Chapter 59

Clarette hesitated, even though she was the one who called his name, when she saw Lionel’s surprised expression. Yet she did not look away.

She carefully corrected her way of addressing him.

“Duke Lionel.”

Lionel stared intently at Clarette’s sunset-flushed cheek. Even feeling awkward, she stubbornly met Lionel’s gaze.

As if to ask, ‘Will you like it if I call you this way?’

In the end, Lionel answered with a smile.

“It’s alright now, Clarette. I’m no longer Captain Lionel, but the Duke of Valentin.”

“…Yes, Duke.”

Clarette smiled shyly and walked ahead on the sandy beach. Lionel slowly followed her much smaller footprints.

A gentle breeze made Clarette’s dark hair flutter softly.

The voice that softly called “Lionel” kept ringing in his ears. Watching her melt into the light of the setting sun, Lionel suddenly thought,

He wanted to have this woman.

He wanted to possess this scenery forever.

Feeling the flow of time that could neither be reversed nor stopped, Lionel realized absentmindedly,

‘Ah, maybe that’s why people paint.’

To hold onto things that fade away so easily.

* * *

On the last day in Tivenny, Clarette and Lionel were both busy with their own tasks.

Lionel had business at the docks with Isaac. He busied himself checking and arranging a warehouse for trade goods, cart drivers to transport items to the Linden River, and transport ships to float on the river.

Meanwhile, after sending the two men off, Clarette strolled alone through the streets of Tivenny. She bought some simple stationery at a general store and sketched the beautiful scenery of the port city.

‘I’m so glad my wrist healed safely. Once I return to the ducal residence, I’ll finish the Duke’s painting… Yes, I’ll restore Father’s painting too.’

Giving the Duke his mother’s portrait. Just imagining that moment made Clarette happy.

‘I want to move the Duke’s heart.’

Clarette paused sketching the distant horizon and lightly doodled the Duke’s face. She also sketched his figure, walking with her along the beach in comfortable clothes.

His profile as he talked about the past while gazing at the blazing sunset, and even his gently spreading smile at the end.

Now Clarette could draw the Duke’s face quite accurately even without looking at him. If she kept practicing, she’d be able to paint his whole body just as well.

Even when he was no longer in front of her.

‘If that happens, I won’t have to make the Duke sit for me and suffer anymore.’

Not needing him meant she was growing—as an artist, and financially.

‘If I become better and earn more money… I could become independent from the ducal residence. Then I’d pay back all the kindness I’ve received from the Valentin family.’

Clarette remembered Thiago, who had left the atelier after a huge success with his self-portrait. When he left, she felt regretful but also envious.

She still clearly remembered what she thought at that moment.

I want to succeed and be recognized, too.

Not as someone’s daughter or someone’s model, but as the painter Clarette Sollier.

When would she be able to stand on her own like that?

‘I can’t rely on the Duchy forever. If I’d known about the debt from the beginning, I wouldn’t have imposed or accepted so much…’

It seemed the Duke intended to keep hiding the debt from her. Clarette fully understood his wish to hide the family’s shame.

But if the Duke couldn’t pay off that debt…

<At this rate, you’ll lose your title.>

Recalling Earl Crowley’s words overheard in the tea room, Clarette felt her chest tighten. She stopped and stared quietly at the man she’d just drawn on paper.

The Duke she had just sketched was deep in thought.

‘If he loses his title because of the debt, how will he live?’

In such a situation, he’d have no money, so he wouldn’t be able to run a business like Isaac. That meant he’d most likely return to the military.

If he became Captain Lionel again, he’d keep wandering the battlefield. Then, just as Lady Valentin wished, he might one day lose his life in a faraway land.

‘I don’t want that.’

Clarette quietly furrowed her brow. Even though the Duke had lived as a soldier until just a few months ago, she didn’t want to let him go like that now.

She wanted him to stay by her side and never go to dangerous places again.

‘I hope he’ll always stay with me.’

Clarette gripped her pencil tightly and bit her lip. All she had was earnest feelings—she couldn’t help the Duke at all. She wondered if she was just freeloading and wasting his money.

‘If the Duke ever really faces a crisis… he might need my help.’

Clarette steeled her heart. She decided to quietly start saving money, so the Duke wouldn’t notice.

She resolved to save up for the future, even if she had to sell both her own and her father’s paintings in a real emergency.

‘I have to protect him.’

Clarette readjusted her pencil and kept drawing the Duke. His face, softly smiling with eyes like her mother’s.

* * *

“Time flies. You’re both leaving tomorrow already.”

Isaac looked at Clarette and Lionel with regret. The three of them were sitting at a table in Isaac’s favorite pub.

“We’ll see each other again anyway. Maybe not before summer, but get married this year for sure. I’ll come back then.”

Lionel laughed and patted Isaac’s broad shoulder.

The two men seemed to have accomplished a lot touring Tivenny today. When Clarette thought she’d like to attend that wedding too, Isaac grinned and said,

“Well then. As promised, tonight we drink till we drop, Lionel.”

“You’re the one who’ll drop. Go ahead and order.”

The two men were excited to have a drinking contest after a long time. As they competitively ordered strong and expensive drinks, Clarette quietly peeked at the pub’s drink menu.

“Clarette? Are you going to drink too?”

The Duke looked at her in surprise, and Clarette nodded sheepishly.

“Yes, it’s the last night… And I’ve never been to a pub before, so I want to experience it.”

Lionel, who had practically lived in pubs during his leaves, was once again struck by her innocence. He glanced at the menu in front of Clarette and pointed to the bottom row.

“Then I recommend this.”

Lionel, who never hesitated to offer strong liquor to women he met for a night’s fun, was different with Clarette.

He recommended a sweet, low-alcohol cocktail. Reading the description, she tilted her head.

“It says it’s like a soft drink. Are you going to drink this too, Duke?”

“No, I’ll stick to my usual whiskey. Tonight, I’m going to try all the local Tivenny distillery bottles.”

“Then I’ll have the same…”

“No.”

Lionel gently stopped her.

“When we sailed from Genoa, you tried a sip of my drink. What happened then?”

“…I coughed and almost threw up.”

“Right? So let’s skip it tonight.”

Since the Duke insisted, Clarette had no choice.

She ended up ordering a sweet green cocktail. When the two men started pouring from big brown bottles, she felt a bit embarrassed.

‘I feel like a useless little sister stuck between big brothers.’

Clarette picked up her cocktail glass awkwardly. By the time she finished her sweet drink, the two men were already on their fifth bottle.

From Clarette’s perspective, tonight’s drinking contest was a clear victory for the Duke.

“Wow, our Captain Lionel! On that wide Flandor plain! Really, with bullets flying right in front of us!”

Isaac, now quite drunk, grew louder. The tales of the Flandor Battle he spun were basically praises of Captain Lionel’s heroic feats.

“We were surrounded on all sides! Totally encircled, about to be wiped out! Everyone was calling for their mothers, lovers, crying, some trying to kill themselves, total chaos! But our Captain Lionel! So calm! So cold-blooded!”

“Well, I didn’t have a mother or lover to call for.”

Lionel, used to Isaac’s drunken rambling, replied calmly, sipping his drink. Clarette was embarrassed by Isaac’s loudness but listened with interest to the stories he shouted.

“In the end, Captain Lionel saved all our lives! He broke through that tight encirclement! Bang, bang, bang! Shot down three men in a row! That started it all! Man, at that time…”

Isaac, who had been speaking passionately, suddenly fell silent, overcome with emotion. Lionel smiled faintly, thinking, ‘Here he goes again,’ when Isaac turned seriously to Clarette.