Translator: Nox

26 - Chapter 26

Even though not many people stayed at Blissbury, the dining room on the first floor had a very long and large banquet table neatly set.

At the end of that table, Eloise and Ryan were having dinner.

Mrs. Parker's cooking was excellent.

It was Mrs. Parker's cooking that Mrs. Suberton criticized for being weak on desserts, but in other words, it only meant that her desserts were a little weak, and her other dishes were very good.

Besides, thanks to Eloise staying at Blissbury for a long time and even having dinner, Mrs. Parker was more excited than usual to prepare dinner.

Thanks to that, the table was filled with more appetizing dishes than usual.

But Eloise's hand hardly moved.

It wasn't because she felt unwell or didn't like the food.

It was because she was watching Sergeant Thornton, who was eating in front of her.

He was showing off the feat of eating politely and quickly.

The fork and knife didn't move much, but the roasted chicken was neatly deboned, and after a few more blinks, only cleanly picked bones remained on the plate.

It wasn't just meat. The grilled vegetables that Mrs. Parker brought out with sauce, and the gratin baked with plenty of white sauce simmered with butter between thinly sliced potatoes. And the minced meat sauce with plenty of spices in the pastry, and so on.

He was eating all the dishes that Mrs. Parker made cleanly.

Moreover, they disappeared so quickly that Mrs. Parker couldn't stand it and rolled up her sleeves and went back into the kitchen.

Because of that, Mr. Palmer was bringing the two of them their meals instead.

Watching his plate, where even the grilled vegetables and sauce had disappeared cleanly, Eloise said in disbelief.

"I heard you don't eat well."

Far from not eating well, he devoured all the dishes so cleanly that it seemed like a gluttonous demon was sitting in his stomach.

Even young men working in the wheat fields all day during harvest season wouldn't eat as well as he did.

"I didn't used to."

"Then why are you eating so well today?"

"I don't know. I don't know either."

Saying that, Ryan reached for the bread basket that Mrs. Parker had piled up with a smile.

Ryan himself was more surprised than Eloise.

Clearly, he had no appetite until this morning. But now he felt like he could eat everything he saw.

It wasn't like he had become gluttonous either. He was still talking to Eloise and maintaining perfect table manners.

Eating so suddenly like this could upset his stomach, but his stomach accepted what he ate as if it had been waiting.

He spread plenty of butter on the well-baked bread and then added a little raspberry jam.

When he put it in his mouth and chewed, the savory taste of the grain bread, the rich flavor of the butter, and the sweet and sour taste of the raspberry jam all came at once.

He wondered if he was crazy for not eating such delicious things.

After eating a piece of bread, he said to Eloise, who was still watching him.

"More importantly, about the letter we were talking about earlier."

At that moment, her face, which had been looking at him with wonder, twisted terribly. Ryan smiled as he watched Eloise's expression. Eloise was more fun to tease than he thought.

'Is it because there aren't many people who show their thoughts on their face like this?'

He avoided any gatherings other than official duties.

But an officer's duties included attending banquets hosted by the military. Ryan was disgusted and said to Lord Stanford, who was his superior at the time.

<I have many infiltration missions. But if I shout Ryan Wilgrave and go in, how am I supposed to do my missions in the future?>

<Then attend under a pseudonym for missions. You're only meeting soldiers too much. As you said, you have many infiltration missions, and some of them are in banquet halls, right? Think of it as learning various mission environments and be sure to attend. That's an order.>

<.......>

Because he mentioned the mission first, he had nothing to say to Lord Stanford, who called it an order.

He knew why the Lord Stanford kept trying to send him to military charity banquets.

Lord Stanford was one of the few people who knew about his relationship with Count Willus.

So he must have been particularly concerned about him.

Wondering if the reason he had no interest in dating was because of Count Willus.

To some extent, Lord Stanford's thoughts were correct.

Ryan had no desire to start a family at all.

He thought he wasn't qualified to do so in the first place, as he was born as the Count's illegitimate child.

Perhaps because he had made up his mind that way, even when his colleagues tried to talk to women as much as possible, Ryan was indifferent, wondering what was so fun about it.

It was the same when he attended banquets.

Soldiers of his age were desperately trying to continue conversations with the women who attended the banquet. They showed a will to find a good match.

It was the same for the women, and their eyes scanning the soldiers were as sharp as hawks.

And they soon discovered Ryan and flocked to his side.

<Sergeant Thornton, you said? Which Thornton are you from?>

<What is Sergeant Thornton's affiliation?>

Just because he wasn't interested didn't mean his aesthetic sense was on the bottom of his feet.

The women who approached him were all kind and beautiful women.

But Ryan couldn't feel any other emotions for them.

They are all ladies worthy of praise. Then, even if he didn't have romantic feelings, he should have at least the pleasure of conversation...

Like his colleagues said, he wondered if he was too picky, so he wasn't interested in women, but after attending a few banquets, he knew the reason.

The women he encountered were too perfect.

They always walked gracefully, smiled kindly, and spoke in gentle voices. They never interfered in the gentlemen's conversations and agreed with their words.

So Ryan couldn't feel any emotions for them.

It felt like he was looking at perfectly made dolls, not people.

But that was just his opinion. The other soldiers around him called them perfect ladies.

Since everyone said so, he had to swallow his thoughts alone. Besides, it didn't matter if he felt that way anyway.

But Eloise Suberton, from the moment he first met her... it was absurd.

She got caught with a nude painting containing his fake portrait, she made a face as if she would die if she had to give him apple pie, and she wrote him letters as if they had known each other for a long time.

Logically speaking, Eloise Suberton was a strange woman.

A woman who could never be called a lady, a woman who was better off avoided.

But in fact, he didn't dislike Eloise Suberton, who was glaring at him with deep wrinkles on her forehead.

'It might be because I'm having a meal.'

Mrs. Parker's delicious food, which filled his stomach, might be making him happy, so Eloise's expression was amusing.

So Ryan imagined what it would be like if someone else made a similar expression in front of him.

The first person that came to mind was Julia Ogilvy, whose name he remembered because he had talked to her twice.

If she was sitting in front of him now and glaring at him like Eloise...

"......"

Suddenly, his appetite quickly disappeared. Ryan withdrew his hand that was about to pick up a new bread.

Eloise continued to glare at him, then placed the cloth covering her knees on the table and said.

"I'm sorry to Mrs. Parker, but I don't think I can eat dessert and have to go back. If it gets any later, the road back home will be too dark."

Eloise looked out the window. She wanted to leave early, but if it got any later, it would be completely dark before she arrived in the village.

Of course, she would take a lamp, but there were still rumors of deserters appearing on the night road.

So she thought she should return to Feltham when people were still walking on the road.

"It's okay. Take your time and have dessert."

He was supposed to tell her to go quickly, but Ryan gestured for her to sit down again.

"It's not okay. Even if the days are getting longer these days..."

"I'll take you to Feltham. So take your time and finish your meal."

When he said he would take her, Eloise's face twisted again. Ryan smiled and called Mr. Palmer.

It seemed like he could eat all the desserts today.