Translator: Nox

20 - Chapter 20

The last letter she wrote, but couldn't send, disappeared. And it was a letter to Lieutenant Colonel Ryan Wilgrave!

Eloise turned pale and overturned everything on her desk.

But the letter was nowhere to be seen. Still, Eloise didn't give up. She pulled out all the drawers and pushed the desk aside to check the floor.

Even though she thought it was absurd, she searched every nook and cranny of the wooden floor. Of course, the letter was nowhere to be seen.

What is it? Where did it go? I definitely put it on top?

After confirming that the letter was nowhere in the room, Eloise ran her hand over her face.

"I haven't written in a long time, so I wrote a long one..."

In fact, Eloise had been writing letters to Lieutenant Colonel Wilgrave for quite some time.

As the war with foreign countries began, many young people enlisted in the army and headed to the battlefield.

Far away, they always missed their hometown, family, and friends. Therefore, letters arriving at the unit were one of the few pleasures for soldiers.

Then, a small anecdote was published in the newspaper.

A young child from a family in the capital sent a hard-written letter along with a cute drawing to a prestigious colonel.

Even if only the military unit and name were written, it would be delivered, so the letter was delivered to the colonel's office.

Normally, his adjutant would have checked and filtered such letters, but because his unit was moving urgently, he had to take all the letters with him without time to sort them out.

Then, when he had time, the colonel read the letters that had arrived and saw the letter from the young boy.

Someone of the colonel's stature might have casually dismissed the child's letter, but the colonel was deeply moved by the picture of soldiers clumsily but wonderfully drawn.

So, when he stopped by the capital again, he visited the boy's house and personally gave his thanks along with a small toy soldier doll.

When the story was published in the newspaper, writing letters to soldiers became a trend not only in the capital but also throughout Albion.

Not only children but also virtuous wives sent letters of comfort and support to all the soldiers they knew.

The amount was so large that the post office requested that letters be refrained from unless they were urgent.

But people want to do more when they are told not to. Since the soldiers who received the letters were greatly pleased and their morale was boosted, the military could not continue to stop it.

When Eloise heard the news that it was in vogue, she immediately ran to her room, took out her stationery, and sat down.

Of course, it was to write a letter to Lieutenant Ryan of the 57th Infantry Battalion.

Back then, Ryan was a lieutenant, not a lieutenant colonel. But Eloise knew his name.

She was interested in the operation he participated in, and she had seen his name several times in the list of medal recipients in the corner of the military newspaper.

It was her first time writing a letter to a stranger, so it took her a whole week to write the first letter.

How excited she was after sending the letter.

The newspaper was full of stories of building deep friendships with soldiers through the replies they sent after receiving letters.

Then... wouldn't Lieutenant Ryan Wilgrave also send a friendly reply to the strange letter he received?

"Eloise, did you do something wrong?"

Mrs. Serverton couldn't hide her tension at the sight of her daughter walking around all day with a grin.

Whenever Eloise acted like that, something always happened.

From that day on, Eloise waited for the postman every day. A baby goose, not long after it was born, circled around her as if escorting her.

But even after a month, there was no reply from Lieutenant Wilgrave.

'Maybe it takes some time for the letter to arrive at the military unit?'

Eloise visited the villagers whose families or relatives had gone to the military. And she heard from them that it often took several months for letters sent to the military unit to arrive.

She could have given up, but Eloise waited for the postman every day.

In the meantime, the baby goose grew into a fine goose that was very aggressive towards others except for the Serverton family and gained the name Lancelot.

Eventually, no reply came for more than half a year. In the meantime, Ryan Wilgrave had been promoted from lieutenant to first lieutenant.

Eloise wrote to him again. Congratulating him on his promotion, saying that it was really amazing that he had achieved new merits in the meantime after she had sent him a letter before.

She also wrote a little about the military operation he had participated in.

She sent it on the Great Holiday in winter, and of course, there was no reply until spring. In the meantime, Ryan Wilgrave made a great contribution and was promoted to captain.

Normally, it would have been an absurdly unconventional promotion, but the war made many things possible.

Besides, so many people were dying without regard for rank that it was necessary to fill the vacant officer positions.

In addition, Ryan Wilgrave continued to make great and small contributions, so he was the right person to fill the vacancy.

Eloise continued to send him letters, and he began to appear in the newspaper more often.

Of course, Eloise was not the only one who was paying attention to him. In addition to military newspapers, many newspapers published various editorials on his rapid promotion.

At the same time, there was praise for his achievements.

Eloise wrote even harder. That was because she had been very sick for a long time and couldn't go out of the house.

Eloise, who was tired of reading because she had read all the books in the house, even three times, asked her father to buy her a lot of stationery.

Eloise wrote all the letters that would have lasted her several years from spring to summer of that year.

And even though she sent so many letters, there was no reply.

'I can't help it.'

As he became more and more famous, more and more people were sending him letters.

The newspaper Eloise read said that he received more than 100 letters a day.

How could Ryan Wilgrave, who was out on the battlefield, read them all and reply to everyone? He would also entrust it to his adjutant like other officers and reply only when he felt like it.

No, maybe he would just throw them all away without reading them.

It would be frustrating to think that way, but Eloise felt more at ease.

'If he doesn't even check it anyway...'

...Wouldn't it be okay to write whatever I want in the letter?

From then on, Eloise's letters became even longer.

She wrote about her concerns about whether the troop operation was really right when it came to the battles of other units, and sometimes she wrote about how her next-door neighbor Julia was getting colder and colder to her, and she didn't know why.

She also wrote about how Lancelot liked the female goose next door and crossed the wall every day, and how it seemed to rain more and more in the summer.

In the meantime, none of the letters Eloise sent came back.

'Then that means it's arriving somewhere.'

Now, it didn't matter whether Ryan Wilgrave received it or not.

Eloise wrote more comfortably because he was someone who didn't reply. He was the best letter partner in that she could say whatever she wanted.

In the letter, Ryan Wilgrave became Eloise's friend, a soldier worthy of respect, and sometimes an adult she wanted to ask for advice.

And, of course, he also became the object of Eloise's first innocent crush.

At first, she thought it was funny. To have a crush on someone she had never even met!

But when she looked at the tactics he led through the battle data that arrived all day from the capital, she somehow felt like she could picture him.

Until then, Ryan Wilgrave's face was not accurately known, so Eloise collected all the information that came out little by little in the newspaper and imagined his appearance.

Tall, sturdy build, slightly sharp eyes...

The problem was the color of his hair and eyes.

The newspaper often featured stories from people who had met him. The problem was that everyone said his hair and eye color were different.

Some said his hair was black, while others said it was dark brown.

But according to a retired soldier who happened to sit near him in Cambon, Ryan Wilgrave often changed his hair color to do infiltration missions, and his real hair was red.

It wasn't just his hair color, but also his eye color. Some said black, some said brown, some said blue, green...

How many Ryan Wilgraves are there?

So Eloise decided to just imagine him as she pleased.

In Eloise's imagination, he was a tall man with black hair and blue eyes. As a soldier who doesn't spare his body at the forefront, he has a sturdy and strong body, and his eyes, which always monitor the enemy lines, are sharp...

Eloise, who was thinking that far, woke up from her reverie and jumped up.

When she thought about it, the Ryan Wilgrave she imagined back then looked similar to Sergeant Ryan Thornton now.

"I guess I'm not in my right mind."

She had forgotten all about the image she had vaguely imagined back then when she was lucky enough to get his portrait.

Eloise looked at the portrait hanging on the wall of her room.

A handsome man with blond hair and blue eyes, smiling kindly, was looking at her.

After looking at the portrait for a while, she went back to her desk. And the moment she calmly recalled what she had been doing here.

"Ah!"

She couldn't help but sigh.

She had been looking at Blissbury's documents here all day. And she hurriedly cleaned them up.

"Could it be that it got mixed in with those documents...?"

The moment she realized that, Eloise collapsed on the sofa.

Sergeant Thornton, who even sent a errand boy to urge her to reply because he couldn't wait for a reply. So, if he receives it, he will immediately read what's inside. Then he will find it.

Her letter that says 'My Ryan'.