Chapter 317: Volume Four Prologue – The Beginning of Winter
Armand crouched down and poked at a mound of snow on the ground.
It looked like he wanted to build a little snowman, but before he could even shape it properly, his hands got too cold to continue. He pulled them back under his cloak and rubbed them for quite a while to warm up.
“Huff... cough cough...”
The freezing air slipped into his throat, and the uncomfortable feeling made Armand cough twice. Evelia, who was right next to him, quickly leaned closer when she heard the cough.
“Mr. Armand, are you okay?”
“No, it’s fine, Eve. You don’t have to worry so much.”
Seeing Evelia rush over in concern, Armand smiled and tried to comfort her. She had been worried sick because of his condition, so he even moved over a little to make room for her.
If something really did happen to Armand, Evelia probably would have panicked so much that it felt like her heart was jumping out of her throat.
“It’s still too cold out here. Let’s go back inside for now, Mr. Armand.”
Evelia took Armand’s cold hands from under his cloak. Even though his illness meant he really shouldn’t be touching snow, he had been eager to play and talked her into letting him come out for a little while.
The old butler had said it before, Armand was the kind of person who couldn’t sit still.
Evelia understood, after all, the first time she met Armand was when they snuck out together to buy snacks to go with drinks. Since then, Armand had a habit of pulling out random side dishes or those watered-down beers. Thinking back on it now, it was probably thanks to his "alchemy mark."
But unless he really had to, Armand didn’t like putting food into his engraving space, because it was mostly full of medicine bottles. Having food and medicine stored together probably made everything taste weird.
“Then I’ll finish the snowman’s head tomorrow. Let’s go warm up first.”
Armand said this and loosened his grip on Evelia’s hand a little. But even though the cloak blocked her view and she couldn’t see his hand clearly, Evelia still reached forward and firmly grabbed it again.
“You promised me you’d hold my hand tightly.”
“Ah—hm? Ah...”
From Armand’s reaction, he seemed a bit surprised. His first instinct was to pull his hand away, but after thinking for a moment, he held onto Evelia’s hand again, it felt much warmer now.
This wasn’t a promise Evelia made up. It was a real promise they had made together.
No matter what, please don’t let go of my hand so easily.
Evelia had said this once, almost begging him. But it seemed like Armand had forgotten that moment, and forgotten those words too.
Even so, now that she had chosen to stay by Armand’s side, Evelia would keep holding on.
Crunch.
Her boots sank into the snow with a soft sound as she led Armand back toward the main building. But along the way, Armand suddenly stopped walking.
“Mr. Armand?”
Maybe his mind was becoming more and more unclear lately. He often did strange things, and his thinking would sometimes freeze or suddenly jump to odd ideas. So when he stopped walking like that, Evelia’s heart tightened with worry. She was afraid something had gone wrong again.
“Hmm? No... it’s nothing.”
Thankfully, he still seemed able to talk normally.
His words and actions were mostly fine. He just turned his head and looked toward a corner of the rooftop on the other side of the estate.
He had a strange feeling about that spot, but didn’t know why. It was probably just a gut feeling.
These days, even thinking clearly had become difficult for him. So what he had left... was more or less just the instinct of a knight commander.
And now, that instinct was pointing toward the rooftop. Something inside was telling him, there’s something up there.
But after Evelia called out to him, Armand didn’t bother with that place anymore, nor did he plan to talk to her about it.
He just wanted to focus on Evelia. He looked at the hand she was holding tightly and seemed to be deep in thought.
“……”
Evelia, of course, had just followed Armand’s gaze and looked in the same direction. Even someone like Armand, whose mind was already confused due to his illness, could still notice something strange on the rooftop. So naturally, someone as alert as the “Red Crow” would notice it too.
It wasn’t that there was a dangerous feeling… it just felt like someone was watching them.
Someone was hiding up there, on the roof, secretly watching Evelia and Armand.
But Evelia didn’t mention it either. She just led Armand step by step back to the bedroom.
She originally planned to help Armand change into indoor clothes, but Armand gently refused.
He looked a little shy and shook his head at Evelia, holding tightly onto the soft wool shirt under his coat.
He didn’t even dare to look up and meet Evelia’s eyes. Evelia came closer, and she noticed his ears had turned red, whether from the cold or for some other reason, she couldn’t tell.
“Mr. Armand?”
Evelia reached out and touched Armand’s forehead. She didn’t understand at first why his face had turned red. She thought maybe the snow walk just now had made him cold and caused another fever.
And she was right. After that, Armand did have another serious fever. It lasted three days and nights, and even Rachel was so worried she paced back and forth in front of his room.
Rachel kept muttering things like, “This isn’t good…” and even bit her fingernails until several were cracked.
Until now, Rachel still couldn’t figure out where the poisonous catalyst in Armand’s body had come from.
While reading through some books, she came across a similar alchemical ingredient. and she had this strange feeling, like she’d definitely seen it somewhere before. Back then, she didn’t think much of it, but now that she was in a hurry to remember, she just couldn’t recall where she’d seen it.
The problem with that ingredient is that it’s very hard to notice. It blends in easily with other things. If you’re not looking for it on purpose, it’s almost impossible to detect.
Rachel had even thought maybe something harmful was added to Armand’s food. She then tried to find a way to create some special substances for testing.
But because the snowstorm had blocked the roads, the materials were stuck in another country. Even with money, she could only ask someone to bring them over, which meant she wouldn’t be able to get them anytime soon.
So now, Armand was still being affected by the poison without knowing why. And if this poison kept spreading inside him… there might be no way to treat it in the future…
“Mr. Armand.”
Evelia spoke softly and gently lifted Armand’s face. She pressed her lips together, as if she wanted to say something but hesitated.
“—Ah… what is it, Eve?”
Armand looked a little awkward as Evelia held his face. Being so close to her made him swallow nervously. He wanted to look away, but Evelia gently turned his face back toward her.
“Do you… still remember me, Mr. Armand?”
Evelia finally said what was on her mind. Her voice sounded a bit tense and uncertain.
“Hm?” Armand smiled a little awkwardly. “What are you saying? Aren’t you Eve? Evelia—”
He paused.
On the surface, it looked like he was just watching her kindly, but in truth, he was trying hard to remember her full name.
Evelia… what came after that?
But Armand had always been bad at remembering names, and he knew he was sick, so he didn’t think too much of it.
“No… that’s not what I meant. I’m saying—”
Evelia took a deep breath, like she had made up her mind.
“—Do you still remember that I’m your wife, Mr. Armand?”
“…What?”