Chapter 153: Getting Drunk
After handing Armand the bottle of alcohol, Evelia didn’t let him sit on a chair or the sofa. Instead, she led him to sit directly on the carpet in his bedroom.
All around them were short bottles of beer and Evelia’s favorite tomato ketchup. It looked like they were about to perform some kind of mysterious ritual.
“Mr. Armand,” she said, handing him a bottle of beer and keeping one for herself. “Let’s drink together.”
Before Armand could even ask, “Why are you suddenly drinking with me?”, Evelia lifted her bottle and quickly finished her second drink of the night in one go.
“......”
Seeing how casually Evelia tossed the empty bottle into a cardboard box, Armand felt awkward just sitting there doing nothing. He shook the beer bottle in his hand. It looked small in his hand compared to hers.
He carefully smelled it, took a small sip, and after checking that there was no strange taste or poison, he followed Evelia’s example and drank the whole bottle in one go.
“Cough...”
Right away, Armand felt a bit of discomfort in his stomach.
—This stuff is strong alcohol.
Even though it didn’t taste strong, once it hit his not-so-tough stomach, he could clearly feel it. He looked at the plain bottle and the box it came in, neither had any labels or details about what was inside. There was no information at all.
Did she buy this straight from a brewery? If this was cheap alcohol from a poor neighborhood, it made sense that there was no label.
Why did Evelia buy something this strong? Was she feeling upset about something and trying to drink away her feelings?
But… with Evelia’s personality, what kind of trouble could she possibly have? She always seemed calm and emotionless, barely showing any kind of happiness or sadness.
Ahh—whatever. Honestly, if Evelia really did have something bothering her, that might actually be a good thing. Whether it’s happiness or sadness, at least it’s a sign of having real feelings.
Meanwhile, Evelia noticed that Armand was drinking. That gave her more energy, and she made up her mind, they were going to take turns and drink all ten boxes of alcohol.
Clink.
With another sound, Evelia tossed another bottle into the box. She still didn’t say anything. Instead, she handed Armand another drink and then gulped down hers again. This time, she even covered her mouth and let out a little burp. It seemed like she had drunk a bit too quickly.
Watching Evelia drink so fiercely, Armand didn’t even get a chance to ask what was going on. When she pushed another bottle into his hand, he could only take a few helpless sips.
Since his stomach wasn’t feeling great, he definitely couldn’t drink as fast as Evelia. But Evelia kept staring at him with eyes that clearly said, “Why are you drinking so slow?”, and that only made him feel more and more pressured.
Gulp, gulp, gulp.
Armand thought for a moment. Since he still had plenty of strong stomach medicine, he decided to drink the whole bottle in his hand with the mindset of ‘if I’m going down, I’ll go down like a gentleman.’
Although, he wasn’t even sure what exactly he was risking his life for, or why he had to go along with this "gentleman."
Then came a long five minutes of silent drinking.
Neither Armand nor Evelia said a word. Evelia was focused on getting Armand drunk, while Armand kept looking for the right moment to ask her what was going on, but never found it.
So the two just sat there in silence, and the only sounds in the room were the clinking of bottles and the sound of them swallowing the alcohol.
About ten minutes later...
Evelia shook her head and took a deep breath, trying to clear her mind.
The alcohol was clearly starting to affect her, she was sweating a lot. Even though her summer maid uniform was made of light material, after drinking so much strong alcohol in a short time, anyone would feel overheated.
She tugged at her collar, trying to fan some air onto her neck. Her long pink hair was sticking to her back, and strands of it clung to her collarbone, making her feel itchy.
On Armand’s side, things looked much calmer. Even though he’d drunk just as many bottles as Evelia, he still seemed clear-headed, much more than Evelia, who kept blinking slowly and was clearly starting to get tipsy.
Of course, his stomach was still suffering.
In fact, he had even taken a few stomach pills along with the alcohol.
Because of Armand’s strange resistance to toxins, even alcohol barely affected him. And even the special stomach medicine, an old royal recipe made just for his unique body, wasn’t all that helpful. Honestly, he could eat those pills like snacks and still feel the same.
With that kind of body, Evelia’s plan to get him drunk had no chance of working from the start.
Sure, Armand would eventually feel a bit drunk after drinking a lot, but compared to regular people, the amount of alcohol needed to get him truly drunk was ridiculous. If such a small amount of alcohol had worked, he wouldn’t be suffering from insomnia all the time.
Half an hour later, Evelia noticeably slowed down.
Her face was flushed red, and she was breathing heavily. Her hot breath seemed to make the room feel even warmer.
Sweat stuck her bangs to her forehead. A mix of alcohol and saliva dripped from the corner of her slightly open mouth as she kept trying to get more air.
Maybe because it felt way too hot, she had loosened the ribbon at her collar and let it hang. She had even unbuttoned the top of her blouse, revealing a glimpse of white lace underneath.
Her small leather shoes were tossed aside. They still seemed to carry the warmth from her feet. She had taken off one of her cream-colored stockings, and the other was still half-worn but soaked in alcohol.
There was a damp shine on her toes, and the wet fabric made the shape of her small foot clearly visible beneath the thin white layer.
It was obvious now, Evelia was drunk.
Even though her current body was an alchemically-created one, and much stronger than an ordinary human’s body in terms of physical ability. Well, when the Second Prince asked Rachel to make her a new body, he never said it needed to be good at handling alcohol!
“Eve… what’s going on with you?”
Seeing Evelia wobbling and slowing down, Armand decided it was time to ask her what was really going on. He knew that sometimes, drunk people would say things they normally wouldn’t.
He could’ve asked other things, about her identity, her mission, or the Second Prince. But right now, he didn’t want to break the fragile balance between them.
“Mr. Armand…”
Evelia’s eyes looked hazy, her moist golden pupils a little unfocused.
She had drunk forty bottles of strong liquor.
Yes! Forty!
For most people, drinking even a few bottles would be impressive. But for Armand, that just meant he might have to go to the bathroom a few more times.
If it were anyone else, Evelia would’ve already gotten them completely drunk after just a few drinks. But unfortunately, the person she chose was Armand.
What Evelia hadn’t expected… was that Armand was basically impossible to get drunk. And in the end, she only ended up getting herself drunk.
“Mr. Armand…”
She swayed unsteadily, brushing aside some empty bottles. With clinking sounds all around, she lost her balance and fell straight onto Armand.
Startled, Armand quickly caught her, brushing her messy hair out of her face and looking into her blurry eyes.
Evelia tried hard to stay awake and alert. But the dizzy, warm feeling from the alcohol gave her a strange kind of comfort.
It was like everything around her had gone quiet. Like the world and all its troubles were far away.
Her mind was cloudy, but she didn’t feel bad at all.
Now, Evelia leaned softly against Armand, her sweaty clothes sticking to her skin. Her body heat slowly made Armand’s own body temperature rise.
And surprisingly, Evelia thought that maybe this wasn’t so bad after all.
This was probably Evelia’s first time being drunk. The hazy, floating feeling made her body go soft and relaxed. She leaned against Armand without any defense at all, as if she was silently saying, ‘You can do anything you want with me now.’
“Eve?”
Armand was still very much sober, but even he couldn’t help swallowing hard as he looked at the completely unguarded Evelia in his arms.
And for him, those two gulps meant very different things.
“Mr. Armand… Armand…”
She mumbled his name softly, resting her head on his shoulder, treating him as the only person she could rely on at that moment. Armand didn’t try to push her away.
His heart was pounding so fast it felt like it might leap out of his chest, but he still forced himself to stay calm and looked away. Just so he wouldn’t stare at Evelia’s loosely open collar.
But that polite avoidance… was mistaken by Evelia as rejection.
To be honest, Armand’s little prank from before had left a deep impression on her, the one where he said he liked Rachel. Even now, while completely drunk, Evelia could recall every detail clearly.
She remembered how, at the end of it, he kissed Rachel.
For Armand and Rachel, it was just a simple kiss, like a father might give his daughter. It didn’t even count as a real kiss, just a quick touch.
But in Evelia’s heart, she couldn’t move past it.
She kept thinking about it. She couldn’t let it go.
Why?
Evelia looked at Armand through her blurry vision.
He still wouldn’t look at her.
Why?
That thought stirred a flash of jealousy and anger deep inside her drunk mind.
If it weren’t for the fact that she was so dizzy right now… if Armand’s arms didn’t feel so warm and comfortable to lean on…
She probably would’ve used this drunk courage to go deal with Rachel then and there.
‘No... I can’t let this go…’
Wobbling, Evelia reached out with a shaky hand, trying hard to focus on the three blurry images of Armand in her sight.
‘Armand has to be mine.’
Then she pulled hard on his collar, dragging him toward her.
It’s just a kiss, right?
“—?!”
Armand was suddenly yanked forward, completely caught off guard.
And before he could even ask “What’s going on?”, his lips were already sealed.
Evelia’s soft lips pressed against his, with the taste of alcohol and sweet tomato sauce still clinging to them.
‘I have to take him for myself.’