Chapter 175: The Window
When Evelia turned her eyes toward the door, the air in the room became scarily quiet.
Rachel couldn’t stand that cold stare aimed at the back of her head from the side, so she twisted her body and tried her best to avoid meeting Evelia’s eyes.
“Eve?”
Hearing no reply from inside, Armand called out again from outside the door. He gently knocked a few times, but there was still no answer.
Evelia said nothing. She just sat there with a dark expression, staring at the door. Rachel didn’t dare speak either. Because right now, she was basically locked in a room with the King of the Underworld, and saying anything might upset this “king.”
“Eve, are you not in the room?”
Armand knocked again, but the room remained silent. It was so quiet that Rachel could hear his footsteps pacing back and forth. It seemed like he was thinking about whether he should come in. Whether he’d go ask the butler for a key or just break down the door, Armand could do either.
After all, Evelia had once been labeled a spy. If one day she suddenly didn’t leave her room and wasn’t answering at all, it made sense that the captain of the knights, Armand, would be worried.
Rachel wasn’t sure whether Armand was worried about Evelia as a person, or worried about her as a possible enemy spy. But based on his pacing footsteps, it felt like he was unsure and thinking about both things. That’s probably why he hadn’t made a move yet.
Evelia still didn’t say a word. She just silently listened, just like Rachel, to Armand’s footsteps. They went from pacing… to stopping… and then, there was the sound of a long sigh. Finally, the footsteps grew distant.
Armand had left.
He walked away while Evelia silently stared at the door from inside.
Maybe Armand didn’t know why Evelia wasn’t answering… maybe he didn’t know she was even inside… but still, was it really okay for him to leave just like that?
Honestly, Rachel started to feel nervous.
This whole mess had started because of something she said. And even though it wasn’t a big deal compared to Evelia’s real identity, the fact that Armand didn’t eat the meal Evelia made for him clearly had a big impact. Rachel thought this felt just like a small argument between a couple. And even though Evelia now looked like she was ready to kill someone, Rachel didn’t believe she’d really hurt anyone.
But… what if Armand misunderstood the situation and reacted the wrong way?
What if he thought something serious had happened to the “spy” and started investigating Evelia?
That would be a disaster for Rachel, who wanted to keep the peace between the two of them.
…No.
She couldn’t let something as silly as a personal argument turn into a political issue.
She won’t rest until she sees them sweet and loving together!
After screaming that in her heart, Rachel stood up, trembling, with the heavy pressure of Evelia’s gaze behind her.
“Um… Mom—”
Just as Rachel was about to say something to defend Armand, she noticed something in the window behind Evelia.
There was… a shadow of a person.
Thankfully it was still daytime. If it had been night, with this creepy atmosphere, Rachel might have screamed her soul out in fear.
“Ar… D-Dad?!”
She was so shocked, the word “Armand” almost flew out of her mouth.
Yes. Right now, Armand had actually climbed up to the second-floor window outside Evelia’s room. No one knew how he managed to climb up, but he was now peeking inside through the window.
And when Rachel, stunned and terrified, called out to him, he just calmly smiled and waved at her like nothing was wrong.
He hadn’t truly left Evelia alone. After not finding her anywhere and getting no reply from inside, he’d simply changed directions and climbed up the back of the building to check on her.
If Evelia could climb up to this window, then of course it would be no problem for Armand too.
Of course, Armand could’ve easily unlocked the window himself. But once he saw that Evelia and Rachel were both safe and sound inside the room, there was no need to break the lock or smash the window.
When he saw Rachel, Armand still had a smile on his face. But the moment Evelia turned around, her back had been to the window, his face changed completely, and he nearly fell off the second floor in shock.
The instant he saw Evelia’s face, Armand’s mind was flooded with all the horror movies he’d ever seen. From that moment on, the room looked like a haunted house in his eyes. Rachel’s panicked face looked just like a kid trapped by a ghost, silently begging him for help.
Wait a second... this isn’t the kind of world where people get possessed by ghosts, right?
That strange thought popped into Armand’s head.
Should he go to the church and call an exorcist? Evelia really didn’t seem okay…
And, strangely, both Armand and Rachel were thinking the same thing.
“Mr... Armand...”
The broken words barely formed his name, but Armand could now clearly feel the dark, heavy aura around Evelia. Rage and resentment swirled around her, and it all seemed to be aimed right at him.
“Ah—I'm sorry—!”
Even though Armand didn’t know what he had done wrong, he had learned from Carle that “when in doubt, just apologize first.” So that’s what he did, out of habit.
“Um—Eve—I—”
But clearly, apologizing wasn’t going to calm Evelia down.
Before Armand could even finish his sentence, Evelia stepped up to the window with that terrifying aura, her face dark, and moved right up in front of him. Even though there was a layer of glass between them, Armand felt like she was about to bite his head off at any moment.
Was Evelia always this scary…?
Armand had always put Evelia in the “cute” category, but today he saw a whole new side of her.
“Eve? You— Uwah!”
Armand tried to speak again, but Evelia didn’t give him the chance. She shoved open the window hard, and since Armand had been leaning on it, he got pushed right off the second floor. Luckily, he landed in some bushes. Other than some bruises, he wasn’t seriously hurt. Still, he let out a long, dramatic scream as he fell.
Rachel gasped and ran over, her little legs moving as fast as they could. But she was too short to reach the window, let alone see how Armand was doing.
“Eve? What happened?”
Surprisingly, Armand wasn’t angry at all. He just brushed the leaves and twigs off his body, looked up, and saw Evelia leaning out the window above.
The breeze blew gently, moving her long hair out of the way. Without her hair casting shadows on her face, she no longer looked like a scary ghost. But instead, Armand saw something else, Evelia’s golden eyes were staring down at him, filled with resentment, anger… and sadness.
“Armand.”
Her lips trembled slightly, and her voice shook as well.
“—”
But in the end, she didn’t say anything more.
Her lips moved, and the words slipped away, carried off by the wind. No one knew what she really said.
Click.
“—Eve?!”
After a moment of silence, Evelia said nothing else. With a soft click, she closed the window. No matter how many times Armand called her name, she didn’t reply. She just listened quietly, hugging her knees as she leaned against the cold wall beside the window.