Chapter 128
#128. Portrait of the Previous Grand Duke and Grand Duchess (2)
The place where white moonlight, soaking the window, streamed in. That was Bethany's drawing room attached to her bedroom. More precisely, it was said to be where the portrait of the previous Grand Duchess was.
As Bethany drew back the curtains, Olivia gasped.
"The previous Grand Duchess also had Green Eyes, so why don't you realize that the love you receive is nothing more than a substitute for the previous Grand Duchess!"
The Crown Prince was wrong. The only thing she resembled the previous Grand Duchess was the color of her eyes.
Radiant golden hair, as if melted from gold, and mysterious, vivid Green Eyes. A bright smile gracing a face so beautiful it stole one's breath, and the dignity and grace conveyed even through the portrait.
She really did look exactly like the previous Grand Duchess.
Edwin Lowell Vikander.
The only Lowell bloodline to inherit the previous Grand Duchess. That was all.
"...She's my mother."
Edwin murmured in a voice as clear as the white moonlight.
"She was very beautiful, strong, and playful."
"Edwin really does resemble his mother a lot."
Edwin's eyes curved into a gentle smile.
"Very much so. My mother would sometimes look at me intently, trying to find aspects that resembled my father."
Olivia thought this was her chance. A time to confirm a very small question, as if it were nothing. So, unlike her pounding heart, she smiled calmly.
"I'm curious. I'd like to see it too."
"Well, the previous Grand Duke's portrait is..."
"Unfortunately, there isn't one."
Edwin continued, cutting off Bethany, who was hesitating.
"My father's portrait. It was all burned back then."
Watching Edwin shrug as if it were nothing, Olivia bit her tongue.
In the process of questioning the responsibility for the defeated war, holding onto the lost honor of the commander-in-chief would not help the family in any way.
What Olivia had only learned from books, Edwin had experienced firsthand. Not only the portrait but everything related to his father would have been burned.
Regret for not considering his pain, and the caution of not knowing what to say. Olivia parted her lips.
Seeing the inner thoughts revealed on her clear face, Edwin chuckled. And with a gentle curve of his eyes, he intertwined his fingers between Olivia's.
The cold feeling of the two gemstone rings on Olivia's fingers was eerily satisfying, and the fact that she wasn't wearing them on all ten fingers...
"...I'm disappointed, Liv."
"Yes?"
Olivia looked at Edwin in surprise. When her Green Eyes, which had been contemplating something, were solely directed at Edwin, he slowly raised the corners of his lips.
"You're curious about my father and mother's portraits, but why aren't you looking for portraits of me as a child?"
"..."
"Ah, well. I'm already being pushed aside in real life, so I guess I'd be pushed aside in portraits too."
Call it amusing jealousy, or call it a grumble, it didn't matter. As long as Olivia's eyes were fixed only on him, Edwin was fine with anything.
His words that she could do as she pleased, though he was sorry, would remain a lie.
Olivia disappearing somewhere, like his father and mother that she was curious about, was something that should never happen.
Hiding the black, burnt-out insides, Edwin pulled the hand he had firmly clasped to his face, so she couldn't escape. And he carefully pressed his lips from her delicate wrist to the palm of her hand.
"My mother said that when I was a child, I was as pretty as a baby angel."
No matter how old, he must have been pretty.
Even as ragged breaths filled her tightly closed lips, Olivia couldn't deny it.
Even in this chaotic situation, the image of young Edwin multiplied in her head.
"Aren't you curious, Liv?"
The gaze that had been fixed on the hand he was kissing slowly turned to Olivia.
As their eyes met, Edwin blinked. As if he had read her thoughts, his red gaze sparkled subtly.
Her fingertips curled. Her stomach tickled somewhere, and her heart was anxious, so Olivia bit her lower lip.
As she tried to smile calmly, Edwin also chuckled softly and said.
"Olivia, if you keep biting your lip, I'll bite you too."
"Me?"
"Yes."
Olivia, who had been smiling slightly, thinking this must be a joke, suddenly turned pale and then as red as a carrot.
Edwin gently unfolded Olivia's index finger and, as if to show off, curved his eyes and bit the tip of her index finger with his lips.
The hot breath touching her sensitive fingertips and the vivid sensation that touched her. It was a time when she felt like she would be consumed by the raw gaze looking at her.
"I have a painting...!"
"Be, Bethany?"
Come to think of it...! Olivia, startled as if waking from a dream, looked at the doorway. Bethany, holding a frame, was about to go back out the door as if nothing had happened.
"...I brought it, but when I thought about it, I seemed to have left something behind..."
"No! Bethany!"
.
.
.
"Well, it seemed like the Lady wanted to see the previous Grand Duke's painting. I had secretly kept a family picture that His Highness had drawn when he was a very young master."
Olivia, who had been hoping against hope, couldn't help but laugh as soon as she saw the picture.
"Is the resemblance that the previous Grand Duchess mentioned perhaps the hair color and eye color?"
"That's right, Olivia. You understand my painting style well."
The picture drawn by the child with crayons showed three people smiling side by side, with only the hair color and eye color different. The height difference was enough to distinguish the previous Grand Duke and Grand Duchess from Edwin.
It was incomparable to the white-haired man she had seen at 'home'.
Well, there wasn't even a clear reason to speculate that that man was the previous Grand Duke. Feeling a silly laugh coming, Olivia looked closely at the picture and smiled mischievously.
"You really were a baby angel, Edwin. Did you put the wings on yourself?"
"Who knows? Maybe a real angel drew them."
Perhaps he wasn't embarrassed at all. As Olivia laughed as if she couldn't help it, a good idea flashed through her mind.
"Then what about my fairy tale? What about the old story of Lowell that you said you'd make into a picture book?"
The old story that Edwin had heard from the previous Grand Duchess when he was young. Edwin hadn't said he would draw it himself, but Olivia acted shamelessly.
Compared to how he had embarrassed her earlier, this was a very light teasing.
While Bethany was tilting her head, saying, "Old story?" Edwin leaned comfortably on the sofa in the drawing room and smiled.
"Since my painting skills have been exposed, I'll have to tell it to you directly."
Even though he said it was too long ago and he didn't remember it properly, Edwin slowly began to tell the story.
"Once upon a time, a long, long time ago, there lived a brave boy. When the world was all dark, he protected the village from beasts and foreign invaders..."
Olivia quietly leaned towards Edwin.
In the languid atmosphere of the drawing room, Bethany quickly sensed the mood and left to bring tea.
A voice so sweet it made her ears tingle continued the story. It was a story similar in tone to the founding myth of The Empire.
The story of a brave man building a country.
The first King of the Empire killed a dragon and built the country on the blessing the dragon had given... Olivia, who had been listening to Edwin's story with interest, stiffened in an instant.
"...So the boy prayed to God. God, who loved humans so much, decided to trust the boy after three trials and sent down an angel."
"..."
"The angel constantly sent angels similar to himself to give eternal care to the boy's country, who had become King."
Continuity.
She had never seen any myth where angels were continuously sent for the sake of constant blessings.
A country that grows with the power of humans under a single blessing. That was the most suitable myth for strengthening the imperial power.
But the story that the country had continued to receive the help of angels...
"And in the kingdom, as a sign of gratitude to the God who sent the angel..."
The story, which had been going on without a hitch, was cut off. Edwin raised his eyebrows, trying to recall the rest of the story. There seemed to be something more, but he couldn't remember what it was, as if a hazy fog had settled in.
"...Did they perhaps perform a ritual as a sign of gratitude to the angel?"
"Liv, did you know this story?"
Olivia, suppressing her surprised heart, said to Edwin, who was delighted as if he had just remembered.
"From here on, it seems to overlap with the story of Lowell that I heard from Bethany."
Not just a simple old story, but perhaps the founding myth of Lowell. And maybe it was related to the priests, the story of the angel.
And it seemed that Edwin had also realized the connection between them.
"...I really need to see Jerun."
At Olivia's firm words, a ripple began to form on his calm face.
The Grand Duke's Residence in The Empire.
Howard raised one eyebrow.
"Brock is the Lady's escort?"
As if satisfied with his reaction, Winster drooped his eyebrows and vented his frustration.
"I know, right? Brock is the Lady's escort. Does that make sense? A Knight who hasn't even sworn his oath yet is an escort!"
He had arrived in two and a half days, covering a distance that would normally take three days, and he seemed to have finally regained his strength only after eating two whole turkeys by himself, and was now launching into a long complaint.
"If I were Brock, I'd shave off that fancy mustache and come here to investigate. He's not as good as me, but Brock is still likeable. He'd at least bring back some information!"
"That's why you're not Brock. If you give up your mustache, you're not Brock."
Sobel, who had brought a new tea, contradicted him. Aha. Winster, who suddenly gained enlightenment, picked a fight with Howard for no reason and changed the subject.
"By the way, why is the great Lord Interfield taking so long to finalize the negotiations?"
In fact, it was a negotiation that would inevitably take a long time.
Mineral tax rates and secret documents. It was something that would take even the most skilled negotiator several months. But instead of answering that way, Howard frowned for a moment.
"Is there some other reason?"
Winster was impatient.
Could the plan have gone wrong? Could the Crown Prince be such an idiot that he couldn't even use the secret documents? Or could Vikander be holding out for something else in this urgent situation where he wasn't paying taxes?
All sorts of thoughts overwhelmed Winster. Howard, who had been carefully choosing his words, slowly opened his mouth.
"The Crown Prince is being..."
"The Crown Prince is being...?"
Even after Winster repeated the words, Howard didn't easily continue. Winster, who was getting impatient, was about to drink the cooling tea.
"...Friendly to me."
Ptooey-! Winster spat out the tea he was drinking.
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.
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Midday under the bright sun, Ruheirn Street in The Empire.
The lively street was full of fragrant flowers and ribbons. The entrances of the stores preparing for the upcoming 'Father's Day' were filled with colorful promotional materials.
In contrast, the road to Edington Street was extremely gloomy.
As soon as you entered, it was a dark and shady alley. A sticky past pleasure district, like a swamp from which you couldn't escape. There was no sign of vitality in this street, and there was no sign of people.
Winster, wearing a worn and tattered shirt, shoes with worn-out soles, and pants stained in places, scanned the street with sharp eyes that were completely different from those of ordinary people. Then, he suddenly recalled what Howard had said last night.
"...I never knew the Crown Prince was such a mysterious person. I always thought he showed his intentions. These days, no matter what I say, he smiles and tries to make the next appointment."
The Crown Prince had changed. That change was extremely unpleasant for this side.
As soon as he completed the Lady's order, he had to help Howard.
Sir Winsten Carter shrugged and smiled. As a ray of sunlight shone on him, he became an ordinary, likeable, and slightly hungry young man that could be seen anywhere.
"Um, I'm really hungry, but could I help you with your work and get just half a loaf of bread?"
And the person the hungry young man begged was the oldest-looking old woman on this street. The old woman, who had been squinting at the young man for a long time, slowly nodded.
"...Come in. A face that can't even get bread looks just like a face I see every year."
"Every year? Where would you see someone as handsome as me, ah!"
The young man, who had been hit with a wooden cane, quickly showed interest in the old woman's story.
The young man who listened so well to the story of the old woman, who had spent all her years on this Edington Street, was the first in several years. The young man, who had been listening with sparkling eyes, began to subtly gather the story at some point.
"You seem to know everything. Then would you know those people too? They lived here a long time ago, living with a Green Eyes old woman..."
