Chapter 33
Arvis’s Paradise

Layla Remmer’s acceptance to Latz University spread through Arvis like wildfire.

Though word also traveled that Dr. Etman’s only son had passed the entrance exams to medical school with excellent marks, no one was surprised—everyone had expected it. It barely stirred conversation.

So it was Layla. These past few days, whenever two or more people gathered, the talk inevitably turned to Layla Llewellyn. The duke’s greenhouse was no exception.

“To think Bill Remmer would send a girl—an orphan, no less—all the way to university. Quite a decision, that.”

Ordinarily, the Dowager Duchess, Katharina von Herhardt, would never have deigned to comment on gossip about a lowborn child. But today, she joined the talk with genuine interest.

“She seems to have been born under a lucky star. Not only did she meet her benefactor, but she’s also about to marry Dr. Etman’s son. If that isn’t fortune, what is?” Elise von Herhardt added.

Seated between them, Claudine politely sipped her tea, her usual bright, well-mannered smile in place.

“I’m glad such fortune has followed that poor child,” she said, and for once her praise came sincerely.

Just then, the maid who had been sent to fetch the girl returned to the greenhouse—with Layla, neatly dressed, by her side.

“Come, sit here.”

The Dowager Duchess’s calm command stunned Elise and Claudine into wide-eyed silence. Even Layla faltered.

“There’s no harm in offering a cup of tea to a deserving child,” Katharina said with a faint smile.

The Herhardt family were all of the nobility, their bloodlines spoken of as if the veins themselves ran blue. For a duchess of such pedigree to invite a gardener’s orphan to her tea table—it was no wonder everyone was astonished.

With a tense face, Layla followed the maid’s lead and sat down.

“I hear you’ve been admitted to a university even the finest sons of the greatest houses struggle to enter.”

As tea was set before her, the Dowager Duchess was the first to speak.

“It’s all thanks to Uncle Bill,” Layla answered, eyes lowered in respect.

“Indeed. You must never forget the grace of your benefactor, Bill Remmer.”

“Yes, my lady.”

“You’re from Rovita, I hear.”

“My mother was Rovitan, but my father was a man of Berck.”

“In that, we are the same.”

Her casual remark drew simultaneous surprise from Elise and Claudine.

The Dowager Duchess of House Herhardt hailed from a distinguished marquisate, kin to the Berck emperor himself. Her mother, however, had been of Rovita’s royal line. It was hardly a heritage comparable to a lowborn orphan’s.

“Tell me, child—what is it you desire?”

The duchess set her teacup down and issued the order so suddenly that Layla’s head jerked up in surprise.

“Bill Remmer is a servant I value highly, and you are the girl he raised as a daughter. A gift to mark your success seems fitting.”

Her words were as calm as ever.

Startled, Layla forgot even to avert her eyes, staring at her in confusion. At that moment, another entered the greenhouse. Claudine saw him first, striding across the floor.

“Lord Herhardt!”

At her glad cry, all turned to look.

Layla too looked up involuntarily. Matthias von Herhardt stood by the table. Their gazes met—two pairs of eyes narrowing, though for very different reasons. It was Layla who broke the moment, lowering her eyes.

“This girl has been admitted to Latz University,” Elise explained, her voice laced with laughter. “We were sharing a cup of tea to celebrate.”

Matthias gave a short nod and took the seat beside Claudine—directly across from Layla.

“You’ve returned early today,” Claudine greeted him warmly.

Of late, he had been gone from dawn until late at night, consumed by the family business. Though it had been nearly a week since he came back to Arvis, this was the first time Claudine had seen him home before sunset.

“The meeting ended sooner than expected, my lady.”

“Good. I was worried you were overworking yourself.”

“Claudine is right,” Elise chimed in. “Take your time. Nothing is worth harming your health.”

From there, the talk drifted to Matthias’s work and the affairs of the family. Layla Llewellyn’s presence seemed to vanish altogether.

Grateful for the respite, Layla sipped her now-cool tea. She longed to escape the table, but it would be unthinkable to show such a wish before the duchess and her daughter-in-law.

She carefully set the cup down, trying to make no sound. When she glanced up by chance, she flinched back against her chair. Between his fiancée and mother, Matthias was staring at her. The cold eyes were exactly the same as the day he had crushed her spirit and left her.

Her hands trembled as she slipped them under the table. Claudine turned her attention back to her mother, and immediately Matthias’s gaze fell upon Layla again.

She ducked her head, but still the weight of it pressed on her. And with it, the memories of last summer came flooding back—made all the more shameful by Claudine’s presence. He was the one who had wronged her, yet she was the one left drowning in guilt.

“So, child, have you decided what you want?”

The Dowager Duchess’s question pulled Layla back.

Startled, she lifted her head, only to meet Matthias’s blue eyes. Her lips trembled. Forcing herself to look instead at the duchess, she answered quickly.

“You have already given me a great gift, my lady. That is more than enough.”

“A gift?”

“Yes. Allowing me to live here in Arvis, in Uncle Bill’s cottage—that alone is a blessing I could never repay. It is the greatest, most precious gift.”

“All we did was grant Bill Remmer’s request.”

“That permission changed my life, my lady.”

A faint smile touched her lips.

“I am grateful to you, Madam Elise,” she added respectfully.

“…And to His Grace and Lady Claudine as well.”

Instead of confessing her true wish—to be free of this suffocating world—Layla offered thanks even to the names that pained her most.

“I will never forget the kindness shown to me here, not even on the day I leave Arvis.”

With a deep bow, she brought her polite refusal to a close.

The Dowager Duchess studied her a long moment before nodding. To refuse the grace of House Herhardt was bold, even insolent, yet the manner was refined—uncommon in a child raised low.

“Already speaking as though to bid farewell. It saddens me, Layla,” Claudine said gently.

“I understand your heart, but I still wish to give you something. Ah, what if I paid your tuition?”

“No, my lady. I am already grateful for your thoughtfulness.”

Layla smiled at her.

“Uncle Bill has set the money aside. He insisted he be the one to pay my first tuition.”

“Is that so? Then I must think of another gift. I cannot send my old friend off empty-handed—especially with her marriage approaching.”

Claudine’s smile grew as she looked at Layla.

“Don’t you agree, Lord Herhardt?” she coaxed sweetly.

Matthias glanced once more at Layla, then inclined his head in consent to his fiancée.

A few more perfunctory words were exchanged, and at last Layla was able to rise and leave the table.

Only then did she truly see the greenhouse.

Arvis’s Paradise.

That was what people called this lavish place, lavishing it with praise. But whenever Layla entered, her chest tightened. The beautiful caged birds with clipped wings, the flowers too vivid in color, too heavy in fragrance—everything stifled her. Even the fountain’s spray, even the sunlight through glass.

Without looking back, she walked out. Only when the real sun and wind touched her did a sigh of relief escape her lips.

Her shadow stretched long in the evening light as she hurried toward the forest.

“Do you even hear what you’re saying, Cousin?”

Daniel Rayner stared at Linda Etman in disbelief. The uncurtained window bathed both her calm figure and his bewildered one in the glow of sunset.

“Sister!”

“Lower your voice, Daniel.”

She glanced at the closed door, her face unnervingly composed. Daniel let out a groan of frustration.

He had come to her many times before, begging for help. Since his overseas mining investment had collapsed, his fortunes had plummeted. Each time, she had turned him away with elegant coldness. For her to summon him now was unexpected.

Of course, he knew she would not help for free. But the proposal she laid before him startled him so much he almost refused outright—even in his desperation.

“That’s theft, Sister. How could you…”

“No.”

Her eyes opened slowly, cutting him off with an icy tone.

“It is merely borrowing—hiding it for a time and returning it later.”

“But still…”

“You care deeply for Kyle, don’t you?”

“…Of course.”

“And you need my help.”

She pressed her fingers to her temple, as if soothing an ache. As he flushed, unable to argue further, Linda Etman straightened again.

“We take it now, and return it later. With that, you can protect your family, and I can protect my son.”

Her gaze bore into him, urging.

“Hardly a bad bargain, is it? What say you, Daniel?”