7
Your Ryan
<Episode 7>
Thump, thump! The wooden crutches clattered loudly as they fell to the floor in the hallway.
“Abigail!”
Sure enough. Eloise opened the door and came out, along with the sound of someone hurriedly getting up from behind the door.
Abigail smiled, picked up the crutches, and then smiled at her friend.
“May I come in? Eloise, you faker.”
“You’re cunning.”
“I won’t deny that I took advantage of your good intentions. But if I hadn’t done this, you would never have opened the door for me.”
Seeing that Abigail had no intention of leaving, Eloise opened the door.
Abigail put her crutches next to the chair, quickly sat down, and then placed her hands on her knees.
“Okay, so now, tell me what on earth happened in Blissbury yesterday that made you lie down like this?”
Abigail’s eyes sparkled.
No one in Feltham could beat Eloise when it came to being brazen and confident.
But for her friend to be lying down like this? Something big must have happened.
The fact that it might be the most exciting thing to happen in Feltham this year made Abigail excited.
“…Nothing happened.”
“Oh, Eloise. Even the youngest in our house wouldn’t believe you right now.”
Eloise frowned as she thought of the five-year-old youngest child in the Ogilvy family.
“Come on, hurry. I’m dying of curiosity. What happened? And is it really true that a new manager is coming there? Does that mean Sir Burton is completely quitting as manager now?”
“Good heavens. Abigail. You sounded just like your mother.”
This time, Abigail frowned.
She knew very well what her mother, who was desperate to marry off her second daughter Julia, was doing these days, looking for news of suitable bridegrooms here and there.
“I hope you understand. Honestly, it’s the most surprising news in our town in almost a year. Besides, my mother was so excited all day yesterday that she had to go out to Cambon to buy new clothes for my younger siblings, so I guess I got excited too.”
Abigail cupped her cheeks with her hands and took a breath. Having calmed down a bit, she regained her usual complexion and took Eloise’s hand.
“Okay, then first tell me what happened in Blissbury. Don’t even dream of lying.”
“……”
“Eloise.”
As Eloise was reluctant to open her mouth despite the continued prodding, Abigail realized that what had happened in Blissbury was more serious than she had thought.
Eloise was usually more excited than her when something happened.
But for her to be unable to say anything…
Abigail’s excited expression hardened.
“Eloise. Did you perhaps… meet the ruffian who’s been lurking around the village lately? Did he perhaps say something insulting or…?”
Rumor had it that someone who was clearly a deserter was wandering around the forest.
It was said that he would hide when men passed by, and then threaten women and steal their belongings, causing the women of Feltham to fear passing through the forest.
“It’s not that!”
Eloise was startled and denied her friend’s words.
“Then why do you have such a worried look on your face? Who on earth made you like this? Don’t do this and let’s tell your father. That’s the best…”
“Absolutely not!”
Eloise jumped up from her seat in horror.
“If my father knew I had done such a thing…”
“You did? Wait, it’s not that you were harmed, but… did you perhaps harm someone else?”
At Abigail’s question, Eloise nodded with a tearful face.
“Actually…”
Eloise carefully began to tell the story of what had happened in Blissbury yesterday.
“……”
“……”
After Eloise’s explanation, silence fell in the room.
Abigail, who had been watching her, opened her mouth with difficulty.
“So, um. So, you drew such… an embarrassing… such a picture…”
“A nude painting. With Lieutenant Colonel Ryan’s face on it.”
“Oh, God.”
At the word “nude,” Abigail covered her ears as if she had heard the dirtiest word in the world, and then quickly made the sign of the cross. As if asking her ears to forgive her for hearing that word.
“Anyway, that got caught by a man, the new manager? And you couldn’t make any excuses and ran home as if you were fleeing.”
Eloise wanted to cry again at her friend’s clear summary of her situation.
“Why didn’t you try to explain the situation to him?”
“It wasn’t the kind of situation to do that. Besides, I didn’t think he would listen.”
“You don’t know until you try, do you?”
“It’s because you haven’t seen him in person! Not only his appearance but how rude he was!”
Eloise recalled his appearance again. He was covered in mud, as if he had been rolling around in the mire.
His hair was a mess and his face was full of unshaven stubble, as if he hadn’t taken care of it properly. And above all, the hand that grabbed her arm so casually!
Remembering that moment, Eloise shuddered and shook off the arm he had grabbed as if something dirty had touched it.
Then she thought of something else. Even though he looked like that, the blue eyes that glared at her were very deep and clear.
Eloise, who had been thinking that his eyes were quite clear even though everything else about him was a mess, hurriedly shook her head. This was not the time to be thinking such things.
‘I didn’t expect someone like that to come.’
She hadn’t expected a gentleman as cultured as her father or Stanford Baron.
But she had thought that he would be a young soldier with basic manners.
But the person who came was a rude man who looked like a vagrant and arbitrarily accused people of being thieves.
She was sincerely worried about the future of Blissbury Manor and the people who worked there.
But before that, she was more worried about her own situation.
She had been caught by such a person with the thing she wanted to hide the most. What if he went around telling people?
That the daughter of Sir Burton, who could be said to be the most intellectual person in the village, was a woman who drew male nudes and superimposed the face of the man she admired on them.
“What should I do…”
Eloise covered her face with both hands as she imagined the future.
In fact, she knew very well that her reputation among the unmarried women of Feltham was not very good.
But it was an expression of pity for someone who couldn’t get married, not of hatred or contempt.
Thanks to that, she was still a good resident of Feltham.
But if this were to become known, her reputation would plummet.
“What should I do now? If my father finds out about this, he’ll be furious, saying what a disgrace to the family it is. No matter how much he loves me, I don’t think he’ll just let this go. Besides, my father went to Blissbury this morning as soon as he heard that the new manager had already arrived.”
“That means…”
“It means he’ll be back soon.”
Abigail groaned again and made the sign of the cross.
Just then, the sound of horses’ hooves was heard outside.
The two turned their faces to the window. A moment later, Sir Burton’s voice was heard from below.
“I’m back. And Eloise, are you up there?”
Eloise’s face turned white as she heard her father’s voice calling for her as soon as he arrived.
“Oh, my God, what should I do? I bet that manager told my father!”
Seeing Eloise trembling, Abigail held her hands tightly.
“If he kicks you out today, I’ll let you sleep in my room.”
Eloise wanted to cry even more at her friend’s voice, which sounded as if it was certain that she would be kicked out.
“Um… did you call for me? I’m not feeling well… cough!”
Eloise wore a shawl and coughed forcefully. At the same time, she glanced at her reflection in the mirror. She looked too healthy.
“Eloise, I heard you went to Blissbury yesterday.”
This was it.
Was this what it felt like to be judged by God after death?
Eloise bit her lip, feeling as if she was standing precariously between the stairs to heaven and the fires of hell.
“The new manager told me about you.”
He must have. That she was the most perverted and shameless woman in the world…
“He said you were a pleasant young lady and that he was looking forward to seeing you again at dinner tomorrow.”
“……Yes?”
Eloise’s eyes widened at the completely different words from what she had expected.
Sir Burton, who was hanging up his coat, continued to speak calmly.
“I invited him to our house tomorrow. To tell him about the manager’s job. Oh, and Thornton said…”
Sir Burton looked at Eloise as if nothing was a big deal.
“There’s something you left behind that he needs to return to you.”
“……Something I left behind?”
“Yes. He said you left a painting.”
At that moment, Eloise’s face turned red.
‘That man!’
No wonder she couldn’t find one of the paintings she had been working on so hard. She must have dropped it there.
But he was going to come back to return it?
