In my life just before becoming the princess, I discovered and sponsored talents with potential who couldn’t spread their wings due to circumstances like Jeff and Hecate. Later, I entrusted everything to reliable subordinates, but when I first selected talents, I directly participated.

At that time, the opposition from the privileged class was strong because they didn’t like commoners constantly sneaking into their ranks. It felt like an insult to the emperor to elevate someone from a humble background like me to the throne.

Anyway, the talents I nurtured during the Sun Emperor era excelled in various fields, repaying the favor to me, and although the starting point might have been low, they all broke through the ceiling, transcended their limits, and gained recognition and fame.
The palace painter who painted my portrait in my past life belonged to that category. I hadn’t particularly wanted to see such a person, but because of Ellaila’s precedent, I had some expectations of meeting someone related to the past.

“I greet the brilliance of the Empire and the little bird.”

However, contrary to expectations, the palace painter was a very young woman with slightly tanned skin, characterized by a large green beret and a green dress.

“I am Musai, one of Ifric’s disciples. Thank you for the honor of being able to portray the Emperor, Empress, and Princess in my paintings.”

I was surprised that Fluer Viscountess was a woman and admired her exceptional skill. Moreover, the fact that the new palace painter was a disciple of a talent I personally selected in the past was more than admiration.

Feeling an unknown emotion and pride, I vaguely recalled information about ‘Ifric.’

‘Hmm, there is no means to treat your right eye. Aren’t the doctors incompetent? Even those who call themselves experts can’t fix it.’

‘It’s okay, Your Majesty. I can still see. Later, if I completely lose my vision, would you grant me a wonderful eye patch?’

Ifric was not as talkative as Jeff and Hecate, but except for those two, she was one of the most sociable kids I had ever talked to. One of his eyes was on the brink of blindness, and I had once found an excellent doctor for him, but despite hearing about various medicines, when he reached his forties, he sadly lost sight in his right eye.

‘Well, he’ll live well on his own.’

If he had died, there was nothing to be done, and if he was still alive, he would still be drawing. Whether he was in the imperial city or living comfortably on some nice coast after spending his old age, it didn’t matter.

“The portrait work will be divided into individual portraits and group portraits. For the next 5 days, you only need to model for 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the afternoon, a total of 4 hours every day.”

Speaking politely, Musai, with a happy smile, soon moved the chair and props, explaining in detail how to sit, what posture to take, and what expression to make.

‘In my past life, I yawned loudly and behaved rudely because I was alone.’

Suddenly, I remembered the time when I was doing portrait work during the Sun Emperor era. The moment when I, who had married the country like Ulrika, had no spouse or offspring, so I thought it would be good if it ended quickly.

‘Your Majesty, it hasn’t been 10 minutes yet.’

‘Boring.’

Gradually, after becoming busy with their own tasks, we only happened to meet each other, but during the portrait work with Ifric, I could see each other’s faces every day for a while. During that time, we talked a lot about various things.

‘I can’t remember everything, and it’s impossible to pay equal attention to everything.’
No matter how close we were, even though I had a close relationship with Jeff and Hecate during the Sun Emperor era, Ifric faded from my eyes and heart as the years passed and our encounters decreased.

However, looking back, due to the excessive affection I had for Jeff and Hecate, I had extended my help to many unexpected people.

I had simply sunk into the depths of the unconscious like a sinking ship as time passed and faced death. Yet, when someone talks about the figures from the Sun Emperor era, it might pop up like a toy when the lid is opened.

‘Fate is truly strange.’

It was fascinating that the ties from the past life hadn’t been severed in the present.

“Now, Princess, can you smile a little more? Lift the corners of your mouth like this~.”

Oh, I’m not good at smiling. I reluctantly pulled up the corners of my mouth at Musai’s sudden request.

“Exactly, well done!”

Musai’s face, with the corners of his mouth pulled up grotesquely with his index fingers, looked so strange. I decided to leave my smiling face to the imagination of the palace painter, saying that it was better than showing an ambiguous face where I couldn’t decide whether to laugh or cry.