Chapter 69

“Ah, just a moment!”

Clarette hurriedly tidied up the canvas and hid it beside the table. After carefully putting away the reagents she had taken out for cleaning, she quickly went to the studio door.

“Sorry, Your Grace. I was cleaning, so I’m a bit late…”

As Clarette unlocked the door, Lionel immediately pulled her in and kissed her.

Clarette, suddenly so close to him, caught a faint scent of his cologne and blushed. Lionel, just back from an outing, was dressed in a light suit with a jacket.

The kiss was deep and sweet, but after a moment Clarette gently pushed him away.

“Your Grace, it’s still daytime. If someone sees us…”

“There’s no one on the second floor. Diane is working downstairs.”

Lionel reassured her and leaned in for another kiss. Clarette, unable to resist, let herself lean into him and responded to his kiss after several days apart.

Today was the fifth day since the night they first kissed. During that time, Clarette had been immersed in restoring the old portrait, while Lionel was finishing preparations to launch his new business.

“It was hard to hold back. I wanted to come by every day.”

Lionel whispered affectionately as he closed the studio door. Clarette smiled softly, feeling his gentle touch.

“You’ve been really busy. You’ve been traveling far and staying out a lot.”

“Yeah. I should’ve just taken you with me.”

“No, I’m busy too.”

Clarette spoke with pride, and Lionel laughed quietly. She was always a woman he couldn’t take lightly.

“So, what have you been painting while I was away?”

“Um…”

Clarette hesitated, glancing at the empty easel. In truth, while Lionel was often away from the mansion, she hadn’t worked on anything but the old portrait.

But she planned to reveal its existence only after she succeeded in restoring it.

“…Mostly landscapes. The weather’s been so nice lately, and the days are longer.”

Clarette lied naturally so as not to arouse suspicion. Lionel nodded, believing her.

“Right, summer’s coming. Should we go to the sea again? This time to the south.”

“Well, let’s see how the business goes first. Traveling costs quite a bit.”

“Of course, that makes sense. Speaking of which…”

Lionel took something from his jacket pocket. It looked like a light gray tin capsule, but its shape was somewhat different from before.

When Clarette looked at it with wide eyes, Lionel made a gentle suggestion.

“Would you test it for me? See if it works well.”

Clarette took the item he handed her and examined it. The folded shape at the bottom resembled the original tin capsule, but the top was completely different.

“Is this round part the cap?”

“That’s right. Turn it to the right. There’s a groove inside, so you can close it again.”

“So you don’t need to cut it open anymore. You can use just as much as you want. Mr. Markrel made this?”

“Yes, Doris made it. He can whip up anything if you ask. I should really give him a share.”

While Lionel praised Doris, Clarette carefully twisted the cap open. Inside, she caught the distinctive smell of oil paint.

“There’s paint inside?”

“Yeah, just squeeze the end. No tools needed.”

It was no longer a tin capsule, but a tin tube. Clarette, fascinated, went straight to the work table.

With Lionel watching, she pressed the end of the tin tube hard onto the wide palette.

“Ah.”

Just as he said. The paint inside came out exactly as much as she pressed. Now she wouldn’t need to measure out the day’s paint or throw away leftovers.

But that wasn’t the only reason for Clarette’s short gasp.

“Your Grace, this color…”

The paint from the tin tube was a deep blue. Clear and bright, like the sea.

It was the color of lapis lazuli.

“It’s the first one I made.”

Lionel came closer and whispered gently.

“I told you, if I succeeded, you’d be the first to know.”

Clarette stared blankly at the blue paint, lost for words.

A color so expensive it was only used for commissions from the Imperial Family or the Ensila Order. A blue she’d thought she’d never handle in her lifetime was sparkling right before her eyes.

“But… how did you make this? Even this much must have cost a fortune for the raw material…”

Clarette asked hesitantly, but Lionel answered cheerfully.

“Isaac made the deal. Lapis lazuli comes from the mines across the sea in the Garon Kingdom. We made a direct contract with the mines there. I paid, and Isaac will keep shipping it.”

“Captain Hunt did something amazing. All the way to Garon…”

Clarette was full of admiration. Lionel looked at her with shining blue eyes.

“The ‘Marina Blue’ that crossed the sea—this will be our flagship product. It’s the color everyone wants. And…”

Lionel, eyes full of anticipation, took out another new tin tube.

Would this be another color? As Clarette watched curiously, Lionel himself opened the cap.

“This is a new color I made.”

He carefully squeezed the paint onto the palette as Clarette did. The new color made Clarette’s lips part in surprise.

It was a vivid, deep green.

“I figured if people could carry paint outdoors, they’d paint more landscapes. So green would be popular too.”

“That’s true. Usually, people mix yellow and blue for green, but it’s hard to get a color this rich and bright by mixing… How did you make it?”

“There’s a bit of lapis lazuli in it. The pigment artisans tried countless times to get it right, so the recipe’s complicated. But it’ll be hard for others to copy.”

Clarette gazed admiringly at the new green. It was so beautiful she wanted to go outside and paint the greenery right away.

“So, what do you call this color? Have you named it?”

“It had a name from the start. I made it because I wanted this color.”

Lionel turned to Clarette.

“‘Clarette.’”

Her deep green eyes blinked blankly. As he looked at her eyes, like a blue-green forest, Lionel asked softly,

“No other name suits it. What do you think?”

Overwhelmed, Clarette could only stare at his face. When Lionel smiled gently, she broke into a wide smile and hugged him.

With Clarette’s kiss as her answer, the spring days at the ducal residence drifted by peacefully.

* * *

The long journey in Moerven was finally over.

Marian Belvard yawned and sat up in the wide hotel bed. Her thin negligee slipped loosely, revealing her dusky skin. As Marian rubbed her eyes and tried to leave the bed,

“What time is it now?”

The man lying next to her lazily grabbed her wrist and murmured.

Marian smiled and leaned toward him. She kissed the man’s back lightly and whispered,

“It’s not early morning. It’s at least eleven, I think, Earl.”

“Mm.”

Earl Richard Crowley, having heard the time, turned his body with a face still half-asleep. As he lay facing her, Marian chuckled and kissed him lightly.

“You worked hard last night. It can’t have been easy to keep up with me.”

“…Don’t flatter me. We both enjoyed it.”

Richard responded to her kiss and sat up in bed. Marian looked fondly at Richard’s tousled black hair.

“It was a surprise. I thought you weren’t interested in this sort of thing. You followed so easily—I expected you to stay in the ballroom.”

“I tend to look for women when I’m drunk.”

“Ah. Is that a family trait?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

When Richard frowned and looked back, Marian laughed brightly and answered.