Chapter 234 Part 3: Pretending on the Stage
Either kill Grey Dove, who knows too much, or make sure the relationship between Armand and Evelia stays a permanent secret.
Obviously, the first option is easier.
There’s no way their relationship will stay hidden forever. Even if Armand doesn’t want to make it public, on Evelia’s side, her goal is to win Armand’s affection. So sooner or later, even if it’s just to complete her mission, she’ll try everything to be with him.
When that time comes, the wedding of the Royal Knights’ Commander won’t just be a simple ceremony with some fireworks.
With how popular Armand is with the Crown Prince now, the Crown Prince might even hold a wedding for him on a royal scale.
And let’s not forget about Carle, he could just throw money around and rent out half the royal capital for the day. There’s no way they could hide that kind of wedding.
Rachel, as dark-humored as she was, actually wanted to see the look on Grey Dove’s face. The expression of “My idol is out there becoming someone’s wife.”
But to avoid this crazy woman turning into a live bomb, it’s better to deal with her before the wedding happens.
“……”
The problem was Rachel didn’t have a good solution.
She couldn’t just walk up to Evelia and say, “Hey! Grey Dove’s going to kill your future husband! You need to get rid of her right now!”
If the Second Prince’s side found out about that, Evelia would be in serious danger too.
So if she couldn’t get rid of her, then the only choice left was to lie.
Just like how Evelia had answered earlier when Grey Dove asked about her and Armand, the answer had to make Grey Dove stop thinking too much.
Tell her this whole thing is just a part of the Second Prince’s plan. Then she wouldn’t dare to act recklessly.
…That should work, right?
That was the only method Rachel could think of right now.
Grey Dove was clearly connected to the Second Prince’s side, so if anything happened to her, the Second Prince would definitely investigate, and he’d most likely trace it back to Evelia. If the Second Prince found out she’d betrayed him, the consequences would be unthinkable.
Not to mention, there was still Cyan Hawk, Blue Sparrow, and White Dove…
Even if Evelia was strong, two fists couldn’t fight off four enemies. She couldn’t possibly win against the full force of the House of Nightingales.
Alright then… In the end, deception was the only option left.
Just make Grey Dove believe this is all just pretend. Later, once things are stable and they’re sure the Second Prince can’t do anything too dangerous anymore, then they could finish her off.
It was a risky move, a gamble, on whether Grey Dove would discover the truth or not.
“...Seriously, what happened to this being a romantic comedy?”
Rachel, lying in bed, couldn’t help but complain.
Maybe it was because Armand and Evelia acted so strangely together that this whole thing had started to feel like some silly romantic show. Rachel had even started enjoying it, forgetting who they really were.
But now, she suddenly remembered. Armand and Evelia were never meant to get along, they were supposed to be enemies.
Just a moment ago, she had been thinking about their wedding. But now, she snapped back to reality.
Would Armand even agree to something like that?
Armand already clearly knew that Evelia was a spy. But he didn’t know that she was actually Red Crow.
If he found out, would that change things?
“……”
Rachel’s head was full of questions. She fell into deep thought.
What would happen then? She honestly didn’t know.
Did Armand have some kind of personal grudge against Red Crow?
Even though the two of them seemed like symbols of justice and evil, like a hero and a dragon. Who says the hero can’t marry the dragon?
Maybe it could really work. As long as the bond between Armand and Evelia is strong enough, then even black and white can mix together.
Rachel, once again today, was thinking about when the Second Prince would finally drop dead.
“Rachel. Are you awake?”
Just as her head was filled with rebellious thoughts about the Second Prince, Evelia pushed open the door and walked in.
“Ugh…”
Rachel closed her eyes and pretended that she had just been woken up. She rolled over in bed, yawned, and sat up.
“Mom, is something—”
But halfway through her sentence, she froze and swallowed her words in shock.
Because standing in front of her was Evelia, yes, but it was the version wearing the deep red cloak, the one known as Red Crow.
“You’ve seen it now, Rachel,” Evelia said.
She closed the door behind her with her hands behind her back, pulled down the hood of her cloak, and revealed her pink hair and golden eyes.
Before, Rachel had only ever seen Evelia as a maid or as the mysterious Red Crow in the red cloak. Now, those two identities were combined, and to Rachel, that was a bit of a shock.
But that feeling wasn’t something exciting. Because this time, Evelia had completely revealed to her that she was Red Crow.
That meant… Rachel now knew something that could get her killed.
“Do you want to go back?” Evelia asked.
Standing in front of Rachel, her whole presence wrapped in red, the pressure was overwhelming. That question, “Do you want to go back?”, sounded more like a threat from the god of death.
“O-of course I do!”
At this point, Rachel could only pretend to know nothing and wait for whatever Evelia was going to say next.
“I think… you probably already heard it earlier, when Grey Dove called me ‘Red Crow,’” Evelia said calmly.
She had already noticed it.
When Rachel realized she had accidentally overheard the name Grey Dove said, Evelia had also realized that Rachel had heard her secret, that she was Red Crow.
Oh no, oh no, oh no…!
Rachel’s heart skipped a beat. She had hoped Evelia wouldn’t notice this until later.
Still, for the sake of her own life, Rachel forced herself to smile awkwardly and tried to act clueless.
“Mom, what’s that? Red Crow? Is it because you ate too much ketchup and turned red?”
Even now, she couldn’t help cracking a joke she’d been dying to say, trying to ease the tension.
“You won’t turn red no matter how much you eat.”
You’re seriously explaining that right now?!
“...This really isn’t something you should’ve known, Rachel. Everyone who found out my name… is already dead.”
“Gulp…”
Hearing that, Rachel nervously swallowed hard.
Was this a threat? Or a death sentence?
Evelia lowered her eyebrows and looked down at Rachel. She walked over and reached out her hand, and Rachel was so scared that she shrank her neck and didn’t even dare to breathe freely.
“But you’re different.”
Unexpectedly, Evelia said this to her. She gently patted Rachel’s head, and to Rachel, this was probably the first time Evelia had ever been so gentle.
“I came here to bring you away safely. That’s why you’re different. If I were to kill you now, then there would be no point in me coming here at all.”
She pressed her lips together and touched the tips of Rachel’s hair, the ones she had once cut off herself.
“So... I want…”
What do I want from you?
Do I want you to accept the real me?
Or do I just not want you to die by my hand?
Evelia didn’t know the answer.
When she realized her identity had been exposed in front of Rachel because of Grey Dove, the first thing that came to her mind was how she had gotten rid of others who knew her secret before.
She even remembered how she had chopped off the head of that alchemist long ago.
Of course, she didn’t know that the little girl standing in front of her now, Rachel, was that same alchemist she had once killed without hesitation for knowing too much.
But this time, even though Rachel once again knew her secret, Evelia didn’t kill her.
She just silently stroked Rachel’s small head, deep in thought, wanting to say something but holding back.
—Because she is my family.
What Evelia wanted... was simply a place to belong.
Even if it was only for a moment.
At one point, this question surfaced in Evelia’s mind, ‘Can’t I just have this? Just a little while?’
Because after all, she still belonged to the Second Prince’s Red Crow.
She always mocked Rachel for being childish, pretending to play house and act like a family. But wasn’t Evelia the same?
She wanted to have something, and she didn’t want to lose it. All those so-called “desires” that Grey Dove sneered at… they were slowly creeping up Evelia’s ankles too.
During that breakfast with Grey Dove, Rachel might’ve been too distracted to notice, but Evelia and Grey Dove had whispered about Rachel.
Or maybe they had already noticed Rachel was awake, and that’s why they didn’t care if she overheard the casual parts. But when the topic turned serious, they lowered their voices a lot.
What they discussed was simple. Rachel had heard something she shouldn’t have.
There were only two options, kill her or let her stay.
“What you need to do is simple, forget everything that happened.”
“……”
Rachel looked up at Evelia. She didn’t know when Evelia had pulled her hood back up, but the shadow hiding her face now gave off a quiet, suffocating pressure.
Rachel understood what Evelia meant. Evelia just wanted her to pretend nothing happened.
Because in Evelia’s eyes, Rachel was just a child, around three or four years old. Maybe Evelia thought it would be easy to scare or fool a child that young.
Evelia wanted to be a liar.
Just like how Rachel had planned to lie to Grey Dove earlier, now Evelia was also choosing to lie. Their reasons were different, but both chose to lie because… they couldn’t bring themselves to kill.
“—So this is something we have to hide from others, right, Mom?”
To Evelia, it didn’t really matter if a child knew this kind of thing, because no one would take a child’s words seriously anyway. So all she needed to do was talk to Rachel gently, like talking to a child, and tell her not to go around talking about it.
Rather than letting her hear a little and then risk someone else leading her to reveal the truth, it was better to just tell her everything now, and then make it clear she absolutely must not tell anyone.
Evelia believed that since Rachel was a smart child, she should understand what could be said and what couldn’t.
But deep down, Evelia knew she was gambling. She knew nothing about who Rachel really was.
And if she lost this gamble, if Rachel ended up spilling the truth to someone...
Then it might cost a heavy price in blood to cover it up.
So... no one could know.
“You just need to forget it ever happened.”
Her voice came from under the cloak, blurred and unclear, hard to tell what she was feeling.
“Not even Dad?”
“……”
There was a moment of silence beneath the cloak.
Yes… all this time, she had been lying to Armand.
But she had to.
To protect this brief moment of peace, she had to do it.
Besides, this was a mission. Yes, a mission.
Her whole reason for coming here was to fool him. Becoming “Evelia,” becoming a maid, it was all part of the plan.
That’s right. This version of her… would keep lying, no matter what.
Evelia pressed her lips together as she thought this.
Everything she had now came from lies and deception, and she would have to keep building on those lies again and again.
But there was no way out. She could never escape the name Red Crow.
“You can’t tell anyone.”
“…Okay, Mom.”
Just as she expected, Rachel didn’t ask any more questions. She only lowered her head a little sadly, as if she was thinking about something.
“Let’s go back soon.”
Evelia picked Rachel up and wrapped her under her cloak.
Even if it’s all lies and pretending...
She still… really wanted to see him.