The rain that started pouring continued without stopping until dawn the next day.

In the early dawn as day was breaking, it was still dark outside.

Eloise woke up but instead of getting up, she lay still with her eyes closed, listening to the gentle sound of rain.

“It sounds nice.”

Sarah was in a very deep and quiet sleep, and only the soft sound of rain seeping through the window filled the silence.

It was truly a peaceful time. As if she was the only one awake in a world where everyone else was asleep.

At moments like this, old memories would invariably come back to life one by one.

‘Ansel. That’s my name. And you?’

‘Eloise Bailey.’

Hair darker than night and elegant eyelashes.

The eyes that sparkled beneath them were a very tender clover color.

Eloise still remembered the thrill she felt when she first met those eyes.

‘I resolved to focus on the present rather than the past just yesterday…’

And yet here she was, recalling their first meeting as if nothing had happened.

A quiet, hollow laugh escaped through her teeth.

Back then, he was seven years old, and she was only five.

Most of the memories from those distant childhood days had evaporated. Audaciously, only those related to Ansel Blaine remained.

And quite vividly at that. It was astonishing even to herself.

‘Ansel!’

But she swore this was just like an old habit. Like an annual event that naturally occurred when this season came around.

‘Come on up! Here, I’ll hold your hand.’

‘…You really have no fear.’

‘Isn’t it beautiful? To think that all this Longfield land belongs to grandfather. You’re lucky, Ansel.’

‘What belongs to grandfather is grandfather’s. It has nothing to do with me, Eloise.’

Come to think of it, perhaps she was the only one who was childlike from the beginning.

He had an adult-like side to him even back then.

Young Ansel exuded an unnaturally neat and refined atmosphere for a child.

It was strange for a seven-year-old to use such leisurely and elegant speech, which made it all the more special.

It seemed even more so to a child’s eyes.

Of course, since he was also a child, he would sometimes show his interest in her sister quite uninhibitedly.

‘Eloise, where is Miss Bailey?’

‘Sally won’t come. She said swimming in the lake wasn’t a good idea.’

‘That’s troublesome. Archibald also hates swimming.’

‘…But I still want to go in the lake. What about you, Ansel?’

As Eloise recalled the scattered memories in her mind one by one like stringing beads, she suddenly realized an unexpected fact.

‘When we were young, we really talked so casually. Without even the slightest formality.’

Well, perhaps that was natural. Back then, they were just children, neither men nor women.

Eloise also vividly remembered the moment she first recognized him as a man.

Of course, there had been a few minor stirrings before that.

For instance, when she saw his brave back as he led the way when they got lost in the dark forest, when he piggy-backed her home after she sprained her ankle, when he suddenly visited Mayberry for her sister’s twelfth birthday…

But if there was a moment when he was imprinted as a completely different being, enough to take her breath away and make her heart constrict, it was clearly that day, that time.

That summer when he returned to the kingdom after leaving for Bert at the age of fourteen.

It was truly an eagerly awaited reunion. But the one who returned after 2 years had changed into a man.

Eloise learned for the first time then that one could grow so much taller in just 2 years.

The changed eye level and the firm body that felt unfamiliar to the point of being intimidating. A strange scent emanated from him as he approached.

That day, Eloise fled the scene without even properly greeting him.

If she had known it would be the last chance to look closely at his beautiful eyes, would she have endured that moment somehow?

‘…No.’

She wouldn’t have been able to. Because it was the first time in her life that her heart had beaten so wildly.

She was afraid her heart might break.

If she had managed to stand there somehow, she might have ended up vomiting her heart out before long.

The realization that this emotion was a feverish love came easily.

Although she hadn’t grown as tall as Ansel, her heart had grown too big to hide during the two summers he was away.

That day, she sensed that she would no longer be able to meet Ansel.

Even though she had pretended not to know, using the time they spent together as a shield, despite realizing that the ground they stood on was clearly different, once she became aware of her love for him, she lost confidence.

Regrettably, it seemed he too had decided to no longer continue this fleeting game.

From that day on, Ansel Blaine disappeared from the sisters’ daily lives.

His exit was extremely natural.

Just like their chance first encounter.

Of course, Ansel still visited Longfield every summer, and she could hear news about him from Archibald.

For instance, stories of him becoming a university student, receiving a knighthood, and entering military academy right after graduating from university.

And very rarely, there were days when she saw his carriage from afar.

But that was all. She could no longer meet face to face and converse like before.

He no longer even came to church.

While it was understandable for the Earl of Huntington with his mobility issues, even the young maids of that mansion never missed a service, which was truly strange.

Whether this was a belated rebellion, or if he had become a completely different person due to his life abroad, Eloise had no way of knowing.

‘It’s not like I could go and ask him myself.’

Although Longfield was only a three or four hour walk away, it was unladylike and against etiquette to visit a grown man, especially one of noble birth, without good reason.

It might be an excellent choice for a tomboy looking to disgrace her parents, but.

‘Even so, considering how much time we spent together, it’s strange to become complete strangers overnight. Too strange and… lonely.’

Eloise thought as she curled up under the blanket.

‘Mother said this was right, and Sally said she didn’t miss the past, but.’

But what about his, Ansel Blaine’s, feelings?

Even if not for Eloise Bailey, at least for Sarah Bailey, for my sister, he had feelings, didn’t he?

No matter how much we stepped back first knowing our place, he could have reached out again from his side.

Even if his noble family had stopped him, he could have visited secretly at least once…

‘It’s true that it’s already become a distant past, but that doesn’t mean all that time never existed.’

The more she pondered, the stranger it seemed. But the strangest thing was that she seemed to be the only one who found it strange.

‘Am I the strange one? Am I the only one still unable to let go of time that has already passed?’

Just as she let out a faint sigh, the relentless rain stopped.

Soon after, the faint sound of birds chirping could be heard.

It was at that moment that her bright blue eyes suddenly opened wide.

‘A carriage?’

At first she doubted her ears, but the vague sound mixed with the birdsong was clearly the sound of an approaching carriage.

Moreover, it was getting closer and closer.

Eloise rustled as she got up and gently turned her head.

The dim dawn light was cast over Sarah’s side profile, still sound asleep.

“Mm…”

She didn’t feel like getting up before her sister, but she also didn’t want to wake her at such an early hour.

Eloise picked up the shawl hanging on the wall with a sleepy face.

Naturally, it was quiet outside the room.

It was a time when none of the Baileys’ women, known for their lack of morning sleep, had yet risen. Eloise carefully stepped down the stairs.

‘Could it be a visitor for Dad?’

That seemed most likely. Father did have many connections after all.

But why at such an early hour?

‘…I hope it’s not bad news.’

Or it could be the heir coming to check on the house and pay respects.

She remembered being told that someday a distant paternal relative, whose face they didn’t even know, would inherit the house and estate.

Or maybe they had just sent a letter instead of coming in person.

If not that, it could be a new suitor for her sister.

Eloise’s lips curved into a small smile as she reached the bottom of the stairs.

‘It’s about time for someone new to come around.’

If that was the case, coming at this hour was clearly a strategy to appear eager.

Thinking this, she approached the front door just as a polite knock sounded.

“Yes?”

Eloise quickly extended her arm. If it was a visitor on an unimportant matter, she planned to politely turn them away before the family woke up.

Creak, as she unlocked the latch and twisted the old doorknob open, the scent of rain-soaked earth seeped through the narrow gap in the door.

Layered in the cold, moist breeze was also the sweet fragrance of summer roses.

Outside would surely display the unremarkable morning scenery typical of Mayberry at this time, and that expectation was not wrong.

Except for one thing – this beautiful unexpected visitor.

“…Ansel?”