Faced with his first peacock attack, East Ridley took off in the direction of the set where the second season of The rise of Lady Blanche was being shot.
Just when Sigrid was about to call for soone to save him, more peacocks flew out of the enclosure and run after him, joining hands to attack him.
Sigrid hurried after them, calling out for help as she leaped over a bucket of water that a stable boy had dropped when East bumped into him. She couldn’t help wondering what people would think if they saw her like this, dress bundled to her knees, undignified, running after peacocks.
She was just catching up when East turned around and headed back in the direction they had just co from, slapping the peacocks away with his hands. Sigrid turned on one leg and shouted for East to stop. The more he run, the more feisty the peacocks beca.
As he reached the front courtyard close to the fountain, Sigrid’s eyes widened. Surely he would not et the sa fate Roland and many employees of the estate t at least once a day! There was nothing the Thorin peacocks enjoying more than pushing their poor victims into the water fountain. They were bullies, simple and plain.
One of them bit East on the buttocks and he scread.
"Just take the cloak off." A gardener shouted.
East’s hands fumbled, his movents were bizarre as he rushed to remove the cloak from his body. As he flung it away, Lord Fluffington leaped in the air, sharp talons out in full attack mode.
He was aiming for East’s face. To save himself, East willingly jumped into the pond sized fountain.
Lord Fluffington was victorious, he made away with the cloak, dragging it back to his territory where he and his harem proceeded to stomp all over it and rip it apart.
After that, Lord Fluffington made a loud, high-pitched victorious caw, reminding all the living creatures on the Thorin estate why he was the boss of the territory. The female peacocks seed to fawn over him even more.
Servants anwhile helped East out of the pond and into the house to get a change of clothes.
anwhile, Sigrid returned to the swing, laughing loudly without paying mind to who she was or who was watching. The look on East Ridley’s face as he sat in the fountain with water falling on him from the top like drops of rain was so funny.
It was too bad that she did not have a cara on her because that was a great mont to capture. She sat down, ripped the paper of the ugly looking peacock into pieces and decided to start over.
Two minutes later, East Ridley found his way to her again, still angry about his peacock humiliation adventure.
"Stupid damn bird." East cursed under breath.
Sigrid covered her mouth and chuckled. "Perhaps next ti you should study the lay of the land first before antagonizing the residents."
East recalled that he was not alone and he was in the presence of a lady so he adjusted his attitude quickly and took a deep breath. Facing Sigrid, he said politely, "Forgive your highness, I an what lovely peacocks your family has."
A snort like sound ca from Sigrid. She laughed slowly because the grimace on his face as he forced the complint out of his mouth was giving him away.
"You don’t have to lie Lord Ridley, the peacocks are a nace and we all know it. However, my father loves them and as much as my mother will try to convince you that she doesn’t like them during the period of your stay with us, don’t believe her. She loves them very much. One of them is even famous, it is a regular in one of the television series she watches."
East moved to the sword opposite of the one where she was sitting. "May I take a seat?"
"Please do." She gestured for him to help himself. "I apologize for Lord Fluffington, the peacock that led the assault on you. We have a sign by the gate that tells everyone not to approach the peacock enclosure if they are dressed in eye catching clothes."
East Ridley looked at the plain gray cloak that he had been given and he chuckled. "So there can only be one good looking male creature on the estate."
"I am afraid so my lord." She replied.
He shook his head, smiling softly. "Mister East Ridley, your highness. My father is addressed as his grace or Lord Ridley. My eldest brother Ethan is also Lord Ridley but I am Mister Ridley. If you don’t mind, you can just call East."
"In that case, you can call Lady Sigrid. My mother is Lady Thorin." She picked up the painting brush and looked at him.
Maybe she was bad at painting peacocks, perhaps she would do better if she painted a person. The old Sigrid used to paint Roland a lot.
First, she took in his appearance. East Ridley was very handso--no, handso was not the proper way to describe him. He had a lot of his mother’s features and beauty.
"He is whispered about as the most beautiful man in doris. They say that he is way too beautiful to be trusted." Cosmos decided to share sothing with her. Not like she had asked for an update.
Given his dangerous good looks, Sigrid guessed that he was quite the rake.
"Actually he is as innocent as they co but his problem is that he is a gentleman. He just loves to save damsels in distress so his reputation as a rake is well beyond the clouds." Cosmos chid in.
Sigrid pushed the brush with black ink onto the paper. Innocent!! It was hard to believe that this man with his sharp jawline, smouldering gaze and impossibly perfect blonde short curled hair was not a heart breaker.
"I didn’t say that he has not broken hearts. The won whose advances he rejected were heartbroken. Every morning, before breakfast, his reputation is ruined by a woman that misunderstood his intentions.
He picked up Lilian Whitmore’s fan when she dropped it. By morning, rumor had it that he had kissed her and fondled her breast.
He caught Tracy Sinclair when she slipped. By morning, there were ten engagent rumors about them.
He carried Lady Ellie Christianson to a hospital when she fell from her horse. By morning, rumor had it that she was pregnant for him and he had rushed her to the hospital because she was miscarrying."
"WTF!" Sigrid mumbled. dorians were more gossipy than Eldorians, it seed.
While she had been thinking about this, East was touching his face, trying to figure out what she was looking at. He sighed to himself, worried that his cursed beauty had struck again. When she opened her mouth, he thought to himself, ’here we go again, another woman that is going to make an inappropriate joke, speak coquettishly or with a lisp. Perhaps she would be like the ones that directly made lewd suggestions to him, attempting to lure him to their beds.’
East could not count how many tis he heard been requested by so married won to sleep with them just once.
"Would like to paint you?" Sigrid asked him.
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