The Shadow of Great Britain-Chapter 772 - 366: Lionheart Eld Carter

Ada’s words instantly piqued Elizabeth’s interest.

As a girl who had been bedridden for many years, since falling off a horse at the age of 15, she had not left her home for over 500 feet in a full decade.

She knew very little about the outside world.

The limited windows to the outside world were a few newspapers, and at most, some school anecdotes mentioned by her siblings.

For a British girl with a passion for literature, Byron and Shelley were undoubtedly heroes in their eyes. However, from the information revealed by Ada, these two heroes did not seem as grand and imposing as their works suggested.

Elizabeth had previously discussed Shelley with Mrs. Shelley, but for some reason, Mrs. Shelley was reluctant to talk much about the details of their life, and their conversation was more confined to literary matters.

Seeing that the conversation was sliding towards an uncontrollable realm, Arthur hurriedly put down his teacup to mediate.

"Miss Barrett, I heard that you seemed to really love ’St. George’s flag still rises’?"

"Ah..."

Arthur struck a chord with Elizabeth, causing her to blush momentarily: "I... it’s not so much that I liked it, it’s more accurate to say I loved it. It truly is an outstanding work. Reading the part where Eld Carter leaped into the sea to wrestle with the shark, it felt as if my heart was clenched. After facing so much injustice in the Amazon, enduring hardship and disdain, yet he never succumbed to the injustices that fate brought upon him, but confronted the trials bestowed by God, raising St. George’s flag, and grasped the shark’s throat with his calloused, wounded hands. He is like the legendary Greek Fire Thief, a seafaring Prometheus, a true Royal Navy sailor."

Arthur trembled upon hearing this.

It was then that he realized he and Dickens might have been overly artistic in some details of their creation.

But seeing the light emanating from Elizabeth’s vibrant eyes, he could not bear to burst her bubble, so he quietly listened to the endearing young lady as she slowly spoke.

Whenever Elizabeth spoke of Eld, she seemed filled with energy, and her reserved demeanor gradually relaxed.

"If ’St. George’s flag still rises’ were a completely fictional story, I might not be so excited. But in the reply Mr. Dickens sent me, he mentioned that this story actually has a real-life model, and that this model is someone familiar to you, a friend of yours serving in the Royal Navy named Eld Carter?"

Sweat instantly flowed down Arthur’s back upon hearing this.

This veteran officer from Scotland Yard, who faced the vicious rogues of the East End, had never been as nervous as he was now.

"Well..." Arthur pretended to ponder, trying to buy himself more time to think.

However, Ada, sitting beside him on the armchair, couldn’t help but snort with laughter.

Arthur stared at her blankly for a long while before he remembered that Ada had met Eld at Mrs. Cordington’s Bluestocking Society salon.

Mrs. Shelley, frowning, asked: "Ada, what are you laughing about?"

Ada discreetly smoothed her dress and composed herself in the chair: "It’s nothing, I just find Mr. Hastings’s thoughtful expression amusing."

Arthur quickly shot her a look, signaling her not to speak out of turn.

But Ada disregarded it, neither nodding nor shaking her head, and instead busied herself by examining the decorative art in the drawing room with a cup of tea in hand.

Elizabeth, completely oblivious to the proceedings around her, focused entirely on the enigmatic man—Mr. Eld Carter.

"Mr. Carter, what kind of man is he?"

"Mr. Carter, well..."

Arthur took a long time to consider, and then very cautiously offered his opinion: "Actually, Mr. Carter and I go way back, we were classmates in college. Although we chose different careers after graduation, we often gather together. All in all, Mr. Carter is a pure person, a benevolent person, one who is different from ordinary people, and a person who does not hesitate to sacrifice his life in pursuit of great ideals. If I were to describe him using a poetic character, I would lean more towards him being a Byron-like hero, coincidentally, his idol is also Byron."

Arthur’s words were extremely nuanced, but he essentially covered all that could be said.

Not only did Ada understand these words, but Mrs. Shelley also understood them.

And as Byron’s daughter, Ada was well equipped to interpret that the Byron-like hero Arthur referred to was likely the protagonist of her father’s posthumous work, ’Don Juan.’

Although Byron portrayed Don Juan in the novel as an unconsciously recurring romantic who, due to corrupt Catholic doctrines, was oppressed as an innocent martyr.

However, this did not prevent the local Spanish folklore where Don Juan actually was a charming but shameless Spanish nobleman, noted for seducing women and engaging in sexual relations with a different woman every night.

As for why Byron shaped Don Juan as an innocent martyr, it was likely because he incorporated his own experiences and fantasies into it.