Chapter 26
26
Let’s Get Married
Spring arrived a little earlier in Ratz, the imperial capital located south of Kalsvar. The roses in the Arbis estate were only just beginning to bud, but here in Ratz, the entire city was filled with the fragrance of roses.
As Mathias strolled through the garden of the crown prince’s palace, he suddenly realized it. When he stopped, the other officers walking with him halted as well.
“What’s up?”
“Nothing.”
Mathias gave a curt reply.
“Nothing at all.”
He lifted the corners of his lips slightly, offering a touch of a smile and composure. As Mathias resumed walking, the brief silence ended.
The young noble officers of the Imperial Guard continued their lively chatter with excited expressions and tones. Their discussions about how to spend this fine spring weekend all reached similar conclusions. Parties. Horse races. Or spring outings with lovers.
“The captain must be spending a lonely spring with his fiancée so far away.”
Light laughter followed the joke tossed out by one of the group. Mathias responded in kind.
Toward the end of last summer, the engagement party between Duke Herhardt and Lady Brandt had been a resounding success. They had become officially engaged, and the news had been the talk of high society for a while.
But Mathias felt no particular change. The week after the engagement ceremony, he had been assigned to the Berg Imperial Guard and come to the capital, while Claudine, who had stayed in Arbis, returned to the Brandt estate. The Brandt lands were in a city near Kalsvar, quite a distance from the capital of Ratz.
Thus, aside from the public announcement of their engagement, nothing had changed from before. During the social season, Claudine would stay for periods at the Brandt townhouse in Ratz, but that had always been the case, so it was nothing new. Even then, they had attended social gatherings together just like now. The only difference was that they now had the clear label of each other’s fiancée.
“I’m about done with my officer service. What about you, Mathias?”
As the colleague walking beside him asked, everyone’s attention turned to Mathias.
“I’m thinking of extending for about a year.”
The unexpected answer left them all surprised.
“Aren’t you planning to get married soon and focus on family affairs?”
“Marriage… probably around next year.”
“We thought the Herhardt duke’s wedding had passed its peak hype, but you delayed it?”
Instead of answering, Mathias gave a slight nod of his chin. It wasn’t so much a delay as the situation unfolding that way. Mathias wanted to spend another year in the capital, and the Brandts hoped their daughter would start her married life in Arbis.
When the Brandts first requested extending the engagement by a year, House Herhardt had accepted. Claudine was still young, so there was no need to rush. Above all, both families wanted this marriage to be perfect from the very start.
After leaving the palace, Mathias headed straight back to the townhouse.
The old stone mansion in the heart of Ratz was the second oldest among those owned by House Herhardt, after the main estate in Arbis. As it had been used for generations by the family head to handle capital affairs, it felt simpler and more austere compared to Arbis, which was infused with the tastes of its ladies.
“The two madams have arrived.”
The attendant approached Mathias as he was stepping out of the carriage and reported.
“My mother and grandmother?”
“Yes. They arrived this morning to attend Her Highness the princess’s upcoming wedding.”
Mathias nodded and slowly entered the mansion.
Hurt by being pushed out of the duchess position and wounded in her pride, the princess had hastily found a match and proceeded with her engagement. He was a grand duke from a neighboring grand duchy, not significantly inferior to House Herhardt.
“It’s been a while, Mathias!”
Spotting Mathias entering the lobby hall, Katarina von Herthart beamed with a wide smile and spread her arms.
“We have to come all this way just to see your face.”
As always, Elise von Herhardt’s demeanor was far more straightforward.
Mathias approached the two women with a smile matching their attitudes. It was an ordinary weekend afternoon, with roses in bloom.
“The breeze tonight will be perfect, Leila.”
Kyle grinned as he parked his bicycle and approached. Leila, who had just returned from the garden and was helping Bill organize the cart, turned her head toward the familiar voice. Bill’s gaze, spade in hand, shifted there as well.
“Let’s get married.”
The words, now so commonplace they no longer surprised anyone, followed his casual greeting as if it were the most natural thing. Leila and Bill, who had paused for a moment, calmly resumed their tasks.
“Hi, Kyle.”
Leila greeted brightly as she carried the remaining seedlings to be replanted.
“I’m not getting married.”
The added response, overly gentle, rang all the firmer for it.
Ugh.
Bill sighed as if his own chest ached. But Kyle, who had built up a full immunity to rejection, just chuckled lightly and casually helped Leila as if nothing had happened.
“Got it. Rejection for today accepted. I’ll ask again tomorrow.”
“Don’t. Don’t ask.”
“I’m going to ask. People’s hearts change from day to day, after all.”
The young man’s brazen yet steadfast spirit was truly the best in the empire.
Bill struggled to hold back a laugh as he stealthily observed Kyle and Leila.
Kyle’s proposals to Leila, which had started toward the end of last summer, had persisted relentlessly through several changes of season.
When he first learned of Kyle’s proposal to Leila, Bill had figured it had to be one of two things. The kid, who couldn’t even hold his liquor, had gotten drunk. Or he’d lost his mind. That was why he hadn’t whacked him over the head with the spade, but Kyle had shown up the very next day, perfectly fine, and said the exact same thing.
And how many times had it been since then?
Through autumn and winter, and now into this ripening spring, Kyle appeared without fail every single day, said the same words, and got rejected every time. At first, Bill had cheered on the resolute Leila, but lately, he was starting to feel sorry for Kyle. If it had just been the boy babbling in self-delusion, he would have grabbed the spade long ago. But since Dr. Etman had given his permission, Bill was tempted to switch sides a bit.
Last fall, Dr. Etman had come to this cottage looking for Bill. What if they sent Leila to university? Bill had hesitated, saying his finances wouldn’t allow it despite his burning desire, and the doctor had smiled just like his son. If the two children held each other in their hearts and wanted to become husband and wife, wouldn’t it be fine to let them marry and send them to university together?
It was a touching proposal, but Bill could hardly believe it and just stared blankly at the doctor’s face. To him, Leila was the finest child in the world, but he wasn’t ignorant of society’s standards. Or the position of the Etman family in Kalsvar.
As if reading his mind, the doctor continued first.
‘Kyle told me. Leila is the one who brought out his good side, and he wants to live as a good man by her side.’
Bill was quite shocked to learn that the little rascal who loitered around the cottage mooching meals had said such things to his own father.
‘It was too sincere a sentiment to dismiss as childish whimsy.’
‘But Doctor, our Leila…’
When Bill trailed off, unable to continue, Dr. Etman’s smile grew even kinder.
‘Who wouldn’t covet a bride from a fine family with good prospects? But we know Leila is plenty wonderful without any of that.’
His smiling face was the spitting image of his son’s.
‘If Kyle’s feelings haven’t changed by next year, when they decide their paths, I’d like to give my permission to the two children. What do you say, Mr. Leamer?’
Speaking from Mr. Leamer’s heart, that day Bill Leamer felt so joyful and grateful that he could have ridden across Kalsvar—no, the entire Berg Empire—with the angelic Dr. Etman on his back. He had held it in for Leila’s sake, but those were truly his feelings.
But what to do with Leila, that stubborn girl.
Resolving that he needed to come up with some countermeasures, Bill firmly set the spade down in the shed.
“By the way, Mathias. You know Dr. Etman’s son too, right?”
Mrs. Herhardt lowered her voice slightly as she brought up the topic amid her tedious chatter about the princess’s wedding. Katarina von Herthart had retired early, so the spacious dinner table held only mother and son.
“Yes, Mother.”
Mathias set down his water glass after a sip and answered calmly.
“Kyle Etman. Dr. Etman’s only son.”
“That’s right. That boy, Kyle, is getting married.”
Her tone sharpened, foreshadowing that the match was unwelcome. Mathias waited quietly for her to continue.
“The orphan raised by our estate’s gardener. Leila, I think her name was.”
Leila. Mathias silently mouthed the name with his lips.
“Hardly a suitable bride for the Etman family.”
Swallowing the name, Mathias continued in an even lower, drier tone.
“Isn’t it just absurd? It makes a mockery of Grandmother’s efforts to find him a good match.”
Her voice grew more irritated.
Mathias added no further response, but his mother eagerly recounted the tale of Kyle Etman’s marriage, which was currently setting all of Arbis abuzz. Mrs. Etman, who had desperately tried to secure an in-law with a title, still disapproved of Leila but apparently couldn’t sway her husband and son.
Barring any surprises, Leila would marry the doctor’s son and go to university. They would set up their new household here in Ratz and study together. After the coming summer passed. Once that season of blooming roses was over.
“Grandmother was heartbroken too. She doted on Dr. Etman’s son so much.”
“Yes. So she was.”
Mathias gripped his napkin with the hand that had set down his cutlery. His knuckles turned white.
“Poor Mrs. Etman, truly. She was a lady of far greater dignity than her station, and now she’ll lose the social standing she worked so hard to build with this ridiculous daughter-in-law.”
She took a sip of wine to wet her lips.
“Who among the noble ladies would befriend a woman who brings such a lowly orphan as her heir’s match?”
“The situation might change.”
Mathias met his mother’s eyes with a straight posture.
“They haven’t married yet, after all.”
“Well, Mathias, if the situation could change, Mrs. Etman wouldn’t be bedridden. Dr. Etman’s will is firm, and above all, Kyle is utterly smitten with that orphan girl.”
His mother clicked her tongue in pity for the doctor’s wife, whom she would soon cut ties with.
“She is noticeably pretty, though. That was the root of the problem, letting her hang around with my son.”
When she rang the bell, the waiting maids brought out dessert.
“To usurp Mrs. Etman’s position like this. That girl is brazen. Or should I say clever?”
She shrugged lightly and picked up her dessert fork.
“It’s silly to blame her, though. The biggest fool is her son, blinded by one mere woman and tarnishing his family.”
Having reached the conclusion she desired, Elise von Herhardt smoothly changed the subject.
Throughout the ensuing talk of high society and the familiar, tedious names, Mathias kept his seat in silence.
Leila.
The name lingered on his tongue like the aftertaste of a sip of wine.
Leila. Leila Llewellyn.
