‘Since when did I start calling him that?’

Eloise desperately tried to recall. She was sure she’d called him Sergeant Thornton up until just before leaving the manor yesterday…

Soon, she remembered the moment she’d called him by his name.

“Ryan!”

That was definitely…

“I called out in a panic before I struck with the stone…”

“Struck with a stone? What do you mean by that?”

“What? The deserter was about to kill Ryan, so I grabbed the biggest stone nearby and…”

“Heavens! So you actually picked up a rock and struck a man yourself? Oh my, how dangerous that must have been!”

“Madam!”

Mrs. Surberton clutched her forehead and nearly fainted, so Emily hurriedly supported her. Eloise mouthed silently to Emily,

‘Did Mother not know?’

Emily mouthed back in the same way,

‘I just found out now too!’

‘Oh dear.’

Eloise quickly got up and spoke to her mother, who was struggling to rise.

“By the way, I heard the constable is downstairs taking statements. I should go down now.”

“Wait, Eloise. Can you tell me more about what happened…”

“Emily, please look after Mother, alright?”

“What?”

Pretending not to hear her mother’s words, Eloise quickly stood up.

Emily, suddenly left to care for Mrs. Surberton, looked at Eloise with pleading eyes, but Eloise pretended not to notice and hurried out to the hallway.

“Eloise!”

Mrs. Surberton called from inside the room, but Eloise ignored her and rushed down the stairs.

If her mother caught her now, she’d have to explain every detail of last night’s events. She’d surely faint several times during the story.

When Eloise reached the ground floor, Ryan, who happened to be in the foyer, called out to her.

“Eloise? Is something wrong?”

Seeing her hurry down, he looked worried and strode over with a tense expression.

His voice reminded Eloise of what her mother had said upstairs.

Her mother had mentioned how casually she called him by his name.

She thought it was just her, but now she saw that he, too, was calling her by her name—naturally, as if it was expected.

“No, I just came down to escape my mother, who was trying to hold me back.”

Eloise briefly explained the situation upstairs.

“Still, you could have told her. She must be worried.”

“You don’t understand. If I start telling her, she’ll ask a million questions. She’ll faint ten times before I even get halfway through the story. If you want, I can give you the chance to explain instead. Interested?”

At Eloise’s suggestion, Ryan smiled and bowed politely.

“I must respectfully decline.”

“…See?”

He was going to refuse anyway, so why even suggest it.

Eloise folded her arms and grumbled.

“Anyway, maybe I can use this incident to ask Father for something.”

“What do you want to ask for?”

“A gun.”

“A gun?”

“Yes. I’ve always wanted one, but he’s never agreed. I heard more young ladies in the capital are carrying pistols these days. Is that true? Have you seen it?”

She’d needed someone to ask, and Ryan was perfect—he’d been in the capital until recently, and as a soldier, he’d know about firearms.

“I have seen it, but…”

Ryan tried to recall what he knew about ladies’ self-defense pistols.

In truth, he hadn’t paid much attention to such things.

Pistols still weren’t very accurate weapons, nor very lethal.

Plus, they often misfired when wet or in the rain, so from a soldier’s perspective, they weren’t particularly useful.

“Have you ever used a self-defense pistol?”

He wanted to say yes. For some reason, he hated admitting ignorance in front of Eloise.

But he was an honest person.

“I haven’t.”

“I thought so.”

Her disappointed tone was obvious. Ryan regretted it—he could have at least shared stories about using military pistols.

He was about to say something about army pistols when Eloise asked another question.

“Do you know the price?”

Fortunately, he did. He’d heard at Army Headquarters that self-defense pistols, despite their poor performance, were several times more expensive than regular ones.

When he told her the price, Eloise’s expression grew more serious.

“It’s expensive.”

But thinking about it, it wasn’t impossible to afford. Eloise recalled the money she’d saved up.

Maybe she could give that money to her father and ask for a pistol as a birthday present.

“Are you planning to buy one?”

“I think I’ll give my saved money to Father and ask for one as a birthday gift. I’ll have to write him a letter.”

Just then, a constable emerged from the parlor and asked Eloise if she could give her statement as well.

So their conversation about pistols ended there.

As Eloise followed the constable into the parlor, Ryan was left thinking.

‘She’ll ask for it as a birthday present.’

That meant her birthday hadn’t passed yet this year.

Right then, Mr. Palmer happened to be passing through the lobby, so Ryan called out to him.

“Mr. Palmer, when is Eloise’s birthday?”

“Miss Eloise? Let me see… Ah, October. I remember we had an early celebration at Blissbury last year. Mrs. Parker tried to make a three-tier cake like the ones at royal banquets after reading about it in the newspaper…”

“Thank you.”

Ryan gave a quick thanks to Mr. Palmer, who was about to reminisce, and hurried into the parlor.

He thought to himself,

‘If I order now, it should arrive well before October.’

* * *

Preparations for the party, interrupted by the deserter incident, resumed immediately the next day.

“What party preparations! You’re still wounded! You should be resting until you’ve fully recovered!”

Mrs. Surberton was alarmed and tried to stop Eloise. But Eloise simply looked at the scratches on her arm, pulled down her rolled-up sleeve, and covered the wounds.

Then she said to Mrs. Surberton,

“Mother, do I look like someone who needs to rest?”

“…”

Mrs. Surberton, usually blindly protective of her daughter, had to admit that Eloise looked perfectly fine.

No one would guess she’d been attacked on the road at midnight.

In the end, Eloise hurried back to Feltham with her mother and Emily, who hadn’t brought anything with them in their rush.

Even though it was broad daylight, Ryan joined them for safety.

As soon as they arrived home, Eloise went up to her room to pack.

Fortunately, Mrs. Surberton and Emily had already organized what they’d need, so it didn’t take long.

“Here you go, ma’am.”

Ryan, along with the coachman, loaded the Surberton family’s luggage onto the carriage.

“Oh, thank you, Sergeant. Could you load this as well?”

Emily pointed confidently to a wooden box full of kitchen utensils. Ryan laughed, rolled up his sleeves, and picked it up.

“Oh, it’s so heavy, you shouldn’t be able to lift it alone… Wait, you can?”

Emily’s eyes widened as Ryan easily lifted the box she thought was impossible for one person.

Mrs. Surberton watched with satisfaction.

He quickly loaded the luggage from inside the house onto the carriage, and saw Eloise coming down the stairs.

Seeing the large bag in her hand, he approached and took it from her as if it were natural, and Eloise willingly handed it over.

“Is there anything else?”

“No. I’ve already brought everything I need during my recent trips.”

“Alright, then I’ll wait by the carriage.”

With that, he lifted the bag Eloise had struggled with using both hands, carrying it easily in one hand as he headed for the carriage.

Meanwhile, Eloise checked the windows and doors in the house with Emily.

The party would last two weeks. In the past, either she, her father, or Emily would stop by the house occasionally, but this time, with her father away, there was no such luxury.

After bolting the last window and drawing the curtains, she stepped outside.

“Eloise!”

Suddenly, all the village girls had gathered in front of her house.

Their eyes sparkled as they questioned Eloise.

“Is it true that foreign spies invaded Blissbury, and Sergeant Thornton led you and the locals to fight them off? They say the bodies were piled like mountains!”

Eloise felt dizzy.

How on earth had the rumors gotten so twisted?