Cry, Or Better Yet Beg
chapter 54. Taking Responsibility

Although Leyla did not show it, her attention was completely distracted throughout the board meeting. He laughed, talked, and moved around, but his focus was entirely on one person - the only one Duke Herhardt.

'What is he doing here?'

Anyone who saw Leyla's eyes would have been blind to not notice the mix of curiosity and fear within, as she carefully observed Matthias's face.

Matthias attended the meeting as if his only purpose was to ridicule him. But the Principal was delighted by Duke's sudden visit, and even more pleased when Matthias agreed to develop the school further.

Unbeknownst to the Headmaster, Matthias was not interested in anything related to the school. The same goes for that meeting. What she was interested in was the woman sitting in the far corner, trembling as she glanced at him periodically when she thought she was not looking.

“Nona Lewellin.”

Matthias' smile softened hearing the voice of a teacher calling his name.

“Nona Lewellin?”

The teacher hesitantly called out his name again.

Simultaneously, everyone in the conference room turned to look at the owner of the name. Matthias. Leyla stood still in the corner of the classroom, like a child being reprimanded. As Matthias continued to stare, Leyla was agitated and could not take her eyes off Matthias' gaze.

"Well….."

Leyla hesitated due to the weight of their gazes. Full of unwillingness, he raised his head, muttering,

“T-I'm sorry..”

The woman who trembled and bowed her head repeatedly to apologize was the exact opposite of the woman she remembered; an outspoken, fearless woman who always acted boldly before her. How sad. The more Matthias saw his lackluster demeanor, the more Matthias could feel his emotions weakening, a thread after thread.

“Now, Miss Lewellin...”.

"Please continue."

Matthias interrupted the frowning Headmaster as he opened his mouth to complain, his voice blunt and rough.

“With expansion proposal.”

The Headmaster looked at him with wide eyes. He smiled kindly at her, showing off his teeth.

“I want to hear it more details.”

"Ah yes."

Just by mentioning the building just now the Headmaster was already able to regain his excitement. Leyla's awkwardness had already faded from the Headmaster's mind, replaced with new architecture and costs.

As the discussion between Matthias and the Principal continues, Leyla helps Ny. Grever prepares the tea.

'Straighten your head, Leyla.'

He said to himself, doing his best to put himself in a calm, trance-like state in an attempt to control his nerves

'Stop acting like a fool and be reasonable.'

Unfortunately, his desperate wish did not come true. It disappeared into the air without fail as he approached Duke Herhardt.

Leyla's hand trembled in nervousness as she held the teacup. Matthias looked at him like a teacup clattering on a plate, following his every move. The more he looked at her, the more emotions he felt hopelessly, his eyes glazed with a mixture of fear and confusion that increased with each step he took towards her.

Matthias initially attends a school meeting in hopes of seeing Leyla who is very confused. However, upon seeing her suffering, the emotion in her heart was not happiness as she had thought before, but rather a kind of distorted pleasure.

͢

Matthias threw away his face. Leyla did not seem to be too intimidated by the man if she did not see him in person. Although Matthias still wished to see her spilling tea out of nervousness, it would be useless if she were publicly humiliated, pleasing to see her face flushed red from nervousness.

While Mathias turned his gaze elsewhere, he caught a glimpse of Leyla's hand from the corner of his eye, white and smooth as a wax doll skin as she placed the teacup on the table in front of her without spilling a single drop.

Leyla walked back to the corner of the classroom as the meeting continued.

His hands have a sensitive touch, with slender fingers and petal-like nails that sparkle at the ends. Matthias' mind constantly floated on the image of Leyla's hand during the long speech and the Principal's plea, which was, how frantic and harmless those hands were even when Leyla used them to hit and scratch them on that unforgettable summer afternoon. How small and delicate the woman's hand was as she grabbed it and braided it with her own.

Lost in a lustful memory of touching Leyla's lips while clenching her ground-covered hand to the ground, Matthias was barely aware of the end of the encounter.

The expansion of the school will be continued according to the agreement of all sponsors. Satisfied with the arrangement, the sponsors returned to their residences.

“May I look around the class for a bit?”

Matthias politely asked the Principal for permission. The Principal, who was already excited after the successful meeting, saw no reason to refuse, especially if it was a request from a sponsor who had made the most generous donation to the school.

“Of course, Duke.” The Headmaster immediately said. But other sponsors will be back, so I'm afraid I have no choice but to say goodbye to them.….”

Troubled, the Headmaster looked around the classroom. His eyes were fixed on Leyla, who was standing awkwardly in the corner of the classroom.

“Do you mind if I assign Miss Lewellin to guide you around?”

That was the answer he expected. Matthias got up steadily from his seat.

"Absolutely not. Let's do that.”

Leyla is in charge of the lower classrooms on the first level, located at the very end of the school corridor. When the students returned home the previous day, the heating had been turned off, so the classroom had become cold and humid.

Leyla turned on the lights. She walks rigidly around class, hoping her role as a guide ends once she takes her around. Matthias behaves perfectly as a loyal sponsor, checking out the school facilities, and thanks to that, Leyla is able to guide him around without too much fear and stress.

'A little more.'

“This is where young students learn..”.

Slam it!

The door slammed shut with a thunderous sound, cutting Leyla's explanation short. He gasped at the sound, his back erect in shock as he turned his head to the door. Standing there was Matthias, casually standing in front of the closed door.

“This must be Miss Lewellin.” class

Matthias broke the silence as he watched the teacher's desk closely. His belongings are neatly arranged on the surface, with his coat hanging on the back of the chair.

“Ya, right, Duke.”

Leyla retreated a little further to the window with small steps. His heart was pounding in his ears, like the constant pounding of heavy rain hitting the window.

She clung to a table near the window, unable to do anything but fidget helplessly as Matthias narrowed the distance between them.

“Pfft..why are you afraid? Have I ever said I'd hurt you?”

Matthias laughed, but his innuendo failed to give him any comfort. Staring calmly, smiling sweetly like honey, Duke was being ruthless as he watched her.

“You didn't even tell me that you were going to attend, so why...”.

“Do you think I'm stupid, Leyla?”

Matthias stopped at a distance of about two steps from him. He slowly clasped his hands behind his back.

“If you knew in advance that I would be attending the meeting, you wouldn't be here. You will avoid me by any means.”

Unable to refute her words, Leyla moistened her lips. “If there is anything else you want to say, please pass it on in Arvis.”

“Well, Leyla. I think it will be much better here.”

Matias grins. He stepped forward to the teacher's desk as Leyla desperately stared out the window into the hallway, hoping to find someone to ask for help.

“We can have a conversation now because of this classroom.”

Matthias lightly. Leyla gasped for breath, heard amidst the pleasant sound of rain on the glass. Turning his face away from her, he moved towards the table, observing the items neatly arranged on the table.

Chicken feather pen and suction paper.

A very beautiful porcelain doll.

A stack of unused pen tips inside a empty chocolate box.

His eyes stopped on the three ink bottles placed at the end of the table.

Blacker. Bluest. Redder.

With every color he saw, Matthias' lips widened into a grin. He reached out to a nearby bottle, which contained red ink.

After much pondering, Leyla lowered her head. Matthias was just checking the table, Leyla thought. He didn't want her to see his reaction.

Go ahead. Leyla clenched her hands in prayer, hoping for the return of the other teachers who had left to take the sponsors away. Meanwhile, Matthias had already unscrewed the ink bottle. Leyla heard the sound of the lid falling off, and Duke's movements finally caught her attention.

Hysteria attacked him.

“D... duke!”

Matthias has walked up to his chair. As if she was serving wine from a wine bottle, she gracefully tilted her bottle, pouring streams of red ink onto her coat as Leyla cried out in shock and worry.

Matthias retreated gracefully as Leyla rushed towards her coat that was hit by the ink stains, grasping the half-empty bottle lightly in her hands.

While taking out the handkerchief, Leyla hurriedly tried to remove the ink that stained her young gray coat.

"What the hell are you doing!"

Leyla lamented, but Matthias looked calm.

"Take responsibility."

Matthias' unreasonable answer left Leyla speechless, mouth agape, lips flushed.

With eyes glued to her lips, Matthias walked towards Leyla with a red ink bottle in her hand—she barely had time to react before Leyla put the bottle over her shoulder. The ink splashed onto her blouse, her skirt, her heels, made everything bright red.

The quarrel ended with Matthias pouring every drop of ink into his clothes. The glass bottle fell to the floor with a loud thud, until it stopped in front of his shoes. The paint had also been smeared by the bright red ink, but Matthias did not react.

Leyla was so angry that she wanted to scream. His mouth was open, but nothing came out. Still frozen, he gasped as if he was full of fear, the ink smeared on his upper body gleaming red as blood as he held back the urge to strangle something.

“What to do, Leyla?”

Glancing at the chaos caused by Matthias himself, he narrowed his eyes.

“I have to take responsibility.”

Despite the tragedy, his lips curved in delight.

“Thank you very much for your understanding for Miss Lewellin.” error

Walking beside Matthias, the Headmaster apologized once again.

After escorting the sponsor out of the school, the Headmaster and the other teachers rushed to meet Duke Herhardt, who was, only to be made dumbfounded by the sight they had witnessed inside their youngest grade—teacher bathed in scarlet ink pitifully alongside the duke who looked extremely concerned. .

“It was my fault,” reset Matthias. “I accidentally dropped the ink bottle on her; I really have to apologize to Miss Lewellin.”

“Although so, Your Majesty, this is your first time being in this place. I'm sorry for failing to show you the best side of our school.”

“I got a pretty pleasant visit here.”

As soon as they reached the school entrance, Matthias bid farewell to the panicked Principal.

“Nona Lewellin, please come with me.”

His gaze shifted from the Headmaster to Leyla, who was rubbing a stain on her blouse. The more he tried to rub it, the more ink faded, until his clothes looked like they belonged to someone who was seriously injured.

"No, I'm fine."

Leyla's voice trembled with anger. Despite the fear running through her, she stared at Matthias sharply. Matthias preferred her current attitude over her previous lackluster behavior, even though her eyes were still filled with fear.

“Nona Lewellin's. Please, just come with the Duke. He tried to apologize.”

The Headmaster chuckled as if it was a trivial matter, but his eyes, which were full of tension, told a different story.

“You did not bring a bike today, and it will rain! Do what Duke says.”

“Even if it rains, I have an umbrella, so I can walk home.”

Due to Leyla's stubborn rejection, the look on the Headmaster's face faded.

“I understand you, Ms. Lewellin.” Matthias said with a smile. “However, will you not scare the passersby who see you walking in the rain in clothes like now? Police officers will show up, thinking there might be a murder case.”

Leyla pursed her lips and looked at her clothes as everyone in the crowd laughed heartily at Matthias' joke. Like it or not, what he said was only the truth. The red ink stains on his white blouse did indeed make it seem like he had just committed a terrible murder.

Gaining a sharp gaze from the Headmaster, Madam Grever approached Leyla, who was stiff as a board. Getting into the car, Matthias calmly watched the sight.

With complete resignation, Leyla allowed herself to be dragged and put in the car like luggage. Matthias moved to the side, giving him a comfortable space to sit.

The car engine roared as the door closed