Chapter 47
47
The Duke laughed.
A white rock dove flew over from the opposite side of the river.
“……Phoebe?”
Leila murmured in disbelief.
“Phoebe!”
As soon as the bird perched on the balcony railing, the name slipped out of her mouth with certainty. A red thread was tied around one of the dove’s legs. It was Leila’s messenger pigeon, the very same Phoebe.
“What brings you here?”
Leila approached the railing where Phoebe sat, aghast.
Kyle had left, and with him, Phoebe’s role as a message carrier had ended. These days, she simply lived with Leila as a beloved pet dove. On days when the Duke went bird hunting, she had to stay locked in a cage, but otherwise, she roamed freely through the forests of Arbis.
“You can’t come here. This place is…….”
Leila cast a wary glance toward the Duke. His gaze, which had been watching the river flow past the boat carrying the children, turned toward her.
“Phoebe.”
Leila gasped at the name he murmured.
“You know Phoebe’s name, Your Grace?”
“Who knows.”
Matthias tilted his head slightly.
“Ask the dove.”
“Pardon?”
“You said you understand birds’ hearts.”
“That’s…….”
Leila trailed off, furrowing her brow. Unable to find the right words, she bit her lip tightly—a sight that seemed to greatly please Matthias.
As if worried he might overhear, she turned her back completely to him and whispered a few more words to her bird. As though she were truly conversing with it. It was obvious without hearing that they weren’t kind words.
Phoebe soon flew off toward the opposite side of the river. Only after the bird was out of sight did Leila return to her seat. Her gaze on Matthias still held wariness.
“I’m sorry, Your Grace.”
Leila, who had been staring at him openly, suddenly said something unexpected.
“I’ll apologize on behalf of Phoebe for barging in here like this.”
“You’ll apologize for the bird?”
“Yes.”
Even to his mocking words, Leila responded earnestly.
“I don’t know why she came here, but I’ll train her properly so it doesn’t happen again. So…… so, Your Grace.”
Leila’s voice began to tremble.
“Please don’t shoot Phoebe.”
Gone from Leila’s eyes were the confusion and doubt—only deep fear remained. As he gazed quietly into those eyes, the crooked smile at the corner of Matthias’s mouth faded away.
“Please.”
As the silence stretched on, her tone grew more desperate.
“Of course, Arbis belongs to you, Your Grace, but still, Phoebe is…….”
Just as she steeled herself to beg despite her pride, an attendant approached. Leila pressed her trembling lips together anxiously.
The attendant relayed that the company’s lawyer wished to speak with him, and the Duke left the balcony for a moment. Leila couldn’t tear her eyes away from his figure visible through the window. The gruesome images of the countless birds he had shot down kept flashing in her mind. She couldn’t relax until she heard a firm promise not to shoot Phoebe.
Matthias returned shortly after. Leila, who had been avoiding his gaze as much as possible today, now stared at him persistently.
“Your Grace, Phoebe…….”
“Your bird is boring.”
Matthias cut off her tiresome, irritating plea with calm words. Leila froze, holding her breath.
“What do you mean?”
“Prey that doesn’t run is dull.”
“So you won’t shoot her?”
A flicker of cautious hope brightened Leila’s eyes. She stared at him so openly. It felt like the longest she had ever locked eyes with this girl since Leila Llewellyn had come to stay in Arbis.
“What do you think?”
Matthias asked back without averting his gaze. He had no intention of hunting that messenger pigeon anyway, but he didn’t want to give a straight answer just yet. It was the first time. The first time seeing Leila voluntarily begging him for something, clinging to him with a request.
“You won’t shoot her.”
“Why?”
“Because…… you’re a gentleman, Your Grace.”
He only remembered to play the gentleman when chirping sweet nothings.
Matthias let out an incredulous chuckle at the utterly impudent and absurd answer. Sensing his displeasure, Leila hurriedly added,
“I don’t think you’re the type to hunt something boring.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. I believe the Duke of Herhardt, the empire’s finest marksman and a gentleman, wouldn’t do that.”
Now she was even nodding emphatically.
Matthias burst into laughter as he watched her intently. The attendants standing back exchanged wide-eyed glances. Mark Evers, who served the Duke most closely, was the most shocked of all.
It wasn’t that Duke Herhardt never smiled. But his smiles were usually just polite ones or light chuckles. If Mark Evers’s memory served right, even as a young boy, the Duke rarely laughed this heartily.
The boats heading downstream turned their bows toward the annexe. The children’s excited laughter and chatter mingled with the Duke’s soft chuckles.
Leila sent him an earnest, pleading look craving reassurance, but Matthias didn’t give her an answer. He simply watched leisurely as her impatience made her lips twitch repeatedly.
“Um…… Your Grace?”
In the end, Leila spoke first. Her eyes and voice trembled, but it was different from her usual frightened demeanor. Her cheeks flushed with cautious anticipation looked quite lovely. So did her gaze, focused on not missing even the slightest change in his expression or gesture, and her gentle demeanor.
Matthias, about to give her an answer, changed his mind and rang the call bell instead. The attendant who received the brief order hurried to the drawing room and brought out cigarettes and an ashtray.
“Your Grace?”
Leila didn’t want to whine, but she desperately needed his answer.
Phoebe was a bird she had raised since her down was fluffy. Above all, Phoebe symbolized the beautiful times she had shared with Kyle. Even if those days could never return, she didn’t want to lose Phoebe.
Matthias lit a cigarette taken from a silver case. Thin smoke drifted slowly through the deliberate silence. Through it, he saw Leila. Her eyes fixed solely on him, pleading and imploring—it wasn’t unpleasant to Matthias. For a fleeting, absurd, pathetic moment, he thought it would be fine if this instant lasted forever.
But it was time to end it here.
At last, he gave a small nod of his chin, and overwhelming joy filled Leila’s eyes.
“You really won’t shoot Phoebe, right?”
Deceived so many times, she was stubbornly persistent.
Matthias finally averted his gaze from Leila and tapped off his ash. Leila, who had been watching his every move closely, no longer pressed and stepped back.
A promise made alone with him might be hard to trust, but other servants were present here. With so many eyes watching, he wouldn’t break it lightly. Leila didn’t know Matthias von Herhardt well and had no desire to, but even so, she could be that certain.
Finally able to relax, Leila let out a sigh of relief and gazed at the river beyond the railing. The shadow of the autumn-tinged forest reflected on the peacefully flowing water. A soft smile curved Leila’s lips.
She had protected Phoebe. Her precious memory.
With relief added, her smile grew even brighter.
Matthias’s eyes narrowed as he caught sight of that unfamiliar expression from a casual glance. How could guaranteeing the safety of one dove make her so happy? He couldn’t understand it at all, yet he couldn’t tear his eyes away from her face.
The cigarette held between his long fingers burned slowly. An inexplicable irritation and unease rose with the smoke. It felt like hunger, yet also like fullness. That uncomfortable, strange sensation was as clear as the world dyed in vivid autumn colors, yet as vague as a dream forgotten the moment one awoke.
Matthias pressed the cigarette firmly with his fingernail and tossed it into the ashtray. His throat was parched from smoking a cigarette he hadn’t even enjoyed, but instead of water, he picked up another. The unlit cigarette dangled loosely between his fingers, its tip swaying in the wind.
As if sensing his gaze, Leila turned her head. Sunlight fell on her face, where the smile still lingered.
Something shining far more vividly than anger or fear, humiliation or tears.
While Matthias pondered its name, Leila hurriedly wiped the smile away. She averted her eyes awkwardly and bowed her head deeply. She was just staring down at her fingertips, yet Matthias felt a profound sense of humiliation. Contempt. Now he knew it well—the very emotion this woman had taught him.
Well, well.
Matthias let out an involuntary hollow laugh.
Now that you’ve achieved your goal, you no longer need my favor?
Who knew Leila Llewellyn could pull off such a cheeky stunt. It was absurd, yet somehow endearing. Of course, it wasn’t entirely pleasant watching her snap back to her usual self in an instant.
Matthias gripped the unlit cigarette tightly and tossed it into the ashtray.
In the place where the sunlit smile had vanished, a deep shadow remained. Matthias didn’t like it one bit.
The autumn picnic concluded with the children being safely escorted back to school and then to their homes.
Only then did Leila realize how tense and exhausted she had been all day. Fatigue suddenly washed over her entire body, but her heart was content knowing the first picnic had gone well. It was a bit ironic that Duke Herhardt, her greatest worry and potential variable, had become the biggest factor in its success.
“For the time being, Lady Brandt must be the most envied person in the world.”
Teacher Grever, walking beside her, sighed.
“That beautiful man and the territory, both hers. The world is so unfair sometimes. When are those two getting married?”
“I think it’s around next summer.”
“It’ll be the talk of the entire empire. Ahh, I’m so jealous.”
Leila responded to Teacher Grever’s exaggerated admiration with an appropriate smile.
The two parted at a fork in the bustling street. Leila, arms full of groceries, headed toward Arbis. She planned to make a delicious dinner as a gift for Bill, who had helped her so much.
I’ll make lots of Uncle Bill’s favorite foods.
Her heart raced, quickening her steps. Once she turned onto the road leading to Arbis, she broke into a near-run. Leila came to an abrupt halt about halfway along the path. At almost the same moment, a middle-aged lady walking from the opposite direction stopped as well. It was Mrs. Etman, with eyes so like Kyle’s.
Leila’s knuckles whitened around the grocery bags. What was the best course? No matter how she thought, everything seemed hopeless. Pretending not to see her or greeting her casually both felt ridiculous.
After much deliberation, Leila silently bowed her head in greeting. Mrs. Etman nodded in silence, accepting Leila’s chosen best.
But just as that suffocating moment seemed to end, she suddenly spoke.
“Leila.”
Leila, about to take a step, hesitated and turned her head.
“In the end, it turned out like this, but I don’t regret it at all.”
Mrs. Etman gazed straight at Leila, speaking as if exhaling a sigh. Her eyes held no hostility or guilt, looking as dry and brittle as fallen leaves.
“My reputation’s in the gutter and Kyle’s estranged from me, but I stopped your marriage, so I’m satisfied.”
If Mrs. Etman had lashed out viciously, it might have been better.
Each calm word from her weary voice pierced Leila’s heart like sharp shards.
Having said her piece, Mrs. Etman resumed walking and passed by Leila. The housekeeper, standing awkwardly at a distance with a troubled face, hurried after her.
Leila gave a brief nod to the housekeeper’s gaze full of sympathy and pity, then hastened on her way. With wide strides, briskly, confidently. At some point, Leila stopped as if a wind-up doll whose spring had run out.
She looked down at her feet planted on the ground. She moved her open hands slowly and exhaled deeply. Am I even human? Like a ritual to dispel the self-loathing that arose unconsciously.
Leila opened her tightly closed eyes and began trotting toward the house where Uncle Bill awaited.
