In response to Lindsey’s question about going to meet right away, Jieselgrante nodded and slipped her feet into soft slippers.

Then, without a moment to catch her breath, she immediately got up and walked to the reception room where the painter was said to be waiting.

And she came face to face with the young man who was looking around the interior of the reception room with wide eyes.

‘He seems much younger than I expected…’

She opened her mouth, feeling somewhat puzzled.

“Thank you for coming so far.”

Not realizing she had arrived, the young man startled and turned towards her.

“Ah…!”

But when he confirmed her face, he seemed even more surprised.

“…?”

As Jieselgrante looked at him with a puzzled expression, the young man finally bowed deeply.

“You must be the daughter of Duke Amaterasu. You are much more beautiful than the rumors suggested, I was momentarily stunned.”

“You are skilled at flattery.”

Jieselgrante smiled faintly and sat on the sofa by the window.

The young man gazed at her for a moment, then moved to stand in front of the easel. And he asked.

“Th-then, may I begin now?”

When Jieselgrante nodded, the young man began sketching at an incredible speed.

She thought he seemed a bit absent-minded, but the young man looked as if he was in deep concentration, as if there was no one else around.

Jieselgrante watched the young man immersed in drawing her portrait and thought.

‘At this rate, it will be difficult to even strike up a conversation.’

This young man now drawing her portrait had the painting style most similar to the portrait of the late Empress she had seen at the Cardia ducal residence.

It took quite some time to find him, but fortunately, meeting him wasn’t too difficult.

When a noble young lady who liked his painting style expressed her wish to have her portrait painted, he immediately came to the imperial capital.

And now it had come to this.

She had planned to ask about the late Empress’s portrait at an appropriate time, but it was difficult to speak to the young man burning with artistic passion.

Unable to do anything else, Jieselgrante simply watched as he burned with artistic passion.

How much time had passed like that.

Just as her neck was starting to feel stiff from maintaining one pose for so long, the young painter finally spoke.

“The sketch is finished. Let’s take a look.”

Jieselgrante walked over to the young painter.

“How is it? My skills are humble, so I fear I’ve captured less than half of your beauty, but…”

The young man added an explanation, but it didn’t really register in her ears.

She couldn’t be certain yet since it was only a sketch.

The young man’s painting seemed similar to the late Empress’s portrait in style, yet somehow different.

“How did you learn your painting technique?”

“My uncle made his living as a painter.”

Jieselgrante nodded slightly.

In fact, the young painter before her was too young to have painted the late Empress’s portrait.

So she had naturally thought he must have been influenced by the style of the painter who had painted the late Empress’s portrait.

“In which region did your uncle mainly work?”

“Ah, my uncle had a wanderlust. So he didn’t belong to any one place, but traveled here and there. He’s passed away now.”

“…”

“Um, but what did you think of the sketch you just saw?”

“I like it very much. I’d like to continue with this.”

Saying that, she sat back down on the sofa.

“I’m so glad you like it. Recently, I’ve been struggling to hold a brush well and feeling lost, but your beautiful appearance has inspired me greatly. I was worried that if my painting didn’t satisfy you, you might stop…”

It seems he wasn’t just saying empty words.

With that, the young man once again burned with artistic passion.

While it was difficult to speak to the young man concentrating during the painting, Jieselgrante asked him questions according to her original purpose during each break time.

Fortunately, the young painter answered her questions without hiding anything.

Thanks to that, she was able to hear about his uncle who had a similar painting style. Even the part about receiving a commission to paint someone’s portrait in Lugal.

‘He said they showed him a newborn baby and asked him to paint a portrait.’

It was very common for noble families to have portraits made of newborn babies, and his uncle readily accepted the commission.

But there was a slightly unique request, he added.

‘Usually the baby is placed in the center of the canvas, but at that time they asked for the baby to be painted in the lower right corner.’

It would certainly make for a unique composition, but he said his uncle followed the client’s request.

After painting the entire baby, there was an additional request to add a woman in the upper left corner.

So it was only later that he realized all those difficult-to-understand requests he had received earlier were ultimately for painting two people on one canvas.

‘Couldn’t they have just asked for a painting of a woman holding a newborn baby from the start?’

‘That’s right. It would have been easier if they had done so. While it was an unusual request, it wasn’t extremely rare, so my uncle complied.’

The young painter added.

‘My uncle said there must have been some circumstance for doing it that way. For example, it’s not uncommon for a woman to pass away shortly after giving birth due to weakened health.’

After hearing that far, she understood.

Even the reason why the portrait of the late Empress that Cabelased had looked subtly awkward.

If they had shown the newborn baby and the late Empress together and requested a portrait of the two, naturally the painter would have recognized the late Empress as the baby’s mother.

But if they first showed the newborn baby and had it painted, then had the late Empress’s image painted based only on verbal descriptions, it would be easy for the painter to assume the woman in the painting had passed away shortly after giving birth to this child.

‘They must have been cautious even about leaving images of two people on one canvas.’

Moreover, the current Empress, who became the mistress of the imperial palace after the late Empress’s death, had all portraits of the late Empress removed not only from the palace but throughout the empire.

So the young painter’s uncle, who never set foot in the imperial palace, would not have had a chance to see the late Empress’s portrait.

Even if he had seen it, since he hadn’t met the late Empress in person, he would have just thought he was painting a woman who resembled her.

“Miss, the bathwater seems to have cooled a bit. Shall I add more hot water?”

Olga’s gentle voice broke Jieselgrante out of her reverie.

Lindsey was in the midst of tidying up the used bath items, and the water in the tub had cooled slightly to lukewarm.

“It’s fine.”

Jieselgrante shook her head and rose from the tub.

Olga, who had been watching, quickly held out a white robe.

As she was about to leave the toilette room wearing only the robe over her freshly bathed naked body, Jieselgrante suddenly blushed slightly at a memory that came to mind.

It was because she recalled Cabelased’s naked body that she had seen earlier today.

‘Am I… crazy?’

It was just as she was berating herself for her unchaste state of mind.

Lindsey, who had been hurriedly looking around, soon asked while fanning her face with the dry towel she was holding.

“Miss, are you feeling hot? Your cheeks are flushed.”

Hearing this, Olga, who had been standing nearby, quickly ran to the bedroom, pulled back the drawn curtains, and opened the window wide.

“The night air is quite cool today.”

Lindsey also continued fanning with the dry towel, saying she would cool down her cheeks which had flushed from thinking of Cabelased.

“…I see. Thank you, both of you.”

Jieselgrante awkwardly expressed her gratitude and walked into the bedroom.

But even as Lindsey and Olga dried her wet hair until it was fluffy, and even when she was left alone in the darkened bedroom, it was difficult to shake the thoughts of Cabelased that had coiled in her mind.

Of course, it wasn’t just Cabelased’s naked body that she recalled throughout her preparations for bed.

In addition, her thoughts continued on the new things she had learned related to her birth and what she had deduced from them.

And the endpoint of all those thoughts flowed to the mark on Cabelased’s chest.

Before the questions about the mark on Cabelased’s body could fade, the day of her visit to the Cardia ducal residence arrived.

Instead of the luxurious dress made of soft fabric that nobles commonly wear, today Jieselgrante wore a simple and plain dress made of linen.

Although the Radcliffe Company was said to be popular among nobles recently, she couldn’t wear an expensive dress while disguised as someone working for the company.

The linen dress she wore was one that Lindsey and Olga had bought for her on the day they went shopping in the bustling district.

They said they had searched the busy streets for quite a while to find a dress that would particularly suit Jieselgrante.

So Jieselgrante gave them a hefty bonus on top of their regular wages.

As they had said, the quality was certainly not lacking.

Of course, to the eyes of nobles, it would just look like a commoner trying to dress up a bit.

As the Radcliffe Company’s carriage came to a stop in front of the grand and massive Cardia ducal residence, Jieselgrante stepped out of the carriage and walked into the mansion with familiarity.

The butler of the Cardia ducal family was waiting for her at the entrance of the mansion.

“Welcome. We’ve been expecting you.”

Jieselgrante responded to the butler’s warm welcome with a faint smile and walked into the mansion where Cabelased was.

“The master is waiting for you in the reception room.”

It was as the butler said.

Although Cabelased was always busy, today he was waiting for her in the reception room first.

Jieselgrante approached him, feeling a little puzzled.