43

"I thought Your Highness might be more disturbed than I am, so I will sit down… Thank you for your concern."

She was wondering what excuses to make, but Elena agreed, pulled out her chair and sat face to face. It's better to be criticized first, and they'll meet several times in the future while she's in the academy. It was inevitable forever, and even if it was inconvenient, it was a measure to be taken in.

The only sound was the turning of the pages in the silence. For a long time neither of them spoke to the other. Elena was the first to leave the reading room, quietly and respectfully, so as not to interfere with his reading.

"…"

Shortly after Elena left the reading room, Sian looked up. His melancholy gaze turned to the empty chair where Elena had been sitting a moment ago. Sian couldn't take his eyes off the vacancy for a while.

***

Raphael's eyes did not fall from Ian's portrait that Elena had left behind. The eyes with deep thoughts were not just looking at it as a picture, but rather an attempt to approach the nature of the painting.

"Are you still doing this?"

As usual, Cecilia, who brought food in one hand, looked at Raphael with worried eyes.

"Yes, I'm still doing this."

Sadness was in Cecilia's eyes when she saw Raphael, who was tired of agony.

"Aren't you thinking too hard? Painting is something that develops as you paint, doesn't it?"

"I thought so too, but it wasn't."

Raphael stared at Ian's portrait on the easel. Not only did the composition and balance fall, but the expression of contrast was not very good. At first glance, it was fine, but if you look at it carefully, it was a painting that was not enough.

It was such a painting, but he couldn't take his eyes off it as if he was being sucked into it. He was under the illusion that he was fascinated by the warm and happy energy he felt in that painting.

"What's with that, that lack of confidence."

"I'm a little tired."

"Why don't you take a break? They say taking a break is part of the effort."

Raphael shook his head.

"That's too far to go."

"You always underestimated yourself, even though you didn't do it in front of your professors. In my opinion, your paintings will remain highly praised even if you debut in the art world right now."

Cecilia's words were not wrong. So far, Raphael had thrived on Elena's advice. Co-incidental perspective alone was an innovative technique that could overturn the art world and raise the standard of the art world several notches. However, Raphael did not agree.

"The portrait contains the life of the person who lived his life."

"Do you want to say that the portrait you drew contains that?"

"Yes."

Cecilia turned her head and stared at Ian's portrait on the easel. She was quite knowledgeable about the painting and had an eye for it, but she couldn't find what Raphael was talking about.

"I'm sorry, Raphael. I really don't know."

Cecilia just spoke frankly as she felt. Not because she had any ill feelings towards Elena, but simply because when comparing the paintings themselves, Raphael's level of expression, technique, and coloration itself was overwhelmingly superior. Her words might be comforting, but Raphael listened with one ear and shed it with the other.

"Why isn't she coming? She's been here regularly."

"Miss Lucia?"

Raphael nodded and remembered Elena from that day. He couldn't get the image out of his mind of her crying, unable to even let out a breath as soon as she finished the painting.

"Why did she cry?"

"Did she cry?"

"Yeah. She cried in pain."

"…"

Cecilia suddenly couldn't look away from Raphael. The gaze was somehow different from usual, but Raphael didn't notice it at all.

"I'm worried about you, too, since you mentioned it. Do you want me to go see her?"

"Don't do that. I don't want to burden you."

"Why is that a burden? It's because I'm worried."

Raphael dissuaded Cecilia as if he really didn't want it.

"I'm just going to wait a little longer. I want to."

"…"

Cecilia suddenly wanted to ask Raphael. Cecilia suddenly wanted to ask Raphael, Have you ever waited for me before? However, the words might be a burden, so she swallowed them in her heart and smiled brightly as usual.

"Let's do that! If it's the Miss Lucia we know, she'll be back soon. So hang in there and wait."

"Yes, you're the only one."

Raphael laughed with her as he watched Cecilia lightly tap her shoulder. It was the first time in days that she could see him smile, but Cecilia felt somewhat bitter. So she forced herself to smile more brightly. Because she always did.

***

"Go slowly. You don't have to go fast, so be careful. Do you understand me?"

Khalif, who sat side by side with the driver, whispered incessantly. He was forced to do so because the carriage contained more than a dozen expensive paintings. He had invested all the money Elena had given him to buy these paintings, and he was worried that they would be damaged by the impact of the carriage.

"Oh, I'm nervous. Why is she so into making me nervous?"

Khalif kept shaking his legs as if he was restless.

Today was the first step into the art world. It was also the day when everything he had prepared so far would be evaluated by the results. He was confident that he could do reasonably well, since he had taken such meticulous care. The problem, however, was that the collector he was going to meet was not an ordinary nobleman.

He was shocked and worried about the damage.

"I'm glad the first customer is Princess Veronica… but isn't it too strong?"

In a way, it was natural for Khalif to tremble. Who is Princess Veronica? She was the daughter of the Grand Duke Friedrich, who dominated the empire. In the current law of the empire, which allowed women to inherit the throne, it was irrelevant to see her as a powerful successor. Being able to start a business with such a Princess, Veronica, as an art dealer was a golden opportunity for him to get around the checks and balances of the established art dealers and take a firm position.

In fact, Khalif expected to see Princess Veronica with Lucia. As Lucia's close friendship is said to be strong, he predicted that it would work more positively on the deal. But in yesterday's meeting, Lucia embarrassed him by saying that she couldn't go with him.

"Why can't I go? First of all, if my father finds out, he will be very angry. I'm pretending to be a daughter who listens well to him. And the more I do this, the more I need to distinguish between public and private. I am for introductions only, my senior is for transactions only, and the Princess is for purchases only. This is the cleanest way to do business, with no aftermath."

At first he thought that she was going to force everything on him, but after hearing everything and thinking it over, she had a point. He couldn't rule out the possibility that the lines that they had to follow in their dealings with each other would be broken by their friendship.

"Even so, I think I'm the only one who's having a hard time…"

Starting with liaising with middle-class painters and being asked to broker paintings, to hiring a part time worker. There had never been an easy time for Khalif. It was no exaggeration to say that he had been blessed with so much work that even two bodies were not enough.

In fact, it had been Elena's intention to some extent to roll Khalif in this way. In her previous life, Elena had seen countless cases where the children of noblemen who inherited the family business failed to run it properly and went bankrupt.

For this reason, she believed that if he didn't learn the job by rolling directly from the bottom, he wouldn't be able to run a fulfilling operation using his subordinates later. The reason was that she couldn't move herself, but Elena was so laid out to drive Khalif to the point where he thought it was too much.

"Oh, no more thinking. Let's not make mistakes today."

Khalif pulled himself together, talking to himself. Meanwhile, the carriage arrived at the lone dormitory located on the east side of the academy. It was said to be a place where only the best families and royalty could stay since the founding of the empire, but it was certainly different from the dormitory where Khalif was staying.

"Calm down."

The carriage came to a halt as the attendant pulled on the reins. When the carriage reached its destination, Khalif took one last deep breath and dismounted.

"What brings you here?"

Hurelbard, a knight wearing armor with the seal of the Grand Duke engraved on it, demanded to see his identity.

"My name is Khalif de Gea, an art broker. I am here to offer my services to Her Highness Princess Veronica. This is my identification card."

Hurelbard scrutinized his credentials for perjury.

"There was a message from Her Highness to serve you respectfully. Please come inside."

"Thank you."

Khalif carefully placed the painting in the hands of each of the four workers and followed Hurelbard into the building. May greeted them as they entered the building, and he admired the full interior view of the dormitory, which even had a small garden.

"You can get ready in this drawing room."

"Okay. Now, bring it inside."

On the other side of the sofa where Elena would sit, he installed an easel and hung the painting to introduce first. He didn't forget to cover it with a cloth for a dramatic introduction.

"We're all set. Tell Her Highness the Princess."

"Please wait a moment."

Soon after May went up to this floor, he heard the sound of shoes stepping on the stairs.

Khalif was nervous and swallowed his dry saliva. He'd seen her two years ago, but he'd never had such a close relationship. Moreover, he couldn't help but be nervous because he was meeting the Princess as an art broker, not as a student at the same academy.

Princess Veronica came down the stairs.

She was not wearing a school uniform, but a dress with a blue light like the sea.

'P-pretty.'

Khalif opened his mouth wide in admiration. It was a beauty that made him shudder in addition to being superior. Even though she didn't dress up much, her plain appearance was a compassionate beauty that a man could only look at. No, the word "beauty" was not enough to describe her.

'… The atmosphere is crazy.'

Princess Veronica's elegant grace seemed to be breathtaking. She was an authority that could make him naturally bow his head and look up to her. Even though she was just standing there, he felt overwhelmed. It was not something she had learned, but a natural nobility that flowed through her body, and he felt reverence for it.

'She's not a woman I'd dare look at.'

While studying at the academy, he had the opportunity to see not a small number of ladies from noble families. Among them was Avella, the eldest daughter of Duke Reinhardt, one of the four great dukes.

'It's impolite to even compare her to Princess Veronica.'

Avella was just lucky enough to be born as the eldest daughter of a Duke's family, and she just lived with the treatment she received.