“What is this? That’s not my face, it’s a wolf!”

I couldn’t help but shout out loud.

Instead of a femme fatale conquering the social world, the painting contained a wolf with fur as red as flames.

Franz chuckled and pointed at the painting.

“Fierce black eyes and terrifying mouth, doesn’t it look just like Elizabeth?”

“What did you say?”

“Look at that red fur. Doesn’t it feel like looking in a mirror?”

“Try being bitten by a red wolf!”

I grabbed Franz’s waist with both hands.

I even bit hard on Franz’s flailing wrist.

Despite the pain, Franz rolled over and laughed.

He seemed to find all of this amusing like a playful joke.

‘I remember the first time we met, he was like a fighting rooster. The painting I tore back then was also of a wolf, wasn’t it? He must really like wolves. Children’s tastes are really…’

Franz was slowly changing.

The wound on his hand had almost completely healed.

The facial expression of the boy, who always had to be on guard and question everything, noticeably softened.

I withdrew my gaze, which was staring at his eyes that contained both childlike innocence and a touch of coldness.

It was because I kept seeing traces of Nikolai in Franz.

“Let’s call it quits. I’m the fool for fighting with a child.”

I sat down heavily on a chair, smoothing back my stray hair.

It wasn’t a portrait, but it was an exceptional painting.

The red wolf seemed like it could leap out of the canvas at any moment.

‘It’s unbelievable that a 10yearold drew this. Did he draw every single strand of fur? Even a photo couldn’t capture this much liveliness. Even the freedom and wild beauty of the wolf.’

What kind of talent would he show under a proper teacher?

Just imagining it made my chest swell.

Thinking about the person I was considering inviting as Franz’s art professor made it even more so.

Just then, Franz asked.

“Elizabeth, when is the art professor coming?”

“Didn’t you say dedicating yourself to art would tarnish your reputation as the crown prince?”

“I am an obedient disciple, after all. I believe in the boasting of a master who says they’ll solve that problem too.”

“In any case, I can’t say.”

I ruffled Franz’s blond hair.

Franz laughed, making a sound like rolling beads.

“Please wait a bit longer. It’s not easy to invite the professor.”

“Who are you trying to bring?”

“Have you heard of Owen Black?”

“Of the Black Baron family? The painter who is a godsend, that Owen?”

Franz asked, forgetting even to breathe.

It wasn’t an exaggeration.

Owen had been a genius painter since his early teens, with an eye for detail and dreamy color tones that gained massive popularity.

“Owen’s paintings sold for the price of mansions. There were countless nobles requesting portraits.”

“He must have been selective.”

“Even you know? He rejected commissions from the royalty if he didn’t like the model. That’s why he was hated.”

“He should have that kind of guts to teach our little one!”

Franz sighed as if telling me to stop making absurd remarks.

“Ah… Owen was exiled 7 years ago for treason. The whole Black Baron family fell!”

“Do you know why he was charged with treason?”

“How would I remember? I was 3 years old at that time.”

“Everyone kept it hushed, but it was because he refused to paint the previous empress.”

“Ah, Penelope again! The woman who was expelled by His Majesty.”

As if the mere thought upset him, Franz furrowed his brow.

I recalled the royal history book that Kares had gifted.

Nikolai’s maternal grandmother, Bridget, died 16 years ago at the age of 32.

Soon after, the emperor elevated Penelope, 20 years old at that time, as the new empress.

‘Nikolai was only 12 then. It must have been difficult facing a young stepmother. Judging by her dethronement and exile, their relationship must have been bad.’

The deposed empress Penelope is now the hostess of Worden.

To become the queen of an enemy country right after being expelled from the empire.

What an astonishing sense of timing and remarkable execution.
‘The reason Claudia was stationed in the Inted Archipelago was to keep Warden in check. The pretext for the revolution was Warden too. Count Nikolai was indifferent to whether Warden invaded or not, since he was smitten with Elizabeth’s charms.’

To prevent the revolution, Nikolai had to actively show that he was guarding the borders.

The problem was that, as a mere education officer, I couldn’t interfere.

Nikolai’s feelings were also beyond control.

He would act sweetly as if in a dream, then freeze up in an instant.

Just when I thought we had gotten a bit closer, he would take several steps back.

Nikolai, who turned my feelings inside out and retreated behind a solid wall.

I was left alone outside the door.

Soon Claudia would come to take Nikolai’s life.

I couldn’t even guarantee my own life.

Nikolai knew nothing.

I couldn’t tell him either.

I was just anxious about a pair of gallows, worried about a man who would lose his life along with me.