Chapter 141: The Relationship Between the Two
“So, Miss Evelia, since Armand has already agreed to raise that child with you, doesn’t that mean your relationship with him is already pretty close? I mean, he agreed to raise a child with you!”
Compared to the mind games and power struggles going on at the knights' headquarters, Anna’s clothing shop was peaceful and relaxed. The two girls sat together sipping tea and eating snacks, enjoying their private little tea party where only Evelia did most of the story-telling, sharing “interesting things that happened lately.”
Whenever Evelia came to her shop, Anna would always hang a “Closed” sign on the door so no one would interrupt their chats.
To Anna, money could always be earned later. Closing the shop for a day or two didn’t matter. After all, the shop was more of a fun side project for her.
But gossip? If you missed it, you missed it forever!
And who would want to miss out on juicy stories about Miss Evelia and Mr. Armand?
Besides, she was the “chief strategist” here. It was her job to give advice and ideas!
“Hmm... Close?”
Evelia crunched down on a cookie, letting the taste of chocolate melt in her mouth. Although this kind of chocolate snack was super popular among girls, to Evelia, it… just didn’t compare to ketchup.
If Anna, an ordinary person, weren’t sitting right across from her, Evelia probably would’ve pulled a packet of ketchup out of her alchemy imprint and smeared it all over the cookies and tea.
But now that she couldn’t use ketchup, Evelia just kept nibbling on the same chocolate cookie. She didn’t like super sweet things, so it was taking her forever to finish just one. Except for ketchup, no matter how sweet it got, she still loved it.
“I don’t think my relationship with Armand is all that close.”
Since she had no ketchup, Evelia just quietly chewed on the cookie.
“No way! Seriously?! You can’t be serious!!”
It was like Evelia had just said something absolutely shocking. Anna’s eyes widened, and she shot out three back-to-back questions in disbelief.
“You two are literally co-parenting now! You’re already playing the role of mom and dad together, how can you say you’re not close?! Oh my gosh, I can’t even think of anything closer than that, other than… doing something on the bed!”
Anna looked really fired up, even forgetting to wipe the cookie crumbs from the corner of her mouth. The way she held her teacup now looked more like she was raising a mug of beer at a tavern.
“……”
Evelia stayed quiet as she listened, seemingly deep in thought.
“…?”
Then, she slowly blinked and raised an imaginary question mark.
“…What does that have to do with being close?”
She looked confused.
In Evelia’s mind, being “close” to Armand meant something much more direct and specific. It meant she had already “taken him down.” Yes, that’s right, completing the first phase of her mission.
To Evelia, they would only truly be considered “close” once that day arrived, when their relationship was fully solidified, and Armand fully trusted her and saw her as the woman next to his pillow.
Only then would her mission from the Second Prince be considered phase one complete. Only when their relationship reached that level would she consider it “close” according to the definition in her mental dictionary.
So no matter what they had been through together so far, if it hadn’t reached that point, Evelia would always think their current relationship was still far from what she would call “close.” In fact, in her view, they still had a long way to go.
“What do you mean it doesn’t matter, Miss Evelia?! Listen to me, I’m going to walk you through this!”
Anna was still very fired up, clearly determined to explain things to Evelia properly. She didn’t care about appearances anymore, downed the rest of her tea in one big gulp, wiped her mouth, and got ready to break it all down.
“Miss Evelia, think about it. You and Mr. Armand are acting as that child’s mom and dad, right?”
“...Mm.”
Evelia nodded as she listened. It was true, Rachel called her “Mom” and called Armand “Dad.” Unless those were some kind of secret code words, they probably meant that the two of them were acting as Rachel’s parents.
“Then think again, what’s the relationship between a ‘mom’ and a ‘dad’?”
As Anna explained step by step, Evelia quietly sorted through the simple logic in her head.
“The roles of mom and dad… I think they’re usually a married couple, right?”
Evelia answered easily, it was a very simple question.
“Yes, exactly!”
Anna felt relieved and happy inside. Finally, Miss Evelia was starting to get it!
“So, do you get what I mean now, Miss Evelia?”
“Hmm? You mean...?”
“Ugh, Miss Evelia, you’re so slow sometimes! A ‘dad’ and a ‘mom’ are husband and wife, right? And you and Armand are acting as ‘dad’ and ‘mom,’ so doesn’t that mean you two are already very close? Super close, actually!”
What Anna meant was: Armand was willingly playing house as a little three-person family with Evelia. He had even accepted the roles they were pretending to be. That alone showed he was starting to accept Evelia into his life. If that’s not a sign of being close, then what is?
“Ah...”
After a few seconds, Evelia’s face changed. She had a look of realization. Her usual calm expression shifted, her eyebrows lifted, eyes opened slightly wider, and her mouth made a small “o” shape. She looked a little surprised… maybe even pleasantly surprised.
“—Then, that means Mr. Armand and I are already married.”
That was the conclusion Evelia came to based on Anna’s logic.
“...Uh—uhh?”
Anna froze. The hand holding her teacup stopped midair.
“N-no, um, Miss Evelia, that’s not exactly what I meant...”
“You said ‘mom’ and ‘dad’ are a married couple, and Armand and I are playing the roles of ‘mom’ and ‘dad,’ so if you add that up, doesn’t that mean we’re basically husband and wife?”
“...Eh? Huh...? Wha...?”
Faced with Evelia’s logic, Anna couldn’t quite figure out how to respond. Something about it felt off. But somehow Evelia’s reasoning made it hard to argue.
—Wait... does this mean... Miss Evelia is already married to Mr. Armand?
Anna seemed to give up on thinking altogether and just followed Evelia’s train of thought.
…Does that mean I should start designing Miss Evelia’s wedding dress…?
…Wait.
…Is this… right??