Cry, Even Better If You Beg

Chapter 45: Princess Teacher

“…I-Is that person our teacher’s father?”

Stuttered, the little boy blinked his eyes nervously.

“Lies! He’s not like our teacher at all!”

A little girl—smaller than the boy whimpered and other children who huddled behind Leyla, reacted identically: their eyes opened wide with fear as soon as Bill Remmer appeared in front of them.

Bill was quite blasé at their not-so-extraordinary reaction. He disliked rowdy children, but Leyla had especially begged him to spare his time to guide the children who came for a picnic in the Arvis’ forest for a day. But he already felt that this wasn’t an easy job.

“Kids, Uncle Bill is a good person.”

Leyla smiled as she comforted her students. The timid little girl from a while ago again burst into tears after Bill showed his toothy grin.

“Fuck! I don’t do anything…”

“Uncle!”

Leyla quickly hushed up Bill’s violent cursing and knelt in front of the sobbing child. Unable to smile or frown, Bill could only stare at the tiny creatures with a quizzical face.

“Uncle Bill is a very nice man and he will take us around the forest today.”

The sniffling child in her arms stopped weeping, and Leyla continued her praiseworthy explanation.

“We’re going to study flowers and trees in the forest with Uncle Bill. Won’t it be fun?”

The children seemed to disagree with their teacher’s words, but they grudgingly nodded in tandem.

‘What a bunch of whiny!’

Bill scratched his head and began to lead the way. Leyla and the children were quick to follow his suit.

“Come to think of it, I think you were around the same age as those children when I first met you.”

Bill’s stiff lips softened when a flashback of memory flooded his thoughts.

“Uh, Uncle. These kids are all under the age of ten.” countered Leyla, with a frown on her face. “I was 11 years old at the time, about to become 12.”

Bill was joking when he said that, but Leyla took it seriously and she retorted by telling her age like the way she did the first time she came to Arvis.

“He.. he.. he..”

Bill chuckled, remembering that day. Leyla, his little girl who had always disliked being labelled ‘small’, now had grown up into a beautiful lady.

*.·:·.✧.·:·.*

It was a little past 1 o’clock when Matthias returned to the Estate.

The car made its way through the mansion and headed to the riverfront annex. The driver and his aide were baffled at first by his surprising order, but soon understood when they recalled that it was a picnic day for the rural school children. This kind of charity event was primarily the duty of the hostess, but there was no reason to exclude the Duke from participating.

A gleam of bright sunlight bounced off the tree and caught the shrubs in its beams as the car drove through the forest to the riverside. The splendour of the forest coloured with reds and oranges and the pristine river sparkling with luminous water scales became a natural fence that encircled both sides of the road.

Arvis was a place that offered picturesque vistas all year round, but the period with the most splendid beauty by far was the autumn season.

Matthias stared at the scenic view which passed like a movie scene with an odd feeling.