Chapter 26: Vegetarian Child

Silverton Estate.

Elvina glanced at her reflection in the mirror.

She leaned back on the stool at patted her face, ''Hmm, I've gotten more beautiful than the last minute I saw my face,'' she closed her eyes and smiled, stroking her face.

A moment later, she opened her eyes and picked up the avocado face sheet mask from the rack before carefully unfolding and placing it on her face.

Elvina made a mental note to take some of these to their kingdom in the future.

Humans and their luxuries. Surely noteworthy.

She closed her eyes, relaxing in the soothing sensation.

"YOU DAMNED CAT!!!"

Elvina straightened up on the swivel chair hurriedly but the wheels slipped and she lost balance, crashing on the floor with a 'bam'.

''Sss..'' Elvina sucked in a cold breath of air as she clutched her waist which seemed to have split into halves.

She let out a shuddering breath, and her hair which was forming a curtain in front of her face swayed.

Elvina grabbed her hair and pushed it to the side.

She looked at her avocado face sheet mask which was now lying on the floor, completely wrecked.

And just like that, her moment of celebrating her happiness was gone.

She was seeing red just at the thought of it.

''These mannerless humans...'' Elvina pushed herself to her feet and strode out of her room, intending to strangle the first person who came to her sight.

As soon as she descended the stairs, what greeted her was the sight of a flying cat.

The face of the cat enlarged in front of her eyes in slow motion leaving her wondering if she should have checked the astrology before starting the day.

''Mmmph!''

Gold hugged her head with all his limbs and planted himself on her 'beautiful' face...

''Cough... Cough... mmp!'' Elvina grabbed Gold and detached him from her face before spitting out the cat fur in her mouth, ''Cough...What the heck!"

She glared at the cat.

The cat glared at her brand new husband.

And her brand new husband glared back at both of them.

Elvina placed Gold down.

She descended the stairs, wiping off the cat fur which was stuck to the remnant of avocado sheet mask liquid left on her face.

Archer crossed his arms in front of his chest, ''Throw him out of my house,'' his jaw ticked.

''What for?" Elvina was confused.

Both this human and her cat were not on good terms since their very first meeting but she assumed they made peace and were not going to mess with each other.

Then how did her Gold provoke Archer?

''Can you see that?"

''What are you talking..." Elvina followed his gaze, ''a-about?" her last word came out as a stutter when her gaze landed on the fishbone on the floor.

''Two of my fishes are no more...'' Archer's eyes narrowed, ''And it's your insatiable cat.''

''How can you accuse Gold of doing something like that? My child is a vegetarian,'' Elvina said righteously even though her claim sounded bizarre to her own ears, ''V-E-G-E-T-A-R-I-A-N!" She repeated noticing the 'are you kidding me' look on his face.

'Meow~ Meow~' Gold meowed in the chorus as if he was agreeing with what his mommy said.

This shameless pair! Archer let his hands hang on his sides as he looked at her.

She held his gaze without backing down.

He stepped towards her.

Elvina tilted her head, looking into his dark eyes. His brown hair was resting above his forehead in a mess and as his lips parted slightly, her gaze wandered off to them, trailing down to his prominent jawline.

''When I say your cat is the one responsible for this...'' Elvina's gaze shifted to his lips again as he spoke, ''Then he is.''

She looked into his eyes, taking half a step back when he took another step closer towards her, ''Talk to me with evidence,'' Elvina clicked her tongue.

''Evidence, huh?" Archer leaned towards her.

Elvina stiffened. What was he doing?

She wanted to step back but something inside her was curious about what he was up to.

She could feel her heartbeats speeding up as his warm breath caressed her face.

Their bodies were cold as the creatures of the sea but at this moment, Elvina could surprisingly feel a warmth trailing up her neck.

Archer raised his hand and his finger touched her cheek.

Her lips parted, the tip of her tongue darting out to wet her dry lips.

He looked at her lips before looking back into her eyes.

'Meow~' Gold swished his tail and walked upstairs, elegantly. These people. Tsk Tsk! Weren't they pointing swords at each other just now?

Elvina snapped out of her daze. She could have stepped back but for some hellish reason, her palms found their way back to his chest to stop him from approaching her further, ''W-What are you doing?" she whispered, keeping their eye contact intact.

''What do you think?" He was quick to reply.

Elvina held her breath when he leaned forward, ''You...''

Their faces were so close that she felt his slight stubble grazing on her cheek as he closed in and whispered in her ear, ''I was saving you...'' he pulled his fingers away from her cheeks and Elvina felt the instant loss of warmth on her cold skin, ''...from being an embarrassing sight any further,'' he said.

'Splash'

Either someone splashed buckets of cold water on her body or she was thrown into the sea because the sudden wake up from her daze was real.

She gazed at the cat fur that he had pinched between his thumb and index finger.

Archer stepped back from her, ''I'll show you the evidence and after that, I want your cat out of my sight,'' he turned around and strode towards the aquarium, hiding the sight of his reddening ears from her view.

When he stepped closer to her, it was not his motive to go that close but as they ended up in that compromising position, it felt... strange.