(1)

The garden wasn’t particularly large, but for the two children, it was a playground more delightful than anything else.

The whimsical yet lovable girl captured pretty and pleasant things from every corner of the garden in her sketchbook, while the slightly bigger boy followed behind her with a book clutched to his chest.

‘Ellen. Wait, Ellen.’

‘Hurry up, Robbie.’

When the girl crouched down to find a place to use her conte crayon, the boy would sit beside her, turning pages in his book or striking up a conversation.

Sometimes when she focused on drawing, the girl would forget to answer the boy’s words, but occasionally, she would burst into laughter as colorful and vibrant as soap bubbles.

‘Le-tra’s promise?’

‘Mm-hmm, it’s “Le Trois’s Promise.” My sister bought it for me.’

The boy liked books, and he often carried them around because books were one of the few things besides drawing that the girl showed interest in.

‘What’s it about?’

When the boy explained the plot, the girl would either respond indifferently or ask about what happened next with eyes as fresh as a summer lawn, sparkling like they contained the Milky Way.

The boy thought the girl’s sparkling eyes were far more beautiful than the awkward flower beds tended by an unskilled gardener.

It was a memory from a painfully beautiful time, of which only a faint afterimage remained now.

⁕⁕⁕

Two in the afternoon. A cafeteria. A time slightly too early for tea and a bit too late for lunch.

“So, Ellen, have you finished all the paintings for the exhibition?” asked Larisa, the painter Eleonora Glanche’s—nicknamed Ellen—patron, as Ellen swallowed her sandwich with milk before answering.

“No. I still have about half left to do.”

“That’s unusual. You haven’t finished even one painting after a month since receiving the commission.”

“Everyone has days like that sometimes.”

Ellen responded with a long yawn. She lacked the energy to put any effort into her answers due to not having slept properly. Larisa frowned, seemingly displeased with Ellen’s response.

“Can’t you possibly paint while maintaining a normal lifestyle? I’m truly afraid you’ll die young at this rate.”

“I’m trying, but it’s just not working out.”

“Sigh, anyone watching would think I’m forcing you to paint without letting you sleep.”

“Oh, come on, as if.”

Ellen replied with a soft chuckle, her tone suggesting she was joking. Larisa, however, continued seriously.

“No, it’s not ‘as if.’ At the very least, you should eat properly. If you keep living like this, someday you’ll really—”

‘Here we go again. Larisa’s lecture time.’

Ellen let Larisa’s nagging flow in one ear and out the other as she absently gazed outside the cafeteria.

The late spring sunlight was too bright for someone who had barely slept two hours the previous night. She kept blinking her eyes.

Then she suddenly realized something.

‘Wait, that’s strange……. The brightness doesn’t seem to be from the sunlight……. What is that?’

Ellen narrowed her eyes and stared intently at the brightly shining spot. Soon, Larisa noticed that Ellen’s attention had drifted elsewhere.

“Ellen. Are you even listening to me?”

“……”

“Ellen? Ellen!”

Ellen didn’t respond to Larisa’s calls as she stared blankly outside. Having spotted something, she suddenly covered her mouth with her hand.

“Oh my……. incredible……”

Clatter.

Then she jumped up from her seat and dashed out of the cafeteria.

“Wait, Ellen?! Where are you going?!”

Larisa raised her voice in surprise. But Ellen didn’t answer as she ran out with her shawl fluttering, intercepting a young girl who was passing by the cafeteria.

“Eek!”

The girl, who appeared to be about fourteen or fifteen, let out a small scream and stopped in her tracks. It was a natural reaction when a strange woman suddenly appeared before her.

But Ellen, that woman, paid no attention to the girl’s scream and exclaimed with sparkling eyes:

“Excuse me, Miss! Are you an angel?!”

“What?!”

The girl looked at Ellen with a startled flutter.

Ellen’s hands were clasped in front of her chest as if she were about to sing a hymn, and her face wore an expression like a child seeing snow for the first time.

She examined the girl’s hair and face, murmuring as if in awe:

“No, how can a person’s hair shine so brilliantly like sunlight? Did someone melt real gold and apply it? No, even then, this color would be hard to achieve. Wow.”

“Um, uh……”

The girl took a step back, appearing flustered. She was indeed as pretty as an angel from a religious painting, just as Ellen had described.

Ellen seemed so moved by the girl’s appearance that she continued her appreciation regardless of the girl’s alarm.

“And not a single blemish on her skin, with a perfect egg-shaped jawline……. This exquisitely downturned eye corners and the golden ratio of her forehead! Perfect baby coral-colored lips that perfectly match those blue eyes! Oh, whoever thought of this color combination must truly be divine……”

“No, um, excuse me.”

“Miss, are you really an angel who descended without the goddess knowing? Or perhaps the goddess herself? If not, are you a saintess who descended with divine love?!”

“N-no, I’m—”

The girl tried to deny it. But Ellen seemed to have no intention of listening.

“You say no? But there’s no other explanation. This beauty defies explanation! Ah, I know!”

Ellen snapped her fingers.

“Either you or your parents or grandparents, or some relative of yours must have saved three countries in a past life, right? That’s why you were born with such beauty, blessed by the gods?”

“What?! W-wait a moment.”

“Yes. That must be it!”

The girl tried several times to calm Ellen down but failed each time. Her eyes, searching around for help, already held a tinge of fear.

Meanwhile, Ellen, with a dreamy look in her eyes, kept talking without giving the girl a chance to respond.

“This won’t do. I can’t just let such world-class beauty go. Miss, do you have time right now? If you’re not busy, could you come to my atelier for a moment—”

At that moment, Larisa rushed out of the cafeteria’s main entrance with an urgent expression. She quickly noticed the girl’s pale, frightened face and hastily issued orders to her maids.

“Merry, Marie.”

“Yes, mistress.”

“Catch that one. Quickly!”

The named maids swiftly ran over and subdued Ellen. They secured her arms behind her back and covered her mouth with cloth, dragging her away from the girl.

Ellen resisted, but she couldn’t escape the hands of professionally trained maids.

“Mmph! Mmph! Mmmmph! Ptooey! Miss! Contact information, no, at least your name! Please! Mmmmph!”

“Stay still, Ellen.”

“Mmph! Mmmmph!”

“We can’t let you go. It’s our mistress’s orders.”

The cloth she had managed to spit out in a moment of resistance was quickly replaced and secured more firmly than before.

Larisa gave the ineffectively struggling Ellen a sideways glance before offering an apology to the girl instead.

“I’m sorry, Miss Bruno. It seems my companion has caused you trouble.”

Larisa deliberately lowered her voice when mentioning the girl’s surname. She intended to prevent Ellen from hearing the girl’s personal information.

Miss Bruno, seemingly relieved by Larisa’s politeness, replied with a more comfortable expression.

“Oh, um, it’s fine. I was just a bit startled……. But how do you know my name?”

“Where are my manners. Introductions should come first. I am Larisa of the Folkenbach Ducal Family. I have some business connections with your adoptive father.”

“Y-Young Duke Folkenbach! I’m Natasha Bruno. My father is indebted to you.”

Only then did Natasha Bruno, now aware of Larisa’s identity, hurriedly offer her respects. Though still too young for social gatherings, her posture was already quite refined.

Larisa glanced sideways at Ellen, who was now completely subdued and isolated at a distance.

“I’m truly sorry about what just happened, Miss Bruno. That person is an artist I sponsor……. She occasionally acts impulsively. Though eccentric, she’s not a bad person and certainly had no intention of harming you.”

“I-I see.”

“Anyway, I’ll make sure this never happens again. Would you forgive this incident, Miss Bruno? For my sake, if nothing else.”

When Larisa went that far, Natasha nodded. After promising once more to prevent any recurrence, Larisa arranged for the ducal family’s carriage to take the girl home.

Natasha politely bid farewell before departing in the carriage.

‘Ellen does act strangely sometimes, but this is the first time she’s been so abrupt……. I should have a word with her anyway.’

Just as Larisa thought this and was about to turn around, someone suddenly grabbed her arm. Larisa naturally screamed.

“Eeek!”

“Larisa! Just now! Do you know that young lady from just now?!”

“E-Ellen?! What happened to Merry and Marie?!”

Ellen was clinging to Larisa’s arm with her hair in disarray. When Larisa hastily looked over Ellen’s shoulder, she saw the two maids sitting with their eyes and necks covered.

“That young lady just now, what’s her name? How old is she? Is she nobility or a commoner? She’s not royalty, is she?!”

Instead of answering Larisa’s question, Ellen grabbed both her arms and shook her with an excited expression. Larisa held her head and shouted back.

“You’re driving me crazy! Stop shaking me!”

“No! Who is she? I’ll keep shaking you until you tell me!”

“Merryyy! Marieee!”

“Tell me! Tell me! Tell me!”

“Someone do something about her!!!”

The maids, having barely recovered from their damage, hurried over at Larisa’s scream-like call. They swiftly subdued Ellen again.

Finally freed, Larisa quickly caught her breath and straightened her clothes. Meanwhile, Ellen continued to shout like a parrot, demanding to know the girl’s personal information.

“Tell me! Tell me! Who is she?! At least her name! No, just tell me which family she belongs to!”

“Merry, Marie.”

“Yes, mistress.”

“Gag her and put her in the carriage.”

Larisa had her maids silence Ellen and load her into the carriage. Then she hurriedly got into the carriage herself before the city guard could arrive, drawn by the commotion.