“It’s all done. You can check after drying it in a cool place for a few days.”

Natasha ended up being greedy.

She reduced the amount of black and mixed in a little yellow.

Thinking this much would be fine since only she would notice the subtle difference.

‘I wanted us to look alike.’

She wanted her beloved to resemble her.

The eyes, the only part that looked alike between us who resembled nothing else…

But that seemed to be more greed than she thought.

The portrait that received everyone’s praise was taken down within days. No one saw the large portrait that had hung in the central hallway after that day.

The reason was learned through the maids whispering in the hallway.

“Why was the portrait taken down?”

“Oh, the eyes weren’t the same.”

“The eyes?”

“Yes! I heard the Duke ordered it removed, saying the color was unpleasant. Everyone tried to convince him it could just be covered, but he absolutely refused.”

She had just used less black and a little more yellow. She had only wanted to express Natasha’s eye color, but did that evoke displeasure in the man?

She walked down the hallway for a while, feeling dejected. Everyone was only talking about the portrait.

Even the butler and the Duke.

“Did you really have to remove the portrait? Wasn’t it completed after half a day’s work?”

“I disliked that woman’s eyes. Terribly so.”

Hearing the two voices from beyond the door, Natasha nearly collapsed.

Sieghart knew.

That the painter was Natasha, and…

That she had secretly imbued her affection for him into the portrait.

As Natasha silently sank to the floor, unwanted memories rushed into her mind.

‘You know, someday I’d like to show Your Grace my eyes.’

‘Eyes?’

‘Yes, they’re red like yours. A bit brighter, but the same red.’

‘I look forward to it, if they’re as beautiful as mine.’

Even this was a lie.

With simple lies, Sieghart had trampled on the woman’s love.

‘I decided not to think about the past.’

She got up irritably after finishing her reminiscence.

The resolve she had kept for so long crumbled uselessly due to her laxness these past few days.

‘Useless thoughts.’

With heightened emotions, she acted more passionately than usual. She crumpled up the paper with Sieghart’s face drawn on it and threw it to the floor.

Thud, roll roll−.

The paper that had been rolling well stopped at a certain point.

Shifting her gaze to the small collision sound, a familiar sight appeared. Well-polished shoes gleaming like glass, and a small face projected above them.

“Why is Your Grace here…”

It was the dreadful Sieghart Asthart.

Since their fight that day, the man had never intruded into her private space. She wondered what sudden whim made him enter her office.

“Did you really enter without permission? Even between spouses, one should maintain basic courtesy.”

“I believe I knocked at least five times for the sake of basic courtesy.”

“I didn’t hear. Anyway, isn’t it courteous not to enter without permission?”

“I apologize. I acted improperly, worried you might have been hurt.”

Why is this life’s Sieghart so quick to apologize? She was at a loss for words as the man apologized as casually as a simple greeting.

“…So what brings you here?”

“I thought we needed a conversation between spouses for the upcoming banquet.”

“That seems like a conversation we could have sufficiently in the dining room… Wait, put that paper down!”

Her cold tone suddenly turned flustered at the end. Her urgent cry was abruptly cut off, as if suddenly deflated.

Though she hurriedly tried to block it, she couldn’t cover his line of sight. Sieghart’s eyebrows briefly rose as he confirmed the contents of the paper. After staring at the drawing for a moment, he put it in his jacket pocket.

It was embarrassing enough that Sieghart discovered her drawing of him, but to have the drawing taken away too! Natasha inwardly exclaimed in shock.

“Give it back.”

“The person who threw it away has no right to interfere.”

Honestly, she wanted to step forward and snatch the paper to tear it to shreds.

But it was uncertain if the man would willingly hand over the paper. There was no need to make a scene when the potential gain was unclear.

“I didn’t throw… Sigh, never mind. Let’s talk in the dining room. Please leave now.”

Yes, now that he had seen it, it didn’t seem to matter much if it remained in the man’s possession. She waved her hand dismissively.

Sieghart, suddenly treated like a bothersome person, raised his coal-black eyebrows again. However, he didn’t show signs of being hurt, and instead acted nonchalant.

“That’s a bit of a difficult request. I came intending to spend time with you.”

“…I’m busy. Aren’t you busy, Your Grace? You must have work piled up after being ill for a few days.”

“I took care of everything in advance when I saw signs of falling ill.”

Natasha realized anew.

That spending a long time talking with someone who doesn’t communicate well leads to no progress in communication, and only burns oneself up inside.

“Haa, do as you please. For your reference, I have a lot of work left to process. If you’re planning to sit at the table and have an elegant tea time…”

“You finish your work. I’ll do what I need to do.”

What on earth is there for you to do here!

Natasha didn’t ask further and returned to her seat. Sieghart didn’t stop her and quietly sat on the couch. Soon he took out the paper from his pocket and smoothed it out.

The man pulled out the fountain pen tucked in his breast pocket and checked the ink. It seemed he planned to write something on the back of the paper.

Natasha turned her gaze away as if bored. Telling herself that finishing her assigned work was the priority, she buried her gaze in the drawing paper and sketched out a design.

For a while, scratching sounds came from both sides.

“You seem to know my face in more detail than I expected.”

Of course, it was Sieghart who broke the silence.

Natasha’s hand paused for a moment.

She couldn’t help but know. As if her past life wasn’t a lie, her hand was naturally drawing the man’s face.

“I thought you had no interest in me at all.”

When she didn’t answer, Sieghart spoke again as if to scratch at her insides. Feeling that not answering this time would lead to troublesome misunderstandings, she opened her mouth.

“On the contrary, I remember the faces of people I’m not interested in well. Is that answer sufficient?”

“I thought…”

As Natasha answered coldly, intending to silence the other party, his voice came back to her.

Just as she was about to sternly warn him not to converse during work, Sieghart, who had somehow approached her side, finished the rest of his sentence. It was a moment that flowed particularly slowly.

“That someone’s face would be clearly etched in my mind from thinking about it dozens of times a day and drawing it.”

Finally, he put down the paper he was holding on the desk.

For a moment, she met eyes with the face of Sieghart she had drawn. As Natasha shifted her gaze in annoyance, the person before her had already disappeared.

Strange man.

Natasha muttered quietly. The face of the man in the drawing she encountered again seemed to be smiling oddly, making her dislike looking at it.

She was about to grab the paper with a rough hand and throw it in the trash. The drawing on the back of the crumpled paper was revealed.

Out of curiosity, she flipped the paper over to see her own face depicted on the back. It wasn’t as excellent a work as the Sieghart drawn by the woman, but it was aesthetically quite superior.

She couldn’t easily throw away the paper that should have been discarded. She sat blankly, forgetting the work she had been engrossed in, and just stared fixedly at the paper.

‘Red.’

Her finger traced over one spot. The color applied only to the iris caught her attention.

‘Dark red… Red.’

It was red.

A color not yet mixed on the palette, with hints of black and deep blue.

In the end, the protagonist of the embroidery became a bright red rose resembling the man’s eyes. Having chosen a popular flower as the subject, it was difficult to expect a distinctive result.

But rather than presenting incomprehensible things like art, it was better to choose something familiar that would be strongly recognized.

She chose fabric as black as his hair. She planned to embroider a gold border on the edge, and above that line, the unique pattern of the Asthart ducal family. The point was a natural connection as if waves were forming.

There were five roses in total. Four red roses with a white rose in the middle. A small eagle was perched on top of the white rose in the center.

It was overly classic, but that’s why it was beautiful. People would later gossip that it suited the man’s old-fashioned life, arranged like the protagonist of a play.

The meticulously created design was plausible. Embroidery had long been Natasha’s hobby, so it would be created very close to the design.

‘I wonder if it will end up in the trash can like back then.’

She gave a hollow laugh as she scanned the completed design. She suddenly remembered the numerous gifts that had been thrown in the trash can.

‘Well, I’m doing this forcibly anyway, so I suppose it doesn’t matter.’

Though she was aware that the Sieghart she had seen so far was quite different from the man of the past, she continued her mischievous thoughts. It was a kind of protection. Exposing herself to wounds in advance by thoroughly recalling the worst-case scenarios.

Since the embroidery would be finished if she devoted an entire day to it, Natasha decided to finish other tasks first. In fact, she didn’t want to think about Sieghart Asthart right now.

‘I should prepare the letters.’

Natasha decided to prepare letters to send to the individuals on the list Jenks had given her. Since most of the people on the list were from other countries or nobles far from the north, sending them in advance would show the Asthart family’s sincerity and courtesy towards the noble guests.

So it would be good to write them as soon as possible and send out the invitations. Having already stayed up all night, she decided to lie down in bed a little later.

She couldn’t hide her surprise as she checked the list Jenks had sent.

Even after reading it carefully again, the information wasn’t corrected.

The Asthart ducal family had made a quite disagreeable choice.