Quite some time had passed since Eloise started working at the Hungerford Meat Factory.

She was now quite familiar with both the people and the work. However, it seemed that she hadn’t gotten used to the fatigue yet.

As she unlocked the back door with the key given to her by the maid and entered the house, a weary sigh escaped her lips involuntarily.

After immersing her completely exhausted body in the bathtub, it was a battle against the drowsiness that washed over her like waves.

However, after darkness fell outside the window and candles were lit in the dining room, a sense of tension filled her, making her forget even her fatigue.

It was because the dinner she had alone with Ansel still made her fingertips tremble with nerves.

Ansel’s eyes held both the pale, dusky gray and the delicate green of the back of a leaf shimmering in the dazzling summer sunlight.

Those mysterious and transparent eyes gazed intently at Eloise throughout the evening, as if nailed in place.

As if the dinner was just an excuse to look at her.

So even as she resolutely continued her meal, Eloise could feel his gaze. She couldn’t possibly be unaware.

Whether she faced him or not, his beautiful eyes were fixed on her.

“Eloise.”

Her heart could barely survive that persistent gaze, but sometimes when he said something unexpected, her poor heart would leap sky-high.

“Would it be rude of me to go up to the attic? I’ve become curious about what’s inside.”

“What? Why the attic…?”

Eloise’s hand, which was carefully spreading the fish flesh, stopped moving.

As she raised her startled gaze, she saw the beautiful man looking at her, illuminated by the abundant candlelight.

“I’m curious. If it’s really livable.”

“It’s quite livable. So I politely decline your offer to come up. Letting a man into my room is a bit…”

“…”

“It’ll be uncomfortable for you to come up anyway. The stairs are narrow and the ceiling is low.”

Even as she calmly laid out the facts without a hint of falsehood, Eloise was thinking this:

‘Just imagining you, so lofty and noble, crawling on your knees in that humble and shabby space makes a corner of my heart feel strange. A stifling feeling in my chest, a fleeting sense of guilt…’

Above all, that attic was so cozy that if Ansel entered, the distance between them would be too close.

The moment she imagined a single ray of bluish moonlight falling on his cheek in the attic, completely detached from the living quarters of the mansion, like a secret separate world, Eloise’s hand slowly curled up.

“…I’ll describe to you what it looks like. The structure is simple, so it’ll be easy to understand even without seeing it directly.”

“I don’t have as good an imagination as you think.”

“Still, it’s troublesome for you to come into my room.”

It’s not stubbornness, it’s common sense. Eloise added in a small voice. Ansel, robbed of a response in an instant, asked again.

“Then what about your workplace?”

“…The factory?”

“I want to know what it looks like and how you work. Surely you don’t consider this beyond the bounds of common sense too.”

“That’s not it, but… it’s troublesome for you to come to the factory.”

As if he had expected this reaction, Ansel’s expression remained unchanged. His broad shoulders rose and fell slowly.

“What if I say I came from the military office to buy meat?”

“As far as I know, they only supply to designated clients. Even if you go, they won’t sell you the meat.”

“How cold.”

“…Even if someone from the military office came, an officer wouldn’t come in person.”

Eloise’s eyes looked straight at Ansel.

A color that was unusually blue and clear, as if the endless sky and sea had come together to create it. The brilliant pupils that seemed to hold the secrets of the world made her hold her breath quietly.

“I… I really want to do well this time. I don’t want to cause any disturbance.”

“Ha.”

Ansel let out a low sigh. Did she know that he became infinitely weak in the face of this expression and voice?

She couldn’t possibly not know.

Even if all of this was a ploy to make him yield, he would have no choice but to fall for it.

“Nothing’s wrong, right?”

“…”

Eloise was puzzled by Ansel’s sudden question that deviated from the flow. Then she suddenly realized that his voice had noticeably lowered.

He also seemed unusually tired. The moment she thought that such moments seemed to be becoming more frequent, her lips moved on their own.

“You look tired. Is something going on at the office? Since we always talk about me-”

“Don’t change the subject.”

Ansel cut her off at once. It was a sound as deep and rough as a dry well.

“Nothing’s wrong.”

“Do you even know what I’m asking when you answer?”

His eyes, absorbing the candlelight, flickered with a momentarily fierce golden color.

Eyes like a predator lying flat in the deep darkness.

In the face of that quiet ferocity, Eloise could once again realize where she was standing.

Only at the moment when she faced the clear, somehow darkened desire reflected in those eyes.

Ansel had never revealed this despite keeping her in his territory, and he had never pounced like lightning.

But it was clear that he was waiting for the right time.

She didn’t know when that would be, but it wouldn’t be strange even if it happened in a few days.

Ansel Blaine had already spoken of love several times, and she was here despite knowing that…

“…If you’re talking about the people working at the factory, nothing’s wrong.”

Eloise answered calmly, trying to ignore the faint sweat forming on her palms.

Although she had a difficult experience with a drunk recently, that day was just unlucky, and they weren’t colleagues she saw every day anyway.

Above all, there was nothing good about bringing up such a story. It was obvious that tiresome warnings like telling her to quit or that he would go there would pour out.

“Really?”

Ansel muttered in a half-muted voice and gently leaned his upper body forward, casting a faint shadow along his distinct facial features.

At that moment, Eloise felt dizzy for some reason. As if he would pounce at any moment.

As if she wouldn’t be able to push him away.

“More than those people, more than something happening at the factory…”

I’m more afraid of you.

Her voice noticeably trembled, so she couldn’t continue.

Then, after silently gazing at her for a while, Ansel slowly pulled back.

As if the overbearing atmosphere from a moment ago was just a dream of hers alone, his hand holding the cutlery was extremely elegant.

“Don’t worry too much.”

“…”

“I’m good at enduring things, being a soldier.”

“I can see that he likes Eloise. The problem is Eloise.”

Whenever Eloise left her seat to go to the bathroom, the workroom invariably turned into a place of heated discussion.

“The mood wasn’t bad, was it? No, it was quite good. We saw the two of them talking last time, right?”

“True. It was as if they were the only two in the world, right? I was about to go crazy thinking it was a shame that such a young and pretty girl had never dated a man, but isn’t Mr. Clayburn good enough?”

Soon, the gazes of the two women turned to Mrs. Alicia Digg, who boasted of her colorful history with men in her maiden days, and she nodded her head seriously.

“Of course! He’s gentle, kind, and sturdy. The way I see it, Harry’s side is certain, and Elsie seems to have a favorable impression of him, even though she’s so naive.”

“Oh, speaking of which, something like this happened last time too. When Mr. Clayburn said he learned to draw when he was young, we told him to draw something, and he drew something strange in his notebook, right?”

“Ah, that time!”

‘Here, this is the cat I raise.’

‘No, this is a cat? Mr. Clayburn, did you forget how to draw?’

‘Where in the world is there a cat that looks like this?’

‘Oh… Is it strange? But it really looks like this, so what should I do, haha…’

“Remember what Eloise said then?”

‘Huh? I know a cat that looks like this. Its name was Sally…’

‘Oh, my cat’s name is Molly. It’s not a common breed, and even the name is similar.’

‘What a strange coincidence. Can I see that drawing again?’

“And then she laughed, probably?”

“Sally, she said that was her elder sister’s name, didn’t she? To encourage his clumsy drawing skills to that extent…”

“So…”

The heads of the three women, filled with conviction, nodded simultaneously.

Just then, the sound of the workroom door opening was heard, and Alicia hurriedly stuffed the remaining chicken feathers into a sack and muttered in an urgent voice.

“Anyway, when Harry casually drops by, if we leave the two of them alone, they might start talking, so let’s stay with them discreetly.”

“And if the mood seems good, step aside slightly. Right?”

As soon as Pumpkin narrowed her eyes and asked, wiggling her eyebrows, Eloise came running.

“Huh? Alicia, did you clean up my share too?”

“I cleaned it up in advance, knowing you’d come running like this.”

At that, Eloise burst into a bright smile.

“I know, right! I’m not supposed to run inside the workroom, but I did it without realizing.”

“Eloise, you’re not still thinking you’re the only slow one and agonizing over it, are you?”

As Melanie tickled the tip of Eloise’s nose with a white feather, a clear laugh rang out once more.

It was a truly clean and innocent laugh, unsuited to this damp and smelly chicken workroom.

‘I don’t know what circumstances led her to leave her family and come to this faraway place, but…’

Alicia, who was looking at it with poignant eyes, patted the youngest’s round shoulders and said.

“You’re doing well, so don’t even think that if you are. Rather, you look a bit tired, are you not feeling well?”

“Oh, no. I think it’s because I couldn’t sleep well last night.”

“Take care of yourself. Here, there’s a strange tradition of falling ill about a month after starting work.”

“That’s interesting. I had a similar experience. At the bead factory…”

At that moment, a worker carrying chickens in both hands entered with a chilly wind as the door opened.

The gazes of the four women looking at the white, plump chickens sharpened like those of a weasel.