Chapter 88: Something Missing

After training with my angel, I had returned home, taken a shower, and ordered some food. With my hair still slightly damp, I sat on the sofa and checked Eris’s message again.

She would be here soon.

This time, she would also be bringing everything we needed for the cosplay.

I put my phone beside me and leaned my head back.

I would finally get to become Evelyn.

Agreeing to enter the contest was one thing. Seeing how I actually looked in the costume was another. If I wanted to win that five-star card, I needed to get this right.

When there was a knock at the door, I got up and headed toward the entrance.

Eris stood outside with bags in both hands. When I stepped aside to let her through, she walked straight in and put everything beside the sofa.

“Did you bring everything?”

“Yes.”

After briefly checking inside one of the bags, she turned toward me. The determined expression on her face made me tense for reasons I couldn’t explain.

Eris approached me.

I tried to take a step back, but she caught my wrist and stopped me.

“Raise your arms.”

“What?”

Instead of answering, she grabbed the hem of my T-shirt and began pulling it up.

“Hey! Wait a minute!”

“Stop moving.”

“I’ll change in the other room myself!”

Ignoring me, Eris pulled the shirt over my head. When I pushed my hair out of my face and looked at her, she was frowning as though I were the one causing trouble.

“I’ve already seen you naked plenty of times. Besides, you don’t need to take off your boxers, idiot.”

“That doesn’t mean you have to strip me in the middle of the living room!”

My protests changed nothing. Soon, my clothes were lying on the sofa, and I stood in nothing but my boxers, waiting for Eris’s next order.

I folded my arms across my chest.

“I could have done this myself.”

“Then be quicker next time.”

When she took the white wedding dress out of one of the bags, I swallowed what I had been about to say.

Once Eris started, she barely paused. She positioned the costume’s chest padding, helped me into the wedding dress, and made a few adjustments so the fabric sat properly on me. Then came the white wig, makeup, and red contact lenses.

Finally, she placed the black crown on my head and secured the decorative raven to my shoulder.

When everything was finished, I stood in the middle of the living room with my arms held slightly away from my sides.

“Are we done?”

“One second.”

Eris adjusted part of the skirt. Then she took a few steps back to look at the finished result.

And stopped.

Her gaze moved from my face to the wedding dress, then returned to my eyes. Her lips parted slightly, and a faint blush spread across her cheeks.

Even after I waited several seconds, she remained where she was with that strange expression on her face.

“Hey, why did you freeze up?”

When she didn’t answer, I frowned.

“Say something.”

Eris gave a short cough and looked away.

“You look good.”

“Good?”

“Yes.”

After all that effort, such a brief assessment wasn’t particularly satisfying.

Trying not to get the skirt tangled around my feet, I went to my room and stood in front of the mirror. Eris followed a few steps behind me, but I didn’t turn to look at her.

Someone completely different stood in the mirror.

My blue hair had been replaced by white strands falling over my shoulders. The red eyes, black crown, and makeup had almost completely erased the reflection I knew.

The dark red stains resembling blood on the white wedding dress, together with the black raven on my shoulder, completed the costume.

For a while, I stared at myself without saying anything.

If I hadn’t known the person in the mirror was me, I might have fallen in love.

That was a little annoying to admit, but I couldn’t deny it either.

I slowly turned around. The skirt spread with the movement before settling around my legs again, and I tilted my head as I studied my reflection.

I really did look good.

Still, something was missing.

Frowning, I leaned closer to the mirror. The wig was right, the contacts were right, and the details on the wedding dress were just as I remembered them. Yet when I looked at everything together, something didn’t feel quite right.

‘This isn’t Evelyn.’

It was almost identical, yes. Most people might not care about the difference. But for someone like me, smart enough to notice the small details, “almost” wasn’t enough.

The problem was that I hadn’t figured out exactly what that detail was.

“Hey.”

Eris’s voice interrupted my thoughts.

“You don’t need to think so hard about it. You really do look amazing.”

I looked at her in the mirror. Earlier, she had only said “good,” but now she seemed more comfortable saying this.

Just as I was about to answer, the doorbell rang.

“The food’s here,” I said. “Can you get it?”

The corners of Eris’s lips curled upward.

“You get it.”

I slowly turned toward her.

“You seriously expect me to answer the door like this?”

“Why not? People are going to see you at the contest anyway.”

“That’s not the same.”

“I think it is.”

Without waiting for an answer, she left the room. When I followed her into the living room, she was comfortably sprawled on the sofa with one arm behind her head.

“Eris, go get the food!”

“If you want to go hungry, that’s up to you.”

“You…”

The doorbell rang a second time.

I stared at the playful expression on Eris’s face for several seconds. Clearly, trying to convince her wasn’t going to help.

“Fine. Let’s play rock-paper-scissors. The loser opens the door.”

Eris sat up and raised her hand.

We counted together and held out our hands.

I had chosen scissors. Eris’s closed fist destroyed all my hopes in one go.

Smiling, she pointed toward the door.

I gritted my teeth, lifted the skirt slightly, and walked to the entrance. Before opening the door, I took a deep breath.

I was only picking up the food. It would take a few seconds.

When I opened the door, the delivery person lifted the bags slightly.

Then they looked at my face and stopped.

Their eyes moved from my black crown to the raven on my shoulder, then down to the wedding dress. Their mouth opened, but no words came out.

I didn’t wait for them to speak.

“Thank you.”

I took the bags and shut the door in their face.

When I turned around, Eris was pressing her lips together to keep from laughing.

I glared at her and raised the bags.

“Very funny.”

This time, she couldn’t hold back her laughter.

—

By the time we divided the food onto plates and sat at the table, I had removed the black crown and raven. After sweeping the white hair behind my shoulder, I carefully placed a napkin in my lap to avoid spilling anything on the wedding dress.

Meanwhile, Eris ate comfortably, as though she hadn’t caused any of this.

For a while, the only sound was the clinking of forks.

My mind was occupied with what had been missing in the mirror, but at some point, my thoughts drifted to another name. I had put off dealing with him all morning, and even after seeing his name in the System window, I still didn’t know what to do about him.

I placed my fork at the edge of my plate and looked at Eris.

“Do you know Marven?”

After swallowing her food, Eris tilted her head.

“Marven? Who’s that?”

“Marven Voss.”

Her expression changed the moment she heard his surname.

“That scumbag?”

I nodded slightly.

“I’ve never met him, but I haven’t heard good things about him.”

“I see.”

I lowered my gaze to my plate. I had hoped to learn something from her, but apparently, Eris only knew what she had heard too.

“Why do you ask?”

I looked up at her voice. Eris had stopped eating and was watching my face.

“I saw a few news articles while browsing online. I was just curious.”

“About him?”

“Yes.”

She studied me for another moment, then shrugged and returned to her food.

I didn’t continue the subject either.

Several times during the rest of the meal, I wanted to say something, but there was nothing else I could ask. If I pushed too much, I would have to explain why I was so interested.

When Eris finished her last bite, I gathered the empty plates and stood up.

“I’m going to wash the dishes. Try not to make a mess of my apartment in the meantime.”

I stacked the plates and headed toward the kitchen.

‘I guess this won’t be easy…’