Chapter 330: Just Like This Moment
After saying just a few simple words, Armand planned to help Rachel settle in first.
When he asked where Rachel’s room was, Evelia instinctively wanted to say it was the small lab. But before she could speak, Rachel quickly answered, saying she shared a room with Evelia. She added that if she was going back, she could go by herself and didn’t need either Armand or Evelia to walk her there.
Maybe she just really wanted to keep some distance from the current Armand, whose thoughts were hard to guess. After a few polite words, Rachel quickly left his side, so fast that Armand even started to wonder if the child was scared of him.
He had thought about other reasons too, but for now, he decided to believe the simplest one: “The change in my attitude is making her a bit scared.” So, he didn’t stop Rachel from running off. Instead, he turned his attention back to Evelia.
The weather today was a bit warmer than before, not cold enough to stop people from talking. But even so, Armand didn’t say a word. He just quietly followed behind Evelia, not even walking next to her.
“Mr. Armand?”
Evelia stopped and turned slightly to look at him.
Even though Armand had said he wanted to come out and see the place he now lived in, it seemed like his eyes were always on Evelia walking in front of him. Compared to the whole estate, he seemed much more focused on this “wife” of his.
He remembered that just earlier, Evelia had introduced herself as his personal maid. While there are many stories where a maid ends up falling in love and becoming the wife, Armand still thought that, if she were just a regular girl… she probably wouldn’t walk so quietly, without even making a sound.
This version of Armand, who had just left the House of Nightingales, clearly remembered a lot about how that place worked. So, while watching everything Evelia did, he started wondering what it really meant for a girl from the House of Nightingales to suddenly appear at his side as his “wife.”
Was this part of some bigger plan? Or did she really not know anything?
She couldn’t really be clueless… could she?
But Evelia clearly didn’t notice Armand’s doubts. After all, she had stopped caring about this fake identity a long time ago. It’s just that this time, she hadn’t found the right chance to explain things to Armand yet.
This Armand was different from all the ones before. Evelia kept thinking about how she should explain everything to him while also taking this chance to study this new version of him closely.
It might’ve looked like the two of them were just casually walking through the estate, but the truth was, they were both watching each other carefully.
Even though the man in front of her was clearly Armand himself, Evelia just couldn’t connect this version of him to the one she remembered. His personality felt so different that she almost felt trapped and uncomfortable.
“…Are you thinking about something?”
Evelia stepped forward and walked beside Armand.
Even though they were as close as two people could be, Evelia still kept a bit of distance from him without realizing it. Armand gave off a quiet but strong feeling of “don’t come too close,” which made Evelia naturally step back a little.
“Nothing,” he replied.
But when it came to words, Armand still sometimes sounded like the same person she knew.
This “nothing” sounded exactly like how he used to say it.
Even so, Evelia was still curious, why had Armand suddenly changed so much? Even if he lost some memories, it shouldn’t have made him this different… right?
Armand had been losing pieces of his past memory for a while now. Even though some of his attitudes had changed over time, he had never been this different.
“……”
It was as if Armand could read Evelia’s thoughts. He looked at her in a way that felt like a silent question.
Evelia wasn’t someone who usually took the lead in a conversation, but because of how Armand was now, she had no choice but to be more forward than usual.
“I just… I just noticed that you’ve changed a lot, Mr. Armand.”
“Changed?”
That question was clearly hard to answer for someone who had lost part of his memory. Armand didn’t even know what kind of person he was when he served as the head of the knight order. Evelia hadn’t even told him yet that he was the commander of the Royal Knights.
Just the fact that he was living in such a large mansion already surprised him. In his current memory, he had only just followed the Crown Prince’s orders and joined the knight order. The only person by his side back then was the old butler Lug, who acted as his “guardian.” He hadn’t even become close friends with Carle yet, someone who would later be his best friend for ten years. They had only met a few times in the dining hall and chatted briefly.
To him, this place, this life, it was all unfamiliar. Even this woman in front of him who claimed to be his wife, he had no memory of her at all.
Still, Armand wasn’t shocked by the fact that he had a wife. He just didn’t dwell on it. In his mind, if she was here, there had to be a reason for it. That was enough.
He didn’t know what his past self was thinking when he made that decision, but he believed in himself. At least when it came to serious matters like this.
Right now though, Evelia’s curiosity about the “new” Armand seemed even stronger than his curiosity about her. He could see it in her eyes. It was like she couldn’t wait to understand what was going on.
Even Armand started wondering, what on earth did his twenty-something-year-old self actually do?
“Well… the way you are now is really different from the Mr. Armand I used to know…”
“Ah.”
Armand gave a simple response. Of course I’m different, he thought. Right now, I’m still “Aegmed Scassia.”
Even though the name Armand was one he had chosen himself, he wasn’t very used to it yet.
“It’s only natural I’m different. After all, this version of me is probably a lot older, right?”
“You’re only 28.”
“Still not young anymore.”
With just those two short lines, Armand basically shut down the conversation. Evelia didn’t know what to say next.
On his side, Armand seemed to be in a “can’t be bothered to talk” mood. If Evelia didn’t push the conversation forward, he probably wouldn’t say anything unless he had something he needed to ask.
For some reason, Evelia suddenly had a feeling of déjà vu. This version of Armand, who was so hard to talk to… felt oddly familiar.
—Ah.
Then, all of a sudden, she remembered that complicated, helpless look Armand used to have when talking to her in the past.
This difficult-to-talk-to attitude…
Wasn’t that just how she used to be?
Evelia finally understood a little bit of why Armand had been so frustrated back then. Trying to talk to someone like this… really was exhausting.