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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 82
Chapter Title: The Haunted Photograph
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“Well…”
While Kivrin wore a vaguely worried expression, the camera clicked.
*Huh? Am I not supposed to be in the picture?*
It was then that I mouthed the question to him, trying to be discreet.
Emil, who was checking to see if the photo came out well, began to look unsettled.
“What’s this? Is it broken already?”
Without getting an answer, I turned my head toward Emil.
“What’s wrong?”
“Well, it’s just…”
Emil couldn’t bring himself to finish. He even shot Kivrin a look, pleading for help.
*W-What is it? Are you trying to make this Lady Cheria anxious?*
I went closer to Emil and looked at the photograph.
A sinister black smoke was spreading thickly around me, who was just sitting there normally.
It was beyond simply being dark; the word “abyss” came to mind.
*…Is this a haunted photo?*
I rubbed my eyes and checked again.
The black smoke was still distinct. It wasn’t a faint, ghost-like presence.
Emil laughed awkwardly.
“It’s still in the trial phase, so it has a lot of problems. Ha, ha, ha…”
“…”
*Emil, your shoulders are trembling…*
Kivrin snatched the photograph away.
Then he ordered nonchalantly.
“Take it again.”
“Is that… really okay?”
I decided to trust Kivrin’s judgment and nodded a beat later.
Emil, trembling with anxiety, operated the camera.
This time, he took a picture of me, Kivrin, and Rose.
Soon after, Emil’s expression brightened.
“It came out properly!”
Kivrin looked as if he’d expected it, and Rose muttered her thanks to him.
It seemed Kivrin had done something.
I fidgeted with my hands anxiously.
Was that sinister smoke there because I’m Del?
That couldn’t be a good omen.
I backed away, wary of the camera.
It seemed I would have to be a little more cautious of things developed at the Magic Tower.
As I approached his side, Kivrin’s eyes crinkled into a gentle smile.
“Lady Cheria, I think you’ve gotten a little… taller.”
What?!
My face lit up, and I lifted my head.
“Really? By how much?”
“Before, you were about… this high.”
Kivrin showed me my previous height with his hand.
Emil muttered unenthusiastically.
“I don’t think even Lady Yelena would notice that difference.”
But the important thing is that I grew!
Rose chimed in.
“You have to eat a lot to grow big and strong. But that doesn’t mean you should eat just anything you find.”
Rose’s brows furrowed.
When Rose heard what Sabrina had tried to do to me, she had been furious.
She had even said she would go punish Sabrina in her true form.
But since Rose’s true form was so adorable, I had to stop her by emphasizing that Cheshire had already gotten revenge for me.
“Be careful on your trip, too. I wish I could follow you and meddle, but I can’t.”
Thinking Rose would naturally be coming with us, my eyes darted around.
“Huh? You’re not coming with us?”
“Her Grace asked me to guard Crescent Moon Castle, so I can’t. She said she thinks the Marquis might do something stupid while you’re away.”
“…”
The Marquis is certainly capable of it…
Just as the Duke was sure of it, I also knew Marquis Ingram’s character all too well.
In , he was a character who disappeared without ever becoming a major threat.
He squandered the fortune the previous Marquis Ingram had built in just ten years and ended up drowning in debt.
In the novel, Sabrina’s actions in kidnapping the female lead were actually more prominent.
Emil agreed with Rose.
“Yeees, I thought the same, so I recommended you take your time on the trip. The Coral Villa isn’t that far, is it?”
The Coral Villa was the birthday present I had received from Kivrin.
Since I hadn’t been to the Coral Villa myself, Winter had naturally decided on it as our destination.
Kivrin and Menelik also agreed, so everything was settled in a flash.
I was the only one left bewildered.
—Isn’t this only good for me?
—And what if it is?
Menelik had retorted with a smile.
—Because…
—Because?
—Ugh, do I have to say it myself?
—Go on. Though I suspect you’re going to say something like it’s too much for you, or that I shouldn’t be so good to you. For your information, I’ve come down with an illness that makes me ill-tempered, so I’m going to do the exact opposite.
—Aack, I’ll go! It’s not too much at all! It’s not enough! Please keep being good to me!
—Actually, I was cured of that illness five minutes ago. I’ll pass your message on to Winter.
—Father, you really enjoy teasing me, don’t you…
In the end, I lost.
I had no choice but to become the greedy Lady Cheria and reluctantly have breakfast.
“Then I’ll go get a frame. I have a nice one.”
Emil left for a moment.
I took the opportunity to ask for Kivrin’s opinion.
“Young Lord, what do you think about going to the Coral Villa? It’s your birthday, so shouldn’t we go somewhere you want to go? We can go to the villa another time.”
“Th-There’s no such place.”
Kivrin replied, his face devoid of any childlike innocence.
“And my b-birthday is just an excuse… to take you, Lady Cheria.”
Huh?
“An excuse?”
“If, if it’s for my sake, you won’t refuse, will you…? I’ve n-never gone on a trip for my birthday before. I don’t really like it… and, and it wasn’t the right environment for it.”
Kivrin’s eyelashes fluttered.
I tried to guess the reason.
“Is the reason you dislike traveling also because you can hear things too well?”
“It’s just… boring. I already know all the scenery anyway.”
“…”
He had the expression of someone who had spent their entire life traveling and was sick of it.
Even though there was no way that could be true for someone who was about to turn eleven.
And yet, Kivrin had a quality that resembled the colors of nature, so much so that his denial was puzzling.
Sunlight seemed to seep into his golden eyes, and his translucent silver hair looked as if it had been carefully spun from sifted moonlight.
It felt as if he had been intentionally sculpted with the utmost care, using only the most brilliant parts of nature.
I unconsciously reached out and touched Kivrin’s hair.
Kivrin let me be, carefully placing my haunted photograph, which he had taken from Emil, into a book so it wouldn’t get creased.
“Ah, you can throw that away.”
“No.”
It was a firm reply that left no room for negotiation.
Kivrin even hid the book behind his back.
Soon, word came that the painter had arrived.
Once we were seated, she began to paint the portrait with great care.
The process took a long time, but the result was just as magnificent.
My parents-in-law checked the finished piece and left first, and the painter sidled up to me as if she had been waiting.
“If it’s alright, as a token of my gratitude, may I paint a solo portrait of just you, Your Grace? You can use it as a decoration or give it as a gift!”
*Why is she showing her gratitude to me?*
My eyes darted around.
“I don’t mind, but why me?”
At my question, she shuddered.
“Because you’re the least scary and the kindest, Your Grace…”
Oh dear.
I sent Kivrin away and gladly posed for the painter.
I had agreed, thinking it would be a simple sketch, but she took out various kinds of brushes, just like before.
I had a slightly bad feeling, and I was right.
She controlled my movements even more strictly than before.
“Your Grace, you mustn’t move your shoulders!”
“Ah, I understand! But when will it be finished?”
“You mustn’t speak either!”
“…”
*I should have just refused!*
It was two hours later that I finally received the finished piece and was set free.
*S-So tiring…*
I was exhausted even though all I’d done was sit still all day.
I trudged along, holding the painting.
My parents-in-law, who I thought had gone to work, were waiting for me at the end of the hall.
Winter cleared her throat and asked.
“Cheria, what are you going to do with that portrait?”
I replied without much thought.
“I’m not sure. I guess I could put it on my desk?”
Regardless of the painting’s quality, it was my own face, so I wasn’t particularly impressed.
The painter had said that most people react the same way and that it was fine to give it to someone as a gift.
Suddenly, Winter grew urgent.
“You can’t treat it so carelessly.”
