Chapter 11
11
Deep Water
From the annexe with its large windows on all sides, one could take in the river and the forest at a glance. The wind blew freely through, making it not too hot even in summer.
Even so, today was quite a hot day. It made no sense to feel a chill in such weather, but Leila inexplicably shivered down her spine and hunched her shoulders. She resolved to eat quickly and head back, but the food set before her showed no sign of diminishing.
She didn’t feel like she could swallow a single bite. She’d eaten a hearty lunch and even had snacks afterward. On top of that, after running errands in the sweltering heat, she had no appetite left whatsoever. Mathias had bowed his head at an angle and returned to his own work, but even so, Leila could hardly draw a proper breath.
Was this punishment for her shoddy errands and flower arrangements?
Forcibly swallowing a bite of the sandwich she’d taken, Leila pondered deeply. If that was the case, then the Duke of Herhardt had achieved his goal. Right now, she truly felt like she was enduring some awful punishment.
To fight off the impulse to spit it out, Leila hurriedly drank her lemonade. She wiped the water droplets from her hands on her apron and picked up the other half of the sandwich. To keep him from noticing her deathly pale face, she pulled the brim of her hat down a little lower. It was then that long fingertips suddenly brushed the tip of her chin.
“A lady, Leila.”
With a flick, that hand undid the ribbon knot tied beneath her chin.
“Should remove a hat like this indoors.”
Before Leila could say a word in response, Mathias plucked her straw hat from her head.
Leila shot to her feet on reflex in her shock. The sandwich tumbled to the floor and rolled away. Mathias’s eyes narrowed, but Leila, her attention fixed solely on the hat, didn’t notice.
“P-please give it back.”
Leila’s voice now trembled not with fear, but with anger.
“Give it back right now, Duke. I-I’m leaving now. I want to go home. Please give it back.”
Mathias clutched the hat he’d taken as if he had absolutely no intention of handing it over. To react as if she’d been stripped bare just from having one hat removed—what an over-the-top response. Leila, flushed red all the way to the back of her neck, was quite entertaining to Mathias. Her delicate skin reacted so readily to the slightest stimulus.
“Eat.”
Mathias pointed at the sandwich, which still had two halves remaining.
“Eat it, take the hat, and go. Easy, isn’t it?”
“No. I don’t want to.”
Leila shook her head vigorously as she stepped toward him.
“I don’t want to eat. I can’t do it anymore. I hate it.”
Terror-filled eyes quivered in her face. She looked as if she had no idea what she was even saying.
Mathias rose from his chair, gripping the hat even more firmly. His shadow fell over Leila.
“…You hate it?”
“I admit I did everything wrong, so please just give it back. All right?”
Leila rose onto her tiptoes, stretching out her hand. Her face looked on the verge of bursting into tears. Mathias watched that expression steadily, then slowly lifted the hat in his hand up over his head. Leila’s gaze followed the motion.
The instant her eyes took him in completely, Mathias tossed the hat lightly out the window. Caught by the wind, it floated gently over the surface of the river. Leila shot him a frigid glare before bolting wildly from the drawing room.
Mathias stepped over to the window overlooking the pier and the river. Leila soon appeared down at the pier. Staring at the hat bobbing on the water, she stamped her feet in frustration before abruptly removing her apron and glasses and setting them aside.
Was she really about to jump into the river just to retrieve a hat like that?
Standing at the window that looked down on the pier and the river, Mathias watched her with eyes alight with considerable interest. For all her bold actions, Leila was trembling violently. As if she were afraid of the water.
And yet.
Just as Mathias curled up one corner of his mouth in a mocking smirk, Leila plunged into the river. She hesitated for a moment, but in the end, she began wading toward where the hat floated. Water rose past her knees, her waist, and soon her chest, but Leila Llewellyn didn’t stop.
Mathias watched the absurd spectacle with his arms loosely crossed.
Leila stretched her hand out as far as she could, but the hat drifted farther away on the current. At this point, anyone would give up, but Leila doggedly pressed on, one step after another toward the hat.
The water there has to be deeper than you are tall.
While Mathias slowly tilted his head, Leila’s hand—which had been flailing uselessly—finally seized the end of the hat’s ribbon. And at that very moment, Leila Llewellyn vanished beneath the surface.
“As expected.”
Mathias murmured lowly to himself, frowning. Leila had sunk exactly where he’d predicted. Startled by the sudden depth, she flailed desperately, but the more she struggled, the farther she was pushed toward even deeper water. Even amid it all, she clung to that hat like it was her lifeline.
Uncrosing his arms at last, Mathias headed for the pier in long strides. One more of his predictions had proven spot-on. Leila Llewellyn couldn’t swim a stroke, yet she’d thrown herself fearlessly into the river.
Coming to a stop at the end of the pier, Mathias gazed at Leila thrashing in the water. As she bobbed up and sank repeatedly on the surface, her screams grew steadily fainter.
Eat it, take the hat, and go.
To think she’d cause this much commotion over something so simple.
A sigh slipped from between Mathias’s twisted lips as he dove into the river.
The wooden planks of the pier pressed hot against her cheek, warmed by the sun. Only when she felt that sharp sensation did Leila truly realize she’d been pulled safely from the river. Relief washed over her, only for pain and terror to surge in its wake.
Leila shuddered violently as she coughed uncontrollably. Even in that moment, she refused to let go of the hat she’d managed to retrieve.
The sight was so ridiculous that Mathias let out a chuckle. Her ragged gasps mingled with his low laughter. It was around the time when water dripping from her soaked body left dark stains on the wooden planks that Leila Llewellyn looked up at him.
“How… could you… do something… like this…?”
Even as she panted on the verge of collapse, Leila forced out each word with emphasis. The eyes glaring up at him burned fiercely. Brimming with tears, they seemed to sparkle all the brighter.
Sweeping the wet strands of hair from his forehead, Mathias gazed down at her with evident amusement. As her breathing steadied, his laughter rang out even louder.
Leila braced her trembling hand against the hot wooden planks and pushed herself upright. Water poured from her long, sodden hair like a sudden rain. Her eyes were red-rimmed, but she didn’t cry. Instead, she fixed Mathias with a wide-eyed glare—at the wicked man wearing an almost cheerful grin.
She changed her mind about trying to say anything. Staggering to her feet, Leila stood. Mathias sat back leisurely on the wooden planks as if enjoying the sun, looking up at her. The thin, wet fabric of her clothes clung transparently to the lines of her body.
The moment Mathias’s gaze reached her quivering shoulders, Leila abruptly shook the hat hard to fling off the water.
Mathias took the cold splashes impassively. Though he flinched slightly, Leila pressed on with her own form of revenge. She jammed the still-dripping hat onto her head, then shook out her skirt hems. The eyes she turned on Mathias gleamed with defiant provocation.
“Having fun?”
Mathias wiped his face slowly, as if washing it, before speaking.
“I’m trying to stop now.”
The smile vanished from his face in an instant. Even in the midsummer heat, it was as chilling as the cold river water. Though instinctive fear made her jolt, Leila didn’t look away.
“Why… to me… of all people… why would you do this?”
“Leila, you should greet me first.”
Mathias slowly rolled up the sleeves of his wet shirt.
“A proper thank-you to the man who saved your life.”
He regarded her shocked stare with teasing nonchalance.
“I think this wouldn’t have happened if the Duke hadn’t thrown my hat into the river.”
“No.”
Mathias’s brows drew together gradually.
“If you’d eaten your sandwich nicely and left, maybe it wouldn’t have.”
Leila went speechless, blinking in shock. His tone was far too matter-of-fact for a joke.
“Or if you hadn’t done something so pathetic as jumping into the water when you can’t even swim.”
He flicked away the water droplets running down his fingertips and cocked his head.
“…Thank you for saving me, Duke.”
Leila swallowed her rage and dipped her head in a bow. Uncle Bill, Uncle Bill, Uncle Bill. She chanted the words rapidly in her mind like a mantra.
“Again.”
The Duke, who had been eyeing her appraisingly, issued the low command.
“Like a proper lady. Again.”
This time, the Duke didn’t smile.
“I’m sorry, Duke, but I’m not a lady like the noble young misses.”
Even her profound love for Uncle Bill couldn’t hold back the anger that finally spilled from her lips. Mathias regarded her steadily with eyes betraying no hint of emotion.
“Even so, you should act like a lady in my presence, Leila.”
Once more, he flicked a water droplet from his fingertip—straight at her feet.
“No matter what you are, I’m a gentleman.”
At last, the Duke smiled. Just the barest curl at the corners of his lips, his calm eyes holding Leila within them.
Leila gripped the hem of her thoroughly soaked skirt with hands gone white-knuckled. Then, toward the Duke, as elegantly as the lady he wished her to be, she offered a graceful curtsy. Water streamed from the brim of her straw hat, falling onto the pier’s wooden planks like raindrops.
“Thank you so very much for saving my life, Duke.”
Her body shook so hard her teeth nearly clacked together, but Leila pronounced each syllable precisely as she bowed her head. Mathias gave a small tilt of his chin, bestowing his approval on her ladylike greeting.
Don’t cry, Leila Llewellyn.
Leila clenched her fists tight, glaring fiercely with both eyes.
Don’t cry because of a man like that. Please.
Comforting herself inwardly, Leila straightened up from her bow to the Duke.
“Then I’ll take my leave. Goodbye, Duke.”
Leaving Mathias without another word, Leila turned away resolutely. Her footsteps clicked sharply as she walked, a long trail of water droplets falling from her skirt hem behind her.
Her legs buckled beneath her, nearly sending her tumbling several times, but Leila desperately kept her balance. Gritting her teeth, she made a vow. She wouldn’t fall today. She wouldn’t be that man’s plaything any longer. Absolutely not.
The moment she escaped Mathias’s line of sight, Leila broke into a run. The rims of her eyes had turned so red that even the shadow of her hat could no longer hide them. Hating that, she picked up speed and ran even faster.
She had seen it once, purely by chance. Him strolling a forest path with Claudine. The elegant gentleman escorting the beautiful girl had looked just like a scene from a fairy tale or a courtly novel.
When a gust of wind at the end of the path sent Claudine’s hat flying away, Mathias had walked slowly to the roadside, picked it up, and returned it to her without any haste. His unhurried movements had been utterly graceful. It was as she recalled that he always moved that way that the two passed out of her sight.
With movements just as graceful as that day, he had humiliated her. The memory burned as vividly as ever, bringing her to a halt.
Leila, her face gone deathly pale, staggered off into the underbrush and vomited up the food she’d forced herself to eat. Tears welled up, but she didn’t cry.
Once the retching stopped, Leila went to a shallow stream flowing through the woods and rinsed out her mouth. Resting for a while in the shade of the trees lifted her spirits somewhat.
She rubbed her lips clean with the back of her hand, then made her way onto the path leading to the cottage. She no longer had the energy to run and trudged along, dragging her feet. Dust rose up to soil her damp stockings and skirt hems, but her appearance was already such a mess that it hardly mattered.
As the cottage came into view, Leila summoned her last burst of strength to kick a hazelnut that had fallen roadside. She watched the innocent fruit roll away, then grimaced as she realized the fatal mistake she’d just made.
“My glasses…”
Leila touched her face and made a miserable expression. The path behind her seemed to stretch on into the distance forever.
