Chapter 51: An Apology
Evelia stood quietly beside Armand, while he sat under the tree, just like before.
Luna, well-behaved as always, knelt down beside Armand. Instead of acting like a horse, she looked more like a big cat, leaning gently against Armand where he could reach her, as if trying to get more of his attention and love.
Evelia, on the other hand, felt like an outsider. She stood silently on the other side of Armand, watching the close bond between man and horse, thinking to herself that if she’d known things would be like this, she would’ve turned into a horse instead.
“Eve, don’t be so distant. Come sit.”
Just like the rumors said, Armand seemed to care more about his horse than about women. Only after doting on Luna did he glance over and see Evelia standing there alone. He took off his riding coat, laid it on the ground, and signaled to her that she could sit too.
“Thank you, Mr. Armand.”
Evelia didn’t turn down his kindness. Watching how close Armand and Luna were made her feel uneasy and even a little threatened. She never expected that even a horse could make her feel this way.
Evelia looked at Armand. In his eyes, she saw something she had never seen before, real affection. Until now, Armand’s eyes always seemed gentle in a fake kind of way, like he was just being polite. But when he looked at Luna… That was what true fondness looked like.
Not once has he looked at her like that.
She sighed silently.
So far, Armand had avoided her eyes more often than meeting them.
Even now, though he laid down his coat so she could sit, he placed it a little away from himself.
“You really like her, don’t you, Mr. Armand?”
Why not her? Evelia couldn’t understand.
Had she done something wrong? Was it really so hard to win Armand’s trust and affection?
“Of course. We’ve been through so much together, life and death. With someone so reliable, how could I not like her?”
Hearing that, Evelia couldn’t help but think, ‘If Luna were a woman instead of a horse, I’d probably be planning how to get rid of her.’
“I see.”
But what about her?
Questions swirled in Evelia’s heart.
‘Does he like me? What’s my affection level right now? What else do I have to do?’
But there were no answers. And Evelia wasn’t the type to ask directly.
So the three of them, two people and a horse, sat under the big tree. Armand kept talking and laughing with Luna, who couldn’t even talk back. But because Evelia was there, he spoke less than before. He only talked about small things, stories about the new recruits in the knights. He didn’t mention problems in the order, or plans involving the crown prince, and definitely didn’t complain about Evelia in front of her.
“Mr. Armand.”
When Evelia saw that he was more interested in chatting with a horse than with her, for the first time, she felt the strong urge to start a new topic.
She wanted his attention to be on her.
“Hmm? What is it?”
When Armand heard Evelia calling him, his heart skipped a beat. These days, he couldn’t figure her out. He had no idea what she would say next. But he still turned to her and tried to act relaxed. Even Luna raised her head and looked at Evelia.
“……”
“……”
“……”
The two people and the horse looked at each other but said nothing.
Even though Evelia had called Armand's name, she didn’t actually know how to start a conversation. So she just looked at him in silence, thinking that whatever Armand said would be fine, as long as he was willing to talk to her.
As for Armand, although he didn’t speak, his mind was racing. He was wondering what Evelia meant. She called him and then didn’t say anything, was she trying to give him a hint?
Armand always believed he could read people on the battlefield. He thought understanding Evelia shouldn't be too hard. But ever since Carle had told him all kinds of scary things about women, he found Evelia harder and harder to figure out.
Was she hinting at something?
Was she waiting for him to apologize and wanted to give him the chance now?
But her face shows no emotion, he couldn’t read her at all…!
In his heart, Armand was flipping thoughts around like pancakes, trying to guess what Evelia was thinking. But no matter how he looked at it, he felt like they weren’t even on the same page.
However, this time, their thinking was a little more aligned. Just as Armand was wondering if he should apologize, Evelia was also thinking about saying sorry.
Unlike Armand, who was always stubborn and thinking “I did nothing wrong, so why should I say sorry?” Evelia’s attitude was more like, “I’m not sure what I did wrong, but apologizing is probably still the right thing.” She believed in showing good manners first.
Even if later she might go back to her old ways, at least in that moment, she was very sincere about apologizing.
Meanwhile, Luna the horse looked at the two quiet people with great interest. If she could talk, she would probably say something like, ‘Seriously? You’re both adults, what are you staring at each other for?’
And it wasn’t even a romantic kind of stare. Both of them were just staring straight at each other like they were having a no-blinking contest. If Luna were human, this awkward silence would’ve ended already. But sadly, she was just a horse.
Out of the three of them, the one who reacted the fastest was not a human, but the horse.
“Um… Eve.”
“Mr. Armand—”
“Ah—go ahead.”
“No, you go first.”
After the long silence, both of them spoke at the same time, interrupting each other. Even their polite "you go first" came out at the same time.
Luna stayed where she was, like she was watching a cliché scene from a low-budget drama. All females love gossip, and even the female horse Luna was no exception. She chewed her feed slowly, like she was really enjoying the show.
After one more round of “You first” and “No, you,” neither of them spoke again. They just went quiet and looked at each other. Then, just as both thought the other person wouldn’t speak anymore, they once again opened their mouths at the same time.
“Eve, sorry!”
“I’m really sorry, Mr. Armand!”
“…?”
“?”
The overlapping apologies made them both freeze for a moment.
“Why are you saying sorry?” Evelia asked.
“I…” Armand rubbed his neck awkwardly. “I think… maybe I didn’t treat you very well…”
“You did?” Evelia asked, confused. “I didn’t feel that at all.”
“R-Really? Then… why are you apologizing?”
“Because I cut all the blue roses from your garden.”
“?”
A question mark popped up in Armand’s mind again. He thought back to the once-beautiful patch of blue roses, now completely bare. He took a deep breath.
“…Okay, yeah, you definitely owe me a proper apology for that…”
Luna let out a soft snort from the side, as if she was laughing.