Chapter 67: An Invitation to Go Out
Later, after Armand went back to get his own coat, Evelia finally walked out of the ballroom wrapped tightly in that long overcoat, just like before.
Armand had thought about going to Evelia’s room to get her a change of clothes, but maybe because he didn’t want to enter her room without her permission, or maybe because of some personal feelings of his own, he decided against it. Instead, he simply fetched his own coat and used it to wrap her up. It was clearly a “Royal Knights Commander” coat, and anyone could see the shiny gold badge on her chest.
After that, Armand helped Evelia carry the box of tomato sauce back to her room. Evelia had wanted to politely invite Armand in for a bit, but he turned her down.
“No, I won’t stay,” Armand shook his head.
“Do you have something else to take care of?”
“Ah—” Armand paused for a second. “Yeah, I’ve got a few things to do.”
As he spoke, Armand helped her stuff the box into the already full mountain of tomato sauce.
What he was actually thinking was that Evelia had danced so passionately just now… when the time comes, he couldn’t just stand around like a block of wood. Since he had finally invited a dance partner, he couldn’t just sneak out through the window this time.
“I see.”
Evelia responded softly and then fell quiet again. Actually, in her mind, she was thinking seriously about how to handle the schedule if the mission and the ball ended up happening at the same time. She stayed silent the whole way back because she was deep in thought.
On one side was Armand, who seemed to be looking forward to the festival. On the other was a mission she couldn’t avoid. According to the informant of the Second Prince, the best time to take action was during the celebration.
That day, there would be fewer people watching Evelia, and the crowd would be lively and chaotic. Under the fireworks, she could use the noise and flashes as cover to lead someone to the bell tower.
“……”
But from Armand’s point of view, Evelia’s silence felt like pressure. He started to feel like he was some kind of jerk who just walked away after watching a sexy dance. Even though he hadn’t done anything wrong, a strange sense of guilt crept up on him.
“Um, Evelia,” after thinking about it for a while, Armand finally spoke, “How about this, if you still have some free time, would you like to… go out for a walk?”
“A walk?” Evelia tilted her head slightly.
“Yeah… right.” Armand scratched his head awkwardly, trying to figure out how to say it.
“I mean, if we’re going to the festival, I’ll need to make you a new dress. If you don’t mind, how about coming into town with me to look around? Ah—or, if you don’t feel like going out, I can ask the designer to come here instead.”
As Evelia listened, she seemed to remember something and looked up at the sun outside. They had chosen to practice in the afternoon, so it was already getting late. If they went out now, the sky would probably turn dark before long.
When Armand saw Evelia looking outside, he also realized what time it was. That’s when he noticed he might’ve brought this up at the wrong moment.
“We probably don’t have time today.”
As expected, Evelia rejected his invitation.
“Ah, yeah, that makes sense.”
Armand nodded, thinking to himself that this answer was no surprise.
“But… we can go tomorrow.”
“…Huh?”
All of a sudden, Armand felt a little lighter.
“I’ll have time tomorrow. We can go together.”
Now this is what you call a date…!
What stupid festival? Who cares about that? Going out shopping together like this, that’s a real date! If they ended up buying stuff like rice and cooking oil too, wouldn’t that basically make them a newlywed couple?
Ahhh, no! Don’t go down that road again…!
Armand quickly shook himself out of those unrealistic thoughts.
What on earth was he thinking…!
From Evelia’s point of view, she could see Armand rubbing the bridge of his nose with a troubled expression, like her suggestion had caused him a lot of stress.
But honestly, this was all she could come up with. After all, someone like Armand didn’t seem like the kind of person who would easily agree to go shopping for clothes. He was more the type to do exactly what he said earlier, invite a designer to his house instead. He probably wouldn't be impressed by a small shop designer like Anna either.
“If this is bothering you, then we don’t have to—”
“No, it’s fine,” Armand lowered his hand and took a deep breath. “I’ll go with you tomorrow. But I’m not good at picking out women’s clothes, so you just pick whatever you like. I’ll take care of the bill.”
After thinking it over, Armand decided to accept the invitation.
He took a deep breath to calm down and pushed away all those strange thoughts, starting to weigh the pros and cons.
Getting to go out with Evelia was clearly a good thing. Even though his informants had tracked her movements, nothing beat seeing it with his own eyes. So he figured he might as well use this opportunity to accompany her.
Besides, he actually liked wandering around aimlessly. Back when Evelia first arrived at the manor, he had already said he hoped the two of them could go out together someday. Unfortunately, the Royal Knights had gotten busier and busier, so he never had the time. Now, it felt like the right moment, both to observe and to keep his promise.
“You don’t need to worry about the money. Anna said she’d make the clothes for us for free.”
“Anna again?”
“Mm-hmm. That Anna.”
“That’s actually kind of interesting…”
Armand was getting more and more curious about who this so-called Anna really was.
It seemed Evelia trusted her quite a lot. If she wasn’t another spy, then maybe there were some things he could find out through this girl named Liliana.
After the two of them agreed on a time to go out, Armand left Evelia’s room. But instead of going back to his own, he went straight to the ballroom.
The mirror Evelia had brought over was still there. Armand, still wearing the short shirt he had put on for dance practice, stood in front of it, looking awkward and unsure what to do.
He tried out a few dance steps that Carle had taught him by word of mouth, but even just a couple of moves made his skin crawl with secondhand embarrassment. Even though no one else was around, he squatted down, curled into himself, and wished he could just disappear.
“Arghhh, this is so annoying!”
Armand muttered to himself alone in the ballroom.
“If this were some kind of hunting competition, that’d be way better! This is supposed to honor war heroes, so why make it so artsy?! If it were a hunting contest, I’d already have it in the bag!”
Compared to this twisting and turning dance, Armand would rather throw on his helmet and compete in a hunting match. Even a simple tournament within the Knights would be better. At least with that, he’d have a good chance of ranking near the top.
But this so-called dance only brought him more stress. Even though it wasn’t a real competition with rankings, it still felt a hundred times more nerve-racking than something that was.
Sigh…
Letting out a long sigh, Armand got back up again. He thought about what Carle had told him, then recalled the elegant moves he had seen at previous balls. Facing the mirror, he awkwardly tried to copy those stiff and formal steps.
Meanwhile, back in her room, Evelia didn’t rest either. After carefully putting away the black dress, she stayed in her maid outfit and continued reading the dance book. Because she had learned the wrong steps earlier, she now had to start over from the beginning.
Looking at the complicated moves in the book, Evelia tried to follow them stiffly in front of her vanity mirror.
“Hm… hm… hmm~”
Humming a tune that was already deeply familiar, Evelia danced gracefully.
Armand and Evelia, though in different places, were both practicing hard for the upcoming ball.
As they followed the rhythm of the music, both of them thought the same thing in their hearts.
‘I hope I won’t let him/her down.’