Cassian recently instructed the butler to obtain medicine for Yuriel’s birth mother.

Since then, the butler had been frantically running around trying to fulfill that order.

Fortunately, the lord’s physician was a learned person from the capital, in accordance with the lord’s desire for eternal life due to his hypochondria.

Even so, he was of a pitiful level compared to the Blanchet’s physician, but he gave a fairly plausible opinion.

Of course, this was the result of secretly observing the patient periodically. Humans were great, always becoming stronger in the face of crisis, and the butler’s desperate urging produced excellent results.

“According to the physician, the illness afflicting the young lady’s mother is a rare disease called Raimok.”

Raimok. It was a disease name that Cassian had once read about in a daily newspaper.

“If treated in time, it can be cured, but if the treatment timing is missed, the prognosis is not good.”

The disease had claimed numerous victims at the time, but among them, many of the great nobles had survived.

In other words, if one had money, there were ways to survive.

As his thoughts reached that point, Cassian languidly lay down.

“Find it. A way to cure it.”

His dry tone of speaking was somewhat overbearing.

The butler, suppressing the urge to argue about how to find such a thing, bowed his head.

As he hurried to leave this suffocating space, the young master added a cruel order behind him.

“Ah, and expel that charlatan from this village.”

“Pardon?”

“That quack.”

“On what grounds…”

Confused by the sudden order, the butler was momentarily at a loss.

Did he suddenly have a grudge against that doctor? It wasn’t particularly surprising that a doctor treating commoners was a quack.

A troubled smile appeared on the butler’s face as he instantly destroyed the workplace and foundation of one villager.

Towards him, Cassian drove the point home once more.

“Criminals should be punished, shouldn’t they?”

It was an order to drive him out of this domain on his own.

Well, to be specific, he was indeed a criminal. Someone who made money by torturing people with false hope without knowing anything.

And since it was based on life, the nature of the crime was not good.

Nevertheless, the young master who gave such orders with an innocently pure white smile did not appear to be a good person.

However, the butler now knew well that this was exactly the kind of person Blanchet was.

He disappeared outside without further objection.

In his place stood the cause of today’s numerous events.

Yuriel.

The butler let her in with a sigh, her face upright, unaware of what fate would befall her.

As usual, Yuriel brewed tea, placed it on the young master’s table, and took her seat in front of him.

After that, Cassian would stare at her and start drawing.

It had been like this for a month now.

The shame she felt when she first sat in this seat flashed through Yuriel’s mind.

This happened every time she sat in this seat.

She quite disliked the fact that her face was being captured in that sketch.

It was all dreadful – having to sit here as instructed, and having her face interpreted at will by those hands.

Of course, enduring it wasn’t difficult.

Just thinking of her mother was reason enough.

If she emptied her mind thoughtlessly, only the sound of the pen rolling across the suffocating space could be heard.

She knew that drawing was one of the hobbies enjoyed by noble gentlemen.

However, court painters or even somewhat recognized noble family’s sons usually drew still lifes or landscapes.

Portrait drawing was not only difficult but also not recognized as a particularly noble hobby. At least not in the Empire.

Of course, there might be those who find portrait drawing suits their aptitude.

So if Cassian was that type, there was nothing to say.

But after seeing the picture he drew, Yuriel had a great deal to say.

A picture where all day long something was drawn and added, but the result was always just a jumble of clumsy lines.

That was always all there was on the sketchbook.

Moreover, he would ostentatiously place it on the table. As if it were her portrait.

Whether it was meant to insult her or to make her feel ashamed, she couldn’t even dare to fathom his intention.

However, one thing was certain regardless of which it was.

That her feelings didn’t matter at all.

That she was merely a subject in this young master’s hobby.

From vases to colorful flowers, even to teacups neatly arranged on plates, finely woven tapestries with the Blanchet pattern… With so many subjects available, there was probably only one reason he chose her.

Just to enjoy observing the reaction of a toy.

Her speculation solidified into certainty with each passing day.

Of course, she could just ignore it.

It wasn’t as if she hadn’t anticipated this from the moment she decided to start this job.

It was a much easier task compared to when her hands were worn from washing dishes and when she took over what weathered old men used to do.

Just sitting in front of this young master like a doll.

Yet somehow, this easy task felt like the hardest thing in the world to Yuriel.

Her pride was hurt in a strange way.

It was laughable that she felt this way in this much more comfortable position than when she had countless times been called a fatherless girl, a vulgar child who would never amount to anything.

This man had never actually said such things to her.

Probably because he thought she was the young lady of Vilrod.

The time spent sitting here was a punishment for Yuriel.

Because every time, her remaining pride would prick up like a thorn, scratching at her.

As the inexplicable discomfort accumulated, the gap with the already uncomfortable young master only widened.

When the gaze fixed on the sketchbook occasionally lifted, she would flee from that gaze.

Like now.

Today especially, feeling that gaze more blatant, Yuriel fled with all her might.

To escape from that gaze, as arrogant and beautiful as the sun.

That obvious escape was always caught in Cassian’s eyes. Without a single exception.

A fishy smile spread across his lips.

That demeanor was like a predator discovering an interesting prey.

“Where are you looking?”

Only then did the transparent face slowly turn to face Cassian.

The light pink lips, tightly pressed as if in protest, softly reflected.

It was worth seeing those lips quivering, trying to suppress the anger that had risen greatly.

At the end of it, this girl again embraced an imaginary courage and spoke impudently.

“How long do I have to stay like this?”

“Why. Is it now tiring to just sit?”

The mocking tone implied whether she couldn’t even manage to just sit for that first-class pay.

With that single sneer, the emotions that had been suppressed inside Yuriel swirled.

“You’re not even drawing me.”

“Then what do you think I’m drawing?”

“You would know that well, young master.”

Yuriel felt as if someone was controlling her.

Words she wouldn’t have dared to utter normally were unknowingly spilled from the tip of her tongue.

Things that were invisible while frantically searching for that medicine now came into view all too nakedly.

Cassian’s raised corner of the mouth, his gaze looking down coldly, his interested eyes…

In fact, things she had been trying to ignore had now reached a level where she could no longer do so.

Nevertheless, Yuriel tightly closed her eyes.

Remembering her mother who was coughing up blood even today, she had no choice but to do so.

When Hael gave her that medicine, she had hoped that it could cure her mother.

However, that hope disappeared with each passing day.

The medicine seemed to have no effect only on her mother.

Just that it had some pain-relieving effect, her mother said she was less in pain than before. That she was fine.

Nevertheless, the dark red blood that poured from Jane’s mouth every time she coughed was still there.

Maybe today it will get better. Maybe today there will be improvement.

She endured day by day like that until today.

At least to the level where she could repay the debt owed to Hael.

Although Hael said she didn’t need to repay it, being indebted to someone was something she couldn’t allow herself.

If that happened, it would be like admitting that she was a clinging bedbug, just like what that child’s mother had talked about in the distant past.

To deny that, she endured a month with great difficulty.

While weighing which would be more hurtful to her pride.

And finally, if she could just receive today’s daily wage, she would be able to repay the debt to Hael.

What to do next.

In reality, there was nothing to worry about.

No matter how painful it was, the reality was that there was no better job than this, and with this money, she could obtain medicine for her mother once again.

Even if it was just a hope that felt like torture, a family with a patient had no choice but to do their best until the end.

So she thought to endure just a little longer.

While engraving that resolve, Cassian’s eyes, staring intently at her, were filled with interest.

Yuriel barely soothed her emotions and spoke, in the most polite voice.

“There are so many other subjects in this room besides me.”

Cassian quietly observed Yuriel, who was going on at length about how she disliked even breathing in front of him.

It was ridiculous how she smiled so well at that silver-haired one.

In reality, it’s true that this girl and I don’t match.

As she said, the noble subjects scattered around the room would suit me much better.

At least with the name Blanchet.

Nevertheless, it was puzzling why I was holding onto this girl who said she disliked it, to this extent.

Is this really necessary to do this much? No. It is necessary.

Isn’t it too ridiculous that she chose to serve for money, and now she’s trying to back out?

Moreover, it’s that girl who’s deceiving me by pretending to be the young lady of the Vilrod family. So she should endure this much.

“There are many other subjects. But they’re not alive, are they?”

“There are flowers that are alive, and birds too.”

“They’re not interesting. Too noble.”

There’s no way something not noble would be planted where this Blanchet is seated.

The lord is obsessed with looking good to Blanchet and tends to the garden and the entire mansion every day. Before that, those who served him were all the same.

Nothing that wasn’t noble had ever been seated by his side. Except for the girl in front of him.

“I see noble things every day like breathing, how could that be interesting?”

“……”

“People are naturally drawn to things they see for the first time.”

The emerald eyes that had captured the full green energy of spring after passing winter distorted.

She was quietly reflected in them.

Confirming that, Cassian was seized by an indescribable desire.

Like a madman truly obsessed with something he was seeing for the first time.

As if entranced, he rose from his seat and strode towards Yuriel.

At the incomprehensible movement, Yuriel drew in a sharp breath.

From the narrowed distance, a cool woody scent brushed Yuriel’s nose.

The young master, who made her look up to face him, reached his hand behind.

Just as Yuriel instinctively tried to pull her body back, he grabbed her body.

Yuriel’s mind began to turn white.

“Why, why are you doing this.”