Chapter 69: That Strange Feeling of Caring
“—!”
When she heard that kind of thing, Anna, who had just been watching for fun, clearly got even more excited than Evelia. She quickly ran to Evelia’s side, covered her mouth with her hand, and whispered,
“You never told me you two had that kind of relationship!”
Anna’s eyes were sparkling like she had just heard some juicy gossip and couldn’t wait to hear more.
“Hmm?” Evelia wasn’t sure what was going on, but she followed Anna’s lead, speaking softly, “What kind of relationship? What do you mean?”
“You know, the way he said you were his!”
“Oh, that was true.” Evelia didn’t deny it at all.
“Eh?” Anna was clearly surprised.
“I’m his maid, so technically, I am his,” Evelia explained calmly.
What Armand said was easy to understand. She was his maid, so in theory, yes, she belonged to him. After all, she really did live in his house.
“…Is that so?”
Anna looked up at Armand, who seemed a lot easier to talk to than Evelia, like she was looking for confirmation. She wanted to know if what Evelia said was really true.
“Sir Armand, I’m your maid, right?”
Evelia even stood up straighter and looked at Armand as she asked, helping Anna get her answer.
“Yes, what about it?” Armand nodded without hesitation. Though he answered plainly on the surface, what he was really thinking was probably known only to himself.
“See?” Evelia turned back to Anna seriously after hearing Armand’s reply, as if saying, ‘See? That’s how it is.’
“See what…? What exactly am I supposed to be seeing here…”
Anna narrowed her eyes, trying to sniff out any romantic tension between the two of them. But no matter how hard she looked, all she could see was Evelia, calm to the point of being cold, and Armand, smiling but always keeping a certain distance.
It was like the two of them were traveling together, but each had their own purpose. Evelia had mentioned before that she was trying to “increase Armand’s affection points,” and Armand, well… this knight…
Wait a second.
This knight’s name… wasn’t it Armand?
Anna suddenly realized something and locked her gaze onto Armand.
“A knight named Armand…”
She mumbled to herself and then glanced at Evelia again, as if trying to confirm something.
“He’s just an ordinary knight,” Evelia said quickly, like she was trying to shut down Anna’s thoughts on purpose. Her words came out stiffly, as if to strongly emphasize it.
And after saying it once, she even repeated herself like she was afraid Anna might keep digging. “He’s just… a normal knight.”
“Ah, right, just a regular knight,” Anna nodded.
Seeing Evelia emphasize it so many times, Anna decided not to press further. If Evelia said he was a regular knight, then he was a regular knight.
From their past conversations, Anna already knew Evelia had some kind of serious mission or personal grudge, something she couldn’t talk about easily. And she gave off this mysterious vibe, like someone with a big goal.
Since Anna had declared she wanted to be Evelia’s friend, of course she would be on her side. If Evelia said something, then as an outsider, Anna felt it wasn’t her place to keep asking questions.
Still, Anna couldn’t help remembering what Evelia had said before that she had to ‘win over someone she didn’t like, and who didn’t like her.’
Now Anna was wondering…
Did this handsome knight named Armand have some strange flaw?
Was there something about him Evelia didn’t like?
Could it be… he’s into men?
Wow, if a guy this good-looking is gay, isn’t that just a huge waste?
Anna couldn’t help but sigh in her heart.
“Ahem, um, Ar—?”
“My name is Armand, Miss Anna,” he replied politely.
Wow… what a handsome and well-mannered man...
Maybe it was because good looks are always a plus, Armand instantly got a high score in Anna’s eyes.
“Ah, Mr. Armand and Miss Evelia, you two came here for the dancing outfits, right? I’ll measure your sizes now.”
“I don’t need one,” Armand said with a smile as he sat down on the sofa in the waiting area of the boutique. “I’m a knight, so I’ll wear the formal uniform of the knights at the event. We already have designated clothing for occasions like this. No need to make me a custom suit.”
The Royal Knights were originally created to serve and protect nobles, so their social status was always higher than that of ordinary people.
Over time, they merged with the national army. To strengthen its control over the military, the royal family made the capital’s soldiers part of the Knights as well. That’s how the Royal Knights became a military force protecting all citizens, rich or poor.
Even though they weren’t as privileged as in the old feudal days, the title “Royal Knight” still came with some extra respect and better treatment than the average citizen.
Because of these benefits, many young people dreamed of joining the knights, but the entry standards were extremely strict. If you didn’t meet the mark, you simply couldn’t join. Being a knight was not something you could do half-heartedly. It was a serious job that risked your life. Even the rookies in the Knights had stronger bodies than regular people.
“Ahhh… really?” Anna looked a bit disappointed after hearing Armand’s explanation.
For designers, beauty had no gender. It was an honor to make dresses for beautiful women, but also a pleasure to tailor suits for handsome men.
She thought Evelia had brought such a high-quality knight here to give her double the joy. But now, it turned out she didn’t get to design anything for him, and it felt like all her wonderful design ideas had nowhere to go, frustrating!
Still, there was nothing she could do. Since Armand had already said so, Anna didn’t insist. She brought out her measuring tools and started taking Evelia’s measurements instead.
She brought Evelia to the mirror and carefully wrapped the measuring tape around her waist.
At first, Armand acted like he didn’t care. He just casually looked around at the interior design of the boutique.
But as soon as Anna began calling out Evelia’s measurements one by one, Armand’s ears perked up. It looked like he really wanted to sneak over to see what Anna was writing in her notebook.
He already knew Evelia had a great figure, but hearing those actual numbers still surprised him. There were details he had never paid attention to, things he only noticed now, after hearing them.
After a few minutes, as the numbers kept swirling in his mind, he began to wonder why he even cared about that kind of thing...
But his eyes still couldn’t help drifting toward Evelia.
At first, he just listened and stole glances. Eventually, he gave up on hiding it altogether, thinking, ‘Why am I sneaking around? Evelia was the one who brought me here. It’s not like I’m doing anything wrong.’
So now he openly watched Anna as she measured Evelia’s body closely.
Anna of course noticed what Armand was doing. She thought to herself, ‘Aha, I knew it! You really do like Miss Evelia.’
So she deliberately changed her position and turned Evelia to face Armand.
Then, at that moment, she began measuring Evelia’s chest. She even tightened the measuring tape on purpose, making the soft flesh press in and create an obvious, bouncy effect. Then loosened it again so it could spring back with a lively bounce.
Next, pretending she needed to double-check the numbers, she measured Evelia again while she was still facing Armand.
This time, she deliberately held the tape in such a way that Armand could easily read the numbers himself, so he got a full visual breakdown of Evelia’s impressive stats.
She was practically showing him, ‘Hey, look! This is the kind of body this girl has!’
To make things even more obvious, she even measured the length of Evelia’s lower belly, giving Armand a playful look as if to say, ‘You get what I mean, right?’
At that moment, Armand nervously swallowed.
Of course, he knew what Anna was up to the second she turned Evelia around. But even so, he still watched the entire process from start to finish.
It wasn’t until they were measuring her wrist and arm, parts that didn’t need close attention, that he finally looked away.
What was he even doing? What’s the point of remembering all those numbers...
Armand just felt like his focus today was a hundred times sharper than when he attended royal meetings.