Chapter 73: Meow Meow Meow?
After picking out the outfit, Armand and Evelia left Anna’s clothing shop.
There was still enough time before the festival began for Anna to finish making the dress, but she was so excited that she said she'd rush to get it done early. Just so Evelia could try it on as soon as possible.
Before they left, Anna even gave Armand a wink and a little fist pump, as if cheering him on. It looked like she had switched sides, from supporting “Miss Evelia catching that knight” to backing “this handsome knight winning over Evelia.”
Even though her perspective had changed a little, Anna had already seen through the situation. The two of them clearly had that faint, dreamy kind of feeling between them. They just wouldn’t take the next step.
Evelia seemed a little slow when it came to love, and Armand looked like he was hesitating about something. Without a little help from others, it might be hard for the two of them to actually get together. Anna thought they were the type who, for some small reason, might end up drifting apart just like that.
Of course she wanted to give them a push, but she also understood her role. As just Evelia’s friend, if she did too much, she might end up being annoying.
So even though she was enthusiastic, she wouldn’t cross the line. At most, she would give Evelia some small tips here and there. As for Evelia’s explosive and unpredictable “follow-up” actions, Anna actually had no idea what those were. If she did know what Evelia had done after listening to her advice, she would definitely be shocked.
After all, what Evelia could pull off was something most people wouldn’t even think of. Even Armand, with his unpredictable way of thinking, couldn’t guess what was going on in Evelia’s mind.
Although there was a bit of a gap between Anna’s suggestions and Evelia’s actions, things had still started moving in the right direction.
As for Armand and Evelia, even though they’d gone out in the morning, it was already nearly noon by the time they left the shop. They had spent several hours just picking a dress that Evelia liked and felt comfortable with. In the end, at least they had chosen a design everyone was satisfied with.
As they walked back toward the manor, Armand glanced at the steady stream of people passing by and began thinking to himself.
“…Want to get something to eat?”
Armand hesitated for a moment, then casually asked, trying to sound like it wasn’t a big deal.
When you’re walking together like this, inviting the other person to a meal always brings a bit of tension, so he made sure to say it as casually and normally as possible.
Honestly, Armand had no idea what Evelia liked to eat. If she agreed, he would have to think quickly about where to go.
“I don’t really want anything.”
But Evelia, completely oblivious, turned him down flat.
“Ah… I see…” It wasn’t the answer he was hoping for, but then again, this was Evelia. It wasn’t that surprising.
“Mr. Armand, are you hungry?”
“Not re—” He stopped mid-sentence, then quickly changed his answer. “Ah, yeah, I guess I’m a little hungry. Let’s go grab something to eat?”
An opportunity like this… had to be made for yourself!
Since Evelia didn’t want to eat, then all he had to do was say he was hungry, right?
If someone like Carle, who knew Armand really well, heard him say he was “hungry,” they’d probably think something shady was going on. After all, Carle knew Armand had a sensitive stomach. He wasn’t picky, but he almost never offered to eat something on his own.
The only times he invited someone to eat were usually when he couldn’t handle something on his own, or had already done something he felt guilty about. In those cases, the size of the meal he treated you to usually showed just how guilty he was feeling.
“What would you like to eat?”
But Evelia didn’t know about the full story.
She did know that Armand had a sensitive stomach. But since he always managed to eat the food she gave him, Evelia had slowly started to think that maybe his stomach problems weren’t that serious after all.
What she didn’t know was that all those strange tomato-based dishes she made… Armand gave them away to other people every time.
“Hmm—”
Armand didn’t think too much about it. Since they were in a busy street with lots of little restaurants, he just casually pointed at a place that looked clean at first glance.
“How about that one?”
“……”
Following the direction of Armand’s random finger, Evelia looked at the sign on the restaurant and went quiet for a few seconds.
“Mr. Armand, do you think I’m not a good maid?”
“Huh?”
How did the conversation suddenly jump to that?
When he looked more closely, he instantly realized what was going on.
【This month’s special: Cat-Ear Maid Cafe! Dear Masters, please take care of us, meow~ ❤️】
“Oh no.”
Looking at the pink, cutesy font and the little heart shapes, Armand suddenly felt his skin crawl.
How did he accidentally pick this weird place?
“Meow?”
Looking at the big “meow” on the sign, Evelia blinked and turned her eyes to Armand, a little confused. Her gaze was so direct, Armand wanted to crawl into a hole. And her calm, serious expression made it feel like she was looking at a complete idiot.
“Eve, you don’t have to copy that…”
“Mr. Armand, so this is the kind of style you like, meow~❤️?”
She tried copying the tone from the ad and added “meow~” at the end of her sentence. But instead of sounding cute, it only made Armand feel more awkward.
“Ah no, no, that’s not it. I’m not that kind of guy… you really don’t have to do that.”
Even though the weather wasn’t that hot, Armand had already started sweating from pure embarrassment.
Evelia’s emotionless “meow” reminded Armand of the time she slammed a bunch of heart-shaped bricks straight into his face (figuratively speaking).
And with that flat tone full of suspicion, it really felt like Evelia was making fun of him. Even though her voice was actually kind of cute, Armand wasn’t in the mood to enjoy it at all. He just wanted to disappear from the world.
“Mr. Armand, if you need me to, I can learn. I want to be a more qualified maid.”
No matter how strange the request, Evelia could agree to it now, because in her mind, nothing was truly “weird.” Compared to most people, she already knew her own personality was pretty strange.
“No… what makes you think I need that kind of thing?”
“If Mr. Armand likes it, it doesn’t have to be a cat, I can be a dog too. If I can’t be your cat, I can be your dog.”
“That’s a bit much.”
Her strange phrasing made it even harder for Armand to keep a straight face. But when he thought about it more deeply, in a way… both he and Evelia had lived like dogs, doing what others ordered, putting up with everything.
Still… having Evelia say she’d be his dog, that would be something new.
That thought only flashed through his mind for a second before he pushed it away.
He figured Evelia’s idea of “being a dog” probably didn’t mean the same thing he was imagining.
Even he had to admit, he’d been having way too many weird thoughts lately.
Maybe... it was time to tone it down.