/
A white pigeon flitted from the other side of the river.
“
 Phoebe?”
Leyla gasped in disbelief.
“Phoebe!”
She blurted out its name when the bird grounded on the balcony railing. One of its legs was tied with a red thread. It was unmistakably her carrier bird, Phoebe.
“Why did you fly here?”
She went up to the railing where Phoebe was resting.
Phoebe’s role as a letter-deliverer came to an end with Kyle’s departure. These days, the bird has become her cherished pet. When the Duke went out for upland hunting, she always confined Phoebe in a cage. But, on the other days, that pigeon roamed freely around the Arvis forest.
“You can’t come here. Here is
 .”
Leyla darted a wary look towards the Duke. They met eyes as his gaze swiveled from the children’s boat to her.
“Phoebe?”
His mention of Phoebe made her flinch.
“So the bird’s name is Phoebe?”
“Do you know Phoebe?”
“Well
” Matthias tilted his head. “Just ask the pigeon.”
“Pardon?”
“Didn’t you claim you understood the bird’s mind.”
“That’s
”
Leyla was tight-lipped, unable to say anything more than a grimace. Matthias felt quite satisfied upon seeing her bite her lips because she couldn’t debate him.
With her back fully turned, Leyla whispered a few more words to her bird as if they could communicate with each other, but Matthias was certain she was mocking him without needing to hear her mutter.
Phoebe began gliding towards the other bank of the river. After the bird was out of her sight, Leyla returned to her chair with a sense of alertness. She looked at Matthias with some trepidation before deciding to speak.
“I’m sorry, Duke.”
She abruptly uttered words out of context.
“I apologize in Phoebe’s stead for recklessly entering your annex and leaving.”
“You’ll apologize in the bird’s stead?”
“Yes.” Leyla gravely replied to his scoff. “I don’t know why it came here, but I’ll train it to make sure that this never happens again. So
 so
 Duke.”
She began to sweat; her fear was audible.
“Please 
..Please don’t shoot Phoebe.”
Only fear remained deep in her eyes as all her bewilderment and curiosity dwindled. Matthias kept mum, his crooked smirk on his lips seeming to fade as he stared into hers.
“
.”
“Please
”
As his silence prolonged, her tone was heavily laden with desperation.
“Of course, I know you are Arvis’s owner, but Phoebe
.”
Leyla kept pleading though her pride was in pain. She was ready to beg once again but a servant appeared in front of them, pushing her to clamp her trembling lips.
Matthias left the balcony after the servant informed him he got a phone call from the company’s lawyer. Leyla hardly took her eyes off of him through the window. Her mind was imprinted with the horrors of his countless bird-killings. She couldn’t relax unless he promised that he wouldn’t shoot Phoebe.
Matthias returned shortly after.
Leyla no longer avoided his eyes like she used to; instead, she stared at him with persistence.
“Duke, Phoebe
 .”
“I’m not interested in your bird.”
Matthias flatly cut off her vexing pleas. She heaved,
“What do you mean?”
“A target that doesn’t run away. It’s boring.”
“Then are you not going to shoot?”
Leyla’s eyes sparkled brighter, revealing hope and optimism. Her piercing gaze put Matthias in exasperation. Ever since Leyla Lewellin set her foot in Arvis, this was the first time they had eye contact that lasted this long.
“What do you think?”
Matthias asked back without averting his gaze.
He had no intention of hunting the carrier bird in the first place, but he was unwilling to give her a straightforward answer. For the first time he saw her like that: willingly clinging to him in order to beg for something.
“I don’t think you will shoot.”
“Why?”
“That’s because.. You’re a gentleman.”
‘Pfft
You only call me a gentleman when you’re at a disadvantage.’
Matthias let out a vexed laugh at her hasty and brash answer. Leyla hurriedly added onto her words in anxiety.
“I don’t think you’re the type of person to hunt boring targets.”
“Really?”
“Yes.” Leyla nodded along with her praise. “You’re titled as the greatest marksman and gentleman in Carlsbar, I’m sure you won’t shoot Phoebe.”
Seeing her squirming as she talked, Matthias’s laughter suddenly cracked up. The servants behind him exchanged conundrum glances, especially Mark Evers, his long-time assistant—he was the most stunned of the others at the balcony.
Not because Duke Herhardt didn’t laugh much. But those in his ‘immediate vicinity’ knew that his courteous laughs were mostly a display of civility towards others. Even as a little boy, if Mark Evers’ memory served him right, the Duke seldom laughed in a pleasant way.
The boats heading downstream now had turned their bows back to the annex. The children’s excited laughter and chatter mingled with his chortle.
Leyla seemed eager for a definite answer, but Matthias continued to stay silent. He did nothing more than spectate her as she repeatedly wetted her lips in a panic. And she spoke up first.
“Uh
.. Duke?”
Both her voice and eyes wavered, but not in a fearful way. Matthias did think her rosy cheeks, flushed with anticipation, were very attractive. Her eyes and delicate poise stated she wasn’t trying to miss even the slightest of his facial expressions and body language.
Matthias changed his mind about answering and instead rang the bell. One of the house staff rushed into the living room at his errand and brought out an ashtray and a pack of cigarettes.
“Duke
?”
Leyla urged him on. She needed an answer.
Phoebe was a bird she had been raising from its fledgling age. Beyond everything, that bird was like a symbol of her and Kyle’s beautiful time they had spent together. She didn’t ever want to lose Phoebe, even if those days would never return.
Matthias took out a cigarette from the silver case and lighted it up. The thin layer of smoke slowly floated between their deliberate silence. The white puff played in her face. Matthias didn’t dislike her outlook, who only looked at him and begged him. It would be great if this moment could continue to last forever, he thought, quite pathetically.
‘Well, I should stop here for now.’
As he soon nodded his chin, Leyla’s eyes glistened.
” Phoebe
.You’re really not going to shoot Phoebe, are you?”
Her questioning was very persistent.
Matthias turned aside and flickered his cigarette ash. After attentively watching his gesture, Leyla grasped his meaning and retreated without pestering him further.
She hardly believed his promise, but there were other servants on the balcony listening, so she felt positive Matthias would keep the promise he made with a lot of eyes watching him. She didn’t know or care about Matthias von Herhardt, yet she had that feeling of trust in him.
Leyla finally could sigh with relief and glance out of the railing, to the river beyond. The tranquility of the flowing river reflected the shadow of the forest with its autumnal leaves.
Her lips draped in a smile. She had managed to protect Phoebe, as well as her precious memories.
Her smile lit up as her relief grew.
Matthias’s eyes narrowed at her odd expression. ‘What good is it to guarantee the safety of a pigeon?’
He was unable to understand her, yet he couldn’t take his eyes off of her face.
The cigarette he was holding between his long fingers burned slowly. A sense of unidentifiable annoyance and anxiety rose within the smoke. Both satiety and hunger battled each other to overtake him. The uncomfortable and queer feeling he had was as vivid as the vibrant colours of the season, which dyed the entire world. And as vague as the dream of last night when he opened his eyes.
Matthias threw the cigarette in his hand into the ashtray. He was thirsty, perhaps from smoking a cigarette he didn’t enjoy, but instead of taking a glass of water, he took out a new one. The unlit cigarette’s tip loosely wrapped between his fingers slightly shook along with the wind.
Leyla turned her head when she felt his stare on her. A smile still lingered on her beaming face, an emotion that shined more vividly than anger and fear, shame and tears could ever have.
Matthias was pondering about what that emotion was when Leyla ripped away her smile with haste. She avoided his gaze and bowed deeply. She was only looking down at her fingertips, but Matthias felt quite humiliated at her actions.
Humiliation.
Leyla Lewellin had taught him the emotion that he now knew for sure.
‘Look at you now, Leyla’
Matthias unknowingly laughed in vain.
‘Now that you’ve reached your goal, you’re ignoring me again?’
He never knew Leyla Lewellin could act this sly. Her attitude was daft, yet it was also pretty cute. But her abrupt mood swings really displeased him.
Matthias squeezed his unlit cigarette and tossed it again into the ashtray.
After the sunshine-like mirth had disappeared, the terrace was just left in a dark shade.
The gloomy place
.he didn’t like it.
*.·:·.✧.·:·.*
The autumn picnic ended when the children were taken to school and safely returned to their homes.
Leyla noticed tiredness had strained over her body the entire day. Her muscles were drained which made her sleepy, but she was happy with her first picnic with the children. Ironically, the person she was most worried about, was the key factor to the success of their autumn picnic, Duke Herhardt.
“For the time being, I think Lady Brandt will be the most envied woman in the world.” Mrs. Grever sighed while walking beside Leyla. “She will have both that handsome gentleman and the whole of Arvis. The world is so unfair at times like this. Do you know when they are getting married?”
“I heard it’s around next summer.”
“It will be a grandiose wedding that will stir the whole empire. Ah. I really envy her.”
Leyla just gave a moderate smile at Mr. Grever’s overblown admiration.
They split ways at a downtown junction. Leyla returned to Arvis after buying an armful of groceries. She was going to cook a delicious dinner for Uncle Bill, who had provided her a great help.
‘I’m going to make lots of my Uncle’s favourite food.’
Impatience drove her steps faster. She started speed walking after entering the road leading to Arvis. But suddenly, her feet froze in the middle of the road when a middle-aged lady came from the opposite side. That woman also simultaneously stopped as she saw Leyla.
That person’s eyes was evocative of Kyle, Mrs. Etman..
Her hands, holding the grocery bag, turned pale.
‘What should I do?’
Leyla stood frozen in front of her eyes regardless of how hard she thought. It felt weird passing by her like a stranger but even weirder to greet her.
After much hesitation, Leyla dipped her head in greeting without uttering a word, and Mrs. Etman accepted it with a silent nod.
But as the stifling moment was about to end, Mrs. Etman opened her mouth.
“Leyla.”
Leyla swiveled in shock.
“It ended up like this, but I really don’t regret it.”
Mrs. Etman sighed as she stood in front of Leyla. Neither hostility nor guilt contained in her eyes—they were as lifeless as a clump of leaves.
“Even if my reputation fell to the ground and my relationship with Kyle turned sour, I still hindered your marriage. That’s all I need.”
“
.”
Perhaps, Leyla would feel much better if Mrs. Etman’s tone was hostile.
Each word Mrs. Etman uttered calmly in a tired voice pierced her heart like a shard of glass.
After finishing what she had to say, Mrs. Etman started walking and passed her. The housekeeper, standing at a distance with a flustered face, followed her suit.
Leyla hurried her way after giving a silent salute to the housekeeper, who threw a look of consolation and compassion towards her.
She walked boldly and with a broad stride, then stopped like a toy with a loose spring.
She peered down at her two feet on the ground, stretched her hand, and took a deep breath.
‘Am I really a human?’
A sense of shame entered her thoughts.
Leyla slowly opened her closed eyes and started walking towards the cabin where Uncle Bill was waiting.