Chapter 208: The Gap Between Romance Novels and Reality
After chatting a bit at Anna’s clothing shop, it was about time to go, so Evelia left with Rachel.
Anna sat down on the sofa, holding her design sketches in her hands, and let out a sigh.
“Ugh… When will Miss Evelia and Mr. Armand finally get together~?”
Anna herself didn’t really care much about romance. She wasn’t the kind of person who needed someone to take care of her.
But as a girl who loved reading romance novels, she still had a longing for love in her heart, so she poured all those feelings into Evelia.
Honestly, Anna still thought romance was kind of a hassle. Even though her family was wealthy and she had more money than she could ever spend, she preferred making money over falling in love.
Coming from a merchant family, she believed that only by making money did she prove her own value.
After all, men are easy to find when you have money. But if you don’t make money quickly, once the market starts to shake, earning it won’t be so simple anymore.
“You can’t force that kind of thing,” Clund said, putting down his pen and stretching.
He’d clearly been sitting too long. His back and shoulders ached, so he stood up and twisted around a bit to loosen up.
“At the end of the day, we’re just their friends. We’re not even family. The most we can do is share what we think. Whether they take our advice, or what they choose to do, is up to them. We can’t interfere in their lives forever.”
When he said the word “family,” Clund couldn’t help but wonder darkly in his mind whether Evelia and Armand even had any family left at all.
“……”
Hearing his casual comment, Anna took a bite of the macaron on the table. This batch seemed way too sweet, it was almost sickening.
“You’re pretty heartless, huh.”
“Huh?”
That weird description made Clund pause.
“Heartless? Me? I thought I was the ‘best friend of young girls’?”
As he spoke, he held up his half-finished romance novel manuscript.
As the author of one of the most popular romance stories right now, you could say he was a “friend of all girls” in a way.
“No, I just mean… for someone who writes unrealistic romance novels all the time, it’s surprising to hear you say something so practical. That’s why I think you’re kind of heartless.”
“Haha…”
Clund chuckled and shook his head.
“That’s just how real life is. Romance novels just exaggerate the sweet parts of everyday life. But in reality, it’s all cooking, cleaning, bills, and arguments. Everyone wants to be the sweet, perfect main character in a love story. But how many people actually get to be?”
As he spoke, he sat back down after stretching. He clipped the finished pages of his draft together, then took out a bottle of ink and refilled his pen.
“My readers? Some of them live in broken-down houses, eating almost nothing every day. They go to secondhand shops just to buy a few old novels and escape into a sweeter fantasy world. Others, like you, can throw money around like it’s nothing, giving away dresses without even blinking.
Dreaming is something everyone can do, but at the same time, people have to face reality.
Romance novels are like sugar cubes in bitter coffee. But you can’t eat too many and forget that bitterness exists.”
“……”
Clund’s words made Anna take another bite of her macaron.
She’d bought the sweet ones… so no matter how she ate them, they were just too sweet.
“You really don’t know how to talk, do you? Aren’t you supposed to be a writer?”
Anna rolled her eyes at him.
“Ah~ Then, Miss, if you want to hear sweet words, please buy more of my books!”
Clund quickly held up his manuscript when he saw the situation. Judging by the amount he had written, just a bit more and he’d have enough for publication.
“Go finish your draft!”
Whoosh!
Anna threw another macaron at him.
Clund wasn’t the athletic type. He was someone who preferred staying indoors and hardly moved around, so of course he couldn’t dodge Anna’s “surprise attack.” The macaron hit him right in the face.
“Ugh—ow!”
A pained groan came from the direction of the counter.
Still, he sat back up while rubbing his nose, blew the macaron off the table, and crunched it down with a crack.
“It’s exactly because my daily life is such a mess that I like writing sweet stories. And the sweeter I write them, the more I realize how bad real life is. Just look at me, I write about nobles and high-ranking officers falling in love, but I’m still living off handouts from others. All I can say is, when it comes to romance, we’re better off just watching from the sidelines. If we can help someone, we help. But falling into the love trap ourselves? No thanks.”
After tossing that tiny macaron into his mouth, Clund scratched his head.
“See? My hair’s falling out from staying up too late writing.”
“Enough chatter. Finish the manuscript and I’ll pay you more.”
“Thank you, boss!”
Clund cheerfully accepted Anna’s “generosity.” After all, money was still very important to him.
As for Evelia and Rachel, who had already left, they were on their way to the lecture.
The lecture was held by a pretty well-known teacher, so the venue was quite fancy. From a distance, they could already see a small crowd gathered.
The ticket Armand gave Evelia was one of the limited ones he got from Carle. So naturally, the people attending were all rich. Even though Evelia and Rachel were dressed quite nicely, when compared to the noble ladies, they still looked rather plain.
But neither Evelia nor Rachel cared about that. They weren’t the kind of people who got upset just because someone gave them a judgmental look.
Instead, they calmly sat on the waiting bench, completely relaxed, while watching the noblemen and their sons and daughters chatting nearby.
Evelia and Rachel weren’t curious about things that had nothing to do with them. And the young nobles had their own manners. They wouldn’t suddenly come over and mock Evelia or Rachel like in some cliché romance story.
Rachel came here just to go along with Armand’s plan. She figured that if she played her part well and Armand was satisfied, he’d assign her a teacher, and then she could smoothly use alchemy to leave this place.
If she had enough materials, she might even make a backup of her small body. After all, crawling through tight spaces was way easier in this form.
An adult body wouldn’t be nearly as flexible. She would have to wait until she got far enough away before switching to her adult body.
But that also meant she’d need twice the materials.
As for Evelia, her goal was simply to go on a date with Armand.
To her, the upcoming lecture was like the concerts or stage plays in the novels. Once the lights go out, the two of them could sit in the dark and do a little something while no one noticed.
They could be like the hero and heroine in those romance novels, secretly holding hands, sharing a few glances, and whispering sweet things into each other’s ears.
Or maybe, like in one of the extra chapters she read, if there weren’t many people around… they could quietly lean closer...
Thinking of that made Evelia wonder what it would feel like to actually do that.
Would it… feel weird in the mouth?
Why did novels describe that kind of scene? Did eating “that” really feel that good?
Evelia’s little head just couldn’t figure out what the point of that kind of thing was.