25 - The Bride of the Great Lord is a Warrior from Hell
The Grand Duke's Bride is a Warrior of Hell 25
At the time, the painter's name had not been revealed.
It was simply called the "Little Ladies" series.
Rumors that one of the faces that inspired the paintings was a man caused the price of the paintings to skyrocket even further.
As the price of the paintings rose, people became more desperate to find the painter.
Juan's presence became known when he personally appeared when a man caused a ruckus in the salon with a sword.
That day, Juan Lukens knocked the rioting man down with a single blow from his scabbard.
"Care to fight more?"
"Lo, Lord Lukens... Why is Lord Lukens..."
"I painted those pictures. Get up if you want to try again."
The troublemaker said he had made a big mistake and ran away.
It was pointless to duel a knight of the Lukens family.
The world was buzzing again, and the "Little Ladies" became priceless.
Juan Lukens' paintings were extraordinary.
It didn't matter whether he painted more "Little Ladies" in the future or not.
Juan's paintings were magnificent and beautiful, even if they weren't from the "Little Ladies" series.
He painted goddesses and fairies well, but he also painted the Monsters of the Musto Forest well.
"Why are you painting my portrait?"
Daisy said with a bewildered expression.
"If Juan says he'll paint you, just pretend you don't know and let him paint you."
"Why would Lord Juan paint something like that..."
Daisy was dumbfounded by Alisha's naive words and tried to warn her again.
But Alisha spoke like a child, cutting her off.
"Daisy doesn't know anything."
"Lady..."
It was only natural that Daisy didn't know anything.
Alisha was just being spiteful.
She felt a surge of emotion when people looked at her with strange expressions when she said something with good intentions.
She couldn't help but feel a little wronged.
Alisha quickened her pace, leaving Daisy behind.
Soon, a fork in the road appeared.
From far behind Alisha, who had stopped, Daisy's voice echoed.
"Excuse me, where is the embroidery workshop?"
"It's right next door."
"Thank you."
Alisha heard all the conversation from over there.
"..."
After pretending to be distracted for a moment, Alisha hurriedly turned around and walked towards Daisy.
"It's here," Daisy said, gesturing to Alisha as she approached.
The building, with a shoe store on the first floor and an embroidery workshop on the second, looked more like a regular house than a shop.
It was an ordinary house with nothing particularly special about it.
"Shall we go in?"
Alisha said, clearing her throat.
Seeing Alisha's feigned innocence, Daisy replied with a stiff expression.
"Daisy, who knows nothing, will knock on the door."
"Okay. Thank you."
"It's my duty."
Daisy knocked on the door.
The side door of the projecting terrace opened, and the owner of the shoe store appeared.
The man, with a plump build and a kind face, looked to be around thirty years old.
He was wearing a leather apron around his waist, as if he had been working.
"How can I help you?"
"We've come to order some embroidery," Daisy replied, moving from Alisha's left to her right.
"The embroidery workshop is on the second floor. You can go up. Judith! We have a customer!"
The shoe store owner went inside, leaving the terrace door open.
They could hear him leaving the terrace, entering the workshop, passing through the hallway, and approaching the front door.
The front door rattled, and soon it opened.
"You can go up the stairs over here."
"Thank you."
The owner kindly pointed to the stairs directly in front of the entrance.
He didn't lock the door and returned to his workshop.
Daisy led Alisha, checking the stairs in advance.
A strange expression floated on both Alisha's and Daisy's faces.
Daisy attended to Alisha, speaking softly.
"The house is very pretty."
"It is."
The two exchanged glances and smiled.
The seemingly ordinary house had an expensive carpet that even a marquis family would have difficulty affording.
As they went up to the second floor, the embroidery workshop appeared directly, without having to go through a hallway or door.
The entire second floor was set up as a workshop.
The space was divided according to its purpose, with different decorations, without walls or curtains.
As befitting the name of a workshop, a large workbench was placed in the center of the room.
"Welcome."
A girl sitting in front of the workbench, cutting fabric, spread a kind smile.
"Hello. I heard there was a skilled embroidery artisan here, so I came to find you. This person next to me is Lady Alisha of the Reine Marquis family."
"Lady Alisha, to come all the way out here in person. You can just call me Judith. I don't know if it's okay to greet such a noble person like this, since I haven't learned much."
Judith's features were similar to those of the shoe store owner.
Even if you passed them on the street, you could tell that Judith and the shoe store owner were family.
Her plump, white cheeks, still with baby fat, made the girl look harmless.
Her overall round face always had a smile on it.
"I'll prepare some tea. Would you like to sit over here?"
Judith busily got up and cleared away the things she was doing.
Her capable hand pointed to a tea table set up next to the workbench.
"Tea is fine. I heard about Judith's embroidery skills and came for a picnic. I'd like to make a request, but I heard you also take personal orders?"
Alisha sat down in a chair and gestured to the seat in front of her.
Judith went to the tea table, flustered, and sat down.
"Of course. Please feel free to tell me, Lady Alisha."
"I'm more comfortable with this. I've brought a design. Please take a look."
Alisha handed over the paper she had prepared.
The first two sheets were drawn by Juan, and the last two were prepared by Alisha.
"The drawings are very delicate."
Judith praised Juan's drawings and turned the page.
Two sheets of paper were turned, and the third sheet was revealed.
Judith continued to smile.
Her face, which had been smiling with both her eyes and lips until the second sheet, only managed to smile with her lips when she saw the third sheet.
Her unsmiling eyes looked at Alisha, who was sitting in front of her.
"I want to be your friend."
Alisha said in a gentle voice to the hardening face.
The smile that had been on Judith's lips twisted.
The momentarily distorted smile quickly recovered.
"Lady Alisha. I don't know what you're talking about."
Judith's impression was like soft, fluffy bread.
The girl's plump, white cheeks made people let their guard down.
If someone who didn't know her saw her, they would think that a harmless and innocent girl was in trouble.
But the seemingly kind eyes that looked at Alisha were as cold as a winter wind.
"I couldn't have written it wrong. Daisy, step back."
"Yes."
Judith's eyes sharpened even more at Alisha's words.
Daisy left Alisha and Judith and went down from the second floor.
Judith removed the smile she had been forcing.
The atmosphere around the tea table was extremely chilly.
"Who are you?"
The face, devoid of any fluffiness, asked in a cold voice.
"Aren't I very famous these days?"
Alisha replied with a defenseless face.
Whoosh.
In an instant, Judith took out a large pair of scissors from a basket next to the chair, gathered them in one hand, and lunged forward.
The sharp tips of the scissors were aimed at Alisha's neck.
Alisha struck the plump hand holding the scissors with the fan she was holding.
Clang!
Even after dropping the scissors, Judith didn't give up.
The hand holding a pair of scissors that were a little smaller but looked much sharper than the previous ones aimed at Alisha.
Alisha moved the fan she was holding in her right hand to her left hand.
The folded fan struck the hand holding the scissors, which was lunging menacingly towards her face and neck, in quick succession.
Slap! Slap! Slap!
Judith dropped the scissors again.
The fan, which had struck the hand that had dropped the scissors, went up her wrist and struck her elbow, forearm, and shoulder in succession.
Pushed back by the force of the fan, Judith sat back down in her chair.
The fan that had struck Judith's shoulder came close to her cheek and stopped.
Even though she expected to be hit, Judith didn't take her eyes off the face that was looking at her.
The fan, which had moved fiercely as if to strike her cheek, tapped her hardened forehead and retreated.
"Master Perlman. I don't get special treatment because I'm a woman. Because I'm also a woman."
Alisha said, unfolding, folding, and putting away her fan.
"..."
Judith's eyes widened at the mention of Master Perlman.
"Or are you not a master yet?"
"...No."
"I was forced to use my hands because I was unexpectedly attacked, but what I said earlier wasn't just empty words. I want to be a friend of the Croa Clan."
Judith's face, which seemed to only know how to smile, darkened as if she was about to cry.
"There is no Croa Clan."
The young face that spoke was filled with sadness.
"Yes. It seems like it will disappear if things continue like this," Alisha said matter-of-factly, as if she didn't know the girl's sadness at all.
"Lady Alisha, don't say things so carelessly."
Judith's voice trembled with anger.
"It's been eight years since the Croa Clan stopped operating. Do you think no one will know if you hide here? The Croa Clan is the largest intelligence group with informants spread throughout not only the Eastern Continent but also all five continents. Do you think there's no one who wants to have that? Even if it's not the real Croa, they'll try to gather and have even a piece of Croa. Your enemies won't pretend not to know just because you're lying low."
Alisha's voice was colder than usual.
"Do you know who my enemies are?"
"Traitors within Croa. The Croa Hexagon Clan. The Croa is outwardly composed of a council of six, but that's not really the case. Croa has a dual structure. The six members of the council who are outwardly revealed and the six who are not. One day, all six members of the council were attacked, and the clan disintegrated. Judith, the people who are chasing you are also an intelligence group."
As an intelligence group, the Croa Clan thoroughly concealed their own information.
"H-How..."
"I think knowing this qualifies me to be your friend."
Alisha said with a slightly smug look.
"What?"
Judith looked dumbfounded with a serious face.
"It's okay if you don't accept me as a friend. Run away, Judith. They're coming. You're not going to ask how I know they're coming, are you? The master is vacant, but Croa's comrades are continuing to report what they've found to the clan. If you want to confirm that the enemies are coming, use what will be given to you."
Alisha got up from her seat.
"Lady?"
"If possible, I'd like you to finish the order I placed today by spring. Well, that's only possible if I'm still alive by then. It would be nice if we could see each other again."
Alisha said ominous words in a warm voice and went down the stairs.
"Wait a mome..."
Judith tried to grab her, but she disappeared in an instant.
It didn't seem like the gait of a marquis family's lady.
Judith belatedly realized that she had tried to kill the marquis family's lady and had completely failed.
The spot where she had been hit by the fan ached anew.
She had been so flustered that she hadn't been able to think straight, but now that she thought about it again, it was full of unbelievable things.
The movements that Alisha Reine had shown went beyond the level of protecting herself.
She had never heard that the Reine Marquis family was skilled in martial arts.
The ridiculous things she had said echoed in her ears.
"I-Isn't she a crazy woman?"
If Alisha wasn't crazy, she wondered if she had seen something that wasn't there.
She wouldn't be more dumbfounded even if she saw a ghost.
It was a series of things that she couldn't understand and didn't want to believe.
Judith tried to get up from her chair, but she couldn't muster the strength and slumped back down.
As the embarrassment faded, the pain came.
Her arm felt like it was about to fall off.
