Chapter 11
Meeting Ethan Isteban, now a war hero, was always uncomfortable for Elisa.
But today, without question, it felt more awkward than ever.
After the shock of the unexpected encounter froze her for a moment, Elisa saw the carriage door wide open and hurriedly closed it.
Thud.
The sound of the door closing was drowned out by the pounding of her heart.
A long shadow suddenly covered the carriage like a blanket.
He didn’t see it, right?
He must not have seen it.
Please, don’t let him see it…
Elisa anxiously hoped, though such wishes rarely came true.
But this time, somehow, they did.
Ethan looked at her and Derek Grenville with a casual expression, but paid no attention to the carriage.
Thank goodness.
Elisa silently breathed a deep sigh of relief and eased her chest.
Derek was looking at her strangely, but Elisa was too focused on Ethan to notice.
“You’re early, Baron Estevan.”
She greeted Ethan with a bright smile, as if she hadn’t been surprised at all.
Ethan lightly nodded and got down from his horse.
“Our meeting was scheduled for four o’clock, but you arrived an hour early. Luckily, my work finished early. Otherwise, I would have kept you waiting.”
“Well…”
“Wait a moment!”
Ethan started to reply, but Elisa suddenly interrupted.
The two men, each with different emotions, fixed their gazes on her.
“So, meeting the Baron here wasn’t by chance? Sir Grenville invited you…”
“Not just invited. We set an appointment.”
Derek gently held Elisa’s slightly trembling hand and continued,
“I’m planning to do business with Baron Ethan Estevan, the hero who led the Allied Nations to victory and ended the war.”
Business?
The unexpected word, which Elisa believed had nothing to do with Ethan, caused her eyes to widen in shock.
It made sense.
Ethan’s mother, Grace, who was also Elisa’s governess, hated business.
Her husband had committed suicide after failing in business.
For the same reason, Ethan was known to have no interest in business.
So this news shocked Elisa deeply.
…You aren’t the Ethan I once knew.
This new realisation stabbed sharply at her heart.
Though she thought she had grown used to the pain, it still hurt terribly.
Elisa stared blankly at Ethan, unaware that Derek was calling her beside him.
Ethan was looking at her, too.
It felt as if they were the only two people left in the world, locked in each other’s gaze.
But Elisa was the first to look away, hearing the sound of the carriage door opening.
“No…!”
Elisa shouted sharply and quickly closed the carriage door again.
Her movement was swift, hardly believable from someone who had been frozen moments before.
A faint baby’s cry seeped through the tightly closed door.
The sudden closing must have startled him.
Hearing her son’s cry made Elisa’s eyes well up.
She wanted to hold him immediately, apologise for scaring him, and comfort him — but she couldn’t.
Ethan was watching.
She never wanted him to find out about Noah’s existence, so she held back.
“Oh dear, I think we kept the Baron waiting outside too long.”
As if he had noticed Elisa’s feelings, Derek called over a staff member from the company.
The staff took the reins from Ethan.
“If you go inside, our deputy guildmaster will guide you. I will escort my fiancée and follow shortly.”
When Ethan looked at Elisa after hearing this, Derek moved slightly to block the view.
The atmosphere between the two men, now facing each other, was tense like thin ice.
“I will accompany you, Baron.”
With the deputy guildmaster personally leading Ethan away, the situation settled for now.
Elisa opened the carriage door immediately after Ethan disappeared.
“Noah, are you okay?”
Noah, who had collapsed on the floor from crying, ran into her arms as soon as he saw her.
His small body is still trembling with fear and sadness.
“I’m sorry, Noah. I’m sorry. Mo…”
Elisa almost said “mom” without thinking, but bit her lip tightly and held the child close.
She kept gently patting his trembling little body, repeating apologies.
Then she felt a strange gaze and turned around.
It was Derek.
Seeing his slight smile, Elisa remembered the guild member who said Derek had asked them to investigate Ethan.
…What if he suspects something about me and Ethan?
Her heart pounded with sudden worry.
Avoiding his gaze would make him more suspicious, so she held her eyes steady and met his look.
“Noah got very scared.”
Maybe because of this, Derek didn’t ask anything about Ethan.
Instead, he gently wiped the child’s wet face with a handkerchief and smoothed Elisa’s messy hair.
“Thank you for taking care of him, Elisa. I’ll contact you later.”
After a short farewell, the carriage door closed.
The steady sound of horse hooves echoed.
Someone as sharp as Derek surely noticed everything.
But since he knew Elisa was troubled, he chose to overlook it.
Elisa appreciated Derek’s kindness, but also felt uncomfortable.
She didn’t understand why he was being so overly helpful.
She once asked him why he was like that.
Derek had shyly smiled and said, “Because, Elisa, I love you.”
But Elisa didn’t believe that.
His expression and actions seemed sincere, but not his eyes.
Having truly loved someone deeply enough to give everything, she was sure of this.
There must be a reason he hides the truth behind the pretty word “love.”
Elisa was curious but stopped asking.
She doubted he would tell the truth, and more importantly, his usual behaviour didn’t seem to show any bad intentions.
Still, sometimes doubts came up, and this time, Ethan was involved too.
Elisa didn’t think Derek approached Ethan for business.
There was another reason.
Maybe that reason was…
Lost in her thoughts, Elisa looked down at Noah sitting beside her.
The child was playing with a doll, but turned his head when he noticed his mother’s gaze.
Seeing his still-moist grey eyes, Elisa felt some of her anxiety ease.
She smiled faintly and hugged Noah tightly.
“My sweet Noah, you know how much Mom loves you, right?”
“Mom.” A word she only allowed when they were alone together.
The child moved his lips as if wanting to say the word, but then smiled brightly and snuggled into his mother’s arms.
***
“…I expect good synergy from this, so Baron…,”
The deputy guildmaster kept glancing at Ethan during his business explanation.
Ethan’s reaction was indifferent, which bothered him.
He also frowned occasionally.
“Is there…?”
He was about to ask if there was anything Ethan didn’t understand or didn’t like, but Derek raised his hand to stop him.
Then, with a nod, he signaled for the deputy to leave quietly.
With the sound of the door closing, Ethan blinked slowly and looked at Derek, who was drinking coffee.
“You seemed bored by the business explanation.”
Derek put down his teacup and smiled.
“You seemed much more lively when looking at my fiancée… I wonder if you’re the same person.”
Despite the sharp tone, Ethan didn’t react much.
He simply handed over the unopened business proposal and said,
“I’ll have to decline. I’m not interested in business.”
His voice was as dry as his expression.
Derek could have been offended by the rejection, but instead smiled with curiosity.
“My fiancée is beautiful, isn’t she?”
Ethan raised his eyebrows at the sudden comment.
Derek’s smile grew even wider.
“When I first saw Elisa, I thought an angel had descended. She wore pure white clothes, which made it feel even more like that.”
Derek’s eyes twinkled happily, as if recalling their first meeting.
“I understand that Elisa’s charm attracts attention, but I hope it stops there.”
His cheerful face turned cold in an instant.
Leaning toward Ethan, Derek spoke slowly:
“After all, it wouldn’t look good for the hero who led the Allied Nations to victory to be rumoured as someone who flirts with another man’s fiancée.”
