Heaven of Arvis
Leila of the Remmer household had been accepted to Lutz University.
The news raced through every corner of Arvis in an instant. Word also spread that Dr. Etman’s only son had been accepted into medical school with outstanding marks, but that had been expected by everyone, so it caused little stir.
And so it was Leila. For the next few days, whenever two or more people gathered, the talk turned, without fail, to Leila Lewellin. Even the greenhouse of the ducal household was no exception.
“To send an orphan who is practically a stranger—and a girl, at that—all the way to university. Bill Remmer has made quite a remarkable decision.”
Even the Dowager Duchess Katarina von Herhardt, who would normally never have added her voice to gossip about a lowborn child, spoke of Leila today with genuine interest.
“That girl seems to have been born with that particular kind of luck. Finding a benefactor and now even marrying Dr. Etman’s son—this much good fortune is practically a blessing from heaven.”
Elyse von Herhardt added her own remark. Seated quietly between the two ladies and sipping her tea, Claudine merely nodded with the same polite, bright smile she always wore.
“I’m truly glad such fortune has found that poor child.”
Claudine could praise Leila with a more sincere heart than ever before. Just then the maid who had been sent at the Dowager Duchess’s order to fetch the girl returned to the greenhouse. Leila, dressed neatly, came with her.
“Come and sit here.”
The Dowager Duchess calmly commanded as soon as she spotted Leila. Not only Leila but the Duchess of Herhardt and Claudine as well widened their eyes in surprise.
“Surely there is no harm in offering a cup of tea to a child who has done so well.”
The Dowager Duchess laughed softly.
Every member of the Herhardt family was the same, but Katarina von Herhardt was so lofty a noble that people said the blood in her veins must run a deep blue. It was only natural that everyone was astonished to see her share a tea table with an orphan girl raised by a gardener.
Leila took the seat the maid indicated, her face tight with tension.
“I heard you were accepted to a university that even the sons of the most distinguished houses struggle to enter.”
Once Leila’s tea had been set down, the Dowager Duchess spoke first.
“It is all thanks to Uncle Bill.”
Leila answered with her eyes lowered respectfully.
“Yes. You must never forget the kindness of Bill Remmer, your benefactor.”
“Yes, Madam.”
“You are from Lovita, I understand.”
“My mother was Lovitan, but my father was from Berg.”
“That much we have in common.”
The Dowager Duchess’s casual remark made Elyse’s and Claudine’s eyes widen at the same time.
The Dowager Duchess of the House of Herhardt came from a distinguished marquisate related by blood to the Berg emperor. Her mother had been of the Lovitan royal line—blood that could never be compared to that of a lowborn orphan.
“Tell me once what you would like.”
The Dowager Duchess set down her cup and suddenly issued the command. Leila started and lifted her head in surprise.
“Bill Remmer is a servant I hold in high regard, and you are the child he raised as a daughter. I ought to give you at least one gift to celebrate.”
The words that followed were just as even and detached.
While the flustered Leila forgot even to avert her gaze and simply stared at the Dowager Duchess, another figure entered the greenhouse. Claudine was the first to notice the man striding steadily toward them.
“Duke Herhardt!”
Every gaze followed the delighted lilt of Claudine’s voice.
Leila, too, turned her head without thinking. Matthias von Herhardt was already standing beside the table. Their eyes met, and both pairs narrowed for entirely different reasons. The small disturbance ended when Leila looked away first.
“This child has been accepted to Lutz University. We were sharing a cup of tea to congratulate her.”
Elyse von Herhardt explained the unexpected scene in a voice touched with laughter.
Matthias gave a short nod and took the seat beside Claudine—coincidentally the place directly facing Leila.
“You came home early today.”
Claudine welcomed her fiancé with a warm smile.
Since taking full charge of the family enterprises he had left the mansion at dawn and rarely returned before late at night. Though nearly a week had already passed since her visit to Arvis, today was the first time Claudine had seen Matthias home before sunset.
“The meeting ended earlier than expected, my lady.”
“I’m glad. I’ve been so worried that you’ve been pushing yourself too hard lately.”
“Claudine is right, Matthias. These are matters that can be handled with leisure. Do not rush yourself so. It would be terrible if you ruined your health.”
Elyse von Herhardt added her own concern.
From there the conversation at the table flowed easily into Matthias’s recent affairs and the family’s business. Leila Lewellin’s presence seemed to vanish in an instant.
Grateful for the brief respite, Leila took a sip of her cooled tea. She longed to escape this uncomfortable place as soon as possible, yet she could not show the slightest sign of it before the two ladies of the ducal house.
She set her cup carefully back on its saucer so that it made no sound. When she lifted her gaze without thinking, she flinched and pressed herself against the back of her chair. Between his chattering fiancée and his mother, Matthias was watching her. Those cold blue eyes were no different from the day he had crushed her heart and left.
She almost reached for the cup again, then hurriedly lowered both hands beneath the table. For a moment he conversed with Claudine face to face; the instant her gaze turned toward her mother, Matthias looked back at Leila as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
Leila quickly bowed her head, yet the uncomfortable weight of that stare still pressed upon her. And that stare unfailingly dragged up the memories of last summer. Recalling that day while Claudine sat right in front of her made the humiliation sharper still, and Leila gave a small, involuntary shudder. The one who had committed the wrong was the Duke, yet the one who always felt the guilt was Leila.
“Well then—have you thought of what you would like?”
The Dowager Duchess’s question returned the table’s attention to Leila Lewellin.
Leila raised her head by reflex and bit her lip without meaning to. Matthias’s blue eyes were still fixed on her. Striving to hide her fluster, she quickly turned her gaze toward the Dowager Duchess.
“You have already given me a great gift, Madam. That is more than enough.”
“Already given?”
“Yes. Simply by allowing me to stay here in Arvis, in Uncle Bill’s cabin, you bestowed a kindness I can never repay in a lifetime. It is the greatest and most precious gift of all, and I will be grateful for it forever.”
“We merely granted Bill Remmer’s request.”
“That permission was the gift that changed my life, Madam.”
A faint smile touched Leila’s lips.
“I am sincerely grateful to the Duchess as well.”
She offered the same respectful greeting toward Elyse von Herhardt.
“……And to His Grace the Duke and Lady Claudine.”
Instead of saying that all she truly wanted was to escape this uncomfortable world as quickly as possible, Leila willingly expressed her thanks even to those far less welcome names.
“I will never forget the kindness you have shown me, not even on the day I leave Arvis.”
With a deep bow of her head, Leila placed a polite full stop upon her refusal.
The Dowager Duchess studied Leila carefully, then finally gave a nod. Refusing the House of Herhardt’s favor was bold, yet her manner carried a dignity unsuited to a child of low birth.
“Already saying farewell—how sad that makes me, Leila.”
Claudine, who had been watching quietly, spoke with a touch of regret.
“I understand your feelings, but I would still like to give you something. Ah—what if I paid your tuition?”
“No, my lady. I am already grateful for the thought alone.”
Leila looked at Claudine with the same gentle smile.
“Uncle Bill has already prepared the money. He particularly wanted to pay my first semester’s fees himself.”
“Is that so? Then I shall have to think of another gift. I cannot send an old friend off empty-handed when she has been accepted to university and is soon to marry.”
A bright smile bloomed on Claudine’s face as she regarded Leila.
“Isn’t that right, Duke Herhardt?”
Her voice coaxing him was sweet as honey. Matthias glanced at Leila for a moment, then gave a light nod, respecting his fiancée’s wish.
After a few more formal exchanges and farewells, Leila was at last free to leave the uncomfortable tea table. Only when she turned her back on the House of Herhardt did the landscape of the greenhouse truly come into view.
Heaven of Arvis.
Whenever she stepped into this splendid greenhouse that people praised so extravagantly, Leila’s heart grew endlessly uneasy and constricted. Facing the beautiful birds whose wing feathers had been clipped and the flowers whose colors and scents were almost violently intense made her somehow short of breath. The sound of water from the marble fountain and the sunlight pouring through the glass were the same.
Leila left the greenhouse without once looking back. Only when the unfiltered sunlight and breeze wrapped around her body did a sigh of relief finally escape.
The long shadows of evening followed Leila as she hurried toward the forest.
“Cousin, do you even realize what you are saying?”
Daniel Rayner asked again, unable to believe it. Sunset light poured through the uncurtained window, illuminating both his stunned face and the cousin who sat quietly opposite him—Linda Etman.
“Cousin!”
“Lower your voice, Daniel.”
Mrs. Etman glanced at the closed door and cautioned him with a face of astonishing calm. Daniel let out a sigh of pure exasperation.
After a failed overseas mining investment had suddenly ruined his finances, Daniel Rayner had begged help more than once from his wealthiest relative, his cousin. Each time she had refused with elegant coldness. Yet now she had come to him first.
He had expected, of course, that it would not be free. But the words that left Mrs. Etman’s mouth were so appalling that even a man desperate enough to grasp at straws hesitated.
“That is theft, Cousin. How can you—”
“No.”
Mrs. Etman opened the eyes she had slowly closed and cut him off coldly.
“It is merely hiding the money for a while and then returning it.”
“But—”
“You care for Kyle a great deal as well, do you not?”
“Well, of course I do.”
“And you need my help.”
Mrs. Etman raised a hand that had rested neatly on her lap and pressed her throbbing temple. Just as she expected, Daniel Rayner only flushed and could not argue.
“We will simply take that money for a short time and return it when the moment is right. If you do only that simple thing, you can protect your family and I can protect my son.”
Mrs. Etman straightened her posture again and looked at Daniel Rayner as though urging him to decide.
“I do not think this is such a bad bargain. What do you say?”