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Every year, in the early spring, was when the Empress’ birthday party would always be held. The noble ladies of the Empire would then flock to the capital to take part in it.
Aside from paying their respects to the most powerful woman in the empire, the Empress’ birthday celebration also heralded the beginning of the year’s social season. It was considered a great honor and status to be invited, hence all invited families prepared for the banquet with ardent efforts.
Which also explained the current hustle and bustle of the servants in Arvis Estate. Some servants could even be seen carrying the two duchesses’ luggage, darting back and forth, in and out of the mansion so early in the morning.
“All preparations for departure are complete, madam.” Hessen informed them with a respectful bow after appearing beside them swiftly.
The two duchesses graced him with elegant smiles before they stood up and made their way to leave. Their ladies-in-waiting dutifully followed them outside. Matthias, on his part, escorted his grandmother down the grand staircase leading to the lobby’s hall.
“It would be nice if you could go with us.” Norma mused out loud, looking at her grandson with regret. He’d informed them beforehand that his schedule could not permit his attendance for the event, as such he’d decided to visit the capital on the night of the banquet instead.
“Ah well, it is to be expected I suppose,” Norma continued, “You are quite the busy man, but that doesn’t excuse you from attending these social gatherings you know?” She lightly chided him, “Attendance in these events are just as important as expanding the business.”
The world she once knew was changing, even the societal norms were modifying themselves over time. Nobles nowadays no longer have the luxury of staying and living in just one place for the rest of their lives. Instead, they needed to expand their reaches far and wide.
And yet the walls between social classes grew thicker, and higher, widening the gap between the aristocrats, and the less fortunate.
It was doubly important now for them to cement their status as high lords and ladies in their respective lands. As such, continued attendance and effort is expected of them in these events.
“I understand, grandmother.” Matthias replied politely.
Norma felt a little relieved seeing him as how he usually portrayed himself, but the unease between the glances of the two duchesses remained unchanged.
“Well then, we’ll meet you in Ratz, my dear.” Elysee hummed, bidding her son goodbye. Both exchanged a brief hug with one another, before the two women climbed into the carriage. Matthias stayed in place, shutting the door behind them firmly and watched as the carriage rolled away, and out of the estate.
He was the perfect example of an exemplary gentleman, until the moment the carriage they rode on was gone from view. A few moments later, Hessen appeared, softly informing him of recent news of the day.
“Atty. Staff had sent word he’ll be arriving around afternoon today, sir.” Hessen reported, shortly following Matthias as he entered the front lobby. His master only gave him a curt nod to indicate that he was listening.
For many years, the Staff family had been their most trusted advisors when it came to legal matters within the Herhardt household.
Hessen politely advised him to discuss the current matters to the company’s own set of lawyers as well. Matthias agreed with him, but wanted to discuss it first with Atty. Staff before that, and then he’d make a decision.
After receiving his orders for the day, Hessen made his exit and left his master back to his own devices.
Now alone, Matthias paused for a moment in the middle of the marble hall, before his eyes slowly drifted upwards to the Herhardt family crest that adorned the huge chandelier. His crystal blue eyes gazed at it indecipherably, taking in its image with its elegant backdrop of the intricate ceiling. The light from the chandelier gave it a deep, cool glow.
Moments later, Matthias resumed his walk across the hall.
*.·:·.✧.·:·.*
Unbeknownst to Matthias, as soon as the carriage left the Arvis grounds, Norma’s face darkened considerably at the thought of her grandson staying behind. Across from her, Elysee von Herhardt took off her gloves with an equally weary look.
“Elysee, do you really think it’s that kind of thing?” Norma softly asked the younger matriarch. Elysee breathed deeply in for a moment, taking the time to watch the scenery outside as they passed through the road.
“I will admit, I am having doubts, he portrays himself as the usual Matthias we know.” Elysee began, “But I raised that boy, and I can sense the change in him.” She stated, looking back at the older matriarch.
“His sudden kindness to Bill Remmer was too out of character, even for him,” Elysee pointed out, “But it makes a lot more sense when it comes to one Leyla Lewellin, doesn’t it?” Elysee huffed out bitterly.
Norma resorted to staring out the window of the carriage, neither affirming nor denying Elysee’s allegations.
She drew a great pride in her past days as the Herhardt capable duchess, no doubt her daughter-in-law was the same. Years of maneuvering how to conduct themselves perfectly in front of many eyes  taught them a thing or two about keeping faces. Even more in spotting someone pretending, even just a mile away.
Norma was certain Elysee wasn’t just bluffing because she hated the gardener and his foster daughter.
“Perhaps we should confront him then, as soon as Matthias joins us in Ratz in time for the banquet?” Norma suggested, and Elysee hummed.
“I entertained the thought before, but I think it’s for the best that we don’t.” Elysee answered as she looked at her mother-in-law with uncertainty in her eyes. “With the way he’s been acting, it’s almost like Matthias is baiting us to ask that question.”
Elysee took a deep breath, narrowing her eyes slightly as she peered outside. She doesn’t like getting outsmarted, not even if it’s her son who had outsmarted her.
“You know him as well as I,” Elysee continued, facing back her mother-in-law, “If he really is planning for something, what would it most likely be?”
Norma didn’t need time to think about what her daughter-in-law was pertaining to. She understood it almost immediately. And it was those words that caused the old Herhardt matriarch to think deeper about her grandson’s latest doings.
If ever their assumptions had even an ounce of truth in them, things would turn out very complicated for everyone involved.
They knew there was something going on between Matthias and the gardener’s foster daughter. They noticed it as soon as Matthias had announced the unexpected decision to sponsor Leyla’s education, alongside with the transfer of Bill Remmer to their mansion in the capital.
Now that she thought  about it, she couldn’t help but feel even more ridiculous! Matthias hardly tried to make their affair a secret! He was actively flaunting this scandal out in public! And they were trying to avoid it from ever blowing up and getting out into public knowledge by pretending they didn’t notice it at all!
“If we are right about them, what should we do?” Elysee asked her again, the trepidation clearly heard in her voice, “What’s best for our family?”
“It’s best for the Herhardt house to pretend we know nothing about this, Elysee.” Norma finally decided, lowering her voice into a whisper, cautious in case there were stray ears nearby.
With Matthias and Claudine’s wedding just around the corner, it was more important to make sure nothing was amiss. The wedding must happen without any scandals or problems surfacing.
This affair of Matthias must be kept under wraps.
“Given that he was going to send Leyla Lewellin to the capital, it meant he’s still willing to go through with the wedding.” Norma hummed thoughtfully, “Yes, it’s a better option for us to never mention this to him at all.”
“Well, my first and foremost priority is getting Matthias married to Claudine safely.” Elysee von Herhardt huffed out softly.
She would have loved to confront Matthias about this at once, and consequently get rid of the person who was the sole reason why the marriage that both their families have worked hard to make a reality was still in the works all this time. Knowing Matthias though, he would just as well break the engagement off and marry the peasant instead if that ever happened.
It would be best to currently acquiesce to Leyla Lewellin being her son’s mistress, as she ensured nothing would ruin the marriage and union between the Brandt and Herhardt houses.
“Still, I can’t help but feel quite concerned about this.” Elysee murmured softly in a worried voice, rubbing a delicate finger on her temple as she felt a headache coming up. “Matthias doesn’t seem too worried about getting caught, in fact, it’s almost like he wants to be found out.”
Norma’s eyes dropped, unable to refute the younger matriarch’s statement.
“What if, because we failed to curb this affair of his, he’d break his marriage with young Lady Brandt and marry Leyla Lewellin instead?” Elysee finally voiced out, and Norma gasped out in disbelief.
“I,” Norma felt herself grow speechless at her daughter-in-law’s words, “How could our Matthias ever think to do that?”
Norma had been quite proud of her grandchildren, watching them grow up to be respectable people, now in their primes. But the thought of Matthias doing that and marrying Leyla left a bitter taste in her mouth. Elysee von Herhardt’s incessant worrying was becoming quite infectious.
“Matthias was never like the children around him, we knew that most growing up,” Elysee murmured softly, staring outside the window, “It once gave me such relief to know that, but now it’s the sole reason I’m so worried about this engagement of his”
Her gloved hands clenched in front of her as it lay limply on her lap.
As a child, Matthias never gave her trouble. As such, she never felt the need to talk to him about the expectations and duties as someone of his stature because it came so natural for him. What would take years to instill on a rowdy normal child, Matthias would take like bees to nectar.
And yet oftentimes she could feel it too. The desperate need inside him to rebel against the standards society instilled on him and the generations before him.
Some would say it was because he’d decided as a child to become the perfect successor, that he’d led such a perfect life. But if that really was the case then, Elysee knew he would also be the type of person who could just as quickly abandon everything he worked for if he just up and decided to be someone else too.
And that was the truth about Matthias.
He would be polite, outstanding, and the perfect model, but he follows no other will than his own. No one else mattered to him, not unless he wanted it to. Being his mother did not spare her from this fact.
“You’re right,” Norma finally said, breaking the tension inside her daughter-in-law, “Hopefully it won’t come to that.”
“Yes, hopefully.” Elysee quickly agreed, giving her mother-in-law a tight smile.
‘Just what are you planning to do, Matthias?’ Elysee wondered in her thoughts, unable to shake the growing uneasiness in her.
*.·:·.✧.·:·.*
After a long day of marking the children’s papers, Leyla stood up at the desk, rubbing her stiff shoulders, letting her limbs stretch out as she took a short walk to loosen up some of her tightly coiled muscles from sitting too long.
It was already past nine o’clock, and Phoebe returned home without a letter. She found it fortunate there was no call from the Duke tonight.
With a sigh of relief, she had just decided to go open the closet door when she heard an unexpected knock outside her window.
It made Leyla freeze, before she glanced at her bird’s cage. Phoebe was already tucked comfortably into her cage. She checked the lock on the cage’s door several times, and there was no way that Phoebe could have escaped her confined space and back in again.
‘Maybe it’s her hallucination?’ she wondered, trying to brush the sound off.
And there it was again! The knock on the window grew clearer and louder. It was not just her imagination, and it definitely was not her bird. Leyla’s breath hitched and her eyes grew wide in sudden realization!
‘Don’t tell me-!’
Hurriedly, yet quietly, Leyla slid her curtains open. As soon as the curtains were drawn, she saw no one outside, it made her frown in confusion.
‘Then who the hell?’
She eyed carefully the darkened forest outside her window, before carefully opening it to get a clearer look. She was almost convinced the sound was just another figment of her paranoia, when she noticed an out of place shadow on the ground.
Following its source, she jolted back in surprise at the sight in front of her. She yelped out a small shriek, before immediately covering up her mouth to stifle her scream. She didn’t want her uncle suddenly waking up to see her like this!
It was Matthias in the flesh, suddenly in front of her. He gave her a smug grin as he leaned on the wall right next to the window. He clearly meant to frighten her, and was content in watching her frighten so easily over so small a thing.
He chuckled softly at the sight of her flushed face. She was so adorable.
“Good evening Leyla.” He greeted huskily, sending slight shivers down Leyla’s spine, her cheeks flushing for an entirely different reason.
‘Don’t break character now Leyla!’ She scolded herself in her mind, before shyly tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. She hugged herself, feeling a little vulnerable seeing him here in her cabin once more.
“D-duke, I wasn’t expecting you.” She politely told him, “Wh-why are you here?” she stuttered out.
“Well, why do you think that is?” He asked back at her, and Leyla couldn’t help but become a little miffed at his playfulness. She had no time for this!
“Well, if you’re just here to annoy me, then kindly go back home!” She huffed out angrily before trying to close back her windows. Her eyes darted back inside her room, watching her closed door anxiously.
She knew her uncle usually goes to sleep around this time, but having Matthias in their cabin put her in great discomfort.
“Please duke, just, hngh!”
Her next words became muffled as soon as Matthias unabashedly pulled her to him to steal a long, passionate kiss.
He gripped her chin firmly in place, prodding her mouth open as his tongue dove into her mouth, tasting every crevice inside, selfishly taking her in. His tongue entwined effortlessly with Leyla’s, dancing around each other until it coaxed an erotic moan out of her.
Matthias pulled away with a wet squelch, and grinned down at her flushed face. Their soft, ragged breaths mixed with each other, and Leyla grew more anxious as seconds ticked by.
“Come out with me.” Matthias ordered her, but Leyla softly frowned at him, shaking her out of the daze at staring at his plump lips in front of her.
“No, I can’t do that!” She quietly hissed at him, making Matthias frown at her.
“If you won’t, then invite me in at least.”
Leyla sighed at his insistence, unwilling to do that either.
“Why are you here this late anyway?” She asked him curiously, before bracing herself with one hand on the windowsill, and another holding onto Matthias, but instead of moving to sneak out, she was insistently pushing him away.
She couldn’t let him inside, she wouldn’t. Not with her uncle here!
“Please just go! I mean, I can’t go out now.” She pleaded, but Matthias kept frowning at her.
“Why?”
“Uncle Bill might be awake!”
She knew he wasn’t, but Matthias didn’t know that. Though it seemed, Matthias wasn’t bothered about other people knowing about them.
“So what’s the problem?” He asked her, rolling his eyes at such a trivial excuse.
It seemed he really couldn’t understand her, and so Leyla relented. His eyes kept darting around them, as if trying to see what was so difficult that she couldn’t just go out with him tonight.
“Give me one good reason why I should go with you tonight?” Leyla asked him tiredly, and he just grinned at her.
“Because I want you to.” He spoke it so honestly and unashamedly, his smile became as soft as it was arrogant.
Leyla took the time to assess her choices, before she gave out a sigh. Nothing would be changing Matthias’ mind tonight, and the more she’ll insist he’ll leave, the less she would convince him she loved him.
Which would brew more trouble for her.
Giving Matthias one last glare, Leyla hurriedly locked the door and returned to the window. Just as she braced herself to go out, she glared back at him dryly.
“A gentleman will not ask her lady to go through the window.” She snarked at him and he only smirked at her in return.
“I don’t think it’s applicable to someone who is good at climbing trees.”
Leyla spluttered at his statement, flushing in embarrassment, which only made him smirk more pleasingly at her expression.
“I-I don’t climb trees anymore these days!” She huffed out haughtily.
Leyla soon decided to get it over with quickly, hoisting herself through the open window with quick, light movements. Matthias stepped aside to give her some berth once she went over, before he approached her.
It almost seemed like he was coming to help her, but Leyla ignored him and independently got through with not much trouble, holding her chin up high as she did, as though telling him she didn’t need his help.
“It seems you give yourself little credit,” Matthias pointed out with amusement, “You’re still as nimble as before.”
He strode past her and closed the window behind her firmly, before he snatched Leyla’s hand as soon as she turned to look back at him.
With no further word, he immediately walked away, half dragging, and pulling her to match his pace. The two went around the backyard, and down towards the moonlit forest path. There were sounds of crickets in the air, and the crunching of fallen leaves and twigs beneath every step they took.
Leyla watched the night sky through the gaps of the trees overhead, a wispy white breath escaping her.
It was only when she could hardly see the cabin did Leyla finally allow herself to relax, feeling the tension eventually slip away from her body. She focused back ahead of her, before frowning at the direction they were headed.
“This
 this is not the way to the annex, is it?” She asked Matthias with slight alarm and confusion. As usual, Matthias seemed unbothered, continuing to lead her down a completely unfamiliar path.
“This is the right way.” He informed her coolly, repositioning his loose hold on her hand. He slipped her fingers on the gaps between his, holding on to her more firmly than before. Though the forest around them was dark, the moon above their heads did an excellent job in shining down their path.
“Stay with me,” He told her firmly, his grasp growing tighter when he felt her hold loosen up in his, “I have something to show you.”
Though he said it gently and softly as a whisper, Leyla couldn’t help the sense of foreboding that was rising up within her.