Ch.12: The Raven Gentleman

He turned the dial, and music began to flow out of the speakers. The stereo, which sat on a mahogany cabinet, played an opera aria, filling the cabin's silent drawing room in an instant.

Matthias changed the frequency a few times, settling down on the sofa once a waltz started playing. The melody was lilting and beautiful. His long fingers slowly tapped the armrest along with the beat. The clock on the credenza showed that it was five o'clock.

He briefly looked at the poorly-arranged vase of roses next to the clock, then shifted his gaze to the view out the open window. As evening approached, the air grew much cooler. The breeze blowing in from the river swayed his robe before shifting in the direction of the forest.

He reached and opened the small silver box on the table by the sofa. As he took a cigarette from the nearly-full box and lit it, the waltz came to a close. Listening to the lively string piece that followed, he took a slow drag of the cigarette. It was a quiet, tedious summer evening.

As the string piece came to a close, he picked up the pair of eyeglasses from the tray on which he had earlier them set down. He looked through the lenses and instantly felt dizzy.

Is that why she was always squinting? he wondered, recalling the scrunched- up face of Leyla as a young girl. Despite her shabby appearance, her eyes had always shone quite brightly.

This young girl, whose stay at Arvis was supposed to be temporary, was still in Matthias's world and had now grown into a woman.

In his mind, he superimposed the image of her as an unsightly young girl with that of her as a slender-faced young woman wearing these glasses with their thin, gold frames. That woman, whose eyes still shone brightly just as they had done when she was a girl, always gave off a fresh, sweet fragrance. It was the fragrance of the flower that filled Arvis's garden every summer, the rose.

Taking a long drag of his cigarette and slowly exhaling it, Matthias walked out to the balcony overlooking the river, holding the glasses loosely in his hand. As he playfully tossed the glasses into the air and caught then again, his shadow grew longer.

"Leyla..." he whispered. In his mind, the name was closely associated with the sweltering heat of the summer. "Leyla Llewellyn." It tickled his tongue as he said it, which irritated him slightly.

He went back inside and placed the glasses in the drawer of the credenza. As he closed the drawer, the image of the green eyes he had seen through those glasses faded from his mind as well.

He walked to the bathroom and took a long shower, then got dressed and combed his hair. By the time he left the cabin to attend dinner, he was back to being the perfect gentleman, Duke Herhardt.

It was an uneventful summer evening.

"Are you sure a raven didn't steal it?" Bill asked half-jokingly.

The dour-faced Leyla shrugged as she sat at the table. "Ugh... I sure hope not.

"It's possible. They go crazy for shiny things. Remember when that raven. stole your hairpin?" he said, laughing heartily. Once Leyla was reminded of this memory, her morose face gave way to a smile.

For her thirteenth birthday, Bill had bought her a bright, shiny hairpin. Of course, he hadn't picked it out himself, he had asked Chef Mona, who had chosen it after carefully observing other girls Leyla's age and seeing what kind of hair accessories were popular with them.

Leyla had treasured the pin so much, that she had been afraid to wear it, lest something happen to it. Eventually, Bill had told her that if she didn't start wearing it right away, he was going to throw it out. If he hadn't said this, it might have remained in a drawer in her room forever.

However, the pin met its cruel fate the very first day she wore it. She had set it down on a fence while working in the vegetable garden. Suddenly a raven had grabbed it in its beak and flown away. While previously Leyla had loved all birds, this incident had soured her feelings towards ravens.

"Let me know if you can't find it, Leyla," Bill said in a strained voice as if he were hegging her. "Don't make that face. I can buy you a new pair, no problem. Got it?"

Leyla nodded readily. "Yes, Uncle, I will." Even though she didn't want him. to buy her new glasses, she was humoring him because she was confident that her old pair was still sitting right on the dock where she had left it.

However, when she went to the river the next morning at the crack of dawn, all that she found was a disappointment. When she couldn't find the glasses anywhere on the dock, she checked the area surrounding the cabin, and even the riverside, but they were nowhere to be found.

Her apron was in the exact spot she had left it; only her glasses had disappeared. She wondered for a moment whether the wind had blown the glasses away, but if this had been the case then the apron wouldn't have still been in place. She was certain that she had removed her glasses first, and then placed the apron on top of them. It didn't make sense that the glasses would have disappeared on their own.

Unless…

A possibility occurred to her as she snooped around in front of the cabin. Soon, however, she shook her head and dismissed it as absurd. The duke would have no reason to take them, right?

With slumped shoulders, she turned back. I should've come looking for them sooner, she thought. She had put off returning to the dock for fear that she would run into the duke.

"Was it really you?" she muttered, glaring at a raven perched on a tree branch.

The bird cocked its head a few times, as if feigning innocence, then flew away deep into the forest.

Leyla clenched her fists to strengthen her resolve and started walking with longer strides than before. She was going to return to the cottage and eat breakfast so that she could think about what to do next with a fresh mind.

The culprit who stole her glasses had to be one of two suspects: either a raven or the duke.

A snow-white pigeon was sitting outside the window. When Kyle happened to notice it, he smiled and opened the window.

"Hi, Phoebe."

It didn't fly away even when Kyle reached towards it and casually removed the tiny note tied to its leg.

Phoebe was Leyla's messenger pigeon. Having been fascinated by birds since childhood, Leyla had once read a book about pigeons that could deliver letters, which had kindled an ambition in her to own one of her own.

"Yeah, sure, go ahead, "Kyle had said sarcastically, snickering. To him, the idea of such a bird showing up at his window sounded fantastical, like something out of an ancient legend.

And yet, the tenacious Leyla Llewellyn had succeeded. Persisting in the face of several failed attempts, she had eventually managed to train the pigeon.

It had now been two years since the late-spring day when Phoebe had first shown up at Kyle's window. Hardly believing his eyes, he opened the window and found a pigeon with a note tied to its legs staring at him. It was a beautiful bird with shiny white feathers and ink-black eyes.

The note Leyla had sent along with Phoebe that day was only one sentence long: Hello, Mr. Ettman.

However, Kyle had been able to read many more things into that one short sentence: He could see Leyla jumping for joy after accomplishing her goal. He could see Leyla laughing excitedly with sparkling eyes. He could see his dear friend Leyla happy.

To think, a messenger pigeon in this modern-day world, Kyle had thought, chuckling at the absurdity of the idea. And yet, he could understand the appeal. To Leyla, Phoebe functioned like a telephone. Since there was no actual telephone in the cottage, Phoebe was extremely useful.

However, the note brought by Leyla's messenger today carried tragic news: Kyle, I've lost my eyeglasses. I have to look for them, so I won't be able to go to the library with you. I'm really sorry.

While Kyle solemnly read the note, Phoebe flew off, having fulfilled her duty. Kyle carefully folded the note, put it between the pages of a thick book on his desk, and hurried out of his room.

"Kyle! Are you going to see Leyla again?" Mrs. Ettman asked with a frown as she saw Kyle rushing down the stairs.

Kyle simply smiled at her, without slowing down.

"You need to study. Kyle!"

"I'll study at Leyla's, Mom!" he energetically replied before dashing out the front door.

The sleek chrome bicycle smoothly departed from the Ettman estate. Once he entered Arvis, Kyle felt more urgency and started pedaling faster. He had no interest in going to the library. He had only planned to go there so that he could be with Leyla. He was very concerned about her now.

She had worked so hard to buy those glasses. His heart ached as he thought of that silly girl making and selling all that jam by herself just to avoid being a burden to Bill.

"Huh, Kyle?" Leyla said with a start. She had been hanging laundry on a clothesline when his bicycle had screeched to a stop right in front of her.

"Did you find your glasses?" he asked.

Her face turned sullen. "No. Not yet."

Unable to bear seeing her sad, he blurted, "I'll buy you a new pair!"

She stared at him for a moment then quietly asked, "You, Kyle? Why?"

Only then did Kyle realize what he had said. His emotions had gotten the better of him, and he had briefly forgotten what kind of person she was.

"Thanks, Kyle, but I could never let you do that," she said, smiling sweetly to avoid embarrassing him. "And anyway, I really want to find them." Her mouth was smiling, but her eyes were serious with determination. Kyle knew those eyes well. They were the eyes of someone who would never back down, no matter what.

"I'm going to find them.”

Leyla spent days searching the forest. The doctor's son helped her. Finding their vain efforts admirable, Matthias feigned ignorance. He was also quite amused by the sight of them checking innocent bird nests.

Has she really not figured it out? Or does she not want to believe it?

Matthias had stopped partway up the cabin's external staircase and was gazing at the vast forest adjacent to the river. He was starting to grow tired of watching Leyla and that boy's folly. It no longer felt as worthwhile to take time out of his busy schedule to come here for this purpose, as he had done for the past several days in a row.

He continued up the staircase, sweeping back his hair, which had been ruffled by the wind from the river. Following behind him, Hessen quietly opened the door and took a step back.

Matthias headed straight for the drawing room. Rather than sit on the sofa like usual, he leaned against the wall and looked out the window overlooking the forest.

"Marquess Lindman will be arriving today around noon," Hessen said.

"Riette? That's earlier than scheduled."

"Lady Elise has instructed me to pay special attention to the luncheon. She requested that Your Grace attend as well, if you have no prior engagements."

"Yes, I'll be there."

A gust of wind caused the chiffon curtains half-covering the window to slowly balloon out into the room. When they flattened again, Matthias narrowed his eyes, which were directed at the empty, sunny path down below. Leyla was under a tree at the end of that path, slowly circling it with her hands clasped together.

Maybe she's not so foolish after all.

Snickering quietly, Matthias turned his attention back to the report Hessen was delivering to him. Meanwhile, the middle-aged maid poured Matthias a cold glass of lemon water. The ice in the glass clinked pleasingly.

The butler and maid left after completing their tasks. With the long-necked glass in his hand, Matthias gazed at the scenery out the window. Once the butler and maid were fully out of sight, Leyla began to approach the river.

Soon after, the cabin's silence was broken by the sound of the doorbell. Matthias slowly rose from his seal.

Chapter end