Chapter 80: A Wake-Up Call
When Evelia returned to the manor, Armand was still busy with work at the knights’ headquarters.
As she walked around the manor, Evelia kept thinking about what Anna had said earlier. Unlike Armand, who still called the servants by their nicknames, Evelia had already remembered who was who, what their names were, what jobs they did, and even their ages.
But on the way back, Evelia realized something. The people who could be a threat to her weren’t just the ones she had thought of at first.
Anyone who Armand could come into contact with could become his close companion, or even his future wife. So the ones she needed to keep an eye on included everyone Armand might interact with, including but not limited to that white horse.
Evelia first ran to the back garden and crouched down to carefully inspect the rose bushes she had cut down earlier. After confirming that the roses wouldn’t grow back anytime soon, she felt relieved and left the area. Then, she went to the kitchen, somewhere she was very familiar with. She greeted everyone and asked each one.
"What do you think of Mr. Armand?"
Because Evelia was Armand’s personal maid, the cooks were afraid she was there to secretly test them, so almost everyone spoke very highly of Armand. Some praised his good personality, others his kind nature. A few even mentioned how handsome he was, but the moment Evelia gave off that terrifying aura of hers, they shut their mouths almost immediately.
After questioning everyone, Evelia felt there wasn’t anything suspicious in the kitchen, so she moved on to the servant break room.
Since lunchtime was when the kitchen got busy, it was also when other servants switched shifts and took their rest. Evelia thought about going back to the garden again, but since the ones there were just a young man and woman clearly in love, she figured they wouldn’t have time to go after Armand. So she headed straight to the break room.
The break room was lively during lunchtime. The male and female servants were chatting and laughing together, and they were even sharing snacks. Evelia often came here too, mostly to listen and see if there was any gossip she should know about. Because of that, the others were used to seeing her around and didn’t find her visit strange. They just kept doing what they were doing.
This time, as Evelia stepped into the room, she ran into a small stranger.
As soon as she walked through the door, she heard soft little footsteps nearby. The sound stopped right next to her feet, followed by a soft.
“Meow~”
“A cat?”
Evelia looked down and saw a chubby little cat with yellow and brown fur rubbing against her ankles. It looked like the cat was trying to cover her stockings with its fur.
“Ah! Pudding!”
Just as Evelia was wondering whether she should pick up the cat or kick it away, a young maid ran over. She quickly scooped the cat up from Evelia’s feet and hugged it tightly, gently petting its head.
“I’m so sorry, Miss Evelia! I didn’t watch my Pudding carefully!”
Even though Evelia had never treated the maids harshly, she was still a high-ranking servant in the manor. To the regular maids, she was like their boss. Her cold, expressionless face often scared the timid ones.
“That’s your cat?” Evelia asked.
She looked at the cat called “Pudding.” Its chubby body and its soft caramel-like coloring really did make it look like a pudding dessert.
“Well... I guess it’s not really my cat...”
The maid looked very nervous. Her eyes darted around, silently asking the others for help. Soon, another cheerful and brave girl stepped forward. She gave Evelia a respectful bow and said,
“Miss Evelia, this little one is actually our cat. It was a stray that used to dig through the kitchen trash. One day, the head butler happened to see it, and after getting his permission, we started keeping it here in the break room. Don’t worry, we won’t let it wander around the manor. Oh, and we’ve also cleaned it up and made sure it doesn’t have any fleas!”
Evelia didn’t say anything. She listened quietly to the explanation, then looked around the room.
All the other servants were looking at her with hopeful eyes.
She normally wouldn’t mind them keeping a cat in the break room. After all, no matter what they did, it had nothing to do with her. Cats were sneaky creatures. If you treated them well, they would behave. But if you didn’t, they might just run away in the middle of the night, and you wouldn’t even need to worry about them.
Evelia quietly looked at the tabby cat. The cat was staring right back at her with big, shiny eyes.
"Meow~"
Even when it came to animals like cats, Evelia was never the one to speak first.
“Miss Evelia, it seems to really like you,” one of the maids said.
“Like me?” Evelia raised an eyebrow, confused.
“Yes, look! It’s been watching you quietly this whole time. It’s not scared of you at all. Do you want to try petting it?”
As if trying to convince Evelia to like the idea of having a cat around, the two maids smiled and gently held the cat out toward her. Strangely enough, the cat really did seem to like Evelia. It didn’t make any noise or try to run. Just sat there quietly, acting very well-behaved.
“……”
Evelia had seen cats before, but not many. Most of the time, she only came across them when she was on missions. And back then, they usually became emergency food.
“Is it male or female?” she asked instinctively while staring at the cat.
“Ah… um, it’s a female cat.”
“A female?”
Suddenly, Evelia's internal alarm bells went off.
“Yes, Pudding is a girl,” the maid answered, not noticing the slight frown forming on Evelia’s face. She continued, “There’s also a gray-and-black one named Cocoa, he’s a male. They came here together, probably a couple. But we don’t know where he ran off to right now.”
“A male cat, too?”
Hearing that made Evelia relax, just a little.
“Yes! And he’s really pretty. The two of them always go out walking together. A few days ago, I even saw them bump into Lord Armand. He looked like he really liked cats, he sat on the steps and played with them for a long time. They seemed to like him too, rubbing against him over and over.”
“… Liked him? Rubbing against him?”
The maids originally brought up Armand to try and help Evelia warm up to the cats. But instead, the opposite happened. Her guard, which had just come down, quickly shot back up. She remembered how Armand had once pointed at a catgirl maid café and started wondering if Armand actually had those kinds of preferences.
“Yes, cats do that when they like someone. They rub on them to leave their scent. It’s like a way of claiming ownership.”
Claiming ownership?
Who do you think you are, claiming ownership over Armand?
You try to “claim” him, and how am I supposed to do my missions? How do I get close to the Crown Prince for intel?
Evelia’s face suddenly darkened. Her golden eyes stared coldly at the cat named Pudding, as if she was already planning to turn it into two skewers of grilled meat by tomorrow.
“Miss Evelia?”
The maids noticed Evelia’s expression hadn’t changed much, but the atmosphere around her was switching from hot to cold like a sudden storm. They started to feel like they might catch a cold just standing next to her.
“……”
Evelia stared in silence at the cat, who had started to pull its head in nervously from fear. Then she looked at the maids in front of her. She decided it was better to start investigating people first. Cats and dogs could wait. No matter how clever they acted, they were still just animals… probably.
After finishing her questioning in the break room, Evelia headed toward the main building.
On the way, she saw the "male cat" the girls had mentioned, Cocoa. The gray-black cat had its tail up high and was proudly carrying two small dried fish in its mouth, walking toward the break room like it couldn’t wait to show off its victory to the female cat.
But the moment it saw Evelia, her sharp gaze startled the little cat so badly it turned and ran away. It even dropped one of the dried fish, but quickly sprinted back to grab it before bolting off again at full speed.
It was already dark by the time Armand finally returned from the knights’ headquarters. But it seemed like his work wasn’t done yet. He had just come home to change clothes and immediately went to his office afterward.
After Evelia picked up Armand’s late-night meal from the kitchen, she walked to his office door.
Knock, knock, knock.
She knocked three times.
“Mr. Armand, I brought your late-night meal.”
“Ah, okay. Come in.”
Armand’s voice came from inside the room. From the sound of it, he seemed a bit tired.
The office was brightly lit. Armand was sitting alone, buried in a mountain of papers. Evelia didn’t often see Armand this busy with official work. She instinctively wanted to peek at what he was working on, but after she set the tray down, her eyes met Armand’s.
“You should go to bed early, Eve. I still have a lot to do.”
It looked like Armand had already taken a bath while waiting for his snack in the kitchen. His short black hair was still damp and lay softly against his head, which made him look surprisingly gentle.
For convenience, Armand was wearing a bathrobe. The collar was slightly open, revealing a scar on his chest. Drops of water from his hair were slowly sliding down his neck, with some stopping at his collarbone, refusing to fall.
Maybe he noticed Evelia’s gaze, because after looking down again, he casually pulled his robe tighter around his neck.
“Mr. Armand, please eat first.”
After making eye contact with him, Evelia quickly looked away from the papers on his desk so as not to raise suspicion. She cut up the food on the tray and served it with a warm tomato pie she had made herself.
“Sounds good.” Armand stretched, pushed the stack of papers to the side, and cleared enough space on the desk for Evelia to place the tray. “Let’s call this a mid-work break.”
“Do you still have a lot left to do?”
Evelia walked over and set out the utensils. Even though Armand had just taken a bath, she couldn’t smell any body wash on him at all. Thinking back, Evelia realized it was always like this. No matter when, Armand never had any kind of scent on him. He was always completely clean. Or rather, he had no distinctive scent at all.
“Yeah. If I can finish everything in the next couple of days, the two of us can enjoy the party in peace. I really don’t want our first dance together to get interrupted by work.”
As Armand said that, he deliberately looked over at Evelia. For some reason, his expression made her think of that gray cat with the fish in its mouth and tail raised high.
“Thank you for taking the trouble.”
“It’s nothing at all.”
Armand smiled, poking at the food on his plate and eating it slowly. Evelia didn’t just stand around either. She walked to the side, turned her back to him, and took something out from under her clothes.
Jingle~
Armand wondered if he was just imagining things. While eating, he suddenly heard the sound of a bell. But when he looked up in the direction of the sound, he froze.
Right in front of him, Evelia was now standing quietly and respectfully, but something was different. She was wearing a pair of cat ear hair clips, and in her hands, she was adjusting a collar with a bell on it, checking the size.
“Mr. Armand—”
Noticing his gaze, Evelia turned to look at him. Armand was frozen in place, still holding his fork.
Clink.
With a soft sound, Evelia fastened the collar tightly around her neck with her own hands.
“Can I rub up against you… just a little?”
“?”