章 13: A Pretty Bold Claim To Make

The topic of conversation changed as they left the petting zoo area but Erevan's thoughts were still going a mile a minute thinking about what Molly had said. What more did he need to do to become her most valued attendant?

He could do so many things that Stella couldn't! He supposed he needed to focus more on being her friend as Vanya. She definitely wasn't getting enough human interaction from Calvin.

He spotted a sign advertising cotton candy and remembered what she said about wanting some so he headed over there immediately. He brought back two, curious to try some himself, and was visibly shocked when it disappeared on his tongue. What kind of magic was this?!

Molly noticed and ended up laughing much harder than he expected. "I'm sorry, it's just! Your face! Hahahaha!"

Erevan couldn't even be bothered because of how happy she looked. At least his entertainment value at the moment seemed to be higher than Calvin's. She was laughing as hard as she did at her books right now.

"I've never had this before," he admitted. "I wasn't expecting it."

"How could you not know what cotton candy does?!"

Oh no. He let too much information slip! "I knew what it does but I didn't think it would dissolve so easily. I suppose I thought the rumors were exaggerated since I never had the chance to try it until now."

Molly laughed it off with a shake of her head and he was relieved. "You're funny, Vanya! I didn't realize that before."

"…I'm glad you think so."

That was close. Too close. Being considered funny was a good thing in human terms. It was far better than being seen as suspiciously inhuman. If he was going to spend more time with her in human form, he needed to be better about this sort of thing.

Speech patterns could only help so much. What he needed was practical knowledge. When he checked Molly's memories, he couldn't process everything he took in because there were too many details so he focused on what he thought was important at the time. But if this sort of slip-up happened again…

It seemed he had overestimated his ability to decide what was and wasn't important. In the future, he would have to treat everything as important to be safe.

The incident passed and they continued wandering around the zoo and taking pictures for a few hours. In addition to the petting zoo, there was an area where people could touch sharks and stingrays. That seemed like Molly's favorite part of the day aside from seeing the tigers and other big cats.

Erevan was pleased his mistress was having such a good time. She seemed much more relaxed when they eventually made it back to the house and he prepared their lunch. It seemed that he had done well accompanying her despite his mistakes.

Molly enjoyed the food as much as usual and was sure to praise his cooking skills, which also made him feel good about himself. He went off to take care of the laundry in an excellent mood.

When he came back to check on her, he saw she was sitting cross-legged on the couch painting her nails. It was something she typically did once a week and he wasn't sure why she did it but she always seemed happy once it was done.

Her current color of choice was a dark red that almost looked purple. It matched the hoodie she had worn to the zoo rather well.

"Your nail polish matches your hoodie," Erevan noted.

Molly looked up and smiled. "Yeah, that's why I picked the color. It's almost exactly the same shade. Do you want me to do yours too? I've never painted anyone else's nails before so it might be a bit sloppy but…"

She never offered to paint Calvin's nails. Was this a form of bonding between female humans? She had referred to him as her friend earlier.

He returned her smile and sat down next to her on the couch. "I would love to."

"Great! I have the perfect color for you too. I just need to finish mine first; hang on a minute."

Molly was going to choose a different color for him? He had assumed she would use the same one. He watched her finish painting her nails before going upstairs and when she came back she had a different shade of red that was almost exactly the same as his eyes.

"Here!" she said happily. "I thought this would suit you. It'll make your pretty eyes stand out."

"…you think my eyes are pretty?"

Erevan hadn't expected that. They were a perfectly normal color for a demon but were extremely rare in humans. He had gotten a lot of stares and whispers out in public when he was running errands for his mistress before.

"Of course! They're unusual but there's nothing wrong with that. They're what makes you unique!" Molly insisted before her face fell. "But if you're self-conscious about them, I can get you something different. Sorry. I should have asked."

He shook his head. "No, I don't mind. I was merely surprised by the compliment. Thank you, Mi—Molly."

Erevan let her paint his nails, which were pitch black claws in his usual form. Seeing them be red was new. So was having his hand held like this.

Molly held Calvin's hands but it was in a different way. Their fingers were interlocked and it seemed to be done out of affection rather than necessity. Still, it was strange being touched like this. Demons didn't do anything close to holding hands in any capacity.

It wasn't an unpleasant feeling though. He had gotten used to being petted as a cat and had come to even enjoy it after realizing it was a form of praise. He supposed this was similar. Being touched didn't have to be a bad thing that involved pain for one or both of the parties involved the way his practice duels did as a child.

She hummed cheerfully as she worked on his nails and he realized this was making her even happier than nail polish usually did. Was it because she was doing it to someone else instead of herself for once?

Normally, Molly didn't seem very happy when Calvin was gone for long periods of time but today that wasn't the case. After painting Erevan's nails, she taught him how to make them harden faster by putting them in cold water and set to work making homemade facial masks out of ingredients in the kitchen.

He had no idea what she was doing so all he could do was offer to help gather ingredients and mash things into a paste at her instruction instead of doing it for her. She seemed to be having fun doing it anyway so perhaps it was for the best.

"I haven't done this in ages," she confided. "I did it at a sleepover once in middle school and it was so much more fun than doing it on my own."

It seemed that his earlier theory was correct. She was in a good mood because she was able to do things with someone else rather than by herself when Calvin wasn't around to keep her company.

The scoundrel. What was the point of him? His sole purpose seemed to be accompanying Molly and he hadn't been very reliable of late. Not that he had ever been the reliable type in the first place but he didn't used to be this worthless.

"I can do things like this with you any time you want," Erevan told her sincerely.

The sensation of whatever she smeared on his face was definitely odd but she looked so happy he couldn't care about that. He wouldn't mind doing it in the future to see that sort of bright smile on her face.

"Really? This isn't too weird? I realized belatedly I might have overstepped my bounds here…" Molly replied with hesitation running through her voice.

He was quick to reassure her by waving his hands in front of him the way humans did. "Not at all! I've been enjoying myself as well. You never have to feel like you're overstepping your bounds with me. I'm alright with pretty much anything."

"…you sure? That's a pretty bold claim to make."

"Absolutely! As I said before, you are the best person I've ever served. I have confidence that any requests you make wouldn't be unreasonable."

Molly mulled this over a moment before a half-smile appeared on her face. "You're an interesting person, you know that?"

"Why thank you," Erevan replied simply.

At least she thought he was a person. His charade was working even if he needed more practical knowledge on human practices so he could recognize anything she talked about. Maybe he should read some of the books she liked best so he could talk to her about those as well.

Anything for his mistress. He could fulfill Calvin's role in her life much better than he could. Where was he, anyway? He was usually home by this time of day.