Rita’s whispered request made Bianca cry out in surprise.

“The Crown Prince’s schedule?”

“Bianca, quiet!”

Only then did Bianca look around hurriedly and lower her voice. Fortunately, since it was dawn, there was no one walking around.

“Why do you suddenly need that?”

“Well…”

In a brief moment, Rita’s mind raced to make an excuse.

“I’ve been painting his portrait lately, you know.”

“That’s right.”

Lies are most plausible when mixed with truth. Rita’s excuse was the kind that ‘expressed the truth in a roundabout way.’

“His Highness is so busy that he doesn’t have enough time to pose for the portrait. Besides, I want to capture His Highness’s most natural smile on canvas, not a contrived expression.”

She told the truth as it was, but the information that she was drawing a n*de besides the portrait was completely omitted.

“Uh…”

After pondering her words for a moment, Bianca asked back.

“Then can’t you just ask His Highness personally?”

“It’s not that simple.”

Rita explained with a very serious attitude.

“When anyone feels their appearance is being observed, their expression and movements stiffen. The natural atmosphere they usually have doesn’t come through.”

“…”

“I just want to blend naturally into His Highness’s daily life.”

Bianca looked at her with eyes dotted with freckles around them and sighed.

“Fine. But don’t get caught. Act natural.”

“That’s a given!”

After the secret pact between the two was made, Bianca went to copy the unofficial schedule from the Crown Prince’s room, her thoughts racing.

Sister Rita had always worked diligently, but why was she suddenly burning with such passion for this portrait work?

Afterward, Rita spent her time following Gabriele during moments she would normally devote to painting or holding critique sessions with fellow artists. 

She couldn’t join him for sword practice with the Captain of the Guard or attend his private schedules, but she never missed banquets or salons that were open to all.

At these events, she always stayed one step behind Gabriele, striving to remain inconspicuous. Yet, her plans didn’t unfold as intended.

Even in crowded settings, Rita stood out effortlessly. Her strikingly beautiful features, along with her captivating gaze and aura, made her impossible to overlook. Naturally, Gabriele and his close associates noticed her presence.

“Am I not right? Didn’t I say she would appear at this banquet too?”

Duke Fioce, one of Gabriele’s vassals, whispered while glancing at Rita. Gabriele, who briefly looked at her with his expressionless violet eyes, prompted Lanto, the Duke’s younger brother, to giggle.

“Anyone can see her gaze is fixed on Your Highness. Hasn’t she fallen in love? I heard she’s even cut off ties with her colleagues just to come see you.”

“Her status may be low, but she’s not bad as someone to entertain yourself with for a while.”

Duke Fioce added with a serious face. At this, Gabriele felt somehow displeased.

“You’re both interfering too much.”

When he dismissed them, the Fioce brothers immediately shut their mouths. Though he appeared gentle and mild on the outside, they knew from experience that the Crown Prince never spoke twice. 

What even Gabriele and his close associates had noticed couldn’t escape the attention of social circle members who loved to gossip.

Eyes hidden behind fans glanced sideways at Rita and Gabriele in turn. The one who approached after hearing the whispers full of interest was a noblewoman who was usually friendly with Rita.

“Oh my, Rita!”

“Lady Vilona.”

When Rita greeted her back, the noblewoman made a show of being pleased and fussed for a moment. Then, when people’s gazes gradually left them, she spoke in a serious voice with her mouth covered by her fan.

“Rita. I’ve been hearing that you’ve been hovering around His Highness the Crown Prince lately.”

“I see.”

Rita wasn’t oblivious. Rather, she was strong at reading situations and people’s psychology enough to survive and establish herself in the complex court. 

She was fully aware that her reasons for following the Crown Prince could be perceived with different intentions than reality. 

She wasn’t hovering around him with pure intentions, but neither was it from feelings of admiration nor approaching him with any sinister designs.

She had prepared words to deflect at times like this.

“It’s not what everyone thinks, my lady. How could I possibly harbor feelings for His Highness the Crown Prince? That would be presumptuous.”

Rita, accustomed to court life, knew well that others around them were pretending not to listen while straining their ears.

“Then?”

“As you know, my lady, I’m currently creating His Highness’s portrait.”

“Ah! Yes.”

The noblewoman nodded, seemingly already convinced. Rita continued her explanation with her characteristic smile that conveyed trustworthiness and kindness.

“It’s work that started under Her Majesty the Queen’s orders, and the finished product will be sent across the entire continent, so won’t people all over the world see it and imagine our Highness’s appearance? Naturally, my sense of responsibility has become immense.”

“That’s true.”

“I cannot tolerate drawing His Highness the Prince worse than he actually is due to my lack of skill or effort.”

“I see!”

Lady Vilona nodded in admiration. Those who had been pretending not to listen also conversed among themselves in low voices, about half seemingly convinced.

“I heard she had a strong work ethic, and it’s really true.”

“That’s probably how she could secure the court painter position at such a young age.”

“Doesn’t she produce an incomparable amount of work compared to painters her age? And I heard that doesn’t mean the quality of each individual work drops either.”

“Of course. Just looking at the paintings decorating the court recently, isn’t her skill certain?”

About half the nobles believed Rita’s words. Perhaps we misunderstood. Isn’t an artist’s way of thinking different from ordinary people?

But the other half thought differently. They didn’t believe a single word Rita said.

* * *

“What should I do?”

The palace attic, Margarita’s room. The area near her bed was now covered so densely with small paintings that there was no room to step. Though she used various poses, compositions, and coloring methods, they were all practice paintings of one man’s n*de body.

“This isn’t it…”

If others had seen them, they probably would have admired Rita’s paintings as already sufficiently excellent, even becoming more vivid over time. But standards are always far higher than what hands can create. To Rita, all these numerous paintings were unsatisfactory.

The more she followed the unofficial schedule and watched from afar, the better Rita came to understand the charm of the man called Gabriele. 

So she couldn’t be satisfied with the paintings she had already drawn even more. This was too boring compared to him, this was vulgar, and that was too stiff.

If only she could depict him more charmingly. More seductively. More vividly.

‘No.’

Perhaps all these problems were simply because she had never directly seen Gabriele’s n*ked body. How difficult it was to accurately imagine and draw something she had never seen. 

Rita put down her brush and turned her head to stare at a small chart attached to the wall.

It had Gabriele’s schedule for tonight written on it. She was puzzled because it wasn’t a place where the Crown Prince usually appeared, and fear came first because it was also a place Rita had never been to.

‘But…’

Perhaps tonight at that place, she might be able to see his n*ked body. The place Rita was planning to go was the night ballroom.

The night ball. There was a crucial difference between balls held during the day or evening and balls held at night.

Namely, that many nobles had trysts or engaged in orgies around the time the ball ended. 

Of course, not everyone who went to a night ball had such purposes. Many enjoyed only the wholesome banquet and returned immediately.

Whether the Crown Prince would spend the night with someone or simply return was impossible to know without direct confirmation.

As night fell, Rita donned her formal golden dress and concealed her face with a black raven mask. Night balls like this one were typically held with masks, allowing nobles, who were otherwise preoccupied with appearances, to indulge more freely in their private “after-parties.”

Rita arrived at the venue in a borrowed carriage. By the time she entered the brightly lit banquet hall, the ball was already in full swing. Those who preferred to enjoy the event more modestly were beginning to leave the ballroom one by one.

However, in one corner, masked men and women were paired up chatting, or already enjoying subtle contact and teasing each other. 

Smoke from tobacco being smoked here and there clouded the air hazily. Rita looked around and stopped when she found the person she was looking for.

‘There he is.’

Though everyone wore masks, she wouldn’t fail to recognize a familiar person just because a mask covered about half their face. Well-groomed dark brown hair, white skin showing between the silver mask.

His sturdy physique that stood out even from afar clearly indicated he was Gabriele. Rita naturally glanced around him.

‘Are there no women?’

Befitting the Crown Prince with his gentle nature and social skills, many people hovered around him. 

Though they wore masks, they couldn’t hide his charm, and each fanned themselves or laughed pleasantly while looking at him. There didn’t seem to be any particularly sultry contact with women.

But she couldn’t yet guarantee he hadn’t come to the banquet for ‘that purpose.’ If she watched more, history would unfold on the terrace or garden outside, or in spare rooms upstairs.

‘The garden is one thing, but it would be troublesome if he goes to the terrace or a room.’

Because it would be difficult to peek in an enclosed space. To wet her throat drying from tension, Rita picked up apple-colored champagne from a waiter’s tray.

Feeling the sweet sting of alcohol on her tongue, she turned her head again, and the Crown Prince wasn’t there. In Rita’s eyes as she turned her head around in confusion, she saw Gabriele’s back as he took a beautiful woman’s hand and led her toward the garden.

‘Ah, I knew it!’

She poured the remaining drink into her mouth in one gulp, then placed the empty glass back on the tray and followed him. When she stepped outside into the garden away from the stifling heat of the banquet hall, her cheeks flushed from the alcohol gradually cooled.

“Where did he go?”

But Crown Prince Gabriele, who had clearly slipped out to this garden, was nowhere to be seen. Thinking he had already found a tryst location with the woman, she wandered nearby with regret.

“Looking for someone?”

From behind Rita, a shadow large enough to cover her entire body fell. Startled, she turned around to find an unfamiliar man.

“Pardon?”

“No use searching no matter how much you look.”

It was impressive how his vile nature seeped through even his masked face. Thinking she should sketch that face on paper when she got back, Rita turned her steps.

“You must have mistaken me for someone else.”

But her steps trying to slip away to the side were quickly blocked. Along with her wrist being roughly grabbed.

The man, covering her with his huge frame, said.

“Even if you’re looking, to the Crown Prince, a woman like you is just a toy to play with and discard.”

“…?”

“The excuse about wanting to draw the portrait well and whatnot was good. But in the end, you just want to captivate the Crown Prince with your body in a place like this, don’t you?”