Earl of Billington and Miss Lyndon

Chapter 18

"You look a little serious" said Charles, making Ellie look up at him and blink a few times.

Ellie coughed and held her head reflexively.

"Oh, my goodness!" suddenly shouted. "I forgot to wear a hat."

"Leave it," Charles said.

"I can't go without wearing it."

"No one will see you. We're just going to the meadow."

"But..."

"But what?"

Ellie let out a sigh of annoyance. "My face will be speckled."

"I won't be bothered" said Charles, shrugging his shoulders.

"But it bothers me!"

"Don't worry. You won't be able to see your own freckles."

Ellie looked at him in disbelief, stunned by Charles' unreasonable thought.

"The point," continued Charles, "I want to see your hair."

"But this..."

"Red," Charles finished Ellie's sentence. "I knew. I hope you can stop mentioning that color, because your hair color isn't just red."

"My Lord, it's just hair."

"Oh, huh?" Charles muttered.

Ellie rolled her eyes, deciding it was time to change the subject. Something that might make more sense to talk about. "How's your leg? I noticed you're not using a stick anymore."

"It's better. Although it still hurts a bit, and my path is still a bit limp, but it doesn't seem bad for someone who just fell from a tree."

Ellie pursed her lips in annoyance. "You shouldn't climb a tree with a belly full of whiskey."

"It has to be trained from now on, right?" ellie replies, determined not to budge with Charles' words for granted, even if her own words are not too sharp.

"I guess so. Charles lowered his head and pretended to check his ankle, then jumped onto the carriage. "Looks, my fall wasn't too bad. But," added Charles cunningly, "some parts of my body left a lot of bruises because of yesterday's feud."

"Fighting?" ellie was surprised. Nadanya's worried. "What's going on? You okay?"

Charles shrugged and sighed in a contrived fashion as his hands snapped the harness to sigh at his horses. "I was dropped to the floor by a red-haired female warrior."

"Oh." Ellie gulped nervously and turned her head the other way, looking at the view of the Bellfield village they were passing by. "sorry. I was not being myself at the time."

"really? I think that's who you really are."

"Sorry."

Charles smiled. "Did you notice that you always say 'sorry' when you don't know what to say?"

Ellie thought for a split second before going back to saying "Sorry,"

"You're not used to being at a loss for words, are you?" Charles didn't give Ellie a chance to reply, then continued, "It's fun to be confused."

"You don't confuse me."

"Oh, huh?" charles muttered, touching his finger to the tip of Ellie's lips. "Then why do your lips always shake as if they really want to say something, but don't know how to."

"I know for a fact whatever I want to say, you sneaky little snake."

"Well, I was wrong" said Charles, laughing happily. "It seems you really know what you're saying, what else with the vocabulary just now."

"Why do you have to take everything as a joke?"

"Why not?" reply Charles.

"Because.. because.." Ellie's sentence hangs, and realizes that she has no answer.

"Because what?" cahrles.

"Because marriage is important" Ellie replied hurriedly. "Totally serious."

Charles' answer was clear, and pronounced in a low tone. "Trust me, no one knows that as well as I do. If you withdraw from this marriage, I will be left with a large pile of stones and without any capital to take care of it."