Chapter 50 - - 50 : For my precious cousin
Arvis was bustling with the preparations for Herhardt's dinner party.
As Leyla walked home from school, the roads were swarming with carriages and vehicles. Uncle Bill had been extremely busy these past few days, engrossed in arranging flowers for the mansion's interior. It was that time of the year when flowers start wilting, so he had to gather some from greenhouses and procure the rest from local flower gardens.
Leyla helped her uncle out by making frequent trips downtown to buy flowers. Her hectic days made her feel lucky; at the very least, she could forget about her missing pen and her unanswered letter from the Duke. But now that her work was done, she had to return to Arvis.
As the entrance to the mansion loomed closer, Leyla slowed her pace.
Fortunately, Duke Herhardt seemed to have brushed the matter aside. Or more likely, he didn't have a chance to ponder over it. He, too, had been swamped with work lately, and Phoebe, who had been secretly communicating with him, was confined within a cage in the backyard.
"I can't believe it."
She had uttered these very words at least a hundred times since Phoebe brought in the Duke's letter.
"How did he come up with the idea of taming Phoebe and using it as his carrier bird?"
She hadn't lived a long life, nor was she acquainted with many people. However, within her lifetime, Duke Matthias von Herhardt was by far the most strange and yet enigmatic man Leyla Lewellin had ever come across.
"Why does he keep taking other people's things? Is he a kleptomaniac?" Leyla kicked an innocent stone on the path as she grumbled.
She didn't want to meet the duke, even though she needed to get her pen back. She didn't really know why she was determined to avoid him even more now, but Leyla felt like she had to.