Chapter 22
22
Into the Light
Mathias turned his steps on an impulse.
He had planned to stay in the annexe until dinner and catch up on his backlog of work. That had been his intention right up until he left the main house. But when he glanced around on a whim, he found himself standing on the path leading to the gardener’s cottage.
He paused for a moment, but Mathias did not turn back.
Everything had been proceeding smoothly and in perfect order. Those were the kind of days they were. They had to be. A sense of alienation like this could be wiped clean with just a few tears from that woman.
Mathias widened his stride and began walking down the shaded forest path. He loosened his tie, undid one button on his tightly fastened shirt. His movements were a little more impatient and rough than usual.
He loathed emotions that escaped his control.
Mathias wanted everything in the world under his jurisdiction to stay in its proper place. His own emotions were no exception. That was precisely why he didn’t obsess over women.
Lust was nothing more than a simple instinct. And Mathias had never clung to it or let it sway him. It was rather an annoyance, something to satisfy adequately and be done with. To begin with, such desires weren’t particularly strong for him.
That made the displeasure from his acute reactions to Leila all the greater. Only that woman came into view. All his senses focused on her, an uncontrollable heat building from deep within his body. Moments when his will failed to sever base impulses and thoughts came all too often.
Mathias did not welcome the moments when he realized he was captivated by such things. They had no place in his life’s priorities. Leila Llewellyn was no different. Of course she wasn’t. He wanted to confirm that.
As the cottage drew nearer, the forest shadows gradually lightened.
Gazing calmly at the piercing summer light, Mathias stepped into it without hesitation.
Leila had stumbled upon a baby bird by chance.
She was on her way back after seeing Kyle off. Following the pitiful chirps led her to a fledgling that had fallen beneath a tree in the backyard. It was a fragile little thing just starting to sprout feathers.
“You fell, didn’t you?”
Carefully cradling the baby bird, Leila looked up at the tree. As expected, there was a nest up there. It was fairly high, but fortunately, the baby bird didn’t seem badly hurt.
“It’s okay. I’ll take you back home.”
She stroked it reassuringly and slipped it into the pocket of her apron, then hurried to the shed to fetch a ladder.
Leila climbed the ladder, which was firmly propped against the tree, with nimble movements. The nest was a bit higher up, nestled between branches, so from there she had to climb the tree itself. It would normally have been easy, but with the baby bird in her pocket, her movements were much more cautious.
Once she’d climbed near the nest, Leila wrapped one arm around a branch and reached into her apron pocket. Stretching her arm as far as it would go, she barely managed to return the baby bird to the nest. But her relief was short-lived—she lost her grip on the branch she’d been holding with her other hand.
Her body tilted off balance, the world spinning around her. She managed to grab the end of a branch and hang on, but the ladder had already toppled to the ground. To make matters worse, the branch—too thin to bear her weight—began to snap with a cracking sound.
“Uncle! Uncle Bill!”
Terrified, Leila cried out reflexively. Only after calling for him desperately several more times did she remember that Uncle Bill wasn’t home.
“Kyle!”
Knowing Kyle must have gone quite far by now, Leila still called for him in a trembling voice. If not Uncle Bill, then Kyle. It was only natural for her. That was when an unexpected voice rang out.
“Leila.”
A soft voice calling her name like a song. Even as her mind went blank with fear, Leila recognized its owner. Looking down with wide, frightened eyes, there he was—the Duke of Herhart—standing right there. He looked utterly relaxed, as if merely spectating her predicament.
He surveyed the fallen ladder and the half-broken branch, then slowly lifted his gaze to Leila, dangling precariously.
“Shall I save you?”
Incredibly, he was smiling. Why of all people did it have to be this madman?
“No!”
Even in the terror of imminent falling, Leila refused bluntly. She flailed, trying to grab the tree trunk despite knowing it was futile, which only made the half-bent branch sway more dangerously.
“Kyle! Kyle!”
Leila screamed the name in panic. Mathias, glancing down the path Kyle had taken, let out a soft chuckle.
“That kid’s not coming.”
Mathias even crossed his arms leisurely now.
No matter how one looked at it, did this man feel not even a shred of concern for someone in such peril?
Leila quickly accepted that astonishing fact. One shouldn’t expect normal human empathy from this lunatic duke.
“Go away!”
She shouted in fury.
“If you’re not going to help, then go! Why are you just standing there!”
“You’re about to fall soon. Someone should call for help then.”
“What?”
“I’m not that heartless.”
The smile on Mathias’s face even seemed languid at a glance.
“I’ll call Etmon, the one you’re desperately looking for.”
Oh God.
Leila could only gasp, her voice failing her.
“But what to do? Looking at the height, it seems like we might need Father Etmon.”
Oh Lord.
She felt like she could hurl any words at the duke now, but she was in no position to.
“……P-Please, save me!”
She’d thought she’d rather fall than beg this man, but her fear was too overwhelming to hold to that resolve.
“Alright?”
Finally uncrossing his arms, Mathias leisurely shrugged off his jacket.
“Then call me.”
“Pardon?”
“Call for me.”
He took a few steps closer, only to stop again and simply watch her. As if, should she not comply, he’d stand there unmoving and watch her plummet without lifting a finger. And Leila knew all too well that he was more than capable of it.
“Your Grace, please!”
Her voice, laced with sobs, echoed out.
“Your Grace!”
As the moment of her fall loomed, Leila’s pleas grew more desperate.
Even as the branch finally snapped, she kept calling for him, over and over. Her mind had gone white, so her memory was hazy, but that was how it had been.
And so he came.
In a flash of agility that belied his earlier nonchalance, Mathias dashed forward and caught the falling Leila deep in his embrace. Even as the momentum sent them both tumbling to the ground, Mathias held her tightly without letting go.
Dust swirled around the rolling pair and slowly settled. Leila’s spinning world began to steady as reality seeped back in.
It was so cozy she could hardly believe she’d fallen from such a height. Only belatedly did Leila realize that this comfort came from Mathias’s arms—precisely, the arms embracing her. The Duke of Herhart lay beneath her. And Leila was nestled in his embrace without a single injury.
Through their pressed chests, she felt his heartbeat. The arms wrapped around her head and waist were incredibly firm. As she timidly lifted her head, his nape came into view—warm, smooth skin carrying a faint scent like water hyacinth. Heat bloomed from her cheek, spreading through her body in an instant.
Sensing it, Leila panicked and struggled. But the more she tried to escape, the tighter Mathias’s hold became. He felt overwhelmingly large and solid against her clinging body. Denying the embarrassment and unfamiliar sensations it brought, Leila thrashed wildly.
“Stay still.”
Mathias commanded lowly, like a sigh. But unaware of his meaning, Leila’s resistance only intensified.
No.
She shuddered at the deepening heat.
No way. No.
She wanted to scream it, but her voice wouldn’t come. Meanwhile, Mathias’s body, holding her, grew hotter. The hands cradling her head and back pressed with even greater force. All these sensations were so alien and strange, she could hardly bear them.
Swept by instinctive fear, Leila struggled to break free. But the more she resisted, the greater her sense of powerlessness grew. No matter what she did, she couldn’t push him away. In that moment of dawning terror, she blindly bit the duke’s ear in front of her.
“Ah!”
Mathias let out a low groan and shoved her away. It was absurd to see her trembling like that after lunging so fiercely. And through it all, her eyes were so insolently defiant. Mathias couldn’t help but let out a hollow laugh.
“I told you to be a lady, Leila.”
Rubbing his bitten ear, Mathias grabbed a fistful of her hair. By the time she realized it, Leila was lying on the ground with her back against it. His face filled her dazed eyes as he looked down at her.
“Saved your life, and this is how you repay me? Don’t you think that’s unladylike?”
“You’re no gentleman, Your Grace, so why should I be a lady?”
Struggling to push him away, Leila turned her flushed face aside. But Mathias seized her chin, forcing her to meet his gaze. His hand was as hot as sunlight.
“Didn’t you say with your own mouth that I’m the finest gentleman?”
“……No! I was wrong!”
“Really?”
“A gentleman, a true gentleman wouldn’t…… do something this absurd……”
Stammering through words with a face on the verge of tears, Leila strained desperately to escape him. Watching her rub her lips as if something filthy had touched them, Mathias’s gaze darkened deeply.
“Get off me.”
Leila glared at him with furrowed brows.
“This kind of thing, I…… Ah!”
Before she could finish, Leila let out a sharp scream. Mathias had leaned down and bitten her ear. It happened too suddenly for her to react.
Catching her small hands as they flailed and clawed at him, pinning them to the ground, Mathias took her tiny ear between his teeth like he was devouring it. He licked the shell and nibbled, drawing ragged, scream-mingled breaths from Leila.
Changing his mind from simply paying her back in kind, Mathias tormented her with persistent stimulation. When he bit down hard on her soaked earlobe, Leila twisted with a moan. Her sobs and gasps were wet and hot. Pressing down her slender, flailing limbs with his weight, Mathias left bite marks all over her flushed ear.
Lifting his head with a satisfied smile, he saw Leila’s disheveled face. Her innocent eyes, oblivious to what had befallen her, swelled transparently with tears. Her parted lips, heaving with ragged breaths, were a much deeper shade than usual.
Gripping her intertwined fingers as if to crush them, Mathias devoured her lips. Leila clamped her mouth shut in shock, but he easily overpowered her resistance.
This sweltering summer would soon end.
Mathias knew that well, yet he couldn’t stop.
He thrust his tongue in as if to consume her whole, sucking and swallowing. Transparent saliva, moans, and harsh breaths began to flow between their overlapping lips.
