Chapter 26
Chapter 26
Translation: godsn
In the imperial capital of Latz, located further south than Carlsbar, the seasons arrived somewhat earlier. While the roses in the Arvis estate were just beginning to form buds, the entire city of Latz was already filled with their fragrance.
While strolling through the Crown Prince's Palace gardens, Matthias suddenly became aware of this fact. When he stopped walking, the other officers accompanying him also halted their steps.
"What's the matter?"
"Nothing."
Matthias answered curtly.
"Just a passing thought."
He even offered a slight smile and an air of nonchalance by lifting the corners of his lips. As Matthias resumed walking, the brief silence came to an end.
The young noble officers of the Royal Guard continued their lively chatter with animated expressions and tones. Their discussions about how to spend this fine spring weekend generally reached similar conclusions. Parties. Horse racing. Or perhaps a spring outing with their lovers.
"With your fiancée so far away, Captain, you'll be spending a lonely spring."
Light laughter rippled through the group at someone's jest. Matthias joined in with a chuckle.
At the end of last summer, the engagement party between Duke Herhardt and Lady Brandt had been successfully held. They had officially become betrothed, a fact that had been the talk of high society for quite some time.
Yet Matthias felt no particular change. The week after their engagement ceremony, he had been assigned to the Berg Regiment of the Royal Guard and returned to the capital, while Claudine, who had been staying at Arvis, went back to House Brandt. The Brandt estate was located in a city near Carlsbar, quite a distance from the capital Latz.
Therefore, apart from the public announcement of their engagement, nothing had changed from before. During the social season, Claudine would occasionally stay at the Brandt townhouse in Latz, but this had been customary even before their engagement. Back then too, they had attended social gatherings together just as they did now. The only difference was that they now had the clear title of being each other's fiancé(e).
"I'm planning to finish my officer service now. What about you, Matthias?"
At the question from a fellow officer walking beside him, all eyes turned to Matthias.
"I think I'll extend for about another year."
The unexpected answer drew surprised expressions from everyone.
"Weren't you supposed to focus on family affairs after getting married?"
"The wedding will probably be next year."
"I thought the timing for Duke Herhardt's wedding to become the talk of high society had passed—so you postponed it?"
Instead of answering, Matthias gave a slight nod of his chin. It wasn't so much a postponement as circumstances naturally leading that way. Matthias wanted to spend another year in the capital, while the Brandts wished for their daughter to begin her married life at Arvis.
When House Brandt first requested to extend the engagement by another year, House Herhardt agreed. There was no need to rush since Claudine was still young. Above all, both families wanted this marriage to be perfect from the very beginning.
After leaving the imperial palace, Matthias headed straight back to his residence.
The old stone mansion in central Latz had the deepest history among the Herhardt family's properties, second only to their ancestral home at Arvis. As the residence where generations of family heads had stayed while attending to affairs in the capital, it had a simpler, more solemn atmosphere compared to Arvis, which was imbued with the tastes of its mistresses.
"Two madams have arrived."
An attendant approached Matthias as he stepped out of his carriage.
"Mother and Grandmother?"
"Yes. They arrived this morning. They said they came to attend the imperial princess's upcoming wedding."
Nodding, Matthias slowly entered the mansion.
The imperial princess, whose pride had been wounded after being displaced from the position of Duchess Herhardt, had hastily sought a marriage partner and proceeded with her engagement. Her match was the grand duke of a neighboring principality—a counterpart not significantly inferior to House Herhardt.
"It's been a while, Matthias!"
Katharina von Herhardt, spotting Matthias entering the lobby alone, spread her arms wide with a face full of bright smiles.
"It seems we have to come all this way just to catch a glimpse of your face."
As always, Elise von Herhardt's demeanor was particularly dry.
Matthias approached the two women with an equally measured smile. It was an ordinary weekend afternoon, with roses in bloom.
"The evening breeze is lovely today, Leila."
Kyle Etman propped up his bicycle and approached with a grin. Leila Lewellin, who had been helping Bill Remmer organize the cart after returning from the garden, turned her head toward the familiar voice. Bill, holding a shovel, also glanced in that direction.
"Let's get married."
The words, so often repeated they no longer carried any surprise, followed the light greeting as if it were the most natural thing. After pausing briefly, Leila and Bill calmly resumed their tasks.
"Hello, Kyle."
Leila cheerfully greeted him while carrying leftover seedlings to transplant.
"I won't marry you."
Her added reply was so excessively kind that it sounded all the more resolute.
Ugh.
Bill sighed as if his chest ached. But Kyle, now thoroughly immune to rejection, merely chuckled lightly and casually began helping Leila without missing a beat.
"Alright. Today's rejection noted. I'll ask again tomorrow."
"No. Don't ask."
"I will. People's hearts change from day to day, you know."
The sheer audacity and persistence of this brat could easily be considered the finest in the entire empire.
Bill struggled to suppress his laughter as he discreetly observed Kyle and Leila.
The marriage proposals from that pest of the Etman family had been unrelenting since the tail end of last summer, persisting through several changing seasons.
When Bill first learned Kyle had proposed to Leila, he assumed it could only mean one of two things: either the brat had gotten drunk on liquor he couldn't even handle properly, or he'd lost his mind. That was the only reason he hadn't whacked him over the head with a shovel. Yet the next day, Kyle showed up perfectly sober and repeated the exact same words.
How many times had it been now?
Through autumn, winter, and now as spring ripened, Kyle had appeared without fail every single day, repeating his proposal—and getting rejected every time. At first, Bill had cheered for Leila's firm refusals, but lately, he was starting to feel a little sorry for Kyle. If the boy had just been spouting drunken nonsense, he would've reached for the shovel long ago. But when Dr. Etman had given his approval, Bill found himself considering a slight change in stance.
Last autumn, Dr. Etman had come to the cabin to speak with Bill. What did he think about sending Leila to university? When Bill hesitated, admitting that while his heart was willing, his means were not, the doctor smiled—just like his son—and made a suggestion. If the two young ones held affection for each other and wished to marry, why not let them wed and send them to university together?
It was a touching offer, but Bill had been too stunned to believe it, staring blankly at the doctor's face. To him, Leila was the best child in the world, but he wasn't ignorant of society's standards. He knew exactly what standing the Etman family held in Carlsbar.
As if reading his thoughts, the doctor continued.
"Kyle told me," he said. "Leila is the one who brought out the best in him, and he wants to live as a good man by her side."
Bill had been genuinely surprised that the brat who usually just loafed around the cabin eating their food had said such a thing to his own father.
"It was too sincere a sentiment to dismiss as childish foolishness."
"But Doctor, our Leila is..."
When Bill couldn't bring himself to finish, Dr. Etman's smile grew even kinder.
"I'm sure many would covet a bride from a good family with favorable conditions, but we know very well that Leila is already more than enough without any of that."
His smiling face was the spitting image of his son's.
"If, by next year when they must decide their paths, Kyle's feelings remain unchanged, I would like to give them my blessing. What do you think, Mr. Remmer?"
To speak from Bill Remmer's heart, that day he felt so overjoyed and grateful that he could have carried Dr. Etman—who was clearly an angel in human form—on his back and sprinted across the entire Berg Empire, no, across all of Carlsbar. For Leila's sake, he held it in, but truly, that was how he felt.
But Leila—what was he to do with that foolish girl?
Resolving that he must devise some countermeasures, Bill set down the shovel he'd been gripping into the storage shed with a clatter.
"By the way, Matthias. You know Dr. Etman's son, don't you?"
Lowering her voice slightly amidst the tedious chatter about the princess's marriage, Duchess Herhardt posed the question. With Katharina von Herhardt having retired early, only the mother and son remained at the spacious dinner table.
"Yes, Mother."
Matthias set down his water glass after taking a sip and answered impassively.
"Kyle Etman. Dr. Etman's only son."
"That's right. That boy—Kyle is getting married, I hear."
Her voice took on a sharp edge, as if forewarning her displeasure with the match. Matthias waited silently for her to continue.
"To an orphan raised by our territory's gardener—Leila, I believe her name was."
Leila. Matthias silently mouthed the name.
"She hardly seems a suitable bride for the Etman family."
Swallowing the name, Matthias continued in an even lower, drier tone.
"Which makes it all the more absurd. All the effort Grandmother put into finding him a good match has gone to waste, how laughable."
Her voice grew increasingly irritable.
Though Matthias offered no further response, his mother cheerfully prattled on about the marriage rumors surrounding Kyle Etman that had recently set Arvis abuzz. Mrs. Etman, who had strained every nerve to secure a titled in-law, still seemed displeased with Leila but appeared unable to sway her husband and son's determination.
Barring unforeseen circumstances, Leila would marry the physician's son and attend university. They would set up their newlywed home here in Latz and study together. Once the coming summer had passed. Once the season of roses had come and gone.
"Grandmother was deeply disappointed. She was always so fond of Dr. Etman's son."
"Yes. She was."
Matthias set down his cutlery and gripped his napkin. His knuckles stood out white.
"Poor Mrs. Etman, truly. She was a lady of far greater dignity than her station, but now she'll lose all the social standing she painstakingly built up by taking in that ridiculous daughter-in-law."
She took a sip of wine to wet her lips.
"What noblewoman would seek friendship with a lady who accepts such a lowborn orphan as her heir's match?"
"The situation may yet change."
Matthias met his mother's gaze with perfect posture.
"They haven't married yet."
"I doubt it, Matthias. If the situation could change, Mrs. Etman wouldn't be bedridden with distress. Dr. Etman's resolve is unshakable, and above all, they say Kyle is utterly smitten with that orphan."
Tsking, his mother expressed pity for the physician's wife who would soon be cut off from society.
"She is noticeably pretty, I'll grant. Letting our son associate with such a girl was the root of this trouble."
As she rang the bell, waiting maids brought out dessert.
"To worm her way into Mrs. Etman's position like this. That girl is truly brazen. Or should I say clever?"
She shrugged lightly and picked up her dessert fork.
"Though it's absurd to blame the girl. The true fool is Mrs. Etman's son, who's tarnishing his family name over some girl."
Having reached her desired conclusion, Elise von Herhardt smoothly changed the subject.
As the familiar, tedious names of high society circulated once more, Matthias remained silently at the table.
Leila.
The name lingered on his tongue like the aftertaste of the wine he'd sipped.
Leila. Leila Lewellin.