Leyla stepped out of the mansion just as the sky began turning a rose-tinted colour and was welcomed by a soothing wind as she exited the rose garden entrance.
Leyla walked confidently, clutching a gold coin in her right hand. Her bold steps, however, didn't last too long when she saw Claudine sitting under the pergola near the full-bloom flower roses. The brunette-haired girl was having a fun conversation with her cousins, and she gave a vague smile when her gaze fell on Leyla's.
"Goodbye, Leyla."
Claudine was the one who greeted her first. The young men sitting next to Claudine all looked at Leyla with their gazes drawn to her. But thankfully, Duke Herhardt wasn't among them. So Leyla quickly replied with a single bow to her farewell, but Claudine remained silent.
After she was out of their sight, Leyla began to run. She couldn't wait to escape from the weird and unknown world and get back to Uncle Bill's cottage as soon as she could. But it seemed her worst misfortune came at the very last moment.
Leyla tripped at the crosswalk of the garden and the forest path. Her gold coin mockingly rolled down the paving stone and landed on the tip of a man's shoe. She frowned at the spinning gold coin, and the man lightly stepped on the coin with the tip of his shoe to quell its tinkling sounds.
Leyla moved her eyes slowly to the well-polished shoes, up to the long legs, and finally to the man's face that loomed upon her.
It was Duke Herhardt.
Leyla startled and immediately sprang to her feet. Her white dress had blood and dust stains from her scratched knee. With a composed expression on his face, the Duke clearly stared at Leyla with his red lips, which seemed to be slightly curved to one side.
Leyla pressed her lips together and brushed the dust from her clothes. Meanwhile, Duke Herhardt took a leisurely step back, then the coin under his foot shone brightly, reflecting the sunshine.
Leyla hunkered down her body in front of the Duke, even though she wanted to leave the place right away. Just as she was about to stretch out her arms to take the coin, She remembered what she had been told by Claudine.
'No better than a dog.'
Those words had scratched a deep wound in Leyla's heart. She took the coin and politely bowed to Duke Herhardt.
Leyla didn't dare to lift her head. So all she could do was stoop her head as low as she could and hold her breath. As she bowed, surprisingly, the pain she felt when she fell was no longer there.
Leyla left the Duke and continued her run. Because of her injured knee, she couldn't run as fast as she could before. At the same time, she kept pushing her bloodied legs; she felt something sprouting from the bottom of her heart to the tip of her throat.
Leyla realized what it was after passing through the forest path and facing the light from the cottage.
It was sadness.
***
"I'll give this for you, uncle."
Bill's hairy brows grew to wrinkle when Leyla put out the gold coin to Bill in a hushed way, "What's this?"
"A gold coin."
"You think I don't know that?"
"Lady Claudine gave it to me."
"Claudine? Ah, that little noble lady." Bill showed her a friendly nod as if he recognized her.
Leyla had been feeling down for the next two days, ever since she was invited to the mansion. She didn't talk to anyone or go for a walk in the woods or the garden. Bill realized he missed the good old days, especially that child's upbeat attitude. Since the child was silent, the world became quiet. And he wasn't a fan of the quiet world.
"Can you tell me why you want to give me that money?"
Leyla sat in a straight pose, facing her dear uncle, while Bill leaned a little towards the table. "Because I think it's worth a lot."
"It's worth a lot?"
"… Even though receiving this coin made me sad at first, I couldn't possibly throw it away because of its high value. So I thought that if I gave you this coin, I might at least start repaying you after being indebted to you for so long."
"Damn it."
Leyla flinched mildly at Bill's harsh mutter, but she didn't seem to mind his curse.
Bill had been concerned about the nobles hurting Leyla's tender heart ever since she arrived in Arvis. Since all the aristocrats were the same to Bill, he had expected that they would bully the child because of her low status.
The majority of them were arrogant, rude, and insulting.
Bill was afraid of making the child shed tears if he asked what had happened at the mansion, but he had a good idea of how badly the child was treated there.
"Leyla."
When he called her name, Leyla gave a childish grinning, despite her best efforts to act mature for her age.
"Since you earned the money, take it."
"The money I earned?"
"Yep, it's the money you made while working. It's a pain in the neck to deal with a bored aristocrat, but you pulled it off. So you can confidently claim your prize."
Leyla's brows furrowed in bewilderment. Bill gulped down the thick glass of beer in front of him while gazing at the pondering child. "Really?" Leyla tapped on the gold coin with her head tilted.
"That's right." Bill cleaned the beer from his beard with the back of his sleeve.
'The money I earned.'
Leyla's expression became noticeably brighter. Bill cut up a large piece of meat and set it on her plate, "Welcome to the adult world, Leyla."
"Adult? Me?"
"Well, you're considered an adult if you can make money on your own. That's exactly what you did."
"But I just made one gold coin…."
"In this world, there are plenty of adults who can't even make a buck. So far, you've had a good start. You're going to be a pretty good adult because you're off to such a good start."
He started piling bread and baked vegetables onto Leyla's plate. A large amount of food caused Leyla's eyes to widen. "Uncle, it's too much."
"Eat a lot, because you've been chewing at your food like a bird for days."
"But…."
"You know right? I like kids who eat like a cow."
Leyla erupted in laughter. "Uncle, if I eat well, I'll grow a lot right?"
"I suppose so. Why? Did anyone make fun of you because you're too short?"
"Not really, but I think I look too young. So it upsets me."
'That's because you are still a child.' But Bill refrained from saying what everybody already knew.
Leyla enjoyed chopping up her meat with ease. Bill thought she had grown a lot in the last few months. Her body no longer resembled an iron skewer, and she had a lovely face.
Her natural frame was small and slim, similar to that of a bird. So it seemed that she would not be able to mature and grow a large physique. There was no doubt in his mind that Leyla would blossom into a beautiful lady.
Bill was taken aback when he found himself complimenting Leyla's beauty and shook his head to gather himself. For impoverished women, beauty was poison and would bound them to run into trouble.
That's why Bill was adamant about sending the girl somewhere he could trust. He didn't trust the orphanage because he believed it was the perfect place for ruining a child's life.
'The world is a terrible place. Humans are wretched.'
Bill drank the remaining portion of his beer while cursing the people who had abandoned the child in his care.
It was hard to explain why the life of Bill Remmer was loaded with such anxiety. He yearned for the days when his life was filled with nothing but flowers and trees.
"Uncle. If I earn money, I'm free to spend it, right?" Leyla wondered as she chewed her food properly.
"Of course. Do you have something you want?"
"I ran out of pages in my notebook. I want to buy a new one."
"Of course, go ahead."
"Can I buy colored pencils as well?"
"Sure."
"Uncle, is there anything you need?"
"Why? Do you want to buy something for me as well?"
"Yes."
"What if I asked you to buy something outrageously expensive for me?"
The expression on Leyla's face had changed to one of solemnity. When the girl became more serious, her eyes darkened and widened, giving her a cuter look.
Bill cracked up, laughing as he poured Leyla's glass with apple juice.
Leyla took the glass in her hand and gestured to Bill to clink his glass against hers. Bill happily slammed his glass toward the one that the child had reached out for. But he began to be worried that the child would imitate his drinking habits after he saw Leyla drink all of her juice in one go.
Bill shook his head in disbelief at the thought of Leyla being a guzzler. ' I'm only allowing her just for today.' He assured himself.
***
The long days had passed, and it had been during those long days that Bill mused the reasons why he couldn't raise Leyla and where he could send Leyla, the lovely but troublesome young girl who came out of nowhere in his life.
Leyla grew a lot during those days of Bill's relentless wondering. The new clothes he had bought for Layla were getting shorter, and her smooth white calves were starting to show.
The warehouse-like room that Leyla was supposed to use as a temporary residence became a lady's room at one point. The troublesome child who used to hop around the woods trail grew into a finely matured lady who now crossed the same track with gentle steps as if gliding on water.
Bill was seated on a chair underneath the porch with a puzzled look on his face when a young lady with a willow basket full of raspberries was waving at him. "Uncle! You're back early today."
Leyla lightly ran towards him as if she were dancing. Her pretty blonde hair, which was braided into a single hairdo, swayed under the wide brim of the straw hat. Her two red cheeks were as fresh as the roses Bill had recently planted.
"You must have gone to the woods again."
"Yes. Look, it's a great harvest, isn't it?" Leyla proudly held up her willow basket. "I'm going to pick some more tomorrow. I'm planning to make a lot of raspberry jam."
"Are you planning on starting a business or something?"
"That's not a bad idea."
Leyla sat beside him in a chair with a bright smile on her face. Bill came to realize that there were two chairs on the porch. It wasn't just the two chairs. Even though Bill still hadn't made up his mind on what to do with Leyla, all of the furniture in the cottage was arranged for the two of them before he knew it.
Leyla dropped the basket on the floor and started digging through it until she found a wild peach that she picked in the woods. Bill took the peach she was giving out to him, then he cut it in half and handed the half-sliced peach to Leyla.
While eating their peaches, the two sat next to each other and watched the forest. The birds chirping from afar sounded as clear as Leyla's voice, and the noise of leaves blowing through the clear blue sky charmed their ears.
"It's summertime again."
Bill muttered unknowingly. Leyla's face lit up with a silent smile. She removed her hat, and daintily raised her arms.
Bill cracked up laughing when he discovered the old leather bag that ran below Leyla's knee, recognizing that it was the first item he gave her the year she arrived.
"Are you going to carry on with this old thing until it's worn out?"
"I like it because it is comfortable to wear. It's still useful. "
Her bag shook with care as Leyla lifted it. Bill was able to pinpoint the source of the rattling noise. Tin pencil case. Pocket knife. Old notes. Some beautiful feathers and flower petals. She didn't change much in certain aspects.
It was an ordinary evening when Bill was splitting firewood, and Leyla was sorting and organizing the dry laundry.
She didn't forget to feed the chicken and the goat while she was adeptly preparing their dinner. The sun had already set by the time they faced each other across the table from opposite sides.
"Kyle will be here the next day," she said. "We're going to have dinner and study together. Are you fine with that?" Leyla asked while placing her delectable-smelling plate on the table.
"Why does that rascal keep coming to my house to eat when he has a rich father who provides him with enough food?"
"I know you like him, even though you speak of him in that way."
"Unfortunately."
Leyla casually chuckled as Bill expressed his dissatisfaction, then she put the half-filled beer glass in front of him.
"What's this? Why don't you fill it to the brim?"
"For your health's sake, you should drink less."
"Did Etmon, the glutton, tell you that?"
"Uncle!"
"He's a jackass." Bill grumbled under his breath. But he didn't go against Leyla's words.
***
At the end of a lovely meal, the night grew deeper. After cleaning dishes, Leyla returned to her room and took a warm shower. She was sleepy, but she chose to sit at her desk and switch on the lamp. An exam loomed in the coming days and her summer vacation joy hinged on the result of that exam.
The sound of her pencil making marks on the paper was mixed in along with the sound of nighttime birds chirping, which was carried down from the night breeze.
Leyla, who had been focusing on her studies for quite some time, finally let go of her pencil, unable to handle the eye pressure and faint headache that came over. She had to squint her eyes to see clearly ever since she was a kid. And now, her eyesight, which had never been very good, to begin with, seemed to have worsened.
Leyla switched off the light and lay down on her bed.
Twenty bottles of raspberry jam. No, should it be thirty bottles?
Anyways, a bit more, she was almost on her goal of buying a pair of glasses.
And though her problem should have gotten settled by telling Uncle Bill, she was afraid of burdening him. He was already giving her too many things, and she wasn't willing to repay him back with just money.
The majority of people laughed at Bill when he said he'd send Leyla to school. They told him there was no point in schooling an orphan child and sneered that when she got older, a kid like her would wind up being the maid of the Herhardt family.
Bill, on the other hand, was adamant in his decision. Every day, he spoke with Leyla, telling her that she would be a pretty smart woman.
After Leyla closed her eyes, her headache subsided a little. She desperately needed to sleep, but the more she attempted, the busier her mind became. Strange thoughts began to fill her hollow head on a night like this, as she often had.
The return of the birds in the woods.
Her summer's plans.
The mastermind behind the series of a famous mystery novel published in the daily newspaper.
And Duke Herhardt.
Leyla slowly opened her eyes as soon as the name came to mind. Beyond the familiar darkness, she could see the scenery out of the window.
Fluttering branches, the moon and stars, and the night sky sparkling above those trees.
Leyla caught her breath silently as she blinked at the dim white light from afar.
After completing the Royal Military School, the Duke, who had graduated from college, was commissioned as an army officer in keeping with family tradition. He hadn't visited the estate in many years due to his assignment to the frontier overseas. So it had been a peaceful time for both Leyla and the birds in the forest.
But, he was scheduled to return this summer.
Master of Arvis, Duke Herhardt.
That marked the end of 12-year-old Leyla.
The Duke was back, and Leyla was an adult.
And the real story would begin now.