Chapter 128: Changing the Topic
Although little Rachel had followed them in secret, she took full advantage of her small size and quietly hid under a large tree. But the two people she was following weren’t just anyone.
Both Evelia, a trained assassin, and Armand, the current captain of the knight order, were people who stayed alert even while on vacation. They had already noticed the tiny head poking out from behind the tree. Rachel thought she was well hidden, but to them, she was actually very easy to spot.
Armand just treated it like a kid playing games and didn’t take it seriously. He hadn’t done anything that needed to be kept secret today, so if the little one wanted to watch, she could go ahead and watch. Evelia only tilted her head slightly, not looking at Rachel directly, but using her peripheral vision to keep an eye on her every move.
Even though Evelia usually used her intense aura to scare people who “said the wrong thing,” if she didn’t want others to notice, she wouldn’t release that pressure. So even though she had already locked onto Rachel, the girl was still watching Armand and Evelia from a short distance away like a clueless mantis being targeted by a sparrow.
Before long, Armand strolled back, leading Luna into the stable. After brushing some hay off himself, he returned to Evelia’s side. Although the outing was meant to help Evelia relax, judging from his expression, it looked like Armand was the one enjoying himself more.
“Haha—sorry, Eve,” Armand said after realizing it himself. Seeing Evelia still standing quietly beside him with a blank expression, he scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. “I meant for you to have fun, but I guess I ended up being the one who had all the fun.”
“No need to apologize, Mr. Armand,” Evelia replied politely, giving him a respectful bow, since he currently held a higher rank than she did. “I’m already happy just being able to come out here with you.”
That’s what she said, but when she said the word happy, her tone was just as flat and stiff as ever.
“......”
Armand, of course, couldn’t sense any actual “happiness” in her voice or expression.
“...Hmm...”
He let out a small frustrated sigh. His hand moved from his neck to his chin, pinching it as if deep in thought.
“...Ummmmm~~~”
Then, as if struggling with something, he let out a long, weird sound. He furrowed his brows while staring at Evelia.
Evelia looked at Armand, confused. She didn’t understand why he suddenly looked so troubled.
“—Eve,” he finally spoke after “umm”ing for a while.
“Yes, I’m here, Mr. Armand. Do you need something?” Evelia responded in her usual calm and formal tone.
“Have you ever smiled?”
“...What?” Evelia thought she had misheard him and repeated his question. “You mean... smiled?”
“Yes, that’s right. I mean, smile.”
As he said it, Armand even demonstrated by forcing a smile, curling up the corners of his mouth. But because his eyebrows were still tightly furrowed, the smile looked very forced and stiff.
“...A smile like this?”
Evelia tried to copy him, pulling up the corners of her mouth in the same way.
“No... I didn’t mean baring your teeth like that. You don’t need to try so hard to show every tooth, I’m not a dentist… Though, I have to say, your teeth are pretty nice.”
Seeing her stretch her mouth so wide it almost formed a rectangle, Armand couldn’t help but feel both helpless and amused. To ease the slightly awkward mood, he turned his words into a bit of a bad joke.
“Thank you for the compliment, Mr. Armand,” Evelia said, clearly latching on to the second part of his joke, the part about her teeth.
“You’re welcome—ah, no, wait, I wasn’t trying to compliment your teeth in the first place!”
“Well then, you can compliment other parts of me instead.”
“Why does that sound so weird when you say it...?”
Armand had a feeling that the conversation was about to go completely off track.
“So, are you saying there’s no other part of my body worth complimenting?”
Here it comes...!
Armand’s gut feeling was spot-on.
Evelia’s unique way of thinking and responding had, as expected, completely shifted the topic into very different territory.
“No, that’s not what I meant!”
Armand realized where it was going but still chose to go along with her for now. After all, his goal today was to make Evelia a little happier, so he didn’t want to just shut the conversation down. He figured he could steer things back before it went too far.
“I see. If this body of mine could be something Mr. Armand likes, that would be wonderful.”
Wait, wasn’t that already a line that went too far?
But Evelia had said it sincerely. In fact, “seduction” was one of the tactics in her plan. If she could use her looks to attract Armand, it would actually save her a lot of trouble.
“Ahem—Eve, let’s not talk about... bodies or who likes what. These kinds of things… maybe don’t say them so casually.”
Armand looked a bit embarrassed and cleared his throat. He wasn’t sure if Evelia even realized what her words really meant, so he didn’t press the issue.
“You don’t like it?”
But Evelia seemed to care a lot.
As mentioned, she was trying the “beauty trap,” so it was very important to her whether Armand liked how she looked.
“Hmm?” Armand was surprised by her reaction. “It’s not that I don’t like it.”
“Then... that means you do like it?”
“When you ask something like that all of a sudden, I...”
“Mr. Armand.”
Evelia looked at him seriously. Hearing his hesitant tone only made her want his answer more.
“Do you like me?”
Of course, what Evelia meant was, ‘Do you like the way I look?’
She only wanted to know whether Armand found her appearance and figure attractive. That mattered to her plan. But since she didn’t finish the sentence clearly, and left out the subject, it was easy to misunderstand her words.
“Huh...?”
Armand clearly didn’t expect Evelia to ask so directly, and definitely didn’t expect her to steer the conversation this way with just a few lines.
He didn’t answer right away, and Evelia started to get anxious.
She stepped forward, using the confident and forceful manner she was known for. Even though she stood in the shadow cast by Armand’s figure, her presence completely overwhelmed him, as if she were the one in control.
“Mr. Armand, do you like me?”