Cry, Even Better if you Beg

✧ Something Scarier Than That ✧

For a long time, Leyla thought she was having hallucinations.
Leyla often felt that.
She sometimes mistook the fruit that dropped from the tree for a squirrel because of her poor eyesight. She was often frightened when she thought of a tree branch floating in the water as a person.
However, the visible silhouette that appeared from the water this time was unmistakably a human.
And it was a man.
A tall, bare-chested man.
Leyla couldn’t stick to her self-justification that it was all a trick of the light as his wet, black hair emerged into her view.
Right now, afloat on the river undoubtedly, was the Duke Matthias von Herhardt.
The flabbergasted Leyla threw down the newspaper she was holding.
She might have slumped to the ground along with her newspaper if she hadn’t immediately grabbed the tree branch.
Her intuition had taught her everything. -Close your eyes for the time being. No, get off the tree as quickly as you can and get out of this forest. -Or, at the very least, just shout in surprise-
But all Leyla could do was stare at the guy in his underwear, dumbstruck.
Beyond a doubt, it was Duke Herhardt. The man clearly returned Leyla’s stare, with no intention of hiding his nude body while still afloat in the river.
I’m hoping he’ll drift away!
By the time the breeze began to rage with gusto, the Duke had started to swim for the river’s edge, to the place where Leyla was.
“Ah, no!”
The cry of Leyla echoed up into the cloudless sky..
“No! Don’t come here! You can’t come!”
Leyla quickly climbed down from the oak, shrieking in panic. She couldn’t think of anything, so she didn’t even bother to greet the Duke with courtesy.
Leyla dropped her basket as well as her hat and bolted quickly. She raced through the forest without noticing how fast her legs ran.
“Leyla!”
Leyla bumped into Kyle around halfway up the path leading to the cottage. Kyle was flummoxed when he saw her and immediately caught Leyla, who almost fell.
“Where have you been? I was looking for you because you weren’t at home.”
“Kyle, Kyle, what should I do?”
Leyla muttered hoarsely; she gasped for breath like a half-crazed person.
“Why? What’s going on? Did you come across a wild animal?”
Kyle moved his gaze beyond the road as Leyla shook her head vehemently. There was little to be found. In front of them, all he saw was just an ordinary forest.
“Then what is it? What is it that has shocked you so much?”
“…… What should I do?”
Leyla sobbed and fell to the ground, veiling her face with the hem of her apron and shook her head a couple of times.
She didn’t want to remember, but the image of the Duke’s muscular body kept flickering through her mind.
Leyla ruffled her hair with her fingers. “What should I do? What should I do, Kyle?”
“If you could tell me what your problem is, I’ll answer you. What the heck is it?” Kyle sighed as he kneeled in front of her.
In no time, Leyla’s face had rendered as crimson as a freshly-picked raspberry.

Kyle started giggling, “Hey, what things did you see? Did you see a ghost?”
No.
Leyla had everything she wanted to say, but her lips couldn’t open.
It’s something scarier than that ….
Her hot gasps split out the phrases she softly whispered.
*.·:·.✧.·:·.*
Water dripped down his nose from the tip of his wet hair. Matthias was still bemused by the incredible scene that had happened in front of him.
He swam to his annex’s dock and wore his clothes. After that, Matthias approached the tree where Leyla had dumped all her belongings before she ran away.
Matthias looked through the traces left by Leyla. Near the tree, there was a big basket and a hat—a newspaper on the ground and a wet handkerchief.
After checking the basket full of raspberries, he let out a fake chuckle. He couldn’t believe that girl was carrying such a large basket with her slender arms.
Did she want to get rid of all the raspberries in the Arvis forest?
Matthies glanced up to the beautiful oak tree and realized that it was the same tree where he had almost shot that little girl a few years ago.
When he remembered the moment when her little face, sitting on the branch, looked at him vacantly, Matthias cracked out laughing.
Don’t tell me she still plays around climbing trees.
At first, he was thinking of chasing after her.
Matthias, however, changed his mind and returned to the mansion because this afternoon, he had a meeting with the board of directors of his family company.
Matthias wasn’t directly involved with the company’s management, but it was his responsibility to review their proposals.