‘What am I even thinking right now?’

Ryan was startled by his own thoughts and flinched. Realizing what he had imagined, a wave of embarrassment rose from his chest and colored his neck red. He tried to think about something else, but once the imagination had started, it kept spiraling further. Even when he tried not to look, it was the same—his gaze wouldn’t leave Eloise holding Andrew in her arms.

Still, he couldn’t help but wish for it. He wanted the child in Eloise’s arms to resemble him a little more. And to resemble Eloise, too. Then, as the child opened their eyes and looked at him…

Just as Ryan’s imagination was taking on more vivid detail—

Thud!

With a sound, he felt pain in his face. He’d been so focused on Eloise and Andrew that he hadn’t noticed the open door in the corridor and walked right into it.

“Ah.”

Turning his head, he finally managed to shift his gaze, embarrassed. He’d been walking so absentmindedly that he hadn’t even noticed what was in front of him.

Then Eloise asked,

“Is he really that cute? Would you like to hold him?”

Apparently, Eloise thought Ryan was so taken with Andrew’s cuteness that he hadn’t been watching where he was going. He couldn’t deny it. He really had been staring at Andrew, almost dazed. And Andrew truly was an adorable child.

After a moment’s hesitation, Ryan set the wine he was carrying down beside the corridor. Unsure how to hold a child, he moved his hands awkwardly, but Eloise handed the sleeping Andrew over to him.

When he took Andrew, Eloise let out a small, amused laugh.

“It really seems like this is your first time holding a child.”

Ryan’s posture was a mess—he clearly didn’t know how to hold a child, cradling Andrew as if he were a sack of grain. Eloise adjusted Andrew’s position in his arms. Thankfully, the child was deeply asleep and didn’t stir. Only after several adjustments did Eloise seem satisfied.

Ryan finally looked down at the child comfortably nestled in his arms. Andrew was much warmer and softer than he’d expected. He smelled of that unique, gentle scent children have, mixed with a faint hint of sweat—he must have spent the day running happily around Blissbury.

Without realizing it, Ryan hugged Andrew closer and walked on.

They arrived at the room where the maid looked after the children. The room was already filled with sleeping children. When the two entered, the maid was startled and stood up, holding a little girl who looked about two or three years old.

As the maid got up, the child in her arms woke and began to whimper.

“It’s fine. We’ll put him to bed,” Eloise whispered, gesturing for the maid to stay seated. The maid nodded gratefully.

Eloise looked around and found an empty bed. Expecting Ryan to follow her, she turned, but saw him standing blankly at the doorway.

“What are you doing? Come here.”

“Oh. Right.”

Called by Eloise, Ryan finally snapped out of it and walked over. For some reason, the word ‘we’ Eloise had said to the maid kept echoing in his ears. It was such a trivial word, yet it lingered.

Eloise pulled back the covers of the empty bed. As Ryan tried to lay Andrew down, the child clung tightly to his neck, burrowing deeper into his arms as if he didn’t want to be put down.

So Ryan ended up bent over, unable to put Andrew down.

In the end, Eloise gently pried Andrew’s hands from Ryan’s neck, and only then could he lay the boy on the bed.

Though Andrew had resisted, as soon as the covers were pulled up, he burrowed under them as if he’d never clung to Ryan at all.

Watching this, Ryan felt a strange sense of disappointment.

Eloise straightened Andrew’s hair before standing up. She gestured to the maid to take care of the children, and the two of them quietly left the room, which was filled with the sound of sleeping breaths.

As they walked down the corridor, Ryan absentmindedly touched his chest. Maybe it was because Andrew’s warmth still lingered, but he felt as if he’d left something behind.

“Andrew’s cute, isn’t he?”

“…Yes.”

Honestly, Ryan had never really thought of children as cute before. To him, they were simply the young and weak civilians who needed to be evacuated first in times of battle—nothing more, nothing less.

Feeling a bit wistful, he glanced back at the children’s room.

Noticing this, Eloise spoke up,

“How about playing with them tomorrow afternoon? The children would really enjoy it.”

The children at the summer gala had looked confused seeing the young man standing in Mr. Surberton’s place this year. Their parents must have explained things beforehand, but meeting a stranger in person made them shy, and they hadn’t greeted him properly.

But that didn’t last long. Many of them lingered nearby, secretly hoping Ryan would notice them.

Not only was he Blissbury’s new manager, but the fact that he was a soldier who had fought in the war piqued their curiosity. His handsome looks didn’t hurt, either.

If he hadn’t been so busy greeting guests, the children would surely have clung to him.

“As long as it’s not war games. The mothers really hate those,” Eloise said, her expression strict.

“Understood,” Ryan replied, his voice excited. He seemed to be looking forward to it even more than the children.

While they chatted, they returned to the corridor where Ryan had left the wine. From afar, the music sounded even livelier. Ryan knew he should hurry and deliver the wine to the guests, but he didn’t feel like rushing.

Glancing over, he saw Eloise lightly tapping her clothes as she looked toward the banquet hall.

“Are you going to dance?” Ryan asked.

Eloise shook her head.

“No. It’s a bit awkward to find someone to dance with at this hour.”

Unlike the early part of the banquet, when everyone took turns dancing with each other, as the night deepened, people usually found a partner and danced together for the rest of the evening.

“If I really wanted to, I could find someone, but I don’t want to deal with any gossip.”

So, those without a partner at this hour would either ask a relative or someone much older or younger to dance, to avoid any rumors. Otherwise, they’d sit at the back, watch the dancers, and chat with others.

Eloise always belonged to the latter group. Once, wanting to dance, she had danced with a gentleman from Camborne. The problem was, after that, the gentleman’s wife went back to her family and effectively separated from him.

Apparently, their relationship hadn’t been good for a while, but rumors spread that Eloise had come between them.

Some even said the man was divorcing his wife to marry Eloise.

Eventually, when it came out that the man was meeting another woman in a different village, talk of Eloise faded away.

But just because the rumors disappeared didn’t mean the hurt did.

Since then, Eloise never danced at this hour.

At that moment, someone approached them from the banquet hall. It was Palmer, the butler.

“Oh my, this is my job,” he said, hurriedly taking the wine from Ryan’s hands.

“If you keep taking my work, it’ll be a problem, Sergeant.”

At Palmer’s grumbling, Ryan could only laugh and let go. He couldn’t be the kind of employer who took work away from his staff.

After Palmer left, Ryan and Eloise were left alone in the corridor.

Eloise cleared her throat and said,

“Thank you for your hard work.”

“…You too. I think it’s all thanks to you, Eloise, that this summer’s festivity went so smoothly even without Mr. Surberton.”

He’d meant to say it lightly, since everything had gone well, but Ryan’s unexpectedly earnest reply made Eloise a little embarrassed.

Then Ryan reached out his hand to her.

“So, Miss Eloise Surberton,”

He bowed with more grace and perfection than any gentleman she’d ever seen and said,

“May I have this dance?”

“What?”

Ryan took Eloise’s surprised hand and led her toward the far end of the corridor where the music was playing.

Since everyone else was in the banquet hall, there was no one else in the corridor.

“Here, we won’t have to worry about anyone watching. And…”

His smile grew even softer.

“Isn’t it unfair for us to work so hard and not enjoy ourselves at all?”

Us.

At that word, a smile spread across Eloise’s face as well.

They’d bickered quite a bit, but in the end, this year’s summer festivity was held successfully and without incident.

Though her father wasn’t there, it had all gone well thanks to her efforts—and especially because Ryan had helped so much.

She’d thought he wouldn’t care much, since he was only temporary, but Ryan had checked everything as thoroughly and meticulously as if he truly were the master of Blissbury.

“That’s true. Then…”

Eloise faced him, gathered her skirt, and curtsied more elegantly than ever before.

“Shall we enjoy it together?”

As she took Ryan’s hand, the band’s music shifted to something even more lively and joyful.

The two of them, alone in the corridor, took each other’s hands and began to dance, keeping step until the music came to an end.