34

"Speak casually. I'm a junior."

"No, I'm a commoner, so I'm more comfortable speaking respectfully in the academy."

Elena knew exactly what the story meant. In the academy, status was more important than the senior-junior pecking order. The reason was that a commoner could not blame a junior from a noble family for being a senior. For this reason, most of the common people were treated with honor regardless of grade.

"Have you thought about it? About what I said."

"…"

Raphael shut his mouth. There was a stubborn silence, but Elena waited for him to answer. But in the end he couldn't answer.

"I guess I got here too early. Think about it more, sir."

Elena turned around without hesitation. There was definitely impatience that Raphael should be recruited as soon as possible, but now was not the time.

'I'll wait for you. Until you break the shell on your own.'

When Elena first met, Raphael was in the ranks of the great masters of the time. But now Raphael was incomplete. There was a lack of sincerity in dealing with the painting.

"I acknowledge… my mistake."

Elena, who was about to open the door and leave, stopped.

"I've been thinking about it since the eve was over. What I was drawing, what I wanted to draw."

Elena turned and looked at him.

"So did you find the answer?"

"I couldn't find it. So I'm frustrated like crazy right now."

Raphael's deep eyes showed a glimpse of the agony he had been through. In retrospect, the beginning of this trouble was long before the eve of the festival. When he entered the Faculty of Arts, his troubles deepened. As his ears, which had been closed, began to hear and come into contact with more and more people, there were constant question marks.

'Am I drawing it right? Why did I try to paint it to suit other people's tastes? What do I want in the picture?'

Raphael fell into disbelief and reached the present state. In the meantime, he met Elena again who questioned him.

"I'm ashamed, but can I ask you a favor?"

Raphael made eye contact with Elena, who was slowly looking at him. The deep eyes beyond the lenses made him feel comfortable for some reason.

"Can you look at my paintings… even though they are incomplete?"

A request that is so courteous that he felt desperate. Elena's small lips opened as she was watching Raphael without a word.

"As much as I can be of help."

***

Aside from improving the country's power, the coalition of three nations is located in the northern part of the continent. The Kingdom of Dian, the Kingdom of Cloven, and the Kingdom of Belkan. The three countries have opened up their cultural assets and unified their currencies in order to compete with the empires and kingdoms that have seized control of the continent. The three nations, each with their own specialties of iron, timber, and wheat, worked closely together to create an institutional framework that encouraged merchants to be active in order to buy what they needed in the barren northern regions.

As a result, the Tripartite Union, which had built a coalition front and survived for more than a hundred years despite being a small country, was now recognized as one of the solid powerhouses of the continent. Thanks to this encouraging policy of the Three Nations Coalition, the Castol Chamber of Commerce was able to emerge as one of the continent's top ten, using the capital of the Belkan Kingdom as its base.

"How is it? It's not the disease, is it?"

The doctor carefully observed Lucia as she lay on the bed, suffering from a high fever. There was no trace of the energetic figure that had been so excited about entering the academy, and her pale, frightened face was nowhere to be seen.

"... I'm afraid the Northern Fever is right."

Emilio sat back in his chair, his legs relaxed by the doctor's diagnosis. With a broad face, he squeezed Lucia's hand, who was suffering from a fever.

"There is no incurable disease in the world. I'll fix it somehow."

From that day on, Emilio sat by his daughter's bedside and swore an oath. Emilio mobilized all of Castol's financial resources, connections, and influence to summon doctors and struggle to find a cure. Half a month later, Emilio was disappointed. He realized that even the money he believed he could buy the nation could not do it. But he did not give up. He had already let his wife die before him, but he wasn't sure he could survive after sending even his daughter away.

With his mind focused on Lucia, it was only natural that his work would be neglected. In the office, there was a pile of business documents that had to be processed by the authority of the Lord of the upper level. The work of the upper level was also paralyzed. At that time, a letter classified as "urgent" arrived for him.

It was sheer luck that he had come to read the letter, which he would normally have ignored. After reading the letter, Emilio stood up from his seat and shouted.

"Get the laminergia flowers right now! I'll give you the price at your word, but as soon as possible!"

***

Elena, disguised as Lucia, regularly visited Raphael's studio. There, they hung the unfinished pictures and had time to review them.

"It's my early work, 'The Broken Faith.'"

The "broken faith" boasted a high degree of perfection to the point where the word incomplete was overshadowed. The peasants sitting in the field and the cathedral in the distant jail metaphorically express the despair felt by the peasants.

"What do you think?"

Raphael carefully asked what Elena thought about his work.

"Here you are."

Elena pointed to the ragged cathedral in the painting.

"The perspective stands out."

"…!"

She spoke plainly, but Raphael couldn't help but be surprised. Elena had pointed out exactly the part that Rafael wanted to express with the most force.

'It's the air perspective, maybe?'

When Raphael's paintings were cited as the masterpieces of the era, many artists analyzed and defined his techniques. Air Perspective was the name given to it.

"It's because you overlook the action of the air."

"Action of the air?"

"As the object moves away, the hue adds blue and decreases saturation. It should be based on the fading of the outline of the object, but you missed it."

Although she lacked the qualities to paint, Elena's theoretical level was high. As the Renaissance era dawned, women were required to have an eye and insight into painting, and this was a skill that they must acquire.

"…"

Elena's review was neither a question nor a response, but Raphael was silent. The longer it went on, the more it bothered Elena.

'Did I sound too abstract?'

Unfortunately for Elena, this was the best help she could get. She was familiar with the theory, but she was not competent enough to explain it, even to give a direct example.

"I'm sorry, but could you give me time to be alone?"

"What? Yes."

Raphael sat in front of the easel and agonized over what he felt. Elena, standing still for a while, quietly walked out of the studio to avoid interference.

"I must be mistaken to feel kicked out, right?"

Five days later. Elena, who thought she had given Raphael enough time to ponder, returned to the studio. Raphael jumped out from the inside to open the wooden door. The movement was so fast that Elena was surprised.

"Surprised. Did you wait for me?"

"I'll lose my voice."

(T/N: A bit random? but it actually does say this.)

Raphael nodded and showed her a painting on the easel.

"I've been working with Ms. Lucia's advice. Is it better?"

"…!"

When Elena saw the painting, she was taken aback. It depicted a single hut in a dark forest, but the perspective of the forest in front and the hut behind was so well rendered.

'It is called 'Black House.' I tried to express the air perspective as much as I could. Is it feeling better?'

"… This is a decent level."

"I knew it. You pointed out that I missed the outline lines. I should have paid a little more attention to the coloring."

Raphael did some self-reflection, remembering that he had been inadequate rather than disappointed.

"No, I mean. It's not a decent level, it's a level that perfectly deals with perspective."

Elena almost protested. She couldn't help but acknowledge his genius.

'It's a technique originally designed by Raphael, but I didn't expect him to learn it in just a few days.'

The level of genius of the leading masters of the Renaissance was beyond Elena's imagination. Raphael began with perspective and began to perfect a technique that had been stagnant.

"Here, if you use light and shadow to save the contrast, you can have a more three-dimensional effect."

Elena pointed out the sufficient parts to the best of her ability. She taught him complementary methods based on the theory of art as defined by the future. Each time, Raphael was deeply distressed, and Elena left the studio quietly so as not to disturb him.

And a few days later, she visited again.

"I tried to express the three-dimensional effect in various ways, as you advised me before, is it okay?"

"…"

She just marveled at his genius. In just a few days, he had perfected a method of expressing contrast. At the age of 21, Raphael's genius was so boundless that his reputation for opening up new horizons in the art world was overshadowed.

However, despite the rapid improvement in technical perfection, Raphael's painting lacked something that could not be expressed. It was clearly a picture that was impeccably well painted. She could also see that he made an effort to express what he felt: the fatigue of the farmer, the psychology of the despairing woman, the loneliness of nature.

'I can't feel the soul.'

There is a shell but no kernel. There was a writer's intention, but the depth of expression was shallow. The remark, which critics had been talking about, really struck Elena. Perhaps it was because he was still a young man in his late teens. It's a feeling that still lacks the inner depth to consider and reflect religion, morality, emotions, the greatness of nature, and cultural perspectives.

"You still can't feel the authenticity in the picture?"

"Yes, I'm sorry."

When Elena answered honestly, Raphael also nodded as if he was accepting.

"I'm ashamed of myself. You take the time to teach us, but we can't seem to live up to your expectations."

Raphael was calm despite not being able to contain the soul of an important picture. No, he was just pretending to look like that. Elena could see how frustrated he was.