Cry, Or Better Yet Beg
chapter 13. the moonlight night

Unlike the day when she left the pavilion angrily, Leyla now looked like a gentle and precocious woman. Matthias looked at the 'soft' Leyla while lethargicly leaning against the sofa.

“I am very sorry for this sudden irreverence, Your Grace.”

Leyla hesitantly opened her mouth while lowering her head to avoid her gaze. His dense eyelashes were very long and straight. Her long eyelashes seemed to be the reason why she left a gentle impression as she lowered her eyes gently.

“I'm sorry, but I have a question.”

Leyla who had licked her lips several times, finally managed to open her mouth. But at that moment, the phone started ringing.

Matthias slowly stood up to pass Leyla as he retreated. He picked up the phone. It seemed like it was a business call regarding a complicated contract that he had to pay attention to.

Leyla looked a little surprised when she saw Matthias on the phone. He skillfully led the conversation. Even with a brief smile and his polite manner of speaking, he could feel the power and dignity that controlled the person on the line. He looked like the perfect Duke of Arvis whom everyone admired.1

I mean, it's impossible.

The suspicion that the man took his glasses off felt ridiculous at this moment.

I felt like I was doing something useless….. Is that a crow?

While judging how many crow nests there might be in the forest, Leyla silently greeted the duke, who was on the phone, and was about to leave. He suddenly turned his head towards Leyla while holding the phone mouthpiece.

"Wait."

His short command sounded like someone else's. His voice was very different from the perfect Duke of Arvis voice he heard while he was talking on the phone.

Leyla stopped in a strange position. Matthias refocused on his call as if nothing had happened. Leyla realized another trait of Matthias while watching him.

Even at the time of his social conversation, Duke Herhardt's eyes remained calm. His smile was calm too. But her posture was straight and graceful. Although the caller could not see him, he did not lose his posture. Leyla thought maybe it was a trait embedded within her body.

After a few minutes of calling, he went back to the front of the table and noted something. Leyla nervously clasped her wriggling hands from behind her back. By the time he suspected he must have forgotten his presence, Matthias' eyes were finally on him.

"Tell me."

"What?"

“What you will say.”

Leyla gently lowered her head as Matthias' gaze made her uncomfortable.

“Ah…..The thing is, my glasses. The day I jumped into the river…..I'd like to know if you see my glasses on the dock.”

"By good. Looks like I haven't seen it....”.

Matthias slowly stood up from the sofa and began to approach him.

“Maybe I hid it.”

“Eh….. What?”

Leyla was so shocked that she raised her head.

"My glasses. Did you really hide it?”

"What do you think?"

“I don't think you would do such a thing.”

Leyla replied with a slight frown.

"Why?"

Matthias tilted his head as if he was amused. His slightly quivering black hair on his forehead resembled the feather of a crow.

“Because... it.. it's not polite.”.

Leyla curled up so as not to back down.

After days of searching for a crow's nest with Kyle, he managed to gather his courage and came here. Even though he disliked Matthias, he could at least communicate with the duke, unlike a crow. He felt it better to immediately eliminate one of the two suspects, the crow or the duke. But he's not sure now. He was not sure if the duke, who only added to his confusion with his mysterious words, was really a person he could communicate with.

The two looked at each other without saying a word for some time. This moment would last much longer if the butler did not return to the pavilion with an important telegram and letter.

Leyla headed to the window with a slight hue on her cheek.

After a brief conversation with the butler, Matthias glanced at Leyla. Her red lips seemed slightly slanted, although Leyla was not entirely sure as her glasses were gone.

"I……"

With all the courage he had, he opened his mouth but Matthias cut him off by raising the tip of his chin towards the door.

It was a short and cold gesture to announce that there was no room left for Leyla Lewellin.

"Birds. What's with your weird hobby all of a sudden?”

Riette looked at the cage with a puzzled look. Inside that beautiful golden cage, there was a golden bird.

“Are you now planning on raising birds and shooting them yourself?”

Riette's jokes invite laughter of people sitting around the living room of the mansion suite. Matthias laughed. But the answer is not heard. While Riette added a few more silly words, the servants entered carrying champagne.

A large dinner was held at Herhardt's place to celebrate the gathering of all the relatives who spent the summer together. Matthias, Claudine, Riette, and other nobles of the same age had moved into the living room after finishing their dinner. At Claudine's special request, they were in the living room of the main room, a space that only Matthias used. Matthias, who rarely shares his own space, seems generous enough to his fiancee for giving him pure permission.

The engagement between Matthias and Claudine was pretty much confirmed by her relatives. It is obvious why Countess Brandt visits Arvis every year with her only daughter and how the Herhardt family gives a striking welcome whenever the Brandt family comes to their estate.

This engagement did not surprise any of her relatives. It was as if the natural thing had come true. They would be more surprised if Matthias chose another woman.

“The bloated doesn't seem to know what kind of person Duke Herhardt is.”

As the bird flew out of the open cage, it perched on Matthias' shoulder. Riette laughed cheerfully.

“A bird falls in love with an expert bird hunter. Should I call this stupid or pathetic?”

The bird moved its finger as Matthias extended his hand.

“Claudine, what do you think?”

Everyone's eyes were fixed on Claudine after listening to the question that Riette was asking.

"By good. I don't know."

Claudine glanced at the chirping bird that perched on Matthias' finger.

“So you could say the bird is stupid but pathetic.”1

The laughter returned because of the compromise.

The atmosphere between people in the reception room was friendly because it had met for years. The names that everyone knows, the world that everyone has, the same interests that everyone has. It was truly a society that only they could enter.

“The cage, what is its name?”

Claudine asked a friendly question.

“If you don't already have a name for it, do you want me to give a name to you?”

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“It's not worth your efforts, Miss.”

As Matthias averted his gaze and looked at Claudine, he smiled. Her smile looked the same as before, but it somehow felt a little different.

“A bird is just a bird.”

His answer was heartless in contrast to the gentle gaze of the birds chirping on his fingers.

“As expected, poor stupid bird.”

Riette clucked while showing her sympathy for the bird.

“He likes hunters who don't allow his own name!”

A group of people laughing and chatting while drinking champagne did not leave the suite until late at night.

Passing by the waiters who came to clean the reception room, Matthias left the mansion for a night walk alone. His face, which was no longer smiling, remained as calm as night.

The trap had already been installed, so it was time to check it out.

That's why he's sure it'll get caught.

Matthias walks through the rose garden. The wind gets cooler as it gets closer to the river and then passes through the forest. His steps came to a halt in front of the pavilion along the river. The moonlight is white.

Entering the living room of the pavilion, Matthias approached the front of the console table and opened the drawer. The neatly placed glasses sparkled, reflecting the moonlight.

Holding his glasses as if they were his strings, Matthias laid his tired body on the sofa.

What do I want from the feed I prepared?

Matthias thought while looking at his glasses. He had trouble answering but he was impatient. He was sure he would find out once he caught her.

The night grew late as he repeatedly threw his glasses up and down. It was a moonlit night.

That was a crazy act.

Leyla clearly realized it. Sneaking into the Duke pavilion was something no one with the right sanity would do.

"Yes. Let's sleep.”

Leyla, who was wandering around the room, dropped herself onto the bed. He wrapped himself in a thin blanket and closed his eyes tightly.

"My glasses…"

But he can't sleep.

Leyla was confident in her decision. Even though he knew he was acting silly, he was determined.

He needs to get his glasses.

Leyla jumped to her feet. He figured Matthias couldn't possibly take him to his house so he was sure it was somewhere in the pavilion.

The place was secluded and it was almost midnight so Leyla thought it would be fine. The moon today is so bright that the darkness does not frighten her.

"Yes. Yeah, right."

Leyla opened the door with a reassuring mutter. The cabin was filled with a quiet darkness. Uncle Bill's snoring is the only distraction.

While picking up the lace scarf hanging on the door, Leyla rushed out of the cabin. Every time he thought again, he thought of the countless fruits he had gathered and the jam he boiled to buy a glass.

“After all it's my glasses.”

As the glittering Schulter River was seen in the distance, Leyla suppressed her anxiety by talking to herself. Her soft blond hair that was on her waist rippled to the rhythm of her quick footsteps.

But the more I thought about it, the duke was a strange man.

Leyla suddenly thought as she walked down the pier connected to the pavilion.

Does he like things as glittering as crows?

Amidst her questions mixed with resentment, Leyla arrived in front of the pavilion where her glasses were hidden. He realized that he was wearing his pajamas but immediately ignored him because it was midnight and no one there saw him.

Leyla took a deep breath as she stepped forward.

As expected.

Leyla Lewellin's actions once again did not exceed Matthias' expectations.

As he heard footsteps climbing the stairs getting closer, Matthias' breathing became slower. Although she left the door open for easy access, Leyla finally entered through the hallway window after long wandering outside.

She was a girl who did not deviate from her expectations, but she always exerted a slight influence.1

Matthias lay still on the sofa and listened to his approach. \*\*\*\*\*\* Leyla's relief followed after the hardwood floor was creaking smooth.

Matthias silently sneered and lowered his gaze from the ceiling. It was not long before Leyla entered the reception room. He initially looked at his surroundings with a stiff attitude, and finally took a careful step forward. He began his search by the window.

Matthias' eyes, already accustomed to the darkness, instantly caught Leyla's figure. The moonlight that entered through the window shone on Leyla, who was standing in front of the table.

By the time Matthias narrowed his eyes, Leyla had moved on to her next destination, the cabinet. The skirt circling her slender calf trembled along with her footsteps. A white dress made of a thin material that accentuates her body line is characteristically obvious as if she is wearing a nightgown.

What do I want from the feed I prepared?

Matthias stroked the slender temple of the glasses with his finger. Its cold and delicate texture made his consciousness clear. Meanwhile, Leyla now moved to the front of the console table placed directly across the sofa where Matthias lay.

Matthias looked back at Leyla's back, which was illuminated by moonlight.

That lady.

Matthias acknowledged the answer to his question.

The reason why he waited nonstop while setting up this pitiful trap.

To have that woman. The woman, Leyla Lewellin, was no longer a little girl.1

“Are you looking for this?”

Matthias continued to shake the glasses in his hand and opened his lips.

Leyla, who was just about to touch the console table drawer, quickly turned around. He looked like he was going to faint. He staggered backwards while his trembling hands covered his mouth.

Matthias slowly got up. As he sat down, leaning against the sofa, moonlight shone on his face, which had been in darkness all along.

The eyes of the two men met on a moonlit night.