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✧ Cry, Even Better If You Beg ✧
“That’s so kind of you, ma’am.”
Mrs. Etman regarded Duchess Norma with a look of adoration in her eyes.
“How can you be so generous?”
The more tangible the joy spread on Mrs. Etman’s face, the more troubled Kyle Etman’s expression, who was standing by her side, became.
Matthias had a keen eye on the two. Dr. Etman was, without a doubt, a talented doctor. He was well-rounded and had a pleasant personality, and so it was easy to see why the duchess admired him and adored his son.
Kyle Etman, who resembled his father, would lead a similar life in the future. Maybe. As long as nothing else would change. His grandmother pretty much ensured that and Matthias saw things the same way.
But that’s it.
There was no need for him to pay any more attention to such blatant and humdrum brass-tacks. Especially seeing Linda Etman, the very ambitious lady of the house, who had very different mannerisms from the two men of the Etman’s family.
“May I greet them now?”
Mrs. Etman became a little agitated. She badgered Madam Norma, fearing the duchess might change her mind.
“Dear.”
Dr. Etman, who had been calmly watching his wife, tried to dissuade her. Even so, she appeared adamant.
Matthias turned his attention back to Kyle Etman. His dear grandmother had offered to introduce the Etmans to Baron Arundt’s family. When the duchess stated, ‘The two families would get along swimmingly, and could be good acquaintances,’ there was no one who didn’t understand the hidden flavor in her phrase.
Baron Arundt had a daughter who was around the same age as Kyle Etman. A pretty daughter who had reached a good age to marry.
Even though the Etman family didn’t have any peerage, their wealth outweighed that of the Arundt’s and they had greater clout. Thus, Baron Arundt was the one who would benefit the most if the two families became in-laws
“Sure, Mrs. Etman. That would be nice.”
With a generous smile, Norma Catharina von Herhardt called her servant. After receiving orders to bring Baron Arundt and his wife in, the servant soon vanished among the crowds.
Kyle couldn’t conceal the ire printed on his face. He kept glancing towards the patio linked to the garden as if he’d left something precious there.
Sure of that, Matthias’s lips soon curved into a smile.
A mother who cherished and expected the best from her son.
A son who didn’t want to disappoint his mother.
Matthias almost chuckled out loud when he pictured Leyla Lewellin sandwiched between the two.
Meanwhile, the Arundt’s couples, led by the servant, came along with their daughter.
Based on his countenance, Kyle Etman seemed to be aware of the meaning of this acquaintance. He seemed wanting to get out of there post-haste, but that boy couldn’t unleash himself from the role of being a kind and polite doctor’s son.
If so, then

Matthias scurried away, leaving the stage of the tedious matchmaking scene. His stride over the terrace and down the stairwell was leisurely one and at his own pace.
How did the dutiful son’s puppy love story end up so predictably?
Leyla Lewellin would be left abandoned in Arvis’ forest at the end of this story.
By the time he reached that obvious conclusion, Matthias had found Leyla. That girl was staying underneath the rose pergola in the corner of the garden. As foreseen, Leyla didn’t bother to go far because she had promised to wait for the doctor’s son.
Lightly trodding, Matthias walked over to her. He wondered why she didn’t get flustered when he approached her. Soon he realized; she was in deep slumber.
The small, crouching girl glinted in the glow-worm moonlight that filtered through the rose shrubbery.
Matthias stopped a few feet away from the bench. And he took a long, thoughtful look at her.
First, at her neatly taken-off shoes.
At her swollen feet.
At the slender arms wrapped around her knees.
Lastly, his eyes were drawn to her innocent sleeping face.
Her long drooping wavy golden locks wrapped around her slender neck and shoulders. Matthias slouched his waist and gently picked up her shoes while wondering about the softness of her golden tresses.
It was that moment when Leyla slowly opened her eyes.
*.·:·.✧.·:·.*
‘I’ve got to be dreaming.’
Vaguely, drowsiness was still rooted in Leyla’s eyes. Matthias stood leaning against the pergola pillar that faced the bench and held what appeared to be women’s shoes in his hand.
‘Even if it’s only a dream? Isn’t it too weird?’
When the question came to mind, her lingering feeling of sleep dissipated.
“

 Duke?” Leyla whispered his name softly because she couldn’t believe what she was seeing.
Instead of responding, Matthias fished out a cigar from his pocket and tucked it into his mouth. The white cigarette smoke wafting off his lips in a single puff proved that this moment could never be a dream.
Leyla was so startled. She almost blacked out when she found the shoe in his hand was hers. As she didn’t know what to do, Leyla only could curl down her body to the edge of the bench.
Matthias shot an amusing look at her as if she were a sideshow of a sideshow and waved her shoes slowly.
“Shall I give it back?”
His voice mixed along with the murky tobacco haze.
“Yes, please.”
“Then cry
”
Stunned. His ludicrous words gave Leyla the creeps and left her speechless.
She prayed silently that Kyle would come quickly, but the pathway leading to the pergola was deserted.
“He’s not coming.” said Matthias calmly as if he had read her thoughts.
“Kyle Etman.”
He talked again after he saw Leyla doubting him.
“The one you’re waiting for.”
Matthias dropped his half-smoked cigarette butts to the ground. Behind the column of wispy smoke that gradually disappeared, he found Leyla’s face looking up at him in tears.
“No.”
Not wanting to show her wounded feet, Leyla rose from her seat and took a confident stance in front of Matthias. Her bare feet were firmly planted on the cold ground. She was still afraid of him, yet, she wasn’t willing to become his laughingstock anymore.
“Kyle always keeps his words.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“You look pretty confident.”
“I know more about Kyle than you do.”
A grin crept over Matthias’ lips as he watched her muster all of her courage to challenge him.
“Confidence is not an arbitrary matter, Leyla.”
Along with his gliding words, Matthias walked a step closer. Leyla’s shoulders cowered in fear, but she refused to back off.
“I
. I really don’t know.”
“About what?”
“Why do you hate me so much?”
Unlike her trembling voice, Leyla looked straight at him with abundantly lucid eyes.
“Hating you makes me feel good.”
Matthias answered calmly, raising one corner of his lips.
“It’s a great feeling when I see you cry, and it’s fun to see you beg.”
“How can you say that?”
“I’m just answering your question.”
Matthias seemed blase even though her expression, who stood before him, was already all at sea. Her eyes glazed over due to his insult, but Leyla managed to keep her tears from falling.
“You don’t act like this to anyone other than me.”
Matthias willingly nodded, “Right.”
“Then why is it only me
.”
“Because it’s you.”
“What?”
“Because it’s you, Leyla. Because you’re nobody.” said Matthias nonchalantly. His calm yet dry voice made Leyla feel even more as if she was a deplorable person.
“My apologies, your grace.”
Leyla fought back the tears as she stared at him. She began to miss her relatives, who had evicted her for a variety of reasons. Even his alcoholic uncle had never oppressed her like this.
“I’m really sorry, because a ‘nobody’ like me dared to stay in your estate.”
Now, not only her voice but also her clenched hands started to quiver.
“If you hated me so much, why did you let me stay on your estate from the beginning?” Leyla demanded to know.
“Isn’t that too heartless if I didn’t let you?”
“You are indeed a heartless person.”
Her voice continued to whimper, no matter how desperately she attempted to suppress it.
“Are you going to rout me out now?” she managed to ask.
“No.” Matthias’s eyes grew darker as he watched her. “Don’t worry about that. You’re doing great in your place.”
“You said I was a nobody.”
“That’s your use.”
Matthias opened his eyes slowly. The scorny grin on the corner of his lips had rubbed off and his expressionless face now became suffocatingly cold and still.
“That’s enough, let’s cut to the chase.”
Matthias raised his head and straightened his back, which had been leaning against the vine-rose pillar.
“The Kyle Etman you’ve been waiting for won’t come.”
He pointed his hand to the empty path behind the pergola. Leyla flinched in fear when his finger unwittingly touched her flowing hair over her shoulder. She took a step back, but the bench blocked her and she couldn’t go any farther.
“So Leyla
..”
Matthias reached out his hand. He squeezed and caressed Leyla’s blonde hair soft and took a deeper look at her.
“Cry.”
Matthias gave a callous order calmly.
“Even better if you beg.”
Along with his additional suggestion, a faint grin sprouted on Matthias’ lips.
‘He’s crazy.’
Leyla had been debating it for a long time, but she was certain now.
The duke was completely insane.
*.·:·.✧.·:·.*
After Matthias returned to his mansion, Kyle Etman was still being held by his mother.
The Baron and Baroness Arundt seemed to like the idea of marrying her daughter into the Etman family. They were very much in favor of becoming in-laws, and Mrs. Etman’s response was not significantly different.
Unlike both the pair of parents,  Kyle’s demeanor was now noticeably rigid. But his mother didn’t seem to give a damn about how he felt.
For whatever reason, Matthias’s interest was drawn back to their tedious family affair. Mixed among recognizable faces, he began playing the role of Arvis master, Duke Herhardt.
Leyla cried.
A sense of contentment percolated him when he reflected on that moment.
That teenage girl trembled. Her face was littered with teardrops as she could no longer contain her indignation. Nevertheless, as the corners of her eyes turned crimson, her moist eyes became prettier and brighter.
Leyla Lewellin’s eyes gleamed like an emerald jewel dangling from her neck at those moments.
She cried so beautifully, and Matthias loved it.
He gladly returned Leyla’s shoes after seeing her beautiful cry.
When he was about to leave the garden, Matthias looked back and saw Leyla still standing there crying.
That girl cried because of him. So the falling tears from her eyes belonged to him.
Thinking of it, Matthias’s steps became lighter.  Tears of Leyla had washed away the displeasure swelling inside him at seeing Kyle Etman escorting her into the mansion. Together with the ineffable feeling, he had the moment he kissed Claudine while staring at Leyla.
Tonight, in his world, Leyla looked exceptionally beautiful. And the beautiful, flawless her had cried because of him.
‘What a perfect summer night.’
Matthias encapsulated that satisfactory sensation, just before Leyla had appeared suddenly on the grounds of the mansion.
Alone, she loitered on the edge of the aisle that attached the hall to the terrace, carefully looking for someone.
“Kyle Etman.”
Matthias muttered his name.
Leyla seemed to have found Kyle among the partygoers. Nonetheless, she didn’t approach him as she had grasped the meaning of the scene where Kyle Etman was surrounded by the Arundt household. Especially, with the presence of Baron Arundt’s youngest daughter.
Leyla had been hiding behind the marble pillar for quite some time. Before leaving the terrace, she approached a passing servant and relayed a message to him.
The servant nodded his head and headed towards Kyle Etman, whose face had already turned cold as he had reached his limit of patience.
But, just as the servant was about to deliver Leyla’s message, Matthias suddenly waylaid him,
“Please call Count Klein.”
The servant widened his eyes at Matthias’s sudden order. For a quick moment, he glanced across to Kyle Etman’s side thoughtfully. But soon, he gave the exact answer Matthias had expected.
“Yes, master.”
Turning his steps, the servant hurried through the crowd to run his master’s errand.
Matthias went out onto the terrace and leaned against the pillar where Leyla had been hidden a while ago.
In the distance, Leyla was drifting along the promenade that led to the garden’s center in the distance. She walked with a limp; her feet seemed to be in a lot of pain. She later took off her shoes and began wandering barefoot from the middle of the path.
Matthias stood quietly, watching her while waiting for his servant.
The guy in question-Count Klein was never going to show up. The count was suffering from a neurotic headache and he had already returned home after greeting him briefly earlier in the evening.
Concurrently with Leyla disappearing deep into the forest road, the servant he had previously ordered had approached him.
“I’m sorry, master. Count Klein has already returned home.”
“I see.”
Matthias smiled, nodding his head.
“Good job.”
After acknowledging the servant’s bow, Matthias strolled away from the terrace at a leisurely pace.
The servant went back to his previous task, approaching Kyle Etman to deliver Leyla’s message.
In two shakes, Kyle’s face was afflicted with a sense of dismay. He rushed out to the terrace after asking for understanding for his urgent need to excuse himself first, but Matthias didn’t mind him.
Despite her petite stature, Leyla Lewellin walked pretty fast.  It was too late for Kyle to catch up to her.
Matthias then went on a binge and joyfully took the glass of champagne presented by Riette.
The nightfall was approaching.
It was a perfect party on the glitzy night of midsummer.
The party was perfect.