Chapter 45

✧Princess Teacher✧

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“…I-Is that person our teacher’s father?”

Stuttered, the little boy blinked his eyes nervously.

“Lies! He’s not like our teacher at all!”

A little girl—smaller than the boy whimpered and other children who huddled behind Leyla, reacted identically: their eyes opened wide with fear as soon as Bill Remmer appeared in front of them.

Bill was quite blasé at their not-so-extraordinary reaction. He disliked rowdy children, but Leyla had especially begged him to spare his time to guide the children who came for a picnic in the Arvis’ forest for a day. But he already felt that this wasn’t an easy job.

“Kids, Uncle Bill is a good person.”

Leyla smiled as she comforted her students. The timid little girl from a while ago again burst into tears after Bill showed his toothy grin.

“Fuck! I don’t do anything…”

“Uncle!”

Leyla quickly hushed up Bill’s violent cursing and knelt in front of the sobbing child. Unable to smile or frown, Bill could only stare at the tiny creatures with a quizzical face.

“Uncle Bill is a very nice man and he will take us around the forest today.”

The sniffling child in her arms stopped weeping, and Leyla continued her praiseworthy explanation.

“We’re going to study flowers and trees in the forest with Uncle Bill. Won’t it be fun?”

The children seemed to disagree with their teacher’s words, but they grudgingly nodded in tandem.

‘What a bunch of whiny!’

Bill scratched his head and began to lead the way. Leyla and the children were quick to follow his suit.

“Come to think of it, I think you were around the same age as those children when I first met you.”

Bill’s stiff lips softened when a flashback of memory flooded his thoughts.

“Uh, Uncle. These kids are all under the age of ten.” countered Leyla, with a frown on her face. “I was 11 years old at the time, about to become 12.”

Bill was joking when he said that, but Leyla took it seriously and she retorted by telling her age like the way she did the first time she came to Arvis.

“He.. he.. he..”

Bill chuckled, remembering that day. Leyla, his little girl who had always disliked being labelled ‘small’, now had grown up into a beautiful lady.

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It was a little past 1 o’clock when Matthias returned to the Estate.

The car made its way through the mansion and headed to the riverfront annex. The driver and his aide were baffled at first by his surprising order, but soon understood when they recalled that it was a picnic day for the rural school children. This kind of charity event was primarily the duty of the hostess, but there was no reason to exclude the Duke from participating.

A gleam of bright sunlight bounced off the tree and caught the shrubs in its beams as the car drove through the forest to the riverside. The splendour of the forest coloured with reds and oranges and the pristine river sparkling with luminous water scales became a natural fence that encircled both sides of the road.

Arvis was a place that offered picturesque vistas all year round, but the period with the most splendid beauty by far was the autumn season.

Matthias stared at the scenic view which passed like a movie scene with an odd feeling.

Arvis, as he knew it, was either a verdant summer or a placid snowy winter. In the spring of his twelfth year, he inherited the title of Duke after the death of his father. And the next summer, he enrolled at a school in the capital. From then on, he spent the spring and autumn in Ratz and the summer and winter in Carlsbar, leading a life divided between the two cities.

“Duke, it’s been a while since you spent the autumn at Carlsbar, hasn’t it?”

The driver who was watching Matthias as he gazed out the window, carefully asked.

“Yes, that’s true.”

Matthias nodded with an autumnal smile as he recalled his eleven-year-old autumn memory. A very long time had passed, but his life seemed scarcely different between then, and now.

He was reared as the family’s heir from his birth and was groomed to succeed his father as the Duke of Herhardt. It was a life mapped out in advance; only his turn had come sooner than planned. And the same circle would apply to Herhardt’s future heir, whom he and Claudine would have. As was his life, which paralleled his father’s.

Matthias drew his gaze from the car window where the unfamiliar autumn landscape was unfolding. The car shortly came to a stop at the annex’s pier. When the driver opened the backseat door, he was greeted by the children’s laughter and chit-chat.

After getting out of the car, Matthias looked in the direction of the sound. The little children he had seen this morning were merrily strolling along the riverbank. The gardener was following them, and….. Leyla. Her radiant smile resembled the fall sunshine.

They met each other’s eyes the moment she turned her head away from the children. She was dressed in a wide lace collared top and a maple-red skirt. Her teacher outfit looked great, but everything else about her was clunky.

Matthias buttoned up his suit and walked into the autumn sun.

“Oh. Is that Duke Herhardt?”

Mrs. Grever asked, taken aback while staring at Matthias approaching them. She was a mother of two and the upper class’s homeroom teacher.

“Oh my god, this is my first time seeing him this close! He’s even more handsome in person than the picture in the newspaper!”

She muttered in a lively tone, not giving Leyla a chance to answer.

Mrs. Grever’s jovial reaction made Leyla realize Duke Herhardt’s notable reputation. The citizens admired and respected him, whose face was often featured in publications. But in her eyes, Matthias Von Herhardt was nothing more than a psychopath.

“By the way, Miss Lewellin….”

Mrs. Grever was about to speak when Matthias stood in front of them.

“Hello, Duke.”

Bill, who was busy bickering with the children, hurriedly approached them and greeted him which also made Mrs. Grever join in. Still soured by his jerk behaviour last weekend, Leyla belatedly bowed her head.

‘Damn it! I should have thrown those tubers at him!”

She walked home from the greenhouse that day with terrible feelings. Even if she could rewind time, she wouldn’t dare to commit such impudence~ That’s what she had to tell herself to quell her frustration

“Would you like to introduce this person to me, Miss Lewellin?”

Matthias asked her nicely as Leyla had lifted her head. His gentlemanly regal and courteous manners astounded her. He seemed to be a totally different person.

‘Others’ impressions of Duke Herhardt will always be like this.’

That insight amazed her.

“Le… Leyla?”

The confused Bill patted her on the back.

“Hmm? Ah… Yes, Duke.”

Leyla apace came to her senses and took a perfect stance, clasping her hands beneath her navel. She decided not to lose her temper because she failed to throw the tubers at him. She set out to prove to the Duke that she had polished herself into a decent adult, no longer like a forest child he could just pester around at whim.

Leyla introduced Mrs. Grever to him in a professional manner. She also patiently explained to the wondering children who Duke of Herhardt was. Leyla decided to go along with her children’s adoration of him, even if she couldn’t agree with most of what they said. If she had to tell the truth about what a terrible person he was, she would have to use offensive words that no child should ever hear.

“Thank you so much for allowing us to have an autumn picnic, Duke.”

Leyla stood confidently before him, with her shoulders straightened and chin slightly up, proud of her performance.

“Thanks to you, the children are having a great time.”

She also gave a soft emphasis on the term ‘children’ to underline her position as a teacher.

“Really?”

Matthias’ lips rose slightly as she spoke.

“The one who is having a good time seems to be Miss Lewellin.”

“… Pardon?”

“….”

Matthias stayed quiet at her question. He did little more than snicker at her boggling expression and greeted Mrs. Grever and the kids’ goodbye with his gentlemanly persona that was able to mask his twisted personality.

Matthias, his aide, and the driver then reversed and left the scene. Leyla stood silently watching their backs as they approached the riverfront annex. She did lose her understanding of his words until Mrs. Grever gave her the answer.

“Um… Miss Lewellin….”

“Yes!”

“Your head…”

“Hmm?”

A little coy, Mrs. Grever pointed over her head.

“Head? What’s wrong with my head….”

Leyla’s bewildered face creased in a tick as she felt the soft touch of flowers and grass leaves on her head.

Flower crown!

There was a flower crown adorning her head. Monica, her youngest and closest student, had put the wildflower wreath she’d fashioned as Uncle Bill had taught her.

Mrs. Grever felt awful for not telling her. “I was about to tell you, but Duke Herhardt suddenly came.”

Leyla was stone-faced. She was unable to speak and just blinked.

‘So I pretended to act like an adult while wearing this.’

A rush of shame overtook her. She almost yelled out the curse words Uncle Bill often used if it weren’t for the children.

“It’s okay, teacher.”

Monica, the child who gave Leyla the flower crown, cheered her on lovingly.

“You look pretty! Like a princess.”

The other children agreed with Monica and nodded their heads together.

Ha.. Ha.. Ha

Leyla seemed to know too well why Uncle Bill was laughing so wildly. If one could die of shame, she was willing to fall deeply asleep on this beautiful autumn day.

“There’s nothing to be ashamed of.” Bill delightedly patted her back. “It was just a little embarrassing, but it’s not like you committed a crime or anything like that.”

At his words that weren’t comforting at all, Leyla’s cheeks bloomed crimson as a ripened apple. Then, out of the blue, an even more shockingly bad ordeal befell her.

“Mr. Remmer! Miss Lewellin!”

Mark Evers, who had left with the Duke earlier, returned with a sprightly smile.

“The Duke has invited the picnicking children to his annex. He wants to have tea with everyone. Of course, together with the two teachers and you too, Mr. Remmer.”

“Woaaaaaaaa!”

The frenzied child’s cheering could be heard echoing through the forest. Mrs. Grever’s jaw hung open, and Bill didn’t seem to dislike the Duke’s invitation.

In everyone’s thrills, Leyla looked blankly up into the sky, grabbing the flower that crowned her head.

She knew shame couldn’t kill a person, but she prayed at least it could knock her out.

Leyla earnestly begged, yet her mind was as clear as the dazzling blue of an autumn’s sky.

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