Chapter 340: Catalyst
—Sometimes, I wonder if one day I really had to face death, what should I prepare?
Books often say that in the final seconds before death, your whole life flashes before your eyes. It’s like your mind is trying to recall everything you’ve ever been through, or desperately searching for a way to save yourself from somewhere deep in your memories.
—But when that time comes, will I really be able to remember any of that?
“Mr. Armand?”
“…Ah.”
His mind slowly returned to his body, as if waking from a dream.
Evelia was standing beside him. She had just said good morning, but it seemed like Armand hadn’t quite heard her clearly.
“Good morning.”
His smile looked even more tired than usual.
Still, there was something to be thankful for. Today, he still remembered Evelia, and he hadn’t forgotten about Furst Talia either.
The sun rose like it always did. Each day passed as usual. Even though Armand felt like time was crawling by painfully slow, he knew that time still moved forward, second by second, just like always.
“Do you feel okay?”
“…Mm… thank you.”
Evelia gently touched Armand’s forehead. His fever still hadn’t gone down.
It had already been a week since the day they finally recognized each other again, but Armand’s fever showed no sign of going away, just like when Carle had carried him back.
Still, in other ways, Armand seemed a little better. Though his thoughts were still a bit cloudy because of the fever, he no longer had big gaps in his memory. It wasn’t interfering with his daily life anymore.
And the reason things had improved? They had to thank that “genius alchemist.”
A few days ago, Rachel had finally finished making a special potion. It was designed to find out what had caused the strange toxins in Armand’s body, where they came from and how they worked.
While Evelia and Armand were both too busy to keep an eye on her, the little alchemist took action under the cover of night.
She was an alchemist after all, or more accurately, the same one who had once gone out herself to find alchemy materials. Although she couldn’t match Armand or Evelia in strength or speed (those two were almost superhuman), when it came to sneaking around, she was more than capable.
As a scientist, she was used to doing research quietly without disturbing the creatures in her area. And now, she was using that same skill to explore the Armand estate.
Of course, the knights in Armand’s manor weren’t weak either. If Rachel acted too quickly, she’d ruin everything. Even though she was doing all this for Armand’s sake, in everyone else’s eyes, she was just a “cute little girl who doesn’t know anything.” If she got caught doing strange things, it could blow her cover and cause even more trouble.
So instead of rushing, Rachel spent several days quietly using her potion to test different things around the manor. Food, the cats and dogs, the paintings in the garden, decorative statues, murals on the walls, even the servants who had been near Armand. She carefully applied the potion to all of them.
But in the end, nothing showed any signs of being strange.
She was this close to inventing something to help her walk on the ceiling at night, just to check even more places, but that wasn’t exactly realistic.
Then, on the day when Rachel was feeling totally stuck and didn’t know what else to try, she went to visit Armand, who was still sick with fever. That’s when Evelia came to sit with her.
Even though Armand had a fever, it wasn’t so serious that he couldn’t talk. His reactions were a bit slow, but he could still hold a normal conversation.
Rachel was just casually chatting with Armand, and Evelia sometimes joined the conversation too, talking about everyday things.
Rachel already knew that Armand and Evelia were both from the House of Nightingale. But even now, she still couldn’t be sure what exactly their relationship was. She had a few guesses, but nothing certain, and she didn’t dare jump to conclusions.
Still, from the way the two of them spoke to each other that day, Rachel could tell, something must have happened between them, or maybe they had some kind of deep conversation.
Rachel hadn’t been around them for a few days, since she had been focusing on improving her potion.
The last time Armand "regained his old memories," Rachel felt really guilty. You could say that as soon as she got back, she worked overtime to finish that project. But now, seeing that the reagent she made couldn’t do anything and couldn’t help figure out what was going on, she felt a little disappointed.
Even though Rachel hadn’t chatted with them for a while, she still noticed something had changed between Evelia and Armand.
Before, because of Armand’s memory issues, they were either bickering or being all sweet and affectionate. But now, there was a strange feeling of distance between them.
This feeling was very subtle. It definitely didn’t feel like they had a fight, it wasn’t like a cold war between couples. And Rachel thought, since Evelia had already come clean about being part of the “Red Crow” and had decided not to follow the Second Prince anymore, it probably wasn’t a fight about that either.
Still, Rachel couldn’t help but feel something was off between them.
Evelia seemed mostly the same. Maybe it was because she didn’t show emotions clearly, or maybe she just really didn’t mind. She was still doing her best to learn how to express feelings like people around her, and trying to face this hard time with Armand.
But Armand had really changed.
Was it because his illness had made him tired and weak? He looked like he had no energy, and when he looked at Evelia, there was something complicated in his eyes… like he was hiding a deep sadness.
At the time, Rachel couldn’t say much. She couldn’t reveal who she really was, so she couldn’t get involved in the relationship between these two “assassins of the Nightingale House.” And honestly, back then Rachel had only come to talk to Armand because she wanted to take a break and chat casually.
Even someone like Rachel, who was already over a hundred years old, enjoyed talking with someone like Armand. Of course, only this version of Armand, not the old one who kept doubting everything.
Although Rachel had lived a few decades, or even a hundred years, longer than Armand, she was still a real person with feelings. And like anyone else, when she faced problems, she also wanted to talk and find help.
That was her plan, to ask Armand for his thoughts, hoping to find a path forward to save him, since she had no idea what to do.
But, sadly...
Armand didn’t seem in the mood to talk.
He spoke much less than before, and he barely smiled. He seemed gloomy, like he was trapped in a dark emotional place.
Rachel, at that point, was feeling a little tired too. Everything felt too complicated, Evelia and Armand’s relationship was such a tangled mess that she didn’t have the energy to sort it all out.
So she was about to leave. She thought maybe she could go see her “little friend” Salana. After all, children sometimes see things from surprising angles, maybe Salana could help her think of something new.
At that moment, Rachel didn’t have any solutions. So she did the only thing she could: she gave Armand a comforting hug. Then, not wanting to make Evelia frown, she gave her a hug too.
After that, like before, she found some random excuse to leave and give them a bit of private time, hoping things between them could improve even just a little.
But when she turned around to close the door, Rachel noticed her hand.
She had been rubbing her hands against the wall the whole way, and since they were covered in reagent, of course some of the colorless, scentless liquid was still on her skin.
And now, on her palm, there was a layer of red-black color that looked strange and unsettling.
This was obviously a chemical reaction from the reagent.
“...!”
Rachel was shocked and looked through the crack in the door at the two people inside.
Armand’s white shirt was still perfectly clean. But Evelia’s white maid outfit now had a small handprint on it.
Clearly… the “catalyst” they had been searching for all this time wasn’t far away. It was right in front of them.
After all this time, after searching so many places...
Rachel had finally found it in the most unexpected spot.