Chapter 284

Finally, Violet opened her eyes and looked at Aldin.

“Sir Aldin.”

“...Yes.”

Perhaps it was the seriousness on her face, but Aldin answered with a firm tone.

“I—”

Unfortunately, Violet couldn’t finish her sentence.

Because—

“Where did you go?! It took me ages to find you!”

An interrupter had appeared.

“......”

“......”

“What? Why do you both look like that? Do I have something on my face? Huh?”

“...Haa.”

“Why?”

The timing was truly frustrating. Violet’s sigh deepened.

“Never mind. Where have you been wandering off to...?”

“I told you I had something to check out! Was I not supposed to come back?”

“......”

“What’s wrong? Hey, did I do something wrong?”

“...If you’ve painted it, how could it not be beautiful?”

Violet’s expression grew slightly awkward at the unexpected compliment, but the crown prince’s wistful expression didn’t change. She only hoped the painting wouldn’t end up burning.

In the end, the final touches were completed without incident, and the crown prince’s portrait was finished. Regardless of how Violet personally felt about him, Rajaden had been a striking subject and muse.

The portrait, bathed in light, resembled a god more than a human being. If someone were to see it, they might cry out that depicting a human as a god was blasphemy, but Violet didn’t care. She had already been called a witch who had made a pact with the devil, so what did it matter?

The empress said nothing about Violet’s painting, and Rajaden only wore that wistful expression, so the work was completed without further issue.

With the portrait finished, Rajaden no longer had an excuse to meet with Violet. The rumors that had once surrounded them had mostly died down, so they would no longer be the subject of gossip.

Rajaden was diligently moving on from his feelings. There were more important matters for him to focus on.

Meanwhile, Violet had begun preparing for her exhibition in earnest. She had a clear goal of holding the exhibition before the winter ended, so she threw herself into her work.

There was much noise surrounding Violet’s exhibition.

Because she was a noblewoman, or because she was a female artist, she was surrounded by countless prejudices. She also had to endure accusations that her paintings were so close to blasphemy that she must have made a pact with the devil.

Amidst the noise, she steeled herself.

It’s okay to fall into a slump. Overcoming it was all that mattered.

It’s okay to fall apart. As long as she could stand up again, no matter how slowly.

Violet liked her own paintings. No matter what anyone said, she loved the world she created through her art. At times, she wondered if she really had made a pact with the devil without even remembering it.

As Violet continued preparing for her exhibition, a rumor quite different from the news of the war began to spread.

...The rumor was that Aileen Everett had collapsed after ingesting poison.

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