Chapter Fifty-Nine: The Wingless Crow
“Miss Evelia, you’re here! Please, have a seat~”
After finishing the task handover, Evelia arrived at Anna’s clothing store. Anna, who was just attending to other customers, quickly came to Evelia’s side, led her to the sofa, and prepared some snacks and tea for her. One might think that Evelia was a special VIP of the store.
“Looks busy?”
“Yes, because of the celebration, many customers have come to our store to order custom outfits recently.”
While responding to Evelia, Anna was busy measuring another lady’s body data, continuously recording the measurements in her little booklet. After chatting for a long time, Anna cheerfully sent that customer away. From her happy expression, it seemed like the order was quite profitable.
“Miss Evelia, aren’t you going to buy a new outfit for the celebration?”
After sending the last customer off, Anna wiped her sweat and calculated today’s earnings while leaning against Evelia, sizing up what kind of clothes would suit the beautiful girl.
“Outfit?” At first, Evelia thought Anna was calling her name. “I don’t need such things.”
“Eh—” Anna exclaimed in disbelief. “How can someone as beautiful as you not need beautiful clothes? I’m not trying to sell you anything, Miss Evelia. I can give you a beautiful gown for free to attend the celebration!”
“That’s not necessary…”
Evelia had never considered wearing a gown. Although she didn’t mind what she wore, she also wouldn’t take advantage of others intentionally.
“Aren’t you going to the ball? All the ladies here are coming to me to customize new gowns for the celebration ball. There’s still time; you can totally get one made here, for free! After all, we are good friends!”
Anna’s voice grew more excited, and she moved closer to Evelia, standing fiercely beside her, seemingly determined to have Evelia wear a new gown.
Anyone who becomes a clothing designer possesses an eye for beauty, and Evelia’s perfect figure, crafted through alchemy, was exactly what they admired most. For Anna, making a gown for her friend, this perfectly beautiful girl, seemed even like an honor.
“Really don’t need to.”
Yet Evelia was precisely the kind of person who could calmly reject such enthusiasm.
“Why~~ Don’t girls usually like beautiful clothes?”
… I’m not exactly a real girl.
Evelia thought to herself but chose a more acceptable answer:
“Because I don’t plan to attend the celebration.”
“!” Anna sat back next to Evelia as if she had heard something shocking. “Not going to the celebration? The Pros Celebration is very lively; you’re really not going?”
“Mm.” Evelia nodded, “I don’t like lively places.”
“Is that so…” Anna looked thoughtfully at Evelia. From her cold demeanor, it seemed Evelia fit the rumored image of the ‘aloof girl who never interacts with others,’ so it was understandable that she disliked lively celebrations.
“But the celebration is still fun.”
“Is it?”
Although she was a local as a Scarlet Crow, because of the Second Prince’s control, she only left the Nightingale House when there was a task for her. At other times, even if the outside was lively, she wouldn’t spare it another glance, as the Second Prince hadn’t allowed her to see, so she didn’t need to.
“It always feels like, Miss Evelia, you have no interest in anything…” Anna tilted her head and looked at Evelia, who showed no emotions. “You’re clearly so beautiful, but you always seem to be carrying something.”
“Is that so?” Evelia touched her face and didn’t feel anything unusual.
“Yes, Miss Evelia, you never smile.”
—Smile.
That word felt very foreign to Evelia.
If she were to recall, she had always been a shy child, often hiding behind others, neither crying nor laughing, just hiding there and hardly speaking or interacting with anyone.
Later, she was taken to the Nightingale House, where smiles were even more absent. Everyone wore a mask of suffering, desperately seeking a chance to live; smiles were the least useful things. They didn’t nurture idlers; only strength was required to survive.
After that—some memories became unclear.
She only remembered once finding a possible chance to escape, but the one who vowed to take her away abandoned her. After being captured again, she almost died there.
If the Second Prince hadn’t seen her potential, perhaps there would be no Scarlet Crow, no Evelia today.
The Second Prince gave her a chance to live and bestowed upon her, as a child, “fear,” which became the chain and seal in her soul that she couldn’t defy.
She chose to selectively forget that life-and-death experience, for it was not worth reminiscing. Thus, she locked her memories away when she became the Scarlet Crow, even throwing her past name out of her mind. Even after becoming Evelia, since the Second Prince didn’t destroy all of her past records, she still wouldn’t bring up her once true name because, from the beginning of her memory, she was the Scarlet Crow, and only the Scarlet Crow.
The crow in her name seemed to be able to soar, but it carried an unshakeable collar.
How wonderful it would be to be as free as others.
In the past, as the Scarlet Crow, her interactions were with the dead or dying. But this time, she faced Alman, who might live for a long time under her care. Although sometimes Evelia didn’t understand Alman’s erratic behavior, she regarded it as something she couldn’t reach—a kind of free-spiritedness.
Doing whatever one wanted… is it really that distant for herself?
“Miss Evelia…?”
“Mm, what’s wrong?”
“Why does your expression look a bit sad? Are you thinking of something upsetting? You can talk to me, Miss Evelia.”
Hearing this, Evelia paid attention to the angle of her eyebrows. Just as Anna said, although there was no mirror in front of her, she could feel her eyebrows were tightly knitted up until Anna’s reminder, which allowed her to relax a bit.
“No, it’s nothing.” Evelia shook her head. “It’s not worth mentioning.”
—The less you know, the better.
A sudden thought popped into Evelia’s mind.
Because she had just received a task to ‘kill the informant,’ she felt that the less Anna knew, the further she would be from danger.
The mercy of a killer is worth more than gold.
“By the way, Miss Evelia, did you invite that knight you mentioned last time?”
“Not yet.”
“Was it that you couldn’t find an opportunity?”
“I forgot.”
“……” Evelia’s straightforward response made Anna feel a bit awkward.
“Anyway, um, Miss Evelia, try to bring him over. Besides letting me discern him, he can also accompany you in choosing a gown!”
“Gown? I have no interest in the celebration…”
“No—Miss Evelia, what I mean is—” saying this, Anna patted Evelia’s shoulder, seriously stating, “If you want him to notice you, go invite him to the celebration!”
