65. Two Friends (2)
That day too, the two friends stayed after school in the classroom to draw.
“How long are you staying today?”
“I’ll just mess around until it’s time for the guest lecture.”
“Guest lecture?”
“You didn’t know? Baron Lantskoĭ is coming today.”
“Who’s that?”
Judith jumped up in shock at her friend’s puzzled look.
“You don’t know Baron Lantskoĭ? When everyone in the world knows him?”
“Then I must not be human but an animal. Woof woof!”
“Ah, stop joking. You don’t know the rising comet of the art world?”
“Oh, he’s a painter?”
Her friend, lying on the desk, picked at her ear with an uninterested face.
She had no interest in art and didn’t particularly want to know about it either.
Judith, normally a fervent follower of the Baron, ignored this and went on to explain at length how amazing he was.
Not realizing her friend was letting the boring art talk go in one ear and out the other.
“Anyway, they say he started late but he’s already recognized for his skill and works as an adjunct professor at Hersen National Academy. If I get the chance, I’d love to become his student.”
“Is that such a big deal?”
“Of course! I decided to become a painter after seeing Baron Lantskoĭ’s paintings.”
“Then you definitely should become one. I’ll cheer for your dream to come true.”
The two friends continued drawing like that until the lecture time.
They didn’t even notice how much time had passed.
While they were both deeply focused on drawing, suddenly the classroom’s front door slid open.
“Ah, is this not it? I apologize for disturbing you.”
A gentleman with a dignified voice apologized.
Judith jumped up from her seat in surprise when she recognized his face.
Lantskoĭ looked exactly like the self-portrait he had painted.
“B-Baron Lantskoĭ!”
“Have we met somewhere before?”
“I-I was waiting here to attend your lecture.”
“Ah, so you’re a student here coming to hear my lecture. Nice to meet you.”
The Baron entered the classroom and approached Judith, offering his hand.
She trembled as she took his hand, meeting her idol.
These hands had created such amazing paintings.
Judith had a vision of his hands gleaming as if gilded in gold.
Her friend, who had been hunched over the desk doodling, lifted her head with an indifferent look but froze like a statue.
She had never seen such an elegant man before.
Born and raised as a commoner, and having only seen female nobles at Molnitsky Girls’ Academy, this was her first time seeing a noble man.
The eyes of a girl who had never known love instantly filled with excitement.
“Ah, shall we shake hands too?”
At those words, her friend jumped up with a clatter.
The papers on the desk scattered across the floor in the process.
“I-I’m sorry!”
Baron Lantskoĭ bent down to pick up the fallen papers before she could even run over.
“Did you draw these?”
“Aah! They’re just doodles! Don’t look!”
Her friend’s face turned red as a radish in embarrassment as she reached out trying to grab them, but the Baron stepped back avoiding her hands.
He stood there for a long while appreciating the drawings she had made.
Judith suddenly felt anxious for no reason.
After looking through all her friend’s drawings, the Baron opened his tightly closed lips.
Seeing her idol direct such warm eyes toward her friend instead of herself, Judith sensed what he was about to say.
“How would you like to become my student?”
“What?”
“Of course, it won’t cost you anything. Rather, I plan to pay you a corresponding salary while you help with my work. Like an apprentice.”
Bad premonitions never failed to come true.
Baron Lantskoĭ had never taken on an apprentice before.
The same went for his students at Hersen National Academy.
Yet this glorious first offer went not to her, but to her friend who knew nothing about art.
Judith wished this was all just a dream.
“No, wait. Suddenly that’s…”
“I’ve never seen such impressive drawings. Though there are some rough areas, with a bit of polishing they could produce paintings that will astonish the world. Won’t you grow together with me under my guidance?”
“Impressive? My drawings?”
“Don’t tell me you didn’t know? About this genius talent of yours.”
That day, her friend felt for the first time what it meant for her heart to race.
An intense thrill swept through every part of her body at the word ‘genius’ describing her.
At that moment, she didn’t even think about how this was the position Judith had been dreaming of.
Her friend nodded right then.
“Yes, I’ll do it!”
Judith, who had believed her friend would refuse for her sake, tasted an indescribably deep sense of betrayal.
Having received the answer he wanted, the Baron put down the drawings he was holding on the desk and took his student’s hands in his.
Judith slowly picked up those drawings that had overturned fate.
What about them had so enchanted the Baron?
The question was soon answered.
The moment she saw her friend’s drawings, she felt her hair stand on end.
They were enough to shake the Baron’s heart.
No, there wouldn’t be anyone in the world unmoved by these drawings.
She hated her friend.
She felt disgusted remembering how she had complained about having no talent while possessing such skill.
‘Was she making fun of me?’
Judith had sometimes pitied her friend who seemed to have no special talents.
At the same time, she may have felt superior.
Because even if she gave up her dream, she always had alternatives thanks to her studies.
Her talent was in academics.
But she had been sincere enough about her dream of becoming a painter to willingly give up what she was good at and choose the thorny path.
As if mocking her desperate desire, her incompetent friend who only thought about marrying rich, without any desperation or effort,
Had possessed from birth the talent that she herself could never have.
An overwhelming talent that she could never catch up to no matter how hard she struggled.
***
In the end, her friend became Baron Lantskoĭ’s unofficial student.
Though she wanted to tell everyone this proud news, the Baron asked her to keep it secret for now, saying public perception of female painters wasn’t good yet.
Judith pretended to be composed and congratulated her friend, but of course it wasn’t sincere.
That day, Judith threw away all her art supplies and never drew again.
Her roommate friend saw the supplies in the trash but didn’t ask about it.
It was an opportunity that would never come again.
She had no intention of reversing her decision for Judith’s sake, so feeling sorry was a luxury.
The two friends gradually grew distant like that.
Time passed quickly and graduation day arrived.
Speaking as the valedictorian at the podium, Judith bit her lower lip when she spotted Baron Lantskoĭ sitting in the back.
He must have come to congratulate his student.
She felt nauseous imagining her friend’s bright future, supported by her mentor after graduation.
‘You’re not my friend.’
She felt angry that her position had been stolen, even though it hadn’t been reserved for her from the start.
A brutal plunderer who had trampled on her friend’s dreams.
At least after graduation she wouldn’t have to see that detestable face anymore.
That was her only consolation.
Her hatred for her friend peaked after the graduation ceremony ended.
While waiting for the carriage home, she caught sight of her friend entering an alley with Baron Lantskoĭ, looking around cautiously.
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say most problems in human affairs arise from curiosity.
Judith’s curiosity also brought about an unexpected tragedy.
Thump.
The bouquet she received as class representative fell to the ground.
At the rustling sound, the man and woman passionately kissing in the alley turned to look.
“J-Judith…!”
After sending her lover away, her friend approached Judith.
“Since when? Since when have you been seeing the Baron?”
“That…”
“Did you want that position so badly?”
It was clear that her friend had talent.
But Judith wanted to believe it wasn’t the difference in their skill, but that she had used seduction to cheat.
She wanted to disparage her friend’s talent even that way.
“You misunderstand. Yes, I’m seeing Baron Lantskoĭ but that’s not why he took me as his student. At the joint party with the Academy before… it happened. After I became his student.”
It was the party Judith had missed due to illness.
But she could no longer believe anything her friend said.
She not only took Judith’s dream but even had a romance with a noble.
She hated how her friend had everything she wanted.
“If you’re so proud of it, why didn’t you tell me you were dating all this time? You had plenty of chances.”
“Because I was afraid you’d misunderstand like this…”
“Then quit right now. Just tell the Baron to take me as his student instead.”
“I’m sorry. I can’t do that.”
“What?”
Judith asked in a trembling voice.
“Thanks to him, I first realized I had talent too. You said it yourself—that I’d definitely find something that makes my heart race!”
Why was such a blessed life where talent and dreams aligned only allowed for her friend?
“Can’t at least you understand me? Actually, it’s been hard. There are things I couldn’t tell you until now…”
Her friend grabbed Judith’s hands while crying.
She thought it was just complains about having too much good fortune.
What could be so hard when she had gotten everything?
When I’m the one suffering enough to want to die.
Judith coldly knocked away those hands.
“Don’t touch me. It’s disgusting.”
“…What?”
Her friend’s shocked eyes wavered aimlessly.
“I hope you become unhappy. I hope you suffer deeply regretting this moment.”
“Judith…”
“I’ll sincerely pray that you live and die abandoned by everyone in eternal solitude.”
Judith completely turned her back on the girl she had once considered a friend.
She didn’t know.
That in the near future, she herself would deeply regret that moment.
