As If I've Never Loved - Chapter 67

“Shall we stop the morning work here?”

“Yes!”

At Alicia’s words, Eloise, who pulled out the last remaining tail with a whoosh, jumped up as if she was leaping.

As a result, the pile of chicken feathers that had been stacked up around her fluttered like snowflakes in all directions.

“Oh, Eloise!”

Pumkin, who let out a bird-like scream, flailed her arms and coughed repeatedly.

Fortunately, Alicia and Melanie were able to avoid the misfortune of being covered in chicken feathers thanks to being a little further away.

“Ugh, I told you to be careful when moving next to the feathers… Cough!”

After laughing for a while at Pumkin, who was making a crying sound, and Eloise, who was frantically removing the feathers, Melanie asked.

“Were you looking forward to lunchtime that much? You must be very hungry?”

“About what you said earlier! Didn’t you say you would finish telling us during lunchtime?”

Eloise, whose cheeks were flushed either from the heat of the workroom or from a bit of embarrassment, mumbled.

“…Of course, I’m also curious about the sandwiches Alicia prepared.”

Eloise had not only become close friends with the three women and started calling each other by name, but they also sometimes took turns preparing lunch.

To be precise, Alicia and Melanie were in charge of cooking, while Pumkin, who claimed to still be a newlywed, and Eloise, who lived with a fastidious elderly couple, played the role of eating the food and expressing admiration.

“Wanting to eat something delicious is nothing to be ashamed of, Elcie.”

Alicia said in a tone like a benevolent grandmother. Following the women, Eloise took off her apron, hung it on the wall, and replied as she left the workroom.

“I guess so… Come to think of it, when I lived with my family, I never had anything like this, but these days, I get nervous every time I eat dinner. I think I should eat quietly like my sister, and I worry if I might look stupid for eating too much…”

As they entered the break room, workers who had just finished their lunch break passed by the four of them, giving a nod of greeting.

Pumkin, who sat at the table first, asked with a puzzled face.

“Do they scold you?”

“What? Who?”

“The elderly couple you live with!”

“…Ah.”

“Well, they must be quite strict. Royal Arch is a neighborhood where townhouses of aristocrats are clustered together.”

Eloise, who was thinking about how many times she had already forgotten the story of the elderly couple she had made up, suddenly became curious.

If they knew that the identity of the elderly couple was actually a young and handsome military officer, how would the expressions of these women looking at her with kind eyes change now?

Of course, she didn’t want to confirm it with her own eyes. Absolutely not.

“Well, let’s eat.”

At that moment, Alicia, who had brought a large bag, opened the container filled with sandwiches wide.

The contents were so abundant that the women’s mouths gaped open, and their eyes lit up in unison.

“These are our special homemade sandwiches. The sweet pumpkin was delicious, so I put in a lot.”

Alicia handed out large sandwiches one by one with a pleased face.

As soon as Eloise received it, she took out a piece of cheese sticking out from the bottom and popped it into her mouth.

“Wow, this cheese is delicious!”

“That’s the cheese my mother made.”

Alicia’s sandwiches were so plump that they filled the hand, making it not easy to take a bite.

Soon, the women, who carefully tasted the sandwiches so that the contents wouldn’t fall out, burst into busy exclamations.

“It’s delicious!”

“What did you put inside? Teach me how to make it.”

“It’s easy! I’ll write it down for you after we finish work.”

As expected, after eating about half, they gradually became full.

Eloise, who decided to rest a bit and eat the rest later, put down the sandwich and asked while sucking on her sauce-stained fingers.

“By the way, what was the story you said you would tell us during lunchtime?”

“Ah, that?”

Melanie, who was tapping her bulging stomach, grinned.

“Being the only young lady among us, you seem to be very interested in marriage stories.”

“…To be precise, it’s not marriage stories but love stories. Since you all say you love your husbands, I become curious about how you fell in love and how they proposed to you. And if there was any opposition from the family.”

Eloise, who had become quite serious, stared at the ceiling for a moment and continued.

“You see, where I lived, it was more common to marry based on reality rather than love. It may not be completely different here, but still, it’s the capital…”

“Hmm, you might be disappointed though.”

Alicia, who was celebrating her twentieth wedding anniversary this year, opened her mouth.

“In the case of my husband and I, there wasn’t a particularly romantic process.

We met by chance at the market and had lunch together, and as soon as we left the restaurant, he proposed.”

“…On the first day you met?”

Alicia, the protagonist of the story, and the two women who had heard this story countless times, nodded their heads in unison.

Eloise was so surprised that she even stuttered.

“That, a person you met for the first time, a stranger, and you accepted? Why…?”

“Why? Because I liked him. Especially his buttocks.”

“Oh, don’t talk about men’s buttocks to innocent Elcie!”

“Eloise, listen carefully. Don’t marry a man with flat buttocks.”

“Oh, Alicia! Can’t you see the surprised face of this innocent young lady?”

While Alicia and Pumkin bickered, Melanie clapped her hands to settle the commotion. Then she threw out a topic that would draw everyone’s attention.

“It seems to me that Eloise has someone she’s interested in, don’t you think?”

“What?”

As Eloise’s sky-blue eyes widened as much as they could, Pumkin rested her chin on her sauce-stained hand.

“Well, that makes sense. If she’s not in love, why would she be interested in love stories?”

“She has no connections in the capital, only an old man at home, and the only place she goes is here, so who could have captured Miss Bailey’s heart?”

“Hmm, if it’s a man who works here, his buttocks shouldn’t be too disappointing.”

“No, I don’t know anyone here…”

Eloise was so flustered that she was at a loss for words. Somehow, it was as if it had become a fact that she had lost her heart to someone in this factory.

The only way to clear up the misunderstanding seemed to be to reveal that she was actually living with a very young and dashing aristocratic man, not an elderly couple.

“Hello.”

Of course, she couldn’t do that, so Eloise, who became troubled, was about to hold her cheeks when a somehow familiar voice was heard.

“I’m sorry to intrude, but would it be alright if I joined you for lunch? My work ended late, so there are no seats left…”

As the man approached awkwardly, rubbing his short brown hair, Eloise unknowingly showed a delighted expression.

“Oh?”

“Oh? We meet again, Miss Bailey.”

Then the eyes of the three women simultaneously narrowed.

The women began to observe the two with expressions like cats with a hidden agenda.

Eloise, who couldn’t ignore those gazes, hurriedly parted her lips.

“This is Mr. Harry Craven. Why, a while ago, I encountered a drunk and he…”

“Ah, so the one who helped you back then was Mr. Craven?”

“Yes! When Mr. Craven appeared, they stopped following me.”

Harry, who was listening to the conversation between Alicia and Eloise, smiled shyly.

“Oh, those people seemed so drunk that they couldn’t even run properly. I didn’t do anything.”

“No, Mr. Craven. At that time, really…”

Eloise’s two eyes, which were clasping her hands together and looking up at Harry, were sparkling like stars in the dawn sky.

Three pairs of flashing eyes narrowed once again.

Melanie whispered in a voice as small as a sigh, “See, it seems to be true, don’t you think?” and Alicia promptly replied, “Yeah. My intuition says so.”

Pumkin, the only one among the four women who noticed that Harry had been standing there awkwardly, pulled out the remaining chair and said.

“Have a seat, have a seat.”

“Ah, thank you. Haha, it feels a bit awkward…”

The man, who was now under the gaze of the four women, smiled shyly while holding a bread skewered with smoked meat.

“Except for Mrs. Digg, who has been working here for a long time, I don’t think you know me well. I work at the cattle slaughterhouse. Since the workplaces are separate, we never run into each other even though we work in the same factory.”

“Isn’t the slaughterhouse where our Eloise goes every morning?”

As soon as Melanie asked as if she had been waiting, Harry laughed again, creating dimples.

“Yes, I’m indebted to her. It must be hard work, right?”

“No, Mr. Craven. Cleaning with water isn’t a difficult task. Compared to slaughtering work…”

“Haha, I struggled a lot at first too. Now I’m used to it, so it’s manageable.”

Alicia and Melanie, who had been watching them absorbed in their own conversation with a pleased look, abruptly stood up.

“Oh my. I think I left something in the workroom.”

“Oh, me too. Let’s go together!”

“What did you leave behind? Lunchtime isn’t over yet…?”

Pumkin’s puzzled words were cut off there as Melanie swiftly grabbed her arm and pulled her away.

“Then rest a bit more and come back!”

“…”

“…”

In an instant, only the two of them were left alone at the round table. Eloise and Harry looked at each other with blank eyes and burst into laughter at the same time.

“…They are always so energetic and fun. All three of them.”

“Miss Bailey, you seem to like fun people.”

As if he had forgotten that he was holding bread in his hand, Harry stared intently at Eloise’s face and muttered in a dazed voice.

Eloise, who had loosely tied her hair and let it hang over one shoulder, smiled brightly.

“Doesn’t everyone like fun people? Don’t you, Mr. Craven?”

To Harry’s eyes, that smile looked as clear and brilliant as the beginning of spring.

“Yes… I guess so.”

“Phew, it seems they will start the afternoon work right away. They are all so energetic.”

“…Are you going to leave?”

“Yes. The youngest shouldn’t be late.”

Eloise, who answered like that, neatly packed the remaining sandwiches into the container with deft hands.

Carrying a large bag on one shoulder, she bowed her head slightly in greeting.

“Work hard on the remaining tasks. Well then.”

“Oh…”

On the slender back that quickly turned and walked away, two white feathers were attached.

They looked just like angel wings, so Harry kept blinking until she completely disappeared.