6 - Valentina's Paradise
1-3. Grand Duchess Valentina of Regio Florida
It was ten days after Edeled's arrival that Valentina and Edeled met again.
During that time, Valentina had been continually postponing meeting Edeled.
Originally, she had planned to meet Edeled with a relaxed heart after receiving Edgar's reply that he would withdraw his plan to harm his nephew.
However, Edgar's reply, which arrived a few days later, was different from what she had expected. There was no mention of her request. It only stated, 'Thank you for accepting my nephew, and I will depart immediately with my men to attend the celebratory banquet you have invited me to.' It meant that he was finally coming to hold a formal wedding.
Valentina sighed softly.
'Then, it would be better to meet Edgar in person after he arrives and talk about it. Even if it's Edgar, he won't be able to openly refuse my request.'
Valentina had a rather straightforward personality, so she was not capable of smiling and acting coy with Edeled while hiding such an uncomfortable truth. So, she postponed the luncheon with Edeled as much as possible, 'to wait for his body, exhausted and damaged from the arduous journey, to recover.'
Meanwhile, a strange atmosphere, as if they were both attending and watching him, continued in the detached palace. It wasn't that he was explicitly forbidden from going out, but the guest of the detached palace remained holed up in his room, not taking a single step outside. It was as if he was protesting, 'I know you're watching me.' Valentina felt his reaction was like a hangnail next to her fingernail.
Pepe and Head Maid Rosina diligently gathered and carried news. In particular, Pepe visited Edeled almost every day, talking to him, checking on his condition, and tattling on his reactions.
"Even if I greet him or talk to him, he doesn't react much. But he plays well and makes a fuss with the dog."
A bitter smile appeared. Was he saying that what you guys are doing is worse than a dog?
"When he's bored, he either looks out the window, scribbles on precious parchment and throws it in the trash, then goes back to sleep. That's all he does."
In fact, his 'scribbles' were too extravagant to be called scribbles. From precisely drawn flowers and leaves in pots, food served for meals, to moving animals, holy angels, and grotesque demons, his imaginative paintings were diverse, and unbelievably elaborate and beautiful. In particular, everyone agreed that the angel drawings were as mesmerizing as seeing a portrait of Duke Edered.
The letters were even more impressive. He wrote in a flamboyant and beautiful script like a scribe monk. The content itself was nothing special. It was his trivial daily life, childhood memories, fleeting thoughts, funny stories, and popular love poems. But when he decorated them with colorful illustrations and surrounded them with bizarre patterns, the most beautiful graffiti in the world was born.
But he would draw lines all over the beautiful works and throw them in the trash. Suspecting this, Valentina ordered all the 'trash' to be collected and brought to her without leaving anything behind.
"This is amazing...."
She groaned every time she saw them. His aesthetic tendencies seemed obsessive, beyond attachment. Moreover, the beautiful face of the drawn angel or demon was undoubtedly her own.
How many times has he drawn it alone? She couldn't even guess. No, she didn't even want to know.
What was certain was that his scribbles made her think of him intensely. His sharp, sparkling black eyes, provocative gaze, sharp words, and twisted smile. It felt like all five senses were hooked and dragged to him, but it was annoying that she couldn't take her eyes off him. It was truly evil graffiti.
Archbishop Anterus, the royal priest, also vehemently criticized his scribbles.
"Duke Edeled's paintings and letters are excessively flamboyant and aesthetic, tempting the soul to stray. Excessive beauty is evil and dangerous. Please forbid it."
"Paintings and letters are not prohibited by law, and scribbling and throwing them away does not harm others, so there is no basis to prohibit it."
"Your Grace! Please remember the rumor that he is the son of the devil. If you are a devout subject, you cannot tolerate writing holy words in such letters, so at least forbid him from drawing angels and transcribing the Bible!"
"I'd rather be an impious person than accuse someone of being a devil without evidence."
Valentina, who was pious in behavior but not in heart, ignored the Archbishop's advice.
On the ninth day after his arrival, Valentina was carefully unfolding the crumpled parchment and looking at every corner when she suddenly had a strange thought.
If this hadn't been thrown in the trash, would I have been looking at it so carefully?
Suddenly, her head rang.
"You cunning...!"
If he had written a love poem or drawn a portrait and handed it to her directly, Valentina would never have allowed it to be brought to her. She would have told Pepe to burn it.
He knew Valentina would do that, so he made graffiti that she couldn't take her eyes off and crumpled it up. He calculated that it would only then enter her hands and be read thoroughly, down to every speck of dust. It tingled as if a knife was scraping down her spine.
What kind of man is my former fiancé?
Did you want to engrave yourself on me in this way?
No answer returns. All that remains is the fact that she has been reading, reading, and reading his meaningless chatter, childhood stories, and love confessions for over a week, memorizing them.
'So, who told you to leave a guest alone in their room like this?'
It was as if she could hear his mocking laughter in the air. Valentina finally sighed and surrendered.
"Pepe, tell the Petronia nobleman that I would like to have lunch with him tomorrow."
"What? Duke Edeled is serving the dog its meals?"
"Yes, Your Grace. The Gongzi serves the dog its meals every time."
A long corridor leading to the guest room of the detached palace. Pepe, holding a lamp, leads the way, and maids and servants carrying food trays follow Valentina. Pepe's chatter echoed to the ceiling of the corridor.
"He feeds the dog precious dishes that a lowly person like me wouldn't dare to put in my mouth with such sincerity! In such a kind and loving voice! If you heard it from outside, you'd think they were lovers."
Pepe, like a Romani wanderer, liked to wander around, meddle, and pick up all sorts of rumors and tell Valentina everything in detail.
Valentina was lenient with Pepe's meddling. Aside from the unwritten rule that the nonsense of clowns, fools, and madmen should not be punished, she was of great help with the Romani wanderers' intelligence, was knowledgeable about herbs and poisonous plants, and folk remedies, and was quick-witted and served her demanding master comfortably like a nanny.
"Besides, Your Grace, the Gongzi even attends to the dog's sleep! When I see the dog getting into a clean bed and sleeping in the Petronia nobleman's arms, I can't help but think that the dog is living the best life, so spoiled that it's shitting in a chamber pot. If a great angel appeared now and asked, 'What is your wish?' I would say that I want to be born as the Petronia nobleman's dog."
Valentina sternly scolded Pepe, who was laughing in a hoarse voice.
"Be careful with your titles, Pepe. The peerage has been put on hold in the Imperial Palace, so he is not yet a count."
"Oh, that's right. You can't pull out and use a title you'll receive in the future, even if you're pulling out and using money you'll earn in the future!"
Valentina chuckled. Pepe was good at saying things that were difficult to say openly, and Valentina especially cherished such wit.
"And Pepe, it's good to be born as a dog, but it's better not to be Duke Edeled's dog."
"Yes? Why?"
"Because if an assassin comes at night, it has to wake up first and bark, fight, take a sword for him, check if there is poison in the food, and die instead."
Pepe's eyes widened and his steps stopped.
"Oh, such a cruel fate! Not a dog's best life, but a dog's violent death life."
"That's right, do you still want to be born as the Gongzi's dog?"
"Of course. Is it easy to be pampered, served meals, and sleep in the arms of a handsome nobleman? The essence of life is originally like dog poop, so it's a hundred times better to be thick and short than thin and long. Of course, it's the same that it's dirty from beginning to end."
The maids who were following behind with trays giggled and laughed. But Valentina tilted her head at the unexpected remark.
"Does Duke Edeled look handsome?"
"Oh my! Is it because Your Grace's face, which you meet in the mirror every day, is so beautiful that everyone else looks like monkeys or herons! Woo, hee, hee hee hee!"
She laughed like a monkey and quickly continued.
"Of course, he may not be up to your standards now because he's weak and sickly. But based on my experience, instincts, and prophetic abilities, which I've honed while dealing with men all this time, if he eats well, sleeps well, and gains a little weight, he'll soon become a great beauty. Like a melancholy rose... They say that the men of the Nebulosa ducal family are as beautiful as roses, right? Of course, if he continues to be picky and sleep late like an owl, he'll become a withered rose in the future."
The maids behind her burst into laughter. But Valentina didn't feel like laughing at all.
'A man as beautiful as a rose...'
Valentina was lost in thought.
