.
“……”
Armand clearly still wanted to say something, but when he saw Carle’s “my job here is done, now go away” attitude, he gave up. With a sigh, he turned and walked out of the room labeled “Commander’s Office.”
From the moment that incident happened, Armand had been wanting to talk to Evelia and explain everything. But for some reason, after calming down for a day, he didn’t want to face her anymore.
Still… now that he had stepped out of the office where he’d been hiding, it was time to go find Evelia and talk things out…
But what could he even talk about? With someone like Evelia, there was a good chance he'd say too much and make mistakes. If he wasn't careful, he might reveal information that could be deadly.
He wanted to talk to her, but didn’t know how. He was starting to hate how fake he was being. And even if he did apologize, it might still be full of lies and half-truths.
“This is so annoying.”
He muttered to himself as he left the knights’ headquarters.
His plan was to just let time pass until everything blew over. When enough time had gone by, he’d pretend nothing had happened and move on. He had already prepared himself to stop worrying about Evelia.
But when he returned to the estate and had barely sat down, the old butler, who was folding his clothes, casually said,
“Sir, Miss Evelia received flowers.”
“What?!” Armand jumped up like he’d been hit by a spring. “When?!”
“This morning, right after you left.”
“What?!”
Someone dared to flirt with Evelia right under his nose?!
That was the first thought that exploded in Armand's head. His heart started pounding, and he clenched his fists tightly.
Even though he told himself he had no romantic feelings for Evelia and was only trying to keep an eye on a suspected spy for the Second Prince… still, like he always said—
How dare someone hit on Evelia right in front of him?!
This was a matter of principle!
How dare anyone try to mess with his person?!
“Where is Evelia now?” Armand took a deep breath, trying to look calm.
“She went out after getting the flowers.”
“She left right after getting the flowers?!”
So much for being calm.
In truth, Evelia had just gone out to buy wrapping paper for the flowers.
“Yes, and she dressed up very nicely too.”
“She dressed up?!”
Now he was even more agitated.
Actually, Evelia was just planning to stop by Anna’s clothing shop on the way, so she wanted to look presentable.
“Haah…”
Armand had to admit, after hearing all this, he was starting to panic a little.
What was this irritating and uneasy feeling…?
“Damn it, it’s just flowers,” he cursed, standing up without even putting on a coat. “I’ve got plenty of those!”
With a loud slam, Armand burst out of the door. Seeing him storm off like the wind, the old butler sighed with a smile.
“Ah… youth really is a wonderful thing…”
After leaving the estate, Armand headed straight to the back garden. The garden was usually open to the servants, and there were often young couples secretly meeting there. But when they saw Armand charging in, they all got scared and ran away, holding hands. In no time, the garden was empty, Armand was the only one left.
He remembered that during one of his past missions, a western country had gifted him some rare thornless blue roses. Their color matched his eyes, so Armand liked them very much. He had worked hard to grow them at home. Even though he had a lot of seeds, only one small patch had survived.
Because he was a little selfish, he’d asked the Crown Prince to plant the flowers in a hidden part of the garden when they built the estate, so he could enjoy them in peace without people asking for them.
So when the butler said Evelia had received flowers, Armand immediately thought of those rare blue roses, the ones he didn’t even let others look at too much. Without hesitation, he rushed over.
But when he got there, he stared in shock at the empty rosebed.
“Huh…?”
He looked all around, left, right, up and down. But he didn’t see a single bit of blue.
“Where are my flowers?”