Chapter 54
54
Something to Take Responsibility For
Leila couldn’t remember a single thing about how the meeting had proceeded. With her mind completely blank, she smiled, spoke, and moved as if on autopilot. Even in those moments, her nerves were entirely focused on that man, the Duke of Herhart, making it impossible to notice anything else.
Why on earth?
The eyes Leila stole glances at the duke with were thickly filled with bewilderment mingled with fear.
As if mocking her, Mathias participated in the meeting with an utterly calm and composed expression. The principal, intoxicated with joy at the duke’s unexpected visit, chattered on effusively, and Mathias readily agreed to the principal’s fervent wish for teacher expansions. It wasn’t his concern anyway. Everything was, except for that woman who was trembling and watching him warily.
“Teacher Llewellyn.”
The corners of Mathias’s mouth softened at the sound of someone calling that name.
“Teacher Llewellyn?”
The voice calling once more carried a hint of puzzlement.
The gazes of everyone in the meeting room turned at once toward the owner of that name. Mathias was the last to turn his head. Leila stood in the corner of the classroom like a child being punished. The shadow of her lowered eyelashes darkened over the lower rim of her eyes as she fidgeted anxiously with her hands and stared only at her own toes.
“Ah…….”
Leila finally grasped the situation and lifted her flushed face.
“I’m sorry.”
Her flustered bow irritated him. She could spout insolent words and commit brazen acts so boldly with him, yet here she was, cowed and pitiful.
“What on earth just now…….”
“Please continue.”
The principal’s furrowed brows and Mathias’s calm suggestion came almost simultaneously.
“With the expansion plans.”
Meeting the principal’s wide eyes, Mathias offered a generously kind smile.
“I’d like to hear more details.”
“Ah, yes.”
The principal, already drunk on the joy of securing a new school building, quickly forgot the troublesome young teacher.
As the principal’s plans grew more detailed, Leila began helping Teacher Grever serve tea. She had to pull herself together. She steeled her nerves, admonishing herself. She couldn’t afford to look like a fool anymore—she had to get through this properly. But that earnest wish vanished into thin air the moment she approached the Duke of Herhart.
Clink, clink—the teacup and saucer shook with Leila’s trembling. Mathias shifted his gaze toward the increasingly close sound. Their eyes met, and Leila’s face took on an expression as if she might burst into tears at any moment. A face full of fear, confusion, and despair. It was what he’d wanted, but seeing it right before him now wasn’t entirely pleasing.
Mathias changed his mind and withdrew his gaze from Leila. If she spilled the tea, she’d probably turn even redder than before and fluster about. It would surely be amusing, but not here. Fortunately, Leila managed to set the teacup down safely in front of Mathias. The hand he’d glimpsed briefly was as pale as a wax doll’s.
Leila retreated to the corner of the classroom again, and the meeting continued.
As the principal’s lengthy speech and pleas droned on, Mathias slowly savored the memory of that hand. Slender fingers and nails like shimmering petals at their tips. That summer afternoon when he’d seized the hand that had struck and clawed at him frantically without causing the slightest pain. The feel of those small fingers firmly intertwined and gripped in his.
Around the time the sensation of those lips that had devoured her hand, pressing it into the dusty floor, resurfaced, the meeting came to an end. The patrons readily agreed to the expansion, and Mathias promised the largest donation of all. Behind the nobles’ decorous faces lay an eagerness to return to their own homes as quickly as possible.
“May I take a moment to look around the classrooms?”
Mathias asked politely, facing the principal whose face was ready to grant his every word.
“Of course, Your Grace. But the other patrons are leaving now, so I need to see them off…….”
The principal’s gaze, glancing around in distress, stopped on Leila, who stood tucked away in the corner of the classroom—the most useless pair of hands at the moment.
“Would it be all right to have Teacher Llewellyn guide you?”
It was exactly the response he’d hoped for. Mathias nodded as if bestowing a favor and slowly rose from his seat.
“Of course. Let’s do that.”
The lower-grade classroom where Leila served as homeroom teacher was at the very end of the first floor. Having dismissed the children early and extinguished the stove, the room was cold and damp.
Leila, who had lit the lamp, stepped stiffly over the threshold first. Once she showed him this classroom, it would be over. So far, Mathias had acted just like a patron solely interested in inspecting the school facilities, allowing Leila to guide him without fleeing or fainting.
So, just a little longer.
“This is where the young students study…….”
Just as Leila began her perfunctory explanation, the sound of the door closing with a thud echoed. Leila trailed off and turned back with a startled face. Mathias stood leaning against the closed door.
“So this must be Teacher Llewellyn’s classroom.”
Mathias carefully examined the teacher’s desk, her belongings, and the coat draped over the back of the chair.
“Yes. That’s right, Your Grace.”
Leila backed away hesitantly toward the window. It was the farthest spot from Mathias. Her heart began to pound anxiously, like the raindrops drumming against the glass.
Mathias closed the distance Leila had put between them with leisurely steps, as if enjoying a stroll. Leila, fidgeting restlessly and glancing around, pressed herself against her own desk by the window.
“What are you going to do to me?”
Mathias smiled, but it offered Leila no comfort whatsoever. When he gazed at her with cool eyes while wearing that soft smile, the duke was at his most cruel.
“This is a school, Your Grace. Not Arbis.”
“Indeed. A school.”
Mathias didn’t stop and continued approaching.
“I’m a patron of this school. So it’s not a place I can’t come, is it?”
“You didn’t even say you were attending, so why do this…….”
“Do I seem like a fool to you, Leila?”
Mathias halted a couple of paces from Leila, hands clasped behind his back in a nonchalant manner.
“If I’d announced it, you wouldn’t be here. You’d have run away by any means necessary.”
Leila’s lips moved soundlessly; she couldn’t deny it.
“If you have something to say, then say it in Arbis.”
“Well, Leila. This place is better.”
With a short chuckle, Mathias stepped toward the teacher’s desk. Leila gazed desperately out the window facing the hallway, as if pleading for rescue.
“That’s why we’re having this conversation here.”
Mathias said indifferently as he inspected the neatly arranged belongings on the desk. Leila’s gulp mixed with the sound of the rain.
A quill pen and blotting paper. A dainty porcelain doll. Nibs stored in an empty chocolate box.
As Mathias examined the charming items that resembled their owner, his gaze paused on the ink bottles at the edge of the desk.
Black. Blue. Red.
A smile rose to Mathias’s lips as he glanced at each ink bottle in turn. He chose the nearest one—the red.
Though tempted to stop him, Leila merely bowed her head. He was just looking at and touching things. She didn’t want to reveal her flushed face by reacting overly sensitively.
Please. Hands clasped in prayer as she waited for the people who’d finished seeing off the guests to return, Leila inwardly begged. Meanwhile, the duke opened the lid of the ink bottle. Only after it clattered onto the desk did Leila notice.
“Y-Your Grace!”
Leila, who had lifted her head in bewilderment at the odd behavior, let out a scream. The duke, who had approached the chair, was pouring the red ink from his hand onto Leila’s coat. With movements as if pouring wine.
Leila rushed over in horror. The duke stepped back lightly, still holding the half-empty bottle. She frantically pulled out a handkerchief and tried to wipe it, but Leila’s dove-gray coat was already ruined by the ink.
“What on earth are you doing?!”
Even as Leila cried out with a quavering voice on the verge of tears, the duke remained utterly relaxed.
“Something to take responsibility for.”
The absurd reply left Leila speechless for a moment, her parted lips flushing hot. The duke approached her side again. And without a care, he poured ink over her shoulder as well. Following that graceful motion, the ink soiled not only her blouse and skirt but even her shoes.
Having emptied the last drop of ink onto Leila, the duke unhesitatingly let go of the bottle he held lightly. The glass bottle rolled across the wooden floor with a clear tinkling sound. Splattered ink drops reached even the duke’s impeccably polished shoes, but he showed no concern whatsoever.
Leila’s lips parted as if to scream, but no voice came out. Too shocked, frightened, and flustered, all she could do was tremble violently and gasp for breath. Covered in ink like fresh blood, she looked like someone whose throat was being strangled.
“What should we do, Leila.”
The duke surveyed the mess he’d created himself, then slightly furrowed his brow.
“I’ll have to take responsibility.”
Even as he taunted her cruelly, the duke’s smile remained decorous.
“We’re truly grateful for your gracious understanding of Teacher Llewellyn’s mistake.”
Following beside Mathias, the principal apologized once more.
Having finished seeing off the guests, the principal and the other teachers hurried to find the duke. What they saw in that classroom was the youngest teacher, a total mess from spilling ink by accident, and the duke looking concerned for her.
“It was my mistake.”
Mathias repeated the same words from before.
“It happened when I tried to catch the ink bottle I dropped, so it’s only right that I apologize to Teacher Llewellyn.”
“Even so, we regret not showing a better side of our school on your first visit, Your Grace.”
“It was a thoroughly enjoyable visit.”
Arriving at the entrance, Mathias offered a brief nod to the fretting principal.
“Teacher Llewellyn, come with me.”
His gaze passed the principal and landed on Leila, who stood dazed behind him. The more she tried to clean it up, the more the ink spread, making her look as if she’d been badly injured.
“No. I’m fine.”
Her voice, forcibly suppressing anger, trembled faintly. The fear had left her eyes, now flashing sharply. It was much better than her earlier cowering and shaking.
“Teacher Llewellyn, His Grace is apologizing like that—accept it.”
The principal smiled good-naturedly, but his eyes were anxious.
“You didn’t bring your bicycle today because of the rain. Do as His Grace says.”
“I can walk. I have an umbrella.”
The more Leila stubbornly resisted, the paler the principal’s face grew.
“I understand Teacher Llewellyn’s feelings, but wouldn’t it be considerate to the passersby who might be startled seeing you walk through the rain like that? The police might even be called.”
Everyone burst into cheerful laughter at Mathias’s jest. Leila bit her lip and looked at herself. The red ink made her look just like someone covered in blood. His words didn’t seem entirely like a joke.
At the principal’s cue, Teacher Grever approached Leila, who stood rigidly defiant. Mathias, already in the car, watched the scene leisurely.
Leila, practically dragged along, was loaded into the car like luggage. Mathias shifted slightly to make space for the fuming Leila.
Soon the door closed, and the car carrying the two departed.
