Chapter 66
Chapter 66
Translation: godsn
Another letter had arrived. This one was considerably thick.
"What do you plan to do, Mr. Remmer?"
The postman asked in a hushed voice. Through autumn and into winter, he had become Bill's secret accomplice in intercepting Kyle's letters. It meant his heart was just as heavy as Bill's.
"We can't keep hiding them forever."
"I know."
Bill nodded with a deep sigh.
"I'll tell her... I'll tell Leila."
"Yes. You should. I won't say a word."
"Sorry for dragging you into this."
"I know it's all for Leila's sake. No one's more torn up about this than you, Mr. Remmer."
The postman smiled as if he understood perfectly.
Having been the one who delivered little Leila Lewellin to Arvis all those years ago, he knew better than anyone. How drastically Bill Remmer's life had changed before and after that moment. That it was love for the child that had transformed him, and that this transformation had made him a far happier man.
After the postman left, Bill took the letter back to the cabin. Leila was out working, so the house stood empty.
As he moved to place the new letter in the drawer where he'd been collecting them, Bill impulsively grabbed the entire bundle instead. If he told her the truth, Leila would be disappointed and angry. He feared that, yet he couldn't keep up this charade any longer.
Tying the letters together with string, Bill set them down at the edge of the dining table.
He resolved to tell her tonight. Leaving them conspicuously here would prevent him from cowardly keeping silent again. Strangely, this resolve brought him some relief.
However he looked at it, letting Leila make the choice was right. And he would respect whatever decision she made.
After selecting a plump hen from the coop for dinner, Bill strode purposefully toward the duke's glass greenhouse. He was heading to the storage shed beside the greenhouse to chop firewood for the hearth after finishing his usual rounds of tending the flowerbeds when a familiar voice called out.
"Hey there, Bill!"
It was the animal keeper, an old friend who'd worked at Arvis alongside him for years, approaching with a grin.
"For heaven's sake, don't stack firewood near the generator," he said with a chuckle."The butler's orders."
Bill's brow furrowed deeply.
"That damn monster's become our master now, has it?"
Ever since that bizarre thing called electricity was brought to the estate, a generator had been installed in the storage shed. Supposedly it produced electricity by running, but to Bill it was just a headache-inducing noise machine.
"I'll handle it my way, don't fret."
Grumbling, Bill redirected his steps toward the shed beside the greenhouse. The moment he opened the door, the generator's whirring assaulted his eardrums.
"Goddamn it! That noise is unbearable every single time!"
Bill glared at the electric generator like it was his mortal enemy. Their shared aversion to the dizzying modern contraptions pouring into their world was another deep commonality between Bill Remmer and the duke's grandmother.
Staring down the shed-sized intruder that had shattered the storeroom's former peace, Bill defiantly stacked firewood right beside the generator. At least this makeshift barrier dulled the horrible noise somewhat, making work more bearable.
"Today that blasted thing's louder than ever."
Shaking his head, Bill began moving firewood from the inner stacks to pile beside the roaring generator.
The old days were better.
Today he understood the grandmother's oft-repeated phrase more deeply than ever.
Children's reactions to school breaks fell into extremes—either leaping for joy or sinking into sorrow.
Among the children who showed the latter reaction, little Monica, who had fallen into the deepest sorrow, had left tear stains all over Leila's skirt once again before finally heading home today. Leila waved back at the child for a long time as she kept turning around, waving her hand, and sniffling while walking away. The thought of leaving this school seemed like it would wound Monica deeply, and that was what weighed most heavily on Leila's mind.
Before moving to her new post, she absolutely had to say her goodbyes to the children she'd spent time with.
Having made up her mind, Leila returned to the classroom and busily packed her belongings. If she wanted to roast the chicken, she'd have to start dinner preparations earlier than usual. On her way back, she planned to buy the gardener's new socks and sweater, and maybe even prepare a nice bottle of wine to share. She was sure the gardener would feel disappointed when she told him she'd be working in another city starting next semester. A drink might be necessary to smooth things over.
As she took off her indoor shoes and was about to put on her outdoor ones, Leila suddenly burst into laughter.
'As if that would stop me from taking them?'
The nonsensical words the Duke had thrown at her when he saw the shoes she'd left by the bench on the night of the charity performance suddenly came to mind. The more she thought about it, the more astonishing it was that the Duke could even say something like that. She'd thought he was the kind of man who wouldn't crack a single joke until the day he lay in his coffin.
Perhaps it was because the season of hushed silence had descended upon the world.
These days, even her relationship with that man had settled into tranquility. At first, even that had made her uneasy, but at some point, she'd begun to relax. She was curious about the reason, but she didn't want to dwell on it too deeply. Maybe it was simply that her interest had faded. That was what she wished for most of all.
After firmly buttoning up her coat, Leila left the school with brisk steps. She loaded the box of her belongings into her bicycle basket and pedaled toward the city at a speed faster than usual. Since the basket was already full, she tightly tied the bulkier items to the rear seat with rope.
"Give my regards to Mr. Remmer," said the grocer who had helped her load her things, smiling.
"I will. See you again, sir."
"Aye. Be careful, Leila! If you fall and break the wine, Bill Remmer might just bawl his eyes out."
Leila responded to his silly joke with a hearty laugh.
The wind was chilly, but the sunlight was clear and warm. Leila sped down the street, bathed in the brilliant golden hues of the late afternoon. She thought it was a good day. That is, until she turned toward Arvis and sensed an atmosphere unlike any ordinary day.
"Leila! Leila!"
It was just as Leila stopped her bicycle upon seeing a fire carriage racing toward the ducal residence. Mrs. Mona, her face a mess of tears, came running toward her in a frenzy and grabbed her hand.
"What in the world is going on, ma'am? Why is Arvis—?"
Leila's gaze, darting around in confusion, stopped at the plume of smoke rising from the direction of the glass greenhouse connected to the ducal residence.
"Don't tell me there's a fire?"
"It's worse than that! The generator exploded and half the glass greenhouse collapsed, and—can you believe it?—they're saying it's Mr. Remmer's fault!"
"What? How could it be Bill's fault?"
"They're saying the generator exploded because of something Mr. Remmer did, but I'm so beside myself I can't even make sense of it. Because of this, even His Grace was injured, and now the entire mansion is in an uproar. The flames seem to have been put out quickly, but the constables are— Oh, Mr. Remmer!"
Leila gasped in horror and sprinted toward the scene when she spotted Bill Remmer being escorted into a carriage by the constables. Bill, his face pale and dazed as if he'd lost his soul, looked utterly at a loss when his eyes met Leila's.
"What's going on, Bill? They're saying it's your fault? That can't be true, can it? It's a misunderstanding, right?"
"It's fine, Leila. It's fine. It's nothing serious."
He forced a smile, but his face was already deathly pale.
"Step aside, please."
The officer who had been holding Bill Remmer commanded Leila. When she stood her ground without moving, his expression turned menacing. Startled, Mrs. Mona hurried over and frantically pulled Leila away.
"Uncle!"
Leila cried out as she watched Bill being practically shoved into the police car. With desperate gestures as if urging her to step back, Bill forced a laugh that sounded more like a sob.
"Go home now! I-I'll be back soon, so don't worry. Understand? Leila..."
Bill parted his lips as if to say something more, but the officers, showing no patience for further delay, roughly pushed him into the backseat. The car drove away from Arvis, leaving behind Leila's desperate cries calling after him.
Staggering, Leila collapsed to the ground as servants from Arvis rushed to her side in a flurry. The moment they helped her up, she saw him—Duke Herhardt standing at the foot of the mansion's entrance stairs. Perhaps their eyes had met, but hot tears welled up instantly, blurring her vision until she could see nothing more.
In the gloomy winter evening that followed the commotion, Leila's weeping echoed long and mournfully.
———
Leila stepped out of the police station with hollow eyes. Though she had managed to pull herself together enough to follow after Bill's arrest, there was nothing she could do.
The accident had been caused by an overheated generator exploding after being blocked by a piled stack of firewood, collapsing the warehouse wall. The debris had shattered one side of the greenhouse, and of all times, Mrs. Mona had been inspecting the flower beds right by that very wall when it happened. A maid had shielded her with her own body, so the glass shards hadn't cut too deeply, but the real issue was the broken bones from the fall. And needless to say, the once-praised "heavenly" glass greenhouse of Arvis and its rare flowers had been ruined beyond repair.
'We know Mr. Remmer didn't intend for this, but since the accident happened regardless, we can't say he's entirely without blame. And with Mrs. Mona injured, all the more so...'
Even the sympathetic officer who had arranged for Leila to visit Bill could only offer despairing words.
'If the Herhardt ducal family shows leniency, that's one thing, but otherwise, there's nothing we can do.'
Helping Leila up after she had knelt in desperate pleading, he let out one long sigh after another.
'If he's punished... will Uncle really go to prison?'
'That's not certain yet, but lawsuits take considerable time and money, and if proper compensation can't be made, then most likely...'
Trailing off, he avoided Leila's gaze, ending the conversation there. His reluctance to speak made it clear enough that what went unsaid was far from positive.
Leila returned to Arvis without even realizing how she moved. The only thing she could do for Bill now was to beg for the Duke's mercy. But was that even possible? With Mrs. Mona injured and the greenhouse Her Ladyship loved now gone. If she barged in recklessly, pleading and making a scene, only to make things worse for Uncle...
As Leila stared blankly at the mansion through the darkness, a faint glimmer of hope suddenly flickered in her tear-filled eyes.
Duke Herhardt—that man!
The face of Arvis's master surfaced in her mind, illuminated by the mansion's lights. Along with the strangely unfamiliar sides of him she had glimpsed throughout the past autumn—that unsettling, frightening man.
So perhaps the Duke might...
Clasping her hands together as if in prayer, Leila began trudging unsteadily through the rose garden deep in winter slumber. Emerging breathless from the wooded path to the riverside, white puffs of air escaped her lips. Beyond them, she saw the annex by the river, its windows alight.
Toward that light, Leila began to run.