Lyla was puzzled by the child’s sudden remark.
But the little girl, full of confidence, asked again in a clear voice.
“You’re marrying Teacher Aslan, right? I know everything!”
“Why do you think that?”
“Well, it’s a secret, but… Teacher Aslan said he wants to marry Teacher Lyla.”
Shh!
Even as she pressed her fingers against her lips to signal secrecy, the child spilled everything.
‘Aslan said that?’
Lyla let out a breathless laugh.
The thought of Aslan saying such a thing to a child was both amusing and endearing.
But that aside, she needed to answer properly.
If she left the misunderstanding as it was, rumors would spread throughout the village even after she was gone.
Of course, now that she was leaving, it wouldn’t cause any major problems.
‘But I’ll be visiting my family often… and I don’t want to be bombarded with questions every time I come back.’
Before Laila could correct the misunderstanding, however, an unexpected commotion broke out.
“Teacher is NOT getting married! She’s going to marry me!”
The loud protest came from Zeke, the mischievous troublemaker of the class.
He loved playing, had no interest in studying, and was always the most energetic during break times.
Though he never paid attention to the lessons she carefully prepared, Lyla still liked Zeke.
Even when he pretended not to care, he was always excited to see her.
But she had never imagined he liked her this much.
“Teacher, don’t go! Stay here and marry me!”
Tears welled up in Zeke’s eyes as he threw a tantrum.
With his tiny hands, like little maple leaves, he held onto Lyla tightly, vowing never to let go.
Lyla gently embraced him.
“Teacher is sad to part with Zeke too.”
As she hugged Zeke, the other children clung to her as well.
Like a group of penguins huddling together against the cold, they wrapped around each other, spending a long time like that.
On her way back to Violet House after leaving the vicarage, Lyla exchanged farewells with the villagers she passed.
“So, you’re going back to where you used to live?”
“Ah, it’ll feel so empty without you, Lyla.”
Even if they were just saying it out of politeness, the words were nice to hear. Lyla smiled brightly and replied.
“I’ll visit often.”
Because she was constantly stopped by people wanting to say goodbye, quite some time had passed by the time she finally reached home.
She wiped the sweat from her temples with a handkerchief and gazed at Violet House.
It brought back memories of when she had first arrived.
Back then, alongside the excitement of starting a new life, fear had loomed even larger.
What if her family didn’t welcome her? Could she bear their resentment? What if she couldn’t adjust to this new place?
As expected of Lyla, who had always carried a heart full of worries, even the sight of this beautiful house had once filled her with unease.
But now, it was different.
Over the past few months, she had spent most of her days in this house.
The walls held countless memories, and she had grown deeply attached to it.
Lyla’s expression as she looked at Violet House was so warm and full of affection that anyone watching her would have smiled too.
‘I won’t be able to see it as often from now on…’
She took in the sight of Violet House with eyes filled with bittersweet longing.
Just then, Sophia stepped out of the house and called to her.
“Lyla, how about spending today just with Mom? A special mother-daughter day?”
“That sounds great!”
Lyla answered in an excited voice.
Sophia chuckled as if she had expected that response, then gently pulled Lyla along.
She intended to enjoy a day filled with things that only women could do together before her daughter left.
Among those things were open-hearted conversations that only a mother and daughter could have. Sophia also thought it was time to teach Lyla about relationships between men and women.
At that very moment, Aslan was in his hotel room handling work.
He was originally supposed to take the morning train to Central and go through his scheduled appointments, but he had cleared his entire day for his outing with Lyla.
Of course, even though he had canceled tasks that required his presence in Central, that didn’t mean his workload had disappeared.
Aslan started by reviewing urgent documents. Oscar, who had rushed over after receiving a telegram from Gus about Aslan collapsing, assisted him.
Just like the day before, today was another grueling workday. But there was something noticeably different about Aslan.
‘…He’s not getting irritated?’
Up until yesterday, Aslan had been tense and irritable.
He wasn’t the type to take out his frustration directly on his subordinates, but if someone made a mistake, he would silently stare at them with narrowed eyes.
‘Ugh, so intimidating…’
Even without saying a word, that piercing gaze was enough to make anyone shrink back.
But today, there was none of that sharpness in him.
In fact, he looked peaceful and relaxed, as if he were the happiest man in the world.
‘Maybe it’s because he finally got some sleep?’
They say lack of sleep is the enemy of both health and beauty.
Seeing Aslan’s refreshed and almost radiant face, Oscar resolved to get an early night’s rest himself.
Of course, Oscar’s assumption was completely wrong.
The reason Aslan had melted into a puddle like ice cream under the summer sun was entirely because of Lyla.
[I want to go with you.]
Lyla wasn’t leaving him. Instead, she had chosen to set aside the things she cherished and come to his side.
That alone had brightened Aslan’s entire world. Just thinking about Lyla made him want to hum a tune, so how could he possibly be irritable?
“Lyla.”
He murmured her name.
“Yes?”
Thinking about Laila made Aslan miss her even more. Should he just go see her right now?
But he scraped together the last of his patience and held himself back.
Lyla needed to spend time with her family without regrets. That way, when she moved to Central, she wouldn’t be constantly longing to return to Ellwood.
In just a few days, she would be by his side permanently. So Aslan decided to be considerate and let her make the most of her remaining time here.
“So, is there anything else that needs to be taken care of today?”
As he organized the signed documents, Oscar responded.
“No. The urgent matters have been handled, so there’s nothing pressing at the moment.”
A few appointments had been inevitably canceled due to the hours Aslan spent unconscious from overwork. However, they were of low priority, so it wasn’t a big issue.
“Good.”
Aslan smiled.
“You may leave for the day.”
“Thank you!”
Oscar grinned and bowed deeply. It had been ages since he had an early day off. He could only hope Aslan continued getting enough sleep from now on.
“Gus.”
“Yes.”
Now that Oscar’s tasks were finished, it was Gus’s turn.
Gus oversaw all matters happening in Eres, which meant dealing with the incident that had occurred earlier in the day.
“According to the police interrogation, they claim it was an impulsive act.”
“An impulsive act, huh… And?”
“The cause of the incident was minor, and in the end, no one was injured. So the police are considering letting it go.”
“That won’t do.”
Setting down his fountain pen, Aslan gave a cold command.
“Charge them with property damage, attempted murder—whatever fits. Just make sure they don’t get out unscathed.”
If Laila got a paper cut on her finger, Aslan would have all the papers around her removed. So there was no way he was letting this go lightly.
If he had been just a little later…
His jaw clenched. He didn’t even want to imagine it.
“Understood.”
Gus Chester might have a loose tongue, but his work was always flawless. So Aslan moved on to the next issue.
“The carriage didn’t slow down.”
“It was already traveling at a high speed, so they couldn’t react in time. They were fined for speeding, and the case was closed.”
“…”
“I’ll make sure they never drive at such reckless speeds in the city again.”
It was only then that Aslan smirked.
“But was it really an accident? There wasn’t some hidden hand behind it, like last time?”
“It doesn’t seem that way. But even if there were, they wouldn’t dare attempt something like that in broad daylight, in the middle of a crowded city.”
“So they came after me without the guts to follow through? How amusing.”
Aslan scoffed, crossing his arms loosely.
Then, he turned to Oscar, who had yet to leave, and gave another order.
“Spread the word that I’ll be permanently returning to Central soon.“
If someone was targeting him, Aslan suspected they would strike just before he left—when he was most vulnerable.
Which meant he had to end things before then. Using himself as bait to lure out his enemies was a strategy he had employed many times before.
“If they make another move, we’ll capture them this time. And if they hesitate instead…”
His eyes narrowed.
“That will narrow down the suspects significantly.”
So far, he had managed to reduce the list of people who might be after him, but there was still no definitive evidence pointing to the culprit. If he could flush them out this time, all the better.
Aslan despised situations he couldn’t control, and he had no intention of leaving any loose ends.
However, until the day he left, there was no incident where Aslan was put in danger.
