Do the ceiling joists run parallel or perpendicular to the wall please?

It's obvious by looking at the studs they are loadbearing. Removing even 1 or 2 could easily cause a major collapse so you best be carful about messing with that wall.

There is no way removing one or two studs from a load bearing wall will cause a major collapse. You have to check which direction the ceiling joists run in relation to the wall and verify that any load is being transferred to a footing.

Joseph I would ordinarily agree with you but this isn't an ordinary situation. Ordinarily the question is answered by relying on information about ceiling joists orientation but as you've seen op desires keeping that information confidential. Add the fact whomever did all that demo doesn't know if wall is load bearing only leaves my extraordinary ability to look at pictures and give op their money's worth.

By the way, just a quick FYI. Since this is a one-level simple home, the architect also came and they decided this is not load-bearing. So we are able to proceed with the original plan. Thanks for everyone's help!

Just because a home is single-level does not necessarily mean the wall is not load bearing. Presumably the architect would be able to determine.