Revisiting the face of Dafwin, who committed the pointless act of going on a picnic with her.

“Let us begin.”

Kahar uncrossed his legs and rose from his seat, and the attendants came forward to take the garment draped over his shoulders.

They straightened his cravat, tidied the hair at the back of his head, and checked their master’s appearance once more.

As always, Kahar was flawless.

He walked over and settled into one of the two golden chairs.

The completed portrait would hang at the center of the main building.

The first day the authority of the Grand Duke and his wife began.

Everyone would look upon this portrait and serve their new mistress.

Tap, tap, tap. The rain beating against the windows grew louder and louder.

***

Meliciel returned to the Grand Ducal Castle close to midnight.

The rain came on suddenly, so she sheltered for a time in the cabin on Enton Hill.

As night fell, the rain gradually weakened, but once it started, it showed no sign of stopping easily.

Rose and Barix argued for safety that they should descend the hill after daybreak. But Meliciel couldn’t wait until morning.

She was troubled by her absence from the portrait session she was supposed to attend with Kahar. The portrait work was an important matter that needed to be completed before the wedding, and now it was thrown off schedule.

It wasn’t intentional, but she broke a commitment, and that was the truth.

Did the Grand Duke wait long? No, he probably didn’t wait.

But he must have been quite displeased.

Wanting to at least apologize to him, Meliciel hurried back to the Grand Ducal Castle late as it was.

She stepped out of the carriage and quickened her feet into the main building.

“My lady!”

Belita, who had been waiting inside because of the rain, came rushing out to meet her. She swallowed a sharp breath and looked Meliciel over carefully.

“Are you all right? Was the journey back difficult?”

“I’m fine. Did you wait long?”

“I am simply relieved you are safe, my lady. Goodness. Your outer coat is soaked through.”

Belita reached out and removed Meliciel’s cape herself.

The cape was completely waterlogged. She used a large umbrella coming down the hill, but it wasn’t enough to block all the wind and rain.

With the cape gone, Meliciel shivered and asked:

“……Where is the Grand Duke?”

“Do not worry. The Grand Duke completed the portrait session first.”

“First?”

“Yes. It seems they can each be painted separately.”

“That’s such a relief.”

Meliciel let out a breath and pressed a hand to her chest. Knowing Kahar went first made her feel much better.

If today’s session fell through entirely, Kahar would have to make time again, and that kind of fault was not something that would help Meliciel.

“Oh, the Grand Duke is in his bedroom.”

“Mm.”

“So, my lady, what if you bathed on the second floor and then went up to your bedroom?”

Belita asked carefully. At night, no one could approach the south side of the third floor where Kahar was.

So if Meliciel went up to her bedroom now, she would have to bathe and prepare for bed entirely on her own.

Meliciel still found being alone more comfortable, but the maids felt differently. They couldn’t simply stand by while the young lady, soaked by rain, struggled through a bath alone.

“We cannot go to your chambers, my lady, but we also cannot leave you there alone.”

It was a more peaceful solution for everyone if Meliciel bathed on the lower floor rather than the maids disobeying orders and going up to the third floor.

Meliciel thought for a moment, then shook her head.

“It’s all right. I’ll bathe alone tonight. Thank you all for waiting. You may go now.”

“But you must be so exhausted. Please let us help.”

“I’ll warm up in the hot water. I already ate, so please don’t prepare anything extra.”

Meliciel declined again and went up the stairs. Belita followed all the way to the end of the third floor, then watched as Meliciel walked the corridor alone.

Then, with a heavy heart, she had no choice but to turn back.

Flash. A bright bolt of lightning swallowed the long corridor and spat it back out.

Nothing could be heard in the corridor but the rain and thunder. Flash, lightning struck again in quick succession, and Meliciel felt a chill run down her spine.

The large windows and the deserted corridor felt endlessly long. Meliciel quickened her steps, seized by an eerie feeling of being swallowed up by something.

“Will he be angry?”

She was worried about Kahar, but she was most disappointed in herself for failing to keep her commitment.

A Grand Duchess needed to carry out not only personal promises but official schedules without fail.

And yet she made a mistake this early on. The road ahead was long, and stumbling at the very start left her feeling wretched.

“Will he be asleep?”

Either way, she wanted to find Kahar and deliver her apology for failing to keep the commitment.

She didn’t want to be in his debt, and commitments mattered.

Meliciel slipped quietly into the sitting room and stood still with her ear pressed to the door connecting to Kahar’s sitting room.

“Is he already asleep?”

She strained to hear, hoping she might be able to see him, but eavesdropping on a person through a thick door was no easy thing.

Knock, knock, knock.

After a brief moment of hesitation, Meliciel gathered her courage and knocked.

“Are you there?”

The end of Meliciel’s voice came out slightly cracked.

“Are you there?”

When she spoke again, the door swung open from the inside.

She truly didn’t expect him to come out, and Meliciel’s eyes went wide.

“What is it?”

“Oh…… am I disturbing you?”

Kahar didn’t answer and leaned against the doorframe at an angle. Late as it was, he was still in his formal attire.

“Are you going out somewhere?”

“Say what you came to say.”

Kahar’s manner, telling her to get to the point instead of asking useless questions, felt more overbearing than usual.

But she was the one at fault here. Meliciel drew a small breath and let it out.

“I’m sorry. I’m truly sorry about today.”

“Is that all?”

“Pardon?”

“Is that all you came to say?”

Meliciel shifted her eyes awkwardly and answered.

“……Yes. I wanted to apologize.”

“Why not find something other than painting lessons for your cultural pursuit?”

“Pardon?”

“With hobbies and leisure, the options are endless. Why does it have to be painting?”

Meliciel tilted her head slightly.

Is it because today’s commitment was broken because of the painting lesson?

Is he telling me to quit?

“If you can manage it, find another hobby.”

“I…… I want to keep painting. I enjoy it, and Teacher Dafwin is also a good person.”

Not noticing the shift in Kahar’s brow, Meliciel pressed on, trying to change his mind.

“It’s genuinely fun. Exciting, even. It gives me energy.”

The beauty of the Grand Duchy she saw today and the world Dafwin created were things she would probably never forget.

Like a small sprout popping out of her chest, she was a little giddy.

“I don’t want to quit.”

“The painting?”

Hm?

“Or the pointless business with that hollow man from the imperial court.”

“……The imperial, hollow man?”

“Can you not manage to be reasonably, quietly in your place? Is that so hard? Is that too much to ask?”

Only then did Meliciel realize Kahar was angrier than she expected.

“If you truly cannot let go of it, change teachers.”

“That’s……”

“Isn’t drawing lines enough to call it art? For lessons at a crawling level, anyone would do just as well.”

“Teacher Dafwin is not just anyone.”

He is a great master, Teacher Dafwin.

In Meliciel’s heart, Dafwin had practically become a saint by now.

“He is truly a great man!”

Meliciel raised her voice in a way unlike her usual self, and Kahar went still for a moment.

A moment later, he let out a bitter breath.

“Great?”

“Yes.”

Meliciel’s eyes shone with firm conviction.

“He is a truly great painter.”

“Oh, is that so?”

“And painting is not just drawing lines. It is transferring one’s heart. Teacher Dafwin said so.”

Her face flushed red as she poured out her frustration. Her chest pounded as though she herself were the one being insulted.

“Taking sides.”

“I will be more careful going forward. As long as everything goes without a hitch, that should be enough.”

“You give me a headache.”

Kahar stared at her for a moment, then stepped back. It seemed like he was backing down more easily than expected, so Meliciel asked:

“Are you going?”

“Yes. Go ask that great teacher of yours to sing you a lullaby.”

The door slammed shut, and Meliciel stood before it, still as a cat left out in the cold.

Kahar’s expression at the end was close to one of being thoroughly fed up with her.

“……I did apologize.”

So that was at least half done.

Cough, cough. A cough suddenly came on. She pressed the back of her hand to her flushed cheeks and made her way unsteadily to her room.

She felt chills and her stomach turned.

“He didn’t have to say all that.”

Kahar’s unkind words lingered unpleasantly, floating through her mind. Meliciel squeezed her eyes shut and opened them.

“Cough, cough.”

It seemed she caught a cold.

***

Her condition worsened, as expected. Meliciel suppressed the coughs bursting out of her, swallowing them down, cough, cough.

She made the excuse to the worried maids that she slept a little poorly the night before, but she couldn’t hide the color steadily draining from her face.

“My lady, are you sure you are all right?”

Rose, who combed her hair, asked carefully. Rose, who got rained on alongside her yesterday, was perfectly fine, as though nothing happened.

Meliciel wet her constantly drying lips with tea and answered, “Yes.”