Eloise didn’t understand what was happening for a moment.

All she felt was the warmth of the touch, along with the realization that she had missed this warmth quite a lot.

When she raised her gaze, she met blue eyes looking directly at her.

Even in the dim light filtering through the wall’s gap, those eyes shone distinctly blue.

She had seen these eyes often.

They belonged to the person who would somehow sense when she was tired and ready to give up, knocking on her door during the late nights she spent working for days on the Blissbury event.

Unlike other people’s eyes, why were the emotions in these blue ones so easy to read?

When she saw those eyes sparkling with mischief, wanting to tease her, Eloise would pout but ultimately couldn’t look away.

Her heart would flutter unconsciously when his gaze softened.

At such times, Ryan would approach her and quietly take her hand.

As their relationship deepened and the distance between them shortened, at some point, anxiety and yearning began to dwell in those blue eyes.

Even when separated just a little, he would immediately look at Eloise with such eyes.

As if he would die if they weren’t touching.

Ryan’s eyes now held that same emotion.

Even while being this close, hands tightly intertwined, lips pressed together, breathing each other’s breath.

Like someone desperate to connect even more deeply.

Behind the cold wall with only dust and dim light, the two slowly exchanged breaths.

A slight smile appeared in Ryan’s eyes, which had been filled with longing.

Then what had pushed into Eloise’s mouth swept through it more roughly.

Eloise, helpless against the sudden *ssault, had no choice but to surrender herself completely.

The wet sounds, audible only to the two of them, echoed in their ears.

Meanwhile, beyond the wall, Sinclair and her subordinates were still shouting and searching for the two.

But the two no longer heard those sounds.

All they felt was each other’s sounds and body heat.

Seeing desire rising in Ryan’s eyes, Eloise closed her own.

After what seemed like a low laugh, Ryan claimed her breath even more intensely.

After a long while, Eloise, reaching her breathing limit, pulled back slightly.

Extending her trembling hand, she realized something.

The cough that had risen to her throat had instantly disappeared.

She wanted to say something, but in this situation with Sinclair’s subordinates still searching the house, she couldn’t make any sound.

That’s when Ryan began writing something with his finger on her palm.

Eloise concentrated all her senses to understand what he was writing.

Ryan wrote each letter large and slowly on her palm, as if ensuring Eloise wouldn’t misunderstand.

I. Am. Sorry. For. Being. Late.

Momentarily dazed by those words, Eloise realized he was referring to his promise to return before the first snow.

As she slightly opened her mouth to say something, Ryan firmly grasped her hand.

Eloise now had to try to swallow tears rather than coughs.

Fortunately, that was easier than holding back coughs.

After steadying her breath, Eloise wrote on his palm this time.

I. Missed. You.

Though she had always heard such words.

I. Should. Have. Said. It. First.

As if telling him not to change the subject, Eloise pressed each letter firmly into his palm with her lips tightly closed.

The smile disappeared from Ryan’s face.

Suddenly, he felt more afraid of Eloise beside him than Sinclair rampaging outside to catch them.

When Eloise moved to write something else, Ryan hastily grabbed her hand to prevent her from writing more.

He couldn’t even imagine what would happen once they got out.

He decided to focus more on the immediate crisis.

It was about time Sinclair gave up.

Unless she was out of her mind and willing to risk her life, she must know that the Albion army would soon track them here.

Even she wouldn’t want to face the royal army in a place like this.

Sure enough, Sinclair’s subordinates began speaking anxiously before she did.

“D*mn it! We need to stop and leave! People around here must have reported to the security forces!”

“That’s right! Let’s give up now!”

He thought this would make Sinclair give up.

But her sharp voice was heard.

“We need to at least kill that bastard so we can return to Lensk without shame! If we go back without accomplishing anything, what will our comrades think of us!”

Then came the sound of her reloading her gun.

Bang! Bang!

“Where the hell are you hiding, you bastard!”

Having finally lost her patience, Sinclair shot at everything in sight.

Then one of her bullets hit the wall above where the two were hiding.

As Sinclair noticed the different sound it made compared to other walls and turned toward it.

“Maria Sinclair!”

Just as they heard horses approaching from outside, someone called Sinclair’s name in a loud voice.

Sinclair approached the window and looked outside.

Perhaps they had come straight from the cathedral. Men in blood-stained uniforms dismounted from horses and surrounded the mansion.

“D*mn it! They’ve followed us!”

“That’s why I said we should leave quickly!”

Realizing the mansion was almost surrounded, Sinclair’s subordinates turned pale.

If they had surrendered at the cathedral, their punishment might have been somewhat lighter.

But having fled and then pursued Ryan Wilgrave here to kill him, it was clear they would face at least life imprisonment, even with the lightest sentence.

Or they would be hanged.

Understanding their situation, they immediately turned around.

It was no longer time to follow Sinclair’s orders.

Now they needed to escape this place by any means necessary.

The subordinates hurriedly went downstairs and ran toward the wall that the Albion army hadn’t yet fully surrounded.

“Move!”

There was no loyalty left among them as they ruthlessly pushed aside comrades who got in their way, each trying to be the first to climb over the wall and escape.

Sinclair bit her lip as she watched them run away, leaving her behind.

“D*mn it…”

She searched her bag to reload her empty pistol.

But there were no bullets left.

“D*mn it!”

She threw down the gun she was holding. Then she looked up.

She remembered that before running downstairs, the wall she had shot had made a different sound.

‘Was there a hidden space?’

Come to think of it, this house had an unusually large number of rooms.

That’s why it had taken so much time to examine each one.

‘That makes it easier to deceive the eye.’

If there had been just one large room, it would have been easier to notice the space between walls, but because the space was so divided, they hadn’t noticed it.

But even if she knew the location now and went back up, what could she do?

She couldn’t find the entrance anyway, and the Albion army would soon burst in.

Even knowing where Ryan and Eloise were, there was nothing she could do.

As Sinclair bit her lip and searched her bag again to see if there might be even one bullet left.

Something else caught her hand.

When she saw what it was, a twisted smile appeared on her face.