Chapter 380: Fireworks Reflected in the Window
The carriage rocked gently as it moved. On New Year’s night, the streets were sometimes unusually quiet, families gathering at home, while other times they were filled with the loud crackle and bang of celebratory firecrackers.
Rachel looked out the window. Countless homes were brightly lit, all celebrating this moment.
But honestly, having lived for more than a century, she no longer cared much about holidays.
After living so long, she knew everything there was to know, understood everything there was to understand. She knew how important holidays were to most people. But for her, they didn’t hold any special meaning anymore.
The reason was simple, she had no family or friends to spend them with.
Aside from a day off to rest, the joy of a holiday was about being with the people you wanted to be with. But Rachel, with her solitary nature, had never really had friends.
It wasn’t that she refused to make friends. She just thought having friends was troublesome.
She would have to explain over and over what she was doing, what she planned to do, and then watch those friends grow old one by one, while she kept changing her face and identity again and again.
So, she eventually stopped bothering. You could say that money and rare alchemy materials were her only friends.
Whoosh—bang.
Somewhere in the distance, fireworks burst in the sky. The dazzling colors made her squint for a moment.
The flare of light lit up their moving carriage.
The glow reflected on the window, and on Rachel’s face and eyes. In the glass, she caught sight of Evelia and Armand beside her, their gazes turned upward.
They were watching the fireworks together, each seemingly lost in thought.
Armand was the first to notice Rachel secretly glancing at him through the reflection. He smiled at her warmly.
Evelia noticed Armand’s smile and also caught Rachel’s look.
Evelia wasn’t very good at smiling, so instead she just looked at Rachel, trying to let her gaze carry all the warmth she felt inside.
“……”
Maybe because their attention felt too intense, Rachel suddenly wanted to look away.
She broke eye contact with them and turned her gaze to the fireworks outside.
One burst, two bursts, three bursts. Each one bloomed in the night sky, like flowers replacing the trembling blossoms of winter, welcoming the coming of spring.
“Do you still want to go watch the fireworks later?”
Armand leaned back on the small sofa in the carriage. His eyes were still on the lights outside, but Evelia knew exactly who he was speaking to.
Of course she knew. How could she not?
She still remembered the last ballroom.
She remembered how he had practiced dancing so hard, how he had taken her out onto the open-air balcony, how he had brushed her long hair back, how he had caught her when she jumped down, and how he had held her hand as they ran all the way to the clock tower.
There had been some unexpected events that night, details about the clock tower she only learned later, but that didn’t stop her from cherishing the memory deeply.
“Yes, I want to,” Evelia answered, just as she had that time before.
Back then, before the previous ball, they had sat together in a carriage, and Armand had asked her almost the same question.
But that time, Evelia had kept her feelings to herself.
This time, she spoke them aloud.
“Whether it’s the party or the fireworks. If you’re going, I want to go. I want to stay by your side, always.”
Evelia’s voice sounded so serious that it caught Armand off guard, making him a little nervous.
“Alright. Then when I find the chance, we’ll go together, and Rachel will come with us too.”
This time, there was one more person by their side, the small Rachel, still sitting close to them.
“Eh? Me?”
Armand and Evelia both knew what had happened at that last fireworks display, but Rachel, who had only joined the family afterward, was a bit lost.
Hearing Armand call her name, Rachel turned her head to look at the two of them.
“Of course. What, did you think I’d leave you behind at the party?”
“Please don’t…”
Rachel didn’t like royal events. From her experience, she’d seen too much of the royal family’s shady side and had no interest in staying around them any longer than necessary.
A quick stroll to the King’s private garden to “borrow” a few rare plants was more than enough, she certainly didn’t want to linger there.
“Don’t worry, I’m just kidding. We won’t leave you behind. Once the second half of the ball gets boring, we’ll slip away. No point in staying when it’s meaningless.”
“Ah… okay.”
Rachel blinked and nodded, thinking that Armand seemed like someone who had a habit of sneaking away.
She’d heard before that the Captain of the Royal Knights didn’t like women or parties. Now, thanks to Evelia’s presence, the “not liking women” part seemed questionable, but the part about not liking parties was clearly true.
After all, what kind of high-ranking figure would willingly leave such a grand ball early instead of using it to show off or make connections? And he didn’t even plan to hold a celebration for his own birthday…
But the more Rachel thought about it, the more it made sense.
After all, she was the same kind of person.
If Armand was someone who seemed cheerful and outgoing but was actually a little introverted, and Evelia was someone whose years as an assassin made her far from “social”…
Then what kind of personality would their future children have?
For a moment, Rachel found herself worrying about “the next generation.”
If both parents were like that, wouldn’t the child be—
No, not necessarily.
After all, she herself was already their “child.”
The way they treated her was proof enough.
At first, Evelia’s attitude toward her had been intimidating, but that was clearly how she treated people she didn’t trust. Once Rachel had earned her acceptance, Evelia’s attitude toward her changed completely.
As for Armand… well, he was more than reliable. Even someone like Rachel, who had lived for more than a hundred years, had approved of him as a “son-in-law.”
Thinking about it that way, Rachel didn’t feel so worried anymore.
If she ever had the chance, after leaving this family to travel on her own again, she would make sure to return every now and then.
To see how they were doing. To see how their children were growing.
And when she imagined it… it actually sounded pretty nice.
She was destined to keep “adventuring” out in the world, using different names and identities to study all kinds of alchemy.
But unlike before, she now had a stable home to return to.
In future New Years, or any holiday, there would be people waiting to spend it with her.
It was practically the life she had always dreamed of.