Chapter 59
“Just don’t go underground.”
“Underground?”
Persis pointed to the far end with his finger. There were stairs leading down.
“That’s where the forbidden books are kept. It contains books with subversive ideologies or content that would be problematic if made known to the outside.”
As he said that, he looked at me with a sideways glance.
“It’s really not a big deal for you to come and go here with my permission. But if you get caught reading forbidden books here, it’ll be a huge problem.”
“Got it. I promise I won’t go there.”
I nodded several times.
Persis made a late expression of disappointment, as if to say, ‘This isn’t what I meant,’ but it was already too late.
☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓 ☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓
That day, after returning to the ducal residence, I sat in front of a canvas.
It was the first time I had painted since coming to Rosen. I wanted to capture the scene that had come to mind in the library before I forgot it.
I painted a large old tree, with a boy and a girl together underneath it. While I was coloring the white petals floating in the air, I realized that I had seen similar petals created by magic before.
When I was a child, petals had fluttered when an unknown child tore a magic scroll.
Thinking back, what was that child’s identity? Even after so much time had passed, the identity of that boy was still unclear. Was it even reasonable for someone that young to orchestrate an attack on a grand duke?
And the magic scroll. That was still strange.
Once, I had asked a magician if there were any scrolls similar to that, but the magician had sharply replied that it was impossible.
Of course, it made sense. A magician creates scrolls by drawing out their own magical power. Unless they were out of their mind, they wouldn’t waste something so precious just for decoration.
Or perhaps that child was a magician?
I’m not sure, but I’ve heard that magicians can change the use of already created scrolls. Scrolls are inscribed with runes, which are the writing of magicians, and changing those would make the scroll serve a different purpose.
And that’s something that ordinary people could never do. Without magical power, one can’t even learn runes in the first place.
What if that child had changed the runes on the scroll to use it? But then again, thinking about it, if they were really a magician, there wouldn’t be any need to do that, right? They could just use magic.
Knock, knock.
At that moment, there was a knock. I assumed it was Bell and opened my mouth.
“Come in.”
They must have come to tell me to come down for dinner. I spoke while focusing on my painting.
“Tell the Duchess I’ll be down soon. I’ll finish this and then come, so you go ahead and have dinner.”
However, after a while, there was still no response from Bell. Feeling strange, I turned around to see Hyperion standing there.
“Oh, sorry. I thought you were Bell.”
Despite my apology, Hyperion didn’t react at all. For some reason, his gaze seemed different from usual. It was as if he were looking far away into the distance.
“Hyun?”
When I called him again, his hazy gaze quickly returned to normal. Hyperion wore a light smile as usual.
“My mother asked me to come and get you for dinner. Were you painting?”
As he approached, I set down the brush that was stained with white paint.
“Yeah, I wanted to paint for the first time in a while.”
“It’s a warm painting.”
“Do you like painting too?”
I had never talked about painting with Hyperion before. Nobles are generally exposed to art from a young age as part of their basic education, but liking it is a different matter altogether.
“I didn’t think much of it in the past, but I became interested later on.”
“Really? That’s not something that usually happens.”
Since this falls into the realm of personal preference, it’s rare for someone to suddenly develop an interest without a special trigger.
“I can see new things when I read the air contained in the painting.”
I looked at him in surprise.
“Do you think that way when you look at paintings too?”
Just as he had said, I had always thought that paintings contained an atmosphere.
Seeing a landscape painting with a desolate background, I would immerse myself in the melancholy and decay of the post-war era. Or feeling the humidity and temperature of the time from a foggy seascape—these sensory experiences were what I considered the atmosphere.
In fact, there weren’t many people around me who liked painting, so I was very pleased to have this conversation with him.
“I didn’t know you liked painting. The Duchess didn’t mention it.”
“I haven’t really had the chance to talk about this with my mother.”
Hyperion gazed at me thoughtfully before asking a question.
“Do you paint portraits as well?”
“I’ve only painted my parents a few times.”
“Then will you paint my portrait later?”
“A portrait?”
I tilted my head. Typically, nobles have personal portraits painted when they come of age. So, why would he want me to paint one separately when a professional artist would do it soon?
“You’re going to officially have a portrait painted soon, right?”
“I want it as a gift. You only painted a picture for my younger sibling before.”
“Oh…”
I chuckled as I recalled that time.
“You sound just like my dad. He got really upset back then because he thought I had given a painting to someone else first.”
“Will you paint it for me?”
“I just paint as a hobby. What if I draw your face strangely? You’d feel bad every time you looked at it!”
“Someone once told me that painting is not about understanding but about loving. You can’t feel bad looking at something you love.”
I mulled over his words. Painting is not about understanding but about loving.
“That’s a nice saying.”
Suddenly, I became curious about who might have told him that. It must have been someone who truly loves painting.
I smiled at Hyperion.
“Okay. I can’t guarantee when it will be finished, but I’ll definitely paint it for you as a thank you for helping me at the last debutante ball.”
☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓 ☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓
The next day, I responded to the invitation of Baroness Kaz after the Queen. Since it was something I had to do anyway, I thought it best to get it over with quickly.
“Welcome, Lady.”
The Baroness greeted me in an extremely extravagant outfit. She had put as much effort into her appearance from head to toe as she had during the last debutante ball.
Could it be that she dresses like this at home all the time?
As I entertained this light question, Baron Kaz approached. I had only exchanged brief words with him at the debutante ball.
“Lady Iskas, thank you so much for making the effort to come.”
He was nearing sixty this year, and much of his hair had already turned white. In contrast, the Baroness looked youthful, making them appear more like a father and daughter than a married couple.
There was no sense of emotional exchange between them that one would expect from a married couple. There wasn’t even the hatred that existed between the king and queen. If anything, it felt like a simple cohabitation.
This was because the Baron and Baroness were a typical show-window couple, bound together by the king.
About twenty years ago, the Baroness was a young lady who had just come up from the countryside. Lacking the funds for a debutante ball, she had to rely on her relatives, and by chance, she caught the king’s eye and became unexpectedly pregnant.
Since a single woman could not be allowed to give birth to a child, the king married her off to one of his close associates. In return, the Baron was granted a mansion and considerable wealth.
In other words, the current state of the two was the result of a loveless arranged marriage.
“It’s truly wonderful to see you again. At the last debutante ball, His Majesty praised you as the most beautiful among those gathered there, and indeed, you have the appearance to deserve such praise. There is no woman in the world who can compare to your beauty, lady.”
Though he had used flattering words, it was merely a hollow greeting with no soul behind it. I had become quite accustomed to the sweet talk of the men here.
Just as I was about to express my gratitude, I noticed the Baroness pouting with a displeased expression.
Wait a minute, is she pouting? Like a child?
“…Thank you for your kind words. However, I fall far short compared to the beauty of the Baroness.”
Upon my compliment to the Baroness’s beauty, she broke into a bright smile and grabbed my arm.
“I have been waiting all this time for the lady to arrive. Please, come inside.”
TL Note: Hello Everyone. I am moving this Novel to the another site. Future updates will be posted here.
