Ryan had been in a terrible mood since morning. He wasn’t sure if it was because of what he had to do today or because of Richard grinning in front of him.

“Get that face away before I hit you.”

“Come on. Let’s approach the mission with some enthusiasm.”

Unlike Ryan, whose expression was a mess, Richard couldn’t hide how much he was enjoying this.

When Ryan dragged his hand down his face with a dying expression, Richard patted his shoulder.

“Come on, let’s get this over with. Then you can enjoy Bringport with Miss Eloise a little longer, right?”

He was right. Nevertheless, Ryan couldn’t smooth out his furrowed face.

‘A n*de model, of all things.’

Even without Richard’s urging, he had planned to resolve the fake Ryan case as quickly as possible. He was willing to do anything, but he had never considered something like this.

When Richard first presented this job to him, Ryan nearly grabbed him by the collar. Richard, as if anticipating this, quickly dodged his hand and said:

“Do you know how hard it was to get this information? There wasn’t even supposed to be a notice about this at the baroness’s mansion. But the conditions for hiring a n*de model were so strangely specific that the military suspected it might be a code and monitored it until they found out.”

“What conditions?”

“They’re written below. Read it.”

At those words, Ryan hurriedly read the bottom of the paper. There were indeed various conditions listed, just as Richard had said. Height, weight, and so on.

Those conditions weren’t strange. Rather, what was strange were the numerous confidentiality clauses written below, which were several times longer.

That’s why models had been reluctant to take this job despite the high compensation. The more complicated the confidentiality clauses, the more likely the job was involved with criminal activities.

“I think you’d be better suited for this, Richard.”

“Come on, what are you saying now? First of all, I don’t meet their height requirements.”

Despite the difference being less than a centimeter, Richard shook his head firmly as if it was unacceptable.

“Besides, for infiltration missions like this, it’s principle to send the most qualified soldier.”

Richard was right. The model could only enter the baroness’s mansion once. In that case, the person who enters a large mansion should be someone capable of quickly gathering information and meeting the conditions.

Honestly, Ryan was overwhelmingly superior to Richard in many areas. Moreover, Richard was notorious for causing trouble and was more likely to have his identity exposed in a place like the baroness’s mansion.

Since this operation didn’t involve large-scale personnel, the key was to assess the situation with minimal manpower and handle it quickly.

In the end, Ryan accepted the modeling job. Besides the mission, he also wanted to finish quickly and enjoy his vacation with Eloise.

Honestly, the plan was simple. Find the man claiming to be Ryan Wilgrave, knock him out, then call Richard who would be waiting outside.

The problem was whether he could find the impostor inside the mansion. With all these conditions attached to the job, he probably wouldn’t be able to move freely around the mansion.

‘But if I can get some information! We might be able to catch those guys faster!’

That’s what he thought when he entered, but…

Ryan looked at Eloise standing before him in disbelief. Eloise had the same look in her eyes.

They both exclaimed simultaneously:

“Why are you here?”

“Why are you here?”

Both were flustered by the completely unexpected situation, their mouths hanging open. Why was someone who absolutely shouldn’t be here present?

Then the cloth Ryan had wrapped around himself slipped and fell. As a result, what had been covering his lower body disappeared, exposing everything.

The moment she saw what was so nakedly revealed, Eloise’s eyes grew rounder than ever before. As if she had seen something that shouldn’t exist in this world.

After a few seconds.

Eloise jumped up from her seat without even screaming. Then she quickly turned her head away.

Seeing her reaction, Ryan finally came to his senses and hurriedly picked up the fallen cloth to cover himself again.

His face instantly turned pale. Long ago, he had received training for this kind of situation—training to feel no shame or embarrassment in any situation.

Even now, he honestly wouldn’t feel anything special if he had to walk n*ked through the city of Bringport. But not in front of Eloise!

Faced with her violent reaction that made him think she might faint, Ryan backed away, speechless, and said:

“Eloise, didn’t I clearly tell you not to worry about this matter!”

He had made her promise several times, yet she had come all the way here and seen him like this—it was devastating.

Eloise turned her head sharply and said to him:

“I didn’t know I’d be involved in this until an hour ago! If I had known I’d be coming here, would I have come alone like this? Of course I would have called you first!”

At her words that she would have naturally looked for him first, the corners of Ryan’s mouth turned up slightly. Though they quickly returned to their original position.

Eloise puffed out her chest as if she had to say what needed to be said and glared at him.

“And I want to ask you too, you didn’t say a word to me about taking on this kind of mission!”

At Eloise’s words, Ryan flinched again and tried to maintain his composure.

“If I forgot to mention that, you also didn’t tell me you were looking for a n*de model!”

“How could I tell you that? And I didn’t know I’d be coming here today. No, thinking about it, I feel wronged. What were you going to do about what I was looking for? Why? Were you going to stop me?”

In the chaotic situation, heavy emotions welled up. The more she drew, the stronger her desire grew to properly see and draw the human body.

She could see everything else in the world, but this was the only thing she didn’t know.

Ryan knew better than anyone how much she had been struggling with this. Knowing that, if she had really said she wanted to find a n*de model, he would have stopped her. Just like now.

Suddenly, tears welled up in her eyes. It felt like all the frustration from not being able to draw properly was rushing in as sadness.

As Eloise’s eyes reddened, Ryan panicked and grabbed her.

“Who said you couldn’t? If you need a model… well…”

He hesitated, then spoke as if he had made a decision.

“You could just ask me to pose for you.”

His voice was tinged with a sense of grievance.

He wasn’t unaware of what Eloise wanted. But when she was a bit older and conditions were right, they would have a wedding. Then, as a responsible married couple, they would have sweet nights together, and Eloise would naturally see everything, which would resolve her obsession with n*de art.

That’s why he hadn’t particularly mentioned it…

“You’re saying I should have asked you to undress? What does that even mean?”

“Why couldn’t I do it? If you had asked, I would have undressed for you anytime.”

As he spoke sincerely with a hurt expression, their conversation sounded like something that could be misunderstood if overheard.

“But… but… what if you thought I was strange for saying such things?”

When Eloise finally sniffled, Ryan immediately opened his arms and embraced her.

“I would never think of you that way. Never.”

“Ryan…”

At his warm embrace and gentle voice like velvet, tears welled up in Eloise’s eyes. She buried her face in Ryan’s chest and finally sobbed.

When she raised her head to wipe away her tears, her eyes caught sight of the cloth that had fallen to the floor.

Which meant…

As she looked up, she saw Ryan’s n*ked chest.

So, right now, Ryan was…

‘Completely n*ked? Then, down below is…’

Until just now, she had been too flustered to notice, but Eloise belatedly realized that something large and warm existed below. And she wasn’t innocent enough not to know what it was.

“Step back, right now!”

Eloise pushed Ryan away in shock and took several steps back. Yet she couldn’t look away.

“I’m sorry.”

Even as she said this, Eloise didn’t avert her gaze but stared at his lower body with fixed eyes.

Like someone who had finally seen what they had been longing for, Eloise’s eyes sparkled more than ever before. While looking at her fiancé’s lower body.

“…You’re not even thinking of looking away.”

To have such a brazen and explicit attitude while still staring straight ahead.

Ryan frowned a bit more at his fiancée’s behavior and said:

“Shall we do this then.”

“That’s fine. I was going to see it eventually. Seeing it a bit early isn’t particularly embarrassing.”

Ryan frowned with an awkward expression.

“If you’re going to see one, it’s better that it’s mine.”

Despite not wearing a thread of clothing, Ryan calmly picked up the cloth that had fallen to the floor.

Eloise couldn’t take her eyes off his muscles that flexed and moved with each movement. And after quickly wrapping the cloth around his waist to cover himself, Ryan looked at the door he had entered through.

“But why isn’t anyone coming?”

“…You’re right?”

They had momentarily forgotten while arguing, but Arabella, who had said she would return soon, hadn’t come back, and the maid who had gone to fetch Ryan hadn’t returned either.

Quite some time had passed, and their voices had been loud, yet no one came.

“Ryan, the maid who went to get you…”

“When I was about to enter, another maid called her away, saying it was urgent.”

Hearing this, Eloise remembered what had happened before she entered. The fake Ryan had wanted to meet Arabella, and they had relayed the message.

She instinctively realized that something must have gone wrong because of that impostor.

“Ryan!”

“Let’s go.”

Before Eloise could say anything, Ryan spoke abruptly, as if he too sensed her foreboding.