Chapter 151: The Two Tall Towers in the Estate
When Armand returned to the estate, he got off the carriage even before it reached the front gate. He was proudly walking ahead, carrying a huge stack of boxes, so tall they were much higher than his head. Behind him, Rachel followed with a helpless look on her face, like she wanted to hide in a hole.
Any time someone greeted him with a “Good day, Mr. Armand,” he would excitedly respond with.
‘How did you know I bought every prize from that little game stand today?’
Even though, actually, no one asked him that.
The knight standing at the gate was just asking if Armand needed help carrying the boxes.
Rachel looked much calmer. She tugged at the confused knight’s sleeve and shook her head, telling him silently not to bother with Armand anymore.
Just like Armand said, he did clear out the prize inventory at that game stand. But to be exact, he did it together with Carle.
At first, the two of them treated the game like a serious competition. One used arrows, the other used throwing knives, and things got pretty intense. But then, it was like they both silently agreed to change their plan from “let’s see who wins” to “let’s clean out the vendor’s entire stock.” Without even talking, they split the tasks and worked together smoothly. In the end, the match was a tie. But they managed to take home every single prize from the stall.
These prizes were just cheap little toys, nothing valuable to either Carle or Armand. They didn’t have to take it so seriously. But when they heard Salana cheering them on so excitedly, and even Rachel shouting “You can do it!” (though clearly unwilling), they both decided they had to win enough to make the kids happy.
For Carle, the most priceless reward was the way his daughter looked at him, with sparkling eyes, and how she said, “Dad, you’re amazing!” That kind of praise was worth more than gold.
As for Rachel, she wasn’t the type to say anything sweet like that. So Armand didn’t get much praise at all. All he got was a small grumble from her.
“So childish.”
Still, she reluctantly opened one of the gift boxes and started munching on the snacks inside. She sat in the carriage crunching away as they headed home, clearly enjoying it even if she didn’t want to admit it. Armand enjoyed watching her eat just as much.
Even so, despite the old saying “don’t criticize someone after they give you things,” Rachel still felt Armand was being way too childish.
She didn’t know his exact age, but from the look of his face, he had to be in his twenties. Other people his age already had two kids, but this guy was still getting excited over winning at street games.
But besides being worried, Rachel also felt a bit scared.
Because she saw the whole thing, how Armand popped balloon after balloon with perfect accuracy and almost no effort. She couldn’t help thinking… if he wanted to stab someone in the head, it probably wouldn’t be much harder than popping a balloon.
Even though Armand was the captain of the Royal Knights, he was way too good at using hidden weapons. Rachel couldn’t help but wonder what kind of past he had, was he really always on the side of justice?
As she stood in the shadow of the tall stack of prize boxes Armand was carrying, feeling a little overwhelmed, an even larger shadow suddenly appeared, covering her completely. The tiny Rachel was now stuck between two towering walls of boxes.
“Mr. Armand?”
“Ah—you knew it was me—” Armand started to speak, then turned his head, surprised by what he saw.
“Eve?”
He sounded unsure because while he clearly heard Evelia’s voice, he couldn’t see her at all.
Standing in front of him was someone holding an even bigger stack of boxes than he was. Based on the small part of white stockings showing from the side, it had to be Evelia.
“Yes, it’s me, Mr. Armand.”
Evelia tilted her head from behind the mountain of boxes, showing half of her face and her shiny golden eyes.
If someone didn’t know what was going on and saw her from far away, they’d probably think Evelia was dragging around a small tower. Even from up close, Armand had no idea what she was carrying in those big boxes.
“Mr. Armand, what are you carrying?”
Evelia was the first to speak, pulling the topic away from the awkward moment where they were just staring at each other. Though with how high both of their boxes were, eye contact wasn’t exactly easy.
“Ah, this?”
As soon as the question came up, Armand perked up again.
“Ahem, well—”
He even tried to make it seem more mysterious and impressive. He stood up straight with a loud “click” of his heels, like he was giving a report at work.
“You wouldn’t know this, but let me tell you. These are all my prizes from the game stalls. I pretty much emptied the whole little warehouse!”
Armand said this with a serious and proud look on his face.
Rachel covered her face with her hand.
Even though she knew the truth, that Evelia wasn’t actually a girl. It still felt wrong for Armand to speak so seriously about something so childish… especially to someone who thought she was a girl!
‘I really wish I could use alchemy to give you a brain that understands love...!’
“……”
Evelia heard what Armand said and poked her head out again, carefully looking up and down at the boxes he was carrying.
Rachel didn’t know what kind of annoyed face Evelia would usually make when dealing with someone like Armand. She just silently sighed to herself and continued to watch the scene unfold like a spectator at a drama.
“—Mr. Armand, you’re amazing.”
“……”
Now it was Rachel’s turn to fall silent.
But honestly, she wasn’t surprised at all.
“Yeah, pretty great, right?”
Armand seemed really pleased by Evelia’s praise. He scratched at the cardboard box in his arms, a smile naturally forming on his face.
Of course, Evelia couldn’t see that smile. After all, the boxes were too tall and blocked her view.
“So, Eve, what are you carrying?”
Armand didn’t look over, but just from the shadow on the ground beside him, he could tell that whatever Evelia had brought wasn’t small either.
Rachel quietly grumbled in her heart, These two are seriously a perfect match. It would be a shame if they didn’t end up together.
“This is alcohol, Mr. Armand.”
As she said this, Evelia deliberately shook the box a little. The glass bottles inside clinked against each other with a crisp sound, and you could even hear the liquid sloshing inside. The sudden movement startled the much shorter Rachel, she was afraid Evelia might drop the whole thing and cause a disaster.
“Alcohol?” Armand blinked. “Why are you buying so much at once? Are we having a party or something?”
“No, Mr. Armand. This is for us to drink today.”
“Drink? With who?”
“With you, of course, Mr. Armand. You and me, we’re going to drink all of this together.”
“…Huh?”
Armand looked at the ten full boxes of alcohol and suddenly felt like his stomach was already starting to hurt.