Alisa was a perplexing existence in many ways. She was the kind of person who couldn’t be precisely categorized.

Is she my woman? Yes, but no. While being his wife, she constantly wished to escape that position as wife. She was so passionate about it that it sometimes irritated him.

Does she love me? No, but yes. More precisely, I wish she would.

Wished she would? Am I hoping for a woman to love me?

He let out a bitter laugh for a moment.

At first, yes. He was just curious about how she would react. Would this woman who desperately proclaimed she wanted a divorce push him away?

When he kissed her in the square, Alisa jumped but didn’t run away. It was the same after that. When she was sick, and then every time after that, every night…..

When he kissed her, Alisa would tremble with her eyes tightly shut. Yet she never ran away. Watching her like that would raise an ambiguous hope that tormented him.

Rashid enjoyed looking at her tightly closed eyelids.

Her white, soft skin would tremble slightly, waiting for what would happen next. She seemed afraid, or perhaps expectant. That contradiction was interesting. It truly was a sight he never tired of seeing no matter how many times he saw it.

Sometimes he wondered.

What do I want to do with this woman?

She was a confusing woman. She would casually ignore what he imagined and predicted. That irregularity, that unpredictable attitude, the reality that he had come to expect her words and actions—Rashid enjoyed it all.

Yes, he admitted it. The fact that the color painting their time together was joy.

But did Alisa think the same way? Was she enjoying it too? Sometimes he felt unpleasant at the reality that he had to harbor such doubts.

When he finished washing up, word came that Alisa had fallen asleep. Rashid instructed them to prepare appropriate medicine in the morning just in case.

Should I go see her sleeping?

The thought suddenly occurred to him and Rashid stepped out of his room. The long corridor dimly revealed itself in the soft light of the magic lamps.

After walking a few steps, Rashid’s feet came to an abrupt stop.

What if I wake her unnecessarily?

Though Alisa wasn’t particularly sensitive, still, you never know. Rashid eventually turned around to head back to his room.

‘Come to think of it, that place earlier…’

Rashid looked at the doors lined up in the corridor and recalled the door Alisa had closed earlier. It was the gallery where portraits of the previous Duke and Duchess hung. The history of the ducal family that had continued for hundreds of years was preserved intact inside.

‘Her expression wasn’t good—I hope she’s not feeling pressured about the position of duchess.’

Rashid worried that she might be having unnecessary thoughts. Only recently had she finally stopped talking about wanting a divorce, and if she felt burdened, she might bring it up again.

Rashid went to the gallery and opened the heavy door. The door decorated lavishly with carved dark red opal moved with a dull sound.

The interior was dark. The attendant who followed him hurriedly turned on the lights inside. Soon the magic lamps lit up and the paintings became visible. The characteristically heavy air pressed down on his shoulders. Dozens of ancestors lined up along the walls seemed to glare at him as if they had been waiting.

Rashid walked to the right. Only his and his attendant’s footsteps echoed against the high ceiling in the silent room.

He looked at his own portrait. This was painted seven years ago when he became Duke. Perhaps because it was from a more impetuous time than now, his tightly closed lips looked quite stubborn. His golden eyes burned with contained anger.

‘I can barely remember when this was hung up.’

Rashid glanced at Natalie’s portrait hanging to the left of his. Because of paintings like this one, he had rarely entered this room during his time as Duke.

If he had been younger, he would have wanted to slash that painting with his sword and burn it. However, the current Rashid was no longer a boy.

Then he suddenly realized,

‘Alisa’s portrait….’

As if he were still unmarried, the space to his right was empty. The bare white wall where no painting hung shone particularly pale.

Rashid couldn’t know what impression the absence of a portrait had left on her. It would be difficult to ask until she brought it up herself. Anything he said now would sound like an excuse.

He felt somewhat wronged. Feeling wronged—Rashid found his own emotion unfamiliar and awkward. However, this was the first time he had been so bothered by someone else’s unintended misunderstanding. His chest began to feel tight, wanting to run to her right away and tell her it wasn’t like that.

‘Is that why she said she wanted to go live in a port city?’

She must have been hurt.

Though Alisa would have vigorously waved it off if she knew, saying ‘absolutely not, what are you talking about’, he was serious.

As soon as day broke the next morning, Rashid called for the painter. The painter of Camelli Castle, who had been in charge of the ducal family’s portraits for generations, stood before the Duke rubbing his sleepy eyes. He had been hurriedly dragged over at the crack of dawn at word of the Duke’s summons.

“Paint the Duchess’s portrait. Make it the size to hang in the gallery.”

“I will obey your command. Shall I check with the lady about the schedule?”

“No. …Paint it without her knowing.”

“Pardon?”

“Did you not hear me?”

Rashid raised one eyebrow. The painter hurriedly bowed his head.

“Ho-however, I have not yet met the lady. I wouldn’t know how to paint her.”

“I see. Then follow behind her attending maid and observe. Keep the painting a secret.”

The painter was at a loss for words. Usually when painting portraits, the subjects would dress up and pose for several days. That was how you got natural paintings that resembled the actual person.

But to follow behind and paint on his own? And to keep it secret from the subject herself? As a painter, he couldn’t understand it at all. In his decades of painting every day, this was the first time he had received such an outrageous order.

If the client had been anyone else, he would have proudly refused saying he couldn’t paint like that.

“Can’t you do it?”

“No, no. I will follow your instructions.”

The painter hunched over like a mouse before a hawk. Though it was an absurd order, the client was Duke Penvernon. How could he refuse the words of his master and the lord of the West? As a subject, he should properly obey and follow.

“She is the Duchess. The effort put in should be worthy of that.”

“How could there be any question about that, Your Grace? I will paint her as the most beautiful.”

“Just paint her as she looks.”

“Yes, yes. I understand.”

The painter firmly resolved to paint her as the most beautiful after all.

Benjamin, Rashid’s secretary, stood half a step behind him with his hands behind his back, looking down at the painter.

‘His Grace has changed since getting married.’

More precisely, he had changed notably in recent days. For the first year after marriage, things were no different than usual, as if he had no wife, but the next year changed day by day.

The Rashid Penvernon that Benjamin knew would never have deliberately taken time to give such instructions over a mere portrait.

Having a portrait painted and hung was proper etiquette and courtesy due to a duchess. If so, they could have just proceeded according to established protocol. There was no need to work in such secrecy to surprise his wife.

“Benjamin.”

“Yes, Your Grace.”

“You guide the painter to Alisa.”

“By your command.”

As he led the painter to the Duchess, Benjamin thought:

‘Now I’m doing all sorts of things.’

It really was true.

* * *

“I am Anna, my lady. Please feel free to command me anytime.”

The maid with auburn braids kept bowing with her hands clasped together. Her shoulders were tensely raised and her movements were stiff as her body was frozen with nervousness—it was both pitiful and cute.

“Nice to meet you. I’m counting on you, Anna.”

Anna would be in charge of attending to me until Macy came to Camelli. While Macy had been with me for many days and could tell what I wanted just by looking at my expression, it would be difficult to expect such quick responses from this girl I just met.

“How long have you worked here, Anna?”

“My mother used to work at the castle before. They took me in as a maid when I was fourteen.”

“How old are you now?”

“I turned eighteen this year.”

Anna answered spiritedly.

Then she probably hasn’t attended to noble ladies before. Though her hands were capable since she was used to work, it showed that she had no experience serving noble ladies. For one thing, she talked much more than Louise or Macy, and her speech was rougher.

“You must have lived in Camelli since you were young.”

“I was born and raised in Camelli! I’m a true Camelli person who’s never been outside Camelli!”

“Really?”

“That’s why my lifelong wish is to visit Granrose!”

Anna’s eyes sparkled with longing for the capital.

Speaking of Granrose, it was truly the center of the world and heart of the empire, a sophisticated city where all sorts of fascinating cultures gathered and spread, the homeland of stylish people adorning brilliant streets! To countless imperial citizens who spent their whole lives where they were born, the capital was a land of gold and opportunity.

“Alright, I’ll take you there later.”

“Really?! Thank you, my lady! Oh my, you’re so kind!”

She made such a fuss over nothing. She looked quite adorable, completely lost in her dreams like a young girl.