The Rebirth of Evelyn Knox

As Vivian struggled against her older sister's grasp in an effort to jump across the table and grind her teeth against Cecilia's skin, Evelyn felt both worried and amused.

"You should be kinder to Vivian, you know, or you might regret it in the future. She's quite a firecracker. Maybe one day you'll find a few of your fingers missing or something."

The little redhead stopped struggling against her Amara to puff out her chest with pride, making the older girl let out a sigh of relief as she collapsed back on the sofa.

"Hmph. See, even Evelyn knows. Be scared of me! Idiot!"

Cecilia blinked her honey-colored eyes innocently. "Eh, when was I ever mean to the little hamster? I didn't even get mad when I got bit, you know."

Evelyn nodded as she recalled how Vivian has already bitten her older friend twice, and she didn't try to retaliate even once.

"Hm, that's tru—Wait a minute, even if that's true, isn't it already mean enough to call her a little hamster? Her name's Vivian! You can also call her Vivi, but that's it. Even I don't call her little hamster or something, let alone a fat one."

"You deserved it! Always trying to cling to my Evelyn, and being mean to me!"

Looking at the little redhead huffing and puffing out her cheeks like a hamster, Cecilia couldn't believe no one else saw the resemblance.

"Doesn't she look like it, though?"

Evelyn rolled her eyes. Just why was she so insistent on calling Vivian a little hamster? She had given up on calling her 'Foxy Girl' in her letters after just a single response full of reprimands, so it's not like Cecilia was incapable of learning.

"I've literally never heard anyone else say that about her. Anyway, I don't care anymore, you two deal with it amongst yourselves."

Although she didn't mind speaking up about it a little, Evelyn truly didn't wish to police her friend's thoughts too much, especially on mundane matters like this one. After all, she didn't want the girl to feel constrained around her.

Cecilia's eyes were glinting as she took Evelyn's 'backing out' as a surrender. Now that she had two out of four votes, including herself, all she had to do was get another to get the majority.

"I'm sure there must be someone else who thinks so too! Well, big sister Amara, what do you think, do you think I'm hateful for calling her that?"

The older redhead didn't like being put on the spot, but considering Cecilia's obvious friendship with Evelyn, it was impossible to ignore her question.

"Uh, to be honest, I can see why you would call her that."

Vivian's big red eyes stared at her sister in betrayal as she hammered her little fists into the older girl's shoulder. "'Mara you traitor! Bad big sis! Meanie!"

Of course, since her fists couldn't really get any point across, wouldn't her razor-sharp teeth be pointless if she didn't use them?

But having lived with her for her entire life, how could Amara let herself be bitten?

"Yikes, hey, don't try to bite me, I'll beat your butt!"

The little girl's jewel like eyes welled up with tears, making both Evelyn and Cecilia sigh at how adorable the sight was.

"Wuu! Meanie!"

The older redhead looked a little flustered. "W-Well, be that as it may, no one's allowed to tease my little sister like that! So, cheer up, okay? I'll let you bite anyone who dares tease you now."

Vivian's tears dried up instantly as she burst into a big, bright grin while jumping into her sister's arms. "Big sis is the best!"

"Un."

Cecilia was just about to open her mouth when she was nudged by the pink haired girl on her right.

"Don't provoke them anymore, alright, or I'll be angry."

The ash-blonde girl smiled widely as she hugged her friend sideways.

"Awww… my little fox girl is so cute! She's jealous when I talk to other people too much!"

Thankfully, Vivian was busy being pampered by her sister, or she would have exploded again if she saw Cecilia sticking to Evelyn like that.

The pink haired girl's mind seemed to reboot for the next three seconds as she subconsciously protected the little puppy and fox from being crushed into Cecilia's hug.

Her dark pink brows scrunched up together, making her displeasure apparent.

"Okay, first of all, didn't you I tell you to never call me that? And secondly, who's jealous of what? Hmph. What's there to be jealous of? I'll have you know, I, Evelyn, care very little of who else you associate with, unless they are someone openly hostile to me."

Cecilia blinked innocently, though her mischievous smile made her intent to tease the little girl quite clear. "Awww… I never called you that before, okay? This is the first time! I had to say it at least once, you know. Paper just doesn't count."

Evelyn rolled her eyes, exasperated. "Fine! But never again, okay?"

The ash-blonde girl stuck out her tongue. "Alright~ Oh, and as for the other thing, that's not nice! If you keep that attitude up, your future lover will be sad if you 'don't care about who they associate with', you know."

The pink haired girl snorted in disdain. "Good. I don't need such a person."

Cecilia blinked. "You don't need who? Someone who gets jealous?"

Evelyn frowned. "No, jealousy, I understand. Even friends can get jealous of each other, or for each other. What I don't need is someone like a lover."

The older girl pondered over Evelyn's words for a while before nodding. "I get it. Naturally, you're still young, so that's how you think. Eventually you'll have one though. Ah, I wonder which guy will be so lucky, to have such an adorable wife?!"

The pink haired girl twisted her lips in clear disgust. "It's never happening. Just talking about it makes me feel sick."

This time Cecilia was truly surprised. Even a girl as young as Evelyn would sometimes dream about her prince charming, right? Which one of them didn't think of a knight in shining armor who would sweep them off their feet in the future?

Of course, reality is often disappointing. Take Aeron, for example. What part of him was worth mentioning in front of herself? But unfortunately, if the Fulbright family required it, she would have no choice but to settle with him.

Perhaps even Evelyn's marriage wouldn't be of her own choice.

'No… Even if I can't control my own fate, I'm older than her, and the Knox family isn't that strong. I won't let anyone force her. This is the least I can do as her best friend.'

"Well, Evelyn, don't take this the wrong way, I'm not trying to set you up with anyone or anything, but… what kind of boys do you like?"

Evelyn sighed. "I don't."

Cecilia blinked, wondering perhaps if the selection of boys she had met so far had all been morons like Rufus and Tristan. "Um, as in, you hate boys?"

The pink haired girl bit her lip, not sure if she should even be exposing these kinds of thoughts to someone else. But in the end, she couldn't find a reason to hide it from someone she considered a close friend, either.

"I think the type of 'like' you're referring to is something I don't feel for anyone, boy or girl."

Cecilia scratched her head, still a little confused. "Ah, maybe… you don't like boys?"

Evelyn sighed, wondering just how blunt she had to be before her friend could understand.

"I don't detest boys, don't misunderstand."

Cecilia coughed. "Of course. I didn't mean you just flat out hate boys. I mean, you hate them as a lover candidate, right?"

Evelyn nodded. "Of course. I don't mind my friends getting touchy feely, but to stand in a position of control over me… I will never allow it willingly."

The ash-blonde girl clapped, a glint of mischief shining in her honey colored eyes.

"Ahhh, basically you don't want a relationship with a boy, right?"

Evelyn's mind spun. Just how in the world could someone still misunderstand after she made it so clear?!

"So that means you like girls, right? Hmmm… you know, I just had my fiancé ditch me, how about you comfort me a little~? Oh but, of course, I'll wait till you're older, don't worry!"

Cecilia expected her friend to blush and shy away, but noticing how Evelyn was starting to look a little uncomfortable, Cecilia quickly backtracked.

"S-Sorry, looks like I got too far with my jokes! I just thought it would be obvious I was joking. Uhm, you're not angry, are you?"

The pink haired girl sighed. "No… I'm not angry."

'Well, Cecilia is still young, she'll probably mature and grow smarter. Hopefully.'

Cecilia patted her chest in relief. "Thank goodness. Although your angry face would also be cute, I'm sure!"

Although Evelyn smiled, there was a hint of danger in her tone. "You sure you wanna see it?"

The ash-blonde girl gulped nervously. "I-I guess not?"

Evelyn nodded, deciding to never think about this conversation, ever again.

"Good. Anyway, there's something I've been wondering for a while."

"Hm?"

The pink haired girl tapped the floor beneath their feet lightly. "This thing… you know, this whole thing consisting of those black spheres and huge string… it's an artifact, right?"

Cecilia's eyes were wide as she stared at Evelyn in wonder. Even though she knew the girl was 'special', as someone who often got hailed as the greatest genius of the Lavinian Empire, the highest pedestal Cecilia had placed her friend on, was beside herself.

But in Evelyn's position, she would never have been able to figure this out by herself.

Was she… underestimating her friend?

"Wow… How did you guess, Evelyn? This is like the big, shocking, surprise reveal they always do to rattle the newbies, and you just guessed it?"

If it had been her from the past, Evelyn truly would depend only on guesswork to figure it out. But as she had grown more accustomed to her skills, she also figured out how to get some information even from 'failures'.

For example, if she used her probe skill without a target, it would just fizzle out, wasting her spirit power. But if she used it on something that can be analyzed if not for some obstruction, her spirit power would bounce back and return.

When she had used it on the compartment, both outside and inside, the result had been the same 'failure of probe', with her spirit power full returning back.

Combined with her previous knowledge that only certain artifacts could block her probe, aside from a very wide gap in levels, Evelyn could be sure that this must be an item with that kind of attribute.

Of course, these were all things that only she could know.

"I just guessed it."

"Ahahaha… well, since you made such a good guess, I guess I can let you know another 'secret' as well!"

Evelyn's pink eyes shone with curiosity as her friend leaned closer to whisper in her ear.

"Not only is this thing here one of the strongest artifacts in the world, the beast you saw pulling it is the strongest spirit beast in the continent, the 'Thousand Eyed God'!"