“Unfortunately.”Leyla casually chuckled as Bill expressed his dissatisfaction, then she put the half-filled beer glass in front of him.“What’s this? Why don’t you fill it to the brim?”“For your health’s sake, you should drink less.”“Did Etmon, the glutton, tell you that?”“Uncle!”“He’s a jackass.” Bill grumbled under his breath. But he didn’t go against Leyla’s words.***At the end of a lovely meal, the night grew deeper. After cleaning dishes, Leyla returned to her room and took a warm shower. She was sleepy, but she chose to sit at her desk and switch on the lamp. An exam loomed in the coming days and her summer vacation joy hinged on the result of that exam.The sound of her pencil making marks on the paper was mixed in along with the sound of nighttime birds chirping, which was carried down from the night breeze.Leyla, who had been focusing on her studies for quite some time, finally let go of her pencil, unable to handle the eye pressure and faint headache that came over. She had to squint her eyes to see clearly ever since she was a kid. And now, her eyesight, which had never been very good, to begin with, seemed to have worsened.Leyla switched off the light and lay down on her bed.Twenty bottles of raspberry jam. No, should it be thirty bottles?Anyways, a bit more, she was almost on her goal of buying a pair of glasses.And though her problem should have gotten settled by telling Uncle Bill, she was afraid of burdening him. He was already giving her too many things, and she wasn’t willing to repay him back with just money.The majority of people laughed at Bill when he said he’d send Leyla to school. They told him there was no point in schooling an orphan child and sneered that when she got older, a kid like her would wind up being the maid of the Herhardt family.Bill, on the other hand, was adamant in his decision. Every day, he spoke with Leyla, telling her that she would be a pretty smart woman.After Leyla closed her eyes, her headache subsided a little. She desperately needed to sleep, but the more she attempted, the busier her mind became. Strange thoughts began to fill her hollow head on a night like this, as she often had.The return of the birds in the woods.Her summer’s plans.The mastermind behind the series of a famous mystery novel published in the daily newspaper.And Duke Herhardt.Leyla slowly opened her eyes as soon as the name came to mind. Beyond the familiar darkness, she could see the scenery out of the window.Fluttering branches, the moon and stars, and the night sky sparkling above those trees.Leyla caught her breath silently as she blinked at the dim white light from afar.