31 - Chapter 31
Cambon.
Ryan recalled the town he had stopped by on his way to Blissbury.
Though called a town, it was small compared to the grand cities near the capital.
Still, it was the largest in the area, so when people around here said "town," they naturally thought of Cambon.
"When are you leaving?"
"Right after breakfast."
"Then you'll have to leave very early. I'll tell Mrs. Parker to prepare breakfast early tomorrow."
"Hmm? What breakfast?"
"Aren't you coming to Blissbury to eat and then leave together?"
That's what he was about to say, but looking at Eloise's face, he realized he had misunderstood something.
"Why? It would take an extra hour if I stopped by Blissbury. And there's no reason for me to stop by Blissbury, is there?"
Eloise's eyes widened as if she truly didn't understand.
If she took the order list home today, there would be no reason for her to come here tomorrow. Besides, the urgent matters were more or less settled, so it wouldn't be a big deal if she didn't come for a day.
Ryan couldn't say anything to Eloise's words.
As she said, there was no reason for her to stop by here, so why had he assumed she would come here as a matter of course?
After a moment of thought, he asked Eloise.
"Then who are you planning to go with?"
"I'm definitely not going with my mother."
Eloise shook her head as if that was the one thing she couldn't do.
"If I go to Cambon with my mother, I'll have to stay for at least six hours. Six hours? Last time, I was in Cambon for nine hours. Goodness, it was like she was planning to visit every store in Cambon and greet everyone."
Eloise shuddered as if it had been truly difficult.
"I'm not taking Emily either. If I go with her, she'll be a mess, wanting to buy this and that at the grocery store. She looks at me like a puppy begging for a bone when there's a new grocery item. I can't help but weaken and buy it for her. So it's better to just go alone and finish the work quickly."
"How about going with me?"
"Me? With Sergeant Thornton?"
"......You don't have to make such a disgusted face so openly, do you?"
"It's not a disgusted expression, it's a suspicious one. Why to Cambon?"
"I haven't been to Cambon since coming to Blissbury. Looking at the Summer Ball invitation list, there are people from Cambon as well as Feltham residents. So wouldn't it be good to go and greet them in advance? It would be easier to greet them if you, Miss Eloise, could introduce me."
"......"
At Ryan's words, Eloise thought about the list of those invited from Cambon.
He hadn't been to Cambon even once yet, so if things continued like this, the Blissbury ball would be his first meeting with them.
Of course, as a new administrator, it wouldn't be a problem if he met them for the first time that day, but if they were all strangers, the greetings would take too long.
And it would end with just introductions.
'It certainly wouldn't hurt to greet them in advance.'
Eloise nodded lightly as if she understood.
"Then where shall we meet tomorrow? At the entrance to Cambon?"
"Is there a need for that? Since the deserter hasn't been caught yet, you must be worried about going to Cambon alone. I'll go to Feltham tomorrow morning."
"You're coming to my house?"
"Yes. I've been there once, so there's no problem finding it."
"Come to think of it, at the first dinner......"
Recalling that time, the nude painting he had given her came to Eloise's mind.
Come to think of it, she had thought she would never exchange words with him again and wouldn't see him until he left.
'When did it become like this?'
She was seeing his face all day from morning to evening and talking to him constantly.
Sometimes their voices rose and they exchanged barbs, but she thought they worked quite well together when it came to work.
'It's even a little fun.'
Of course, Sergeant Thornton's nasty personality wasn't fun.
What Eloise enjoyed was the stories of the 57th Infantry Battalion and other military stories he sometimes told.
Even if he was an officer, a sergeant wouldn't have many opportunities to meet with the higher-ups, but Sergeant Thornton often brought up their stories.
It wasn't like he was bragging about being close to such people. Rather, he seemed to dislike them very much.
'Seeing that, it seems like he would get along well with Lieutenant Colonel Wilgrave.'
Come to think of it, Sergeant Thornton hadn't particularly criticized or disparaged the lieutenant colonel since then.
It could be that he was deliberately not mentioning it for her sake, but Eloise thought that was unlikely.
If he were the type to consider the other person's feelings, he wouldn't write something like, "Ryan, not your Ryan, is asking, can you review this within two hours?" at the end of the documents he gave her, turning Eloise's insides upside down.
'Maybe he doesn't dislike him as much as I thought?'
In any case, in the afternoon when work became a little difficult and she couldn't concentrate, listening to him tell stories of the 57th Infantry Battalion while drinking tea became the most enjoyable time of Eloise's day.
So, she secretly thought that if she couldn't come to Blissbury tomorrow, she would lose one chance to hear stories......
'I'll have to listen on the way.'
Thinking that, Eloise put a slice of steak she had cut into her mouth.
Mrs. Parker's cooking was excellent today as well.
The next morning.
"It's been a while, Mrs. Suberton."
Ryan, who had come to Mr. Suberton's house in the morning, handed Mrs. Suberton a bouquet made of flowers freshly picked from the greenhouse and garden in the morning.
"Oh, how beautiful. You must have been busy leaving Blissbury early, thank you for being so thoughtful."
"Not at all. I'm just embarrassed to meet the finest lady in Feltham looking so shabby."
Eloise, who was helping Emily put bread on the table, made a face as if she felt nauseous at Ryan's oily, embarrassingly polite greeting.
Of course, she returned to her usual expression before Mrs. Suberton could turn around.
Thanks to Eloise's advance notice yesterday, Ryan's meal was also prepared at the breakfast table today.
Eloise, Ryan, and Mrs. Suberton finished a short prayer and began breakfast.
Normally, it would have been a simple soup, bread and butter. And if they were to add more, it would have been an egg and a piece of ham, but today there were fried potatoes, beans simmered in sauce, vegetable and meat soup, and grilled mushroom dishes.
A hearty meal was prepared that was hard to tell whether it was breakfast or lunch.
"Is our Eloise being helpful?"
"Of course. It's not just helpful, but there would have been a major setback in holding the ball if Miss Eloise hadn't been here."
"That's a relief. To think that going in and out of Blissbury with my husband since she was young would be so helpful."
Ryan and Mrs. Suberton chatted amicably. Eloise narrowed her eyes as she watched them.
'It's so fake. Seeing this, I understand how he did infiltration missions.'
While eating in Blissbury, she had sarcastically said that if he went into enemy territory with that hateful way of speaking, he would be immediately exposed and shot.
At that time, Ryan smiled and said, "I speak completely differently than I do to you, so that won't happen."
Certainly, as she had felt during the meal, it seemed that he only revealed his true nature when he was in front of Eloise.
Teasing, making fun of, and being curt.
'To think that I'm the only one who knows that side of him......'
It was truly unfair.
After finishing their meal, the two left for Cambon in a two-seater carriage from Suberton House.
At first, they had thought about going on horseback, but they changed to a carriage thinking they might buy something in Cambon.
As a result, they ended up riding in a carriage similar to a baggage wagon, with the riders sitting together in the front and the back designed to be easy to load luggage.
Ryan took the reins, Eloise sat next to him, and they left the house, saying goodbye.
And there were people watching that scene.
"What is that? Isn't that Eloise and...... Sergeant Thornton?"
From the second floor of Mr. Ogilvy's house nearby, Julia was looking outside, almost glued to the window.
She had been looking out without much thought, wondering who was moving so busily from the morning, and Eloise, who had been going to Blissbury every day lately, and Sergeant Thornton, who should have been in Blissbury, were going somewhere together in a carriage.
Sitting close together, too!
"What...... Eloise, weren't you not interested in Sergeant Thornton......?"
As Julia muttered that, her older sister, Abigail, approached the window with crutches from behind.
"......It's true."
Abigail, who would normally have said cheerfully that she didn't know where they were going so busily.
Her eyes were looking at the backs of Eloise and Sergeant Thornton as they moved away with a complicated expression.
