Something Even More Terrifying
At first, for a while, she thought she had seen a phantom.
Leila often did that. With her poor eyesight, she would mistake berries fallen on the forest path for squirrels, and sometimes startle violently at a branch floating in the water, thinking it a person.
But the form she saw was far too close to human for it to be a mere mistake. A man, at that. A large, naked man. Once his wet black hair entered her vision, she could no longer cling to the self-rationalization that it was an illusion.
Right now, that thing floating on the current was none other than Duke Matthias von Herhardt.
Shocked, Leila dropped the newspaper she held in one hand. If she had not reflexively grabbed the tree, she would have followed the newspaper straight to the ground.
Her mind urged her: Close your eyes at once. No—get down from the tree and leave this forest immediately. Or at least scream in surprise. But all Leila could do was stare blankly at the man who wore not a single thread of clothing. Duke Herhardt was the same. As if he had no intention whatsoever of covering his naked body, he simply floated on the water, gazing steadily toward Leila.
If only he would just drift away with the current like that!
Just as that wish grew desperate, the Duke suddenly turned and began swimming toward the riverbank where Leila stood.
“Ah, no!”
Leila’s scream rang high into the clear sky.
“I don’t want to! Don’t come! You mustn’t come!”
Screaming in terror, Leila scrambled down from the tree in a frenzy.
Etiquette toward the Duke no longer mattered in the least. She could not even think of the basket or her hat. Leila simply ran. She ran without knowing how her two legs were moving.
“Leila!”
Halfway along the path leading to the cabin, Leila collided with Kyle. With a bewildered face, Kyle caught her as she nearly collapsed.
“Where have you been? You weren’t home, so I was on my way to look for you.”
“Kyle, Kyle, what am I going to do.”
Gasping out breaths laced with a metallic taste, Leila muttered like someone half out of her mind.
“Why? What happened? Did you run into a wild animal?”
When Leila shook her head vigorously, Kyle looked even more puzzled toward the far end of the path. There was nothing. Just the peaceful forest as usual.
“Then what? Why are you so startled?”
“……What am I going to do.”
Leila’s face crumpled as she plopped down right there. She lifted the hem of her apron to cover her face and shook her head several times.
She did not want to remember it, so why did it keep rising unbidden?
Leila now clutched even her own hair tightly.
“What am I going to do. What should I do, Kyle?”
“I need to know what it is to answer. What on earth is it?”
Frowning, Kyle crouched down in front of Leila. When she finally raised her head after a long moment, her face was as red as a ripe wild strawberry.
Her lips moved as if to speak, but then her face crumpled again and she buried it once more in her apron.
“Hey, what did you see? A ghost or something?”
Kyle now began to snicker.
No.
Leila wanted to say it, but her lips would not part.
Something even more terrifying.
The words muttered only with her lips poured out as hot breath.
The scene unfolding before his eyes was so absurd that Matthias let out a dry laugh. A water droplet that had clung to the tip of his wet hair fell with a soft plop and slid down the bridge of his nose.
Matthias swam back to the pier of the boathouse, put on his clothes, and returned here. Leila had abandoned all her belongings and fled.
Matthias carefully examined Leila’s traces once more. The large basket and hat left under the tree. The newspaper fallen on the ground. The wet handkerchief.
She had picked so many wild strawberries that it seemed she meant to drive Arvis’s strawberries to extinction, and he laughed hollowly again. It was astonishing that such a tiny thing had carried that basket around.
Come to think of it, the day he had nearly shot a child thinking it a bird had also been this tree.
Matthias raised his head and looked up at the great tree. Recalling the small face that had sat on the branch staring straight at him, another dry laugh escaped.
To think she still climbed trees to play.
He considered chasing after her but changed his mind and turned his steps toward the mansion.
That afternoon he was scheduled to meet the directors at Arvis. Until now he had not intervened directly in the company’s management, but after his discharge it was work Matthias would have to take on. For that, he needed to grasp the overall structure and operations.
The Herhardt family had expanded their domain from land assets into trade and resources. The one who had built the current vast wealth was Matthias’s grandfather, whose bold decision to invest in oil fields on the new continent had proven decisive.
All the honor and power accumulated through long history now rested in Matthias’s two hands.
He knew well that protecting it carefully and passing it on to the next Herhardt was his greatest duty. He was confident he would fulfill it more perfectly than anyone. It was a perfectly natural fact he had never once doubted.
Returning to the mansion, Matthias headed straight to his bedroom. He changed clothes and neatly arranged his disheveled hair.
Having finished all his preparations, Matthias sat leaning against the chair by the western window of the bedroom. There was still about an hour left until the appointment.
Judging it too long a time to waste, he was about to rise when a bird sang.
Matthias shifted his gaze in the direction of the sound. Inside the birdcage on the table, the canary was chirping. He had thought it a bird that did not know how to sing because it had been so quiet, yet it sang so beautifully as to put that thought to shame.
Matthias slowly approached and opened the cage door. The canary that stopped singing flapped its clipped wings and left the cage.
Changing his mind about leaving the bedroom, Matthias leaned against the windowsill and watched the bird. How diligent the little thing was. It would fly a little then fall, fall again, yet tirelessly circle the room.
Then, as if finally exhausted, the canary settled quietly on the armrest of the chair. Matthias picked up the bird to return it to its place. Instead of thrashing and crying piercingly as before, the canary quietly submitted itself.
Finding the change curious, Matthias placed the bird on his finger. The canary he had expected to flee stayed still unexpectedly. Boldly, staring straight at him.
“It feels like I’ve met a new world.”
Leila, who had been dazed like someone in shock, whispered. The silver-haired optician burst into pleasant laughter.
“Your eyes were quite bad, so it’s only natural. You must have had a hard time until now.”
“No. Except that reading books was a bit inconvenient, I was fine.”
Answering cheerfully, Leila put the glasses she had gently lifted back on. The blurry world became magically clear. Leila was moved once more by that ordinary miracle.
The many wild strawberries the forest had given became jam at Leila’s fingertips. And so, when she finally saved enough money for glasses, Leila rode her bicycle straight into town. Having eyed it beforehand, she found the location of the optician’s shop at once.
After exchanging a few more words of small talk with the optician, Leila left the shop. The scenery that had become excessively clear was a bit unfamiliar and wondrous.
With every light step she took, Leila filled it with gratitude and love toward the wild berries of the Arvis forest that had opened a new world for her. She also added praise for herself who had stirred jam until her arms nearly fell off in front of the fire on hot days.
But why, on such a good day, did that shameful memory come to mind?
Recalling the day she had unintentionally seen the Duke’s naked body, Leila suddenly furrowed her brow.
How embarrassed and frightened she had been. Leila only went to retrieve the basket she had left behind when it was nearly dusk.
The forest was quiet and the river sparkled peacefully.
Only then relieved, Leila gathered the basket and hat and left the riverside. That was all, yet the area around her cheeks kept burning. Distracted by that, she did not even notice how heavy the basket in her hand was. For a while after that day, she was mortified even seeing Uncle Bill and Kyle.
No matter that it was his own estate, why would he swim naked in the river in broad daylight?
Leila shook her head vigorously as if to erase the unpleasant memory.
Until the Duke left, she must not go to the riverside.
Just as she renewed her resolve and took the step she had stopped, a familiar voice came.
“……Leila?”
This high, clear voice was probably Claudine von Brandt.
Yes. What was bound to come had come.
Leila steadied her breath and slowly turned around. She also prepared a smile of appropriate courtesy. But what entered Leila’s vision was unexpectedly the person who had been disturbing her mind until just now—Duke Herhardt.
He stood in the world that was a bit unfamiliar for being excessively clear.
Leila started in surprise and shifted her gaze to Claudine standing beside him. While Duke Herhardt had been away, she had not visited Arvis either, so it had been quite a while. In the meantime, Claudine had transformed into a perfect lady.
Leila greeted them politely, and the two elegantly inclined their heads to accept the greeting.
“Since when have you been wearing glasses? I almost didn’t recognize you.”
If only she would just leave, but Claudine spoke again.
Leila faced her with the prepared smile on her face. She made a great effort not to glance toward Duke Herhardt.
“Have you been well?”
Claudine scrutinized Leila carefully with narrowed eyes.
“Yes, Miss.”
“We were on our way to have tea.”
Claudine, wearing a bright smile, indicated the hotel across the street with her eyes.
Yes, Miss. Or I see, Miss.
While Leila was considering an appropriate interjection, Claudine said as if doing a favor.
“Let’s go together, Leila.”
“Pardon?”
“Since we met after a long time, it would be nice to have a cup of tea together. Would that be all right, Duke Herhardt?”
Claudine asked not Leila but Matthias. And Matthias indicated agreement by wearing a light smile at the corner of his lips. Leila Lewellin’s feelings seemed of no concern. It had always been so, so there was nothing new about it.
The two began to walk again. The waiting servants quietly followed behind.
Leila swallowed a sigh and turned her bicycle around. The creaking of the old wheels mixed with the soft footsteps.