Chapter 43: ASMR
“R-Really…”
Armand awkwardly turned his head away, trying to use his bangs to hide his unsteady eyes. But Evelia wasn’t the type to care about how he looked. She had already made up her mind, her goal was to help Armand relax. That was all she was focused on, helping him fall asleep.
“If you don’t like this, I can try something else.”
As she spoke, Evelia took out a classic fluffy ear stick. But compared to the feather she used earlier, which only needed a light touch, the fluffy stick required a lot more skill. Evelia was a fast learner, but she was more used to doing rough things, like fighting or killing. When it came to something gentle like this, she had no experience at all.
“Hmm…”
She held the fluffy stick in one hand and picked up her instruction book with the other. She looked at the drawings, then looked at Armand's ear, and finally, poof, shoved the stick straight into his ear.
“Ah—damn it…!”
The moment the fluff went into Armand's ear, he let out a cry of pain.
After that, Evelia treated the stick like a spoon and Armand's ear like a cooking pot, stirring in circles as if she were making soup. From the sound of Armand's pained yelling, anyone could tell how much it hurt.
“Eve—Eve—Evelia!!”
Evelia was totally focused on figuring out how ear-cleaning worked. She didn’t stop until Armand suddenly grabbed her wrist tightly. Only then did she notice she couldn’t see his face clearly because of her chest, so she even moved a bit to get a better look.
“What’s wrong, Mr. Armand?”
“You’re asking me what’s wrong?! Are you trying to kill me? You almost stabbed through my ear!”
“……”
Evelia blinked her golden eyes, thinking silently. ‘Well, I was planning to kill you.’ Just not yet.
“I’m very sorry, Mr. Armand.”
“Sigh…”
Looking at Evelia’s calm face as she apologized seriously, Armand didn’t feel like getting mad anymore. He was about to sit up and end this, but Evelia gently pushed him back down.
“Mr. Armand, we’re not done yet.”
“Not done yet?” Armand's voice went up in fear as Evelia pushed him back onto her lap. “W-What are you trying to do now?”
“I’m really sorry I hurt you just now.”
“That sounds weird coming from you… but fine, I guess it’s nothing serious. I can still hear, right?”
“But your ears look even redder than before.”
“Yeah, that’s because you stabbed them…”
“I see…”
Evelia started gently patting Armand's shoulder again like before, but this time, the burning pain in his ears made it hard for him to enjoy her lap pillow.
“Phew…”
“…!”
But soon, the pain was covered by a totally different feeling.
“Phew… Mr. Armand… does it still hurt?”
Evelia leaned down beside his ear and gently blew on it.
“Ev… Eve…!”
“Phew… Your ear is still so red… it must really hurt… Let me blow on it, it’ll feel better…”
Evelia whispered softly by his ear. Because she was gently exhaling as she spoke, her voice sounded even sweeter. Her breath was warm and close, and the tiny sounds of her lips moving sent a shiver through Armand's whole body. His heart skipped a beat, and he clenched his fists tightly without meaning to.
“Phew… It doesn’t seem to be better yet… Mr. Armand… your ears… are still the same…”
As she spoke, her voice got even softer and closer, and her breath warmer. Armand could still hear the flipping of pages from the manual in her hand, but her lips were getting nearer and nearer.
“Mr. Armand… mm…”
And then, while calling his name, Evelia gave his ear a light kiss.
“Mr. Armand… mm… is it better now?”
“Ev—Eve, what… what are you doing?”
The sudden kiss made Armand tremble. He felt embarrassed, but the moment she kissed his ear, he completely lost control of his breathing.
Evelia originally just wanted to help Armand relax and fix his insomnia. She had followed the last few pages of a guidebook that claimed to include a "special method to help people feel close and fall asleep faster." But instead of calming him down, it had the opposite effect. Armand only became more awake and nervous.
“I only wanted to help you relax… Mr. Armand…” she said softly.
“This… this really isn’t relaxing, Eve—”
“Please don’t move, Mr. Armand…”
Once again, Armand tried to sit up, and once again, Evelia gently pushed him back down. She was very determined, since she had already started, she didn’t want to give up halfway. This time, she leaned closer, placing her soft body against his to keep him still.
“Eve…!”
Armand's arms tensed as he felt the pressure. He tried to raise one arm to protect himself, but he could feel every detail through the thin fabric between them.
Looking at him from up close, Evelia noticed where he was staring and calmly explained.
“Yes. Because last time, you didn’t seem to like the clothes I wore. So this time, I didn’t wear those extra layers. I wanted you to feel more comfortable when we met.”
“W-what?”
“Top and bottom, I didn’t wear them, Mr. Armand.”
“?!”
In other words, Evelia was only wearing a simple maid dress and white stockings.
Armand suddenly remembered when his head had accidentally rested on her stomach earlier, could that really have been…
His mind felt like it exploded with that realization.
“Ah, Mr. Armand, this is bad!”
“W-what is it?”
Armand's brain was so overwhelmed that he could barely speak.
“It seems my lipstick got on your ear, that must be why it looks so red.”
The lipstick Evelia was wearing had been a gift from Anna, a store clerk. It was meant just to moisturize her slightly dry lips and didn’t have much color to it. But Evelia noticed the red on his ear hadn’t gone away, and her mind quickly made the connection.
It might have sounded teasing, but she genuinely meant it.
“Eh? That’s not really a big deal—”
“Let me help you clean it.”
Remembering what the guidebook suggested about relaxing techniques, Evelia gently lowered her head and touched his ear with her lips, trying to clean off the ‘color’.
“……!”
Armand felt frozen. Her gentle touch around his ear was strange, ticklish, and oddly relaxing at the same time. For a moment, his mind went completely blank.
Evelia followed the instructions carefully, gently brushing around his ear and even lightly nibbling at his earlobe to help “soothe tension.”
Armand's thoughts were filled with the strange sounds and sensations. The soft breaths and tiny hums from Evelia made it even harder to concentrate. For her, it might have been just a few seconds. But for him, it felt like a whole minute had passed in silence.
“E-Eve… can we… stop for a moment?”
Armand suddenly sat up and pulled away, holding out one hand to stop her. The other hand covered his face, and he was breathing hard, unable to say much else. Even the hand he raised slowly lost strength and dropped back down.
“Mr. Armand? The sleep aid isn’t finished yet…”
“You’ve done enough already… Eve.”
More than enough.
“So… um… I’m going to sleep now… Could I ask you to leave… just for tonight?”
“…Are you asking me to leave because you’re upset again?”
“No, Eve…” Armand looked at her through the fingers covering his face. “I’ve never… been mad at you.”
“Then I’m glad to hear that, Mr. Armand.”
“Be safe on your way back… and next time… it’s fine if you wear what you like. I… I don’t dislike it.”
Evelia was quiet for a moment, surprised by his words. Then, as Armand lowered his head in embarrassment, she gave a small but real smile, something rare and soft.
“Alright, Mr. Armand. If you like it, that’s all that matters.”
But Armand, with his face still buried in his hands, didn’t notice her smile.
Seeing he had nothing more to say, Evelia quietly packed up her things and the guidebook. She felt satisfied. She believed she had not only helped Armand with his sleep, but also cleared the tension between them. When she had the chance, she’d definitely have to thank the store clerk Anna for the helpful book.
Click.
After the door closed, Armand finally let out a breath. He lowered his hand, glanced down at the part of him that had become "excited" on its own. With a look of complete defeat, he collapsed onto the bed with a thud.
“Aaahhh—this is so embarrassing!”