Chapter 23 – If You Want, I Can Give It to You

“What kind of nonsense is that?”

Evelyn shot him a sharp glare on purpose, but Axion just shrugged casually. She gripped her hands tightly in her lap, determined not to let him see her sigil.

While she was trying her hardest to stay calm, he picked up his cup.

“….!”

The moment he brought the coffee to his lips, her heart started pounding rapidly.

‘It’s fine. Just drinking that much won’t hurt anything.’

I need to look out for myself, anyway!

But still, for some reason, with the cup still in his hand, Axion just stared at her quietly.

“W-What are you looking at…?”

Evelyn’s voice cracked as she tried to moisten her throat with coffee.

“You seem awfully interested in me today.”

As he raised his eyebrow and asked, she nearly choked on her drink. Then, she rolled her eyes and dodged the question with a vague excuse.

“I just thought your coffee looked good, that’s all.”

“My coffee?”

He gave a disbelieving little laugh. Clearly, he didn’t buy it, though she decided to double down and act unfazed.

“Yeah. It just looks tastier than mine.”

At that, Axion curved his lips in a sly smile.

“Funny. I was thinking the same thing.”

“What…?”

When she shot him a look, trying to figure out what he was getting at, Axion naturally glanced at her cup.

“Why don’t we swap cups, then?”

“What are you talking about?”

Seeing her stunned expression, he continued nonchalantly.

“Yours looks tastier to me.”

‘This lunatic.’

If she really swapped cups with him, all her efforts would go straight down the drain.

‘No, no, this isn’t how it was supposed to turn out…’

Seeing her troubled look, he let out a soft chuckle.

“I’m kidding, Evelyn.”

“What kind of joke is that?!”

‘Whew, I thought for sure I’d get found out.’

Evelyn tried to calm her racing heart, feeling like she’d just lost years off her life. Then, at that moment, Axion downed all the coffee in his cup.

‘….!’

She was so shocked, she could only open and close her mouth wordlessly.

With a slight tilt of his head, Axion smirked.

“You’re the one who said it looked good.”

“Well, yeah, but still…”

He really didn’t leave a single drop.

‘Wait, is he doing this to mess with me?’

Just in case, Evelyn started scrambling for an excuse in her head. Meanwhile, as if amused by her efforts, he stood up with a sly smile.

“Let’s get going.”

At her fiancé’s actions, she tried to look uninterested, but the corners of her mouth crept up. She couldn’t help but feel excited at the thought of ending their meeting earlier than usual.

“Are you leaving already?”

Her voice was unusually bright, and Axion answered with a mocking scoff.

“As if I would.”

︵‿୨ ₊‧꒰ა ཐི༏ཋྀ ໒꒱ ˚₊ ୧‿︵

Evelyn trailed after her fiancé down the street. Although she didn’t really trust him, after ten years together, she figured she would give him the benefit of the doubt this one time.

Still, she couldn’t shake off her uneasy feeling and asked him again.

“Where exactly are we going?”

‘Surely, he wouldn’t do anything weird in the middle of the capital, right?’

But that trust didn’t last very long. It was because, for some reason, they kept winding deeper into more and more deserted alleys. Feeling nervous, Evelyn reached out and lightly grabbed his sleeve.

At that, Axion faintly curled one side of his lips and nodded toward a certain shop.

“Huh? Why are we…?”

The place he pointed at was a flower shop, of all things.

Flowers, all of a sudden? This was a place that didn’t suit him at all. As she narrowed her eyes at her fiancé suspiciously, he just shrugged.

“My mother likes flowers.”

“And?”

Before she could process why he was bringing up the Duchess, Axion continued, sounding as casual as ever.

“She invited us. We can’t exactly show up empty-handed, can we?”

‘…An invitation out of nowhere? What is he even talking about?’

“Invited? By who?”

Evelyn stared at her fiancé, totally baffled.

Looking at her, Axion raised an eyebrow and asked back in a flat voice.

“Don’t you remember?”

“I’ll invite you to the mansion soon, Lady Evelyn.”

The Duchess’s words suddenly flashed through her mind, and her face turned pale.

“Don’t tell me… it’s today?”

“The Marchioness should have told you.”

Axion’s indifferent response made her eyes widen in panic. Now that she thought about it, her mom had mentioned something about the Duchess looking forward to meeting her, so she should visit soon.

However, the problem was that her mom had only told her yesterday.