Chapter 138: Yes, We Have a Child
After Armand went to the knights' headquarters, Evelia didn’t just stay idle in the manor after finishing her own tasks. She tidied up her room so thoroughly that even if someone sneaked in, they wouldn’t be able to find anything useful. Once everything was in perfect order, she left the manor.
Of course, she wasn’t going anywhere random. She was heading straight to Anna’s clothing shop. In her mind, there was no such thing as “unexpected plans.”
She never did anything extra, and she never took any unnecessary steps.
“Aahhh—Miss Evelia~~~ Long time no see~~~!!”
As soon as the door opened, Anna greeted her enthusiastically. But since Anna was a wealthy young lady who had once learned proper manners, her excitement only showed in her voice. Her actions stayed graceful and proper.
Unlike Armand, who liked to ruffle people’s hair, Anna was someone who ran a clothing store and cared a lot about appearances. There was no way she would mess up a guest’s clothes or hairstyle with rough movements. Even though Evelia was dressed simply and had her hair down casually, Anna still wouldn’t do anything to disturb her appearance.
“Come, sit down, sit down, Miss Evelia. I’ve missed you so much, it’s been way too long.”
Anna warmly invited Evelia to sit on the sofa. She poured some black tea and brought out cookies and snacks to serve her kindly. Once everything was ready, Anna sat down beside her and stared at Evelia with a face full of curiosity, as if trying to discover a “little secret” from her expression or outfit.
But Evelia, who always dressed neatly and rarely showed emotion, didn’t let anything she’d experienced show on the outside. She looked exactly the same as always.
Anna, a self-proclaimed gossip detective, wasn’t satisfied. She widened her eyes and carefully examined every part of Evelia’s appearance. But in the end, she could only sigh in defeat. There really was nothing different about her.
As for Evelia, although she could tell Anna was inspecting her from head to toe, she also sensed that Anna meant no harm. So she just sat quietly, drinking cup after cup of tea to relieve her thirst from walking in the summer heat.
“Um… Miss Evelia,” Anna finally gave in and asked directly, “it’s been so long since we last met, did anything interesting happen?”
“Hm?” Evelia looked at Anna. “Really? I thought we just saw each other not long ago.”
After all, from the time she had picked up Rachel on her way back from Anna’s shop to now, coming back to the shop again, it had only been a few days. It was just that Anna got restless if she didn’t hear gossip every day, so to her, time always felt longer.
“Ahem, did we? Well, I’ve barely appeared at all, over thirty chapters, you know! A whole thirty chapters!”
“?”
Evelia listened to Anna’s strange words and didn’t know how to respond.
“Ahem—anyway, Miss Evelia, let’s talk. Come on, tell me, during the time I was missing you, did anything happen?”
Anna knew Evelia wasn’t the type to leave the house for no reason. If she had come to see her today, it must be because she had something to say.
‘Yes! Is it finally my turn to shine?’
Just the thought that Evelia might be coming for advice made Anna a little excited and happy to feel needed.
Anna remembered the last time they talked, it was about children. She clearly remembered that Evelia had said she wanted a child and wished to become a mother.
So could it be—
“Miss Evelia, don’t tell me... you’re ready to be a mother now?”
“Ah.”
Hearing Anna’s question, Evelia, who had just finished drinking almost half a pot of black tea and was feeling a little too full, rubbed her stomach and said.
"Yes, Mr. Armand and I have a child now."
"—What?!"
Evelia’s completely unexpected answer, along with her coincidental gesture of touching her stomach, nearly made Anna’s eyes pop out.
"It’s only been a few days!" Anna couldn’t help but shout in shock.
"Didn’t you say it had been a long time?" Evelia replied calmly.
"Th—that doesn’t count!" Anna stammered, nervously reaching out to touch Evelia’s belly. "Y-You mean… you’re really pregnant?"
"Yes, that’s right." Evelia looked at Anna, confused about why she was touching her stomach so carefully, but she didn’t resist. "Mr. Armand and I have a child."
"Oh my god… oh my god, this is so fast?!"
Anna suddenly got flustered. She reached for some cookies on the table, then grabbed her tea cup, and finally pulled out her sketchbook. Her hand holding the pencil was trembling like crazy.
"I… I need to design some baby clothes for you two… no wait, not just need, I have to make the perfect baby outfit for that child—!"
After the shock wore off, Anna was suddenly fired up. It was like she had a flame burning inside her as she tightly gripped her pencil, ready to design clothes for the child.
"Baby clothes? What baby clothes?"
But Evelia didn’t seem to be following along.
"You know, for the baby. Didn’t you say you and Mr. Armand have a child?"
"Ah, that kid."
When Evelia mentioned Rachel, her voice even sounded a bit colder.
"She doesn’t need baby clothes."
"Huh…?" Anna was clearly stunned. "Why not?"
"Because she’s already three or four years old." Evelia replied, even making a quick gesture with her hand. "About this tall, and this thin."
"Wait—what?!" As soon as she heard that, Anna completely lost her composure.
"A child that’s already three or four years old?! Miss Evelia, did you… did you take in someone else’s kid?!"
As expected of cousins, Anna’s reaction was exactly the same as Carle’s earlier.
"Take in someone else's kid?"
"Like... is she Mr. Armand’s child from another woman... a love child?"
Only their reasons were different. One was worried her best friend was being tricked. The other was afraid her friend was being used.
"No, she’s not," Evelia shook her head. "She’s a stray child I found near the manor. You told me before that I should learn how to raise a child before having one myself. So I picked her up and brought her home to raise with Mr. Armand."
"I mean… that’s not really what I meant..."
Anna tried to explain further, but when she saw the serious look on Evelia’s face, she swallowed her words.
Still… thinking about Evelia’s personality, Anna couldn’t help but worry a little about the poor child who was brought home by her.
But… if Mr. Armand is there too, maybe it’ll be fine...
He seems pretty reliable… maybe…?