Chapter 124: Adventure Novels and Romance Novels
“I didn’t expect you to read novels, Mr. Armand.”
Seeing Armand place a bookmark into his novel, Evelia was genuinely curious.
“Ah—” Armand paused and let out a slightly awkward laugh. “I read them sometimes, just for fun.”
“Is it an adventure novel?”
“...Yeah.”
Armand looked even more embarrassed now. After all, he was nearly thirty, and being asked by a woman whether he read adventure novels, the kind usually meant for younger people, was a little awkward.
“That’s surprising.”
Evelia tilted her head slightly and looked at the novel again, intrigued.
“It’s... not that surprising, right? The story’s not that childish.”
As Armand said this, he noticed Evelia’s curious gaze and, a little helplessly, handed her the half-read novel with a slightly trembling hand.
“......”
Evelia took the adventure novel with both hands and flipped through a few pages.
She wasn’t really the type to enjoy reading novels. Although she had read the very popular romance novel “The Maid’s Knight”, she had always treated it as a kind of “strategy guide” to help her win Armand over, not as a romantic story full of emotion.
Not to mention, “The Maid’s Knight” didn’t really have much of a plot. Even though it was marketed as a romance novel for young women, most of it, aside from the beginning where the characters meet and get to know each other, was just full of... intimate scenes.
The novel had pages and pages of detailed “games” between the maid and the knight in bed. It even had all sorts of weird dirty talk.
There were also many things Evelia couldn’t even begin to understand, stuff like restraints, forced play, breath control, hypnosis, while sleeping, before and after scenes, training, whipping, role-playing, even things like wax play. All of it felt far too advanced for her.
Of course, Evelia had no interest in exploring those kinds of things. She didn’t bother reading it in detail and just thought it was full of meaningless physical stuff and strange lines. She couldn’t understand the point of all that dirty talk, and she really didn’t get why anyone would yell “it feels good” during those scenes.
Because her very first experience with novels had been that over-the-top, ultra-explicit book, Evelia had since stayed away from fiction altogether. From then on, she only bought textbooks and reference books when necessary.
She even returned “The Maid’s Knight” to the maid who had lent it to her. Evelia didn’t need to keep it, once she read something once, she could remember it perfectly. No point in letting it gather dust.
So when she compared that to the novel Armand had just given her. It felt... very normal.
“...It’s a very normal novel.”
Evelia blurted that out without thinking.
“What, did you think I’d be reading something outrageous?”
Armand reached out and took the book back from her, slipping the bookmark into the two-thirds point.
“I just thought all novels were like that one, honestly.”
Because “The Maid’s Knight” was the first novel she’d ever read, Evelia had naturally assumed that all novels out there were basically adult books.
“Which one?”
Armand placed his novel back into the bookshelf beside his bed.
“The Maid’s Knight.”
If it had been another maid, she might have been too shy to say that name out loud in front of Armand the knight. But Evelia was different, she didn’t think there was anything wrong with saying it at all.
“Ah, that one.”
Armand thought for a moment and remembered the book title. He had heard it mentioned before by some of the maids and knights. Apparently, because of that novel, the knights had suddenly become very popular lately. A lot of young women were dreaming of finding a handsome knight to spend their life with, just like in the book.
But Armand thought that was way too idealistic.
First of all, there were lots of knights, and every one of them had a different personality and background. Armand hoped those young ladies could find true love within the knight order. But the truth was, the knights came from all sorts of places and weren’t always reliable. He didn’t have the time to personally check every knight’s character. So if someone decided to promise their life to a knight just because of a romance novel… that felt really unrealistic to him.
Not to mention, even if a young woman really did find a decent knight, knights were soldiers. They could be called to war at any time, and who knows? They might lose their life on the battlefield. That meant those women might end up widowed while they were still young.
“So, what did you think of that book?”
Of course, Armand had never read that romance novel and wasn’t particularly interested. He was just making polite small talk.
“......”
When Evelia heard his question, she paused.
That’s when she suddenly realized that she must never let Armand read that novel.
She didn’t really care if Armand found out the book was basically adult content. What mattered was she couldn’t let him know that she had used that book as a guide to get close to him.
“There's really nothing worth reading in it.”
So, Evelia chose that answer, hoping it would make Armand lose interest.
“Haha, looks like you’re not into girly stuff after all, Eve.”
Armand said it jokingly, but Evelia suddenly fell into deep thought.
Wait, so should she like that kind of thing or not?
Evelia wasn’t sure what to do. After all, she had originally wanted to take the cute-and-girly route to win Armand’s heart. But the truth was… she had no idea how to actually be a cute and girly girl.
Should she like girly things? Should she just go for it and tell Armand right now, ‘I really like that novel, and I like knights too’?
How exactly was she supposed to shape herself into someone Armand would fall for?
“Eve?”
“—Yes? What is it, Mr. Armand?”
“Nothing, I just noticed you were spacing out.”
Armand chuckled softly. It seemed like he didn’t want to keep talking about novels. He stood up, stretched, and walked over to the window. Then he pulled open the light curtains that had been drawn to help Evelia sleep.
“Staying cooped up indoors all day isn’t good for you. The weather looks nice today. Want to go for a walk?”
For some reason, seeing Armand standing in the sunlight made Evelia pause for a moment. It felt like he was the light she could never truly reach. Something stirred in her heart, but she didn’t know exactly what it was.
So she simply nodded, almost automatically, and said,
“Okay, Mr. Armand.”
After all, Evelia had never refused Armand. That was also part of her mission.
Everything she did was meant to please the head of the Royal Knights. To complete the Second Prince’s assignment, she had to make herself likable to Armand, which was becoming more and more stressful.
“Ahhh—Luna! It’s been so long!!”
Without even realizing it, the two of them had walked to the horse training ground Armand had specially built for Luna.
Evelia saw how Armand ran over and hugged Luna with more excitement than he had ever shown toward any person, and she felt even more pressure than before.