While Askal sat down across from me, creaking like a broken machine, I elegantly filled his cup. Then, holding my own cup, I asked.

“These days, when I wake up at night, I find the spot next to me empty.”

After saying that, I took a slow sip. Despite setting the stage for him to guess why I offered tea, he remained silent. So I decided to be more assertive.

“You and I are husband and wife. I’d prefer if there were no secrets between us.”

Askal’s golden eyes trembled slightly. His expression was exactly like someone sitting in a police interrogation room.

“I’m sorry, my lady.”

Unexpected words came from his slowly opening lips.

“I need more time. Please wait a little longer, it’s only a few days left.”

“Askal, what do you mean…”

“It’s nothing that will hurt you, my lady.”

He answered firmly. I said to him as he looked at me straight.

“I trust you. But Askal, imagine if I went out for a couple of hours every night without saying anything to you and then came back.”

A wrinkle formed between Askal’s brows. He seemed to have unknowingly become engrossed.

“My lady…, when the time comes, I’ll tell you the truth.”

He said with a forced smile. I hesitated for a moment, then put down my teacup. Then I got up, sat next to Askal, and let out a deep sigh.

“There must be another reason for you to say this much. I understand. I won’t force you to tell me.”

“Thank you, my lady.”

“Since it’s come to this, don’t sneak around when you go out, just leave comfortably. I wake up when you return anyway.”

Askal took my hand with an apologetic face. As he did so, he kept kissing the back of my hand, saying he would never disappoint me.

Although I told him to return to the office now that he knew the situation, he picked up his cooled cup, saying he hadn’t finished his tea yet.

After a brief chat with Schmidt, Askal parted ways and, checking the time, headed towards the library where Rublion was likely to be. It was just about time for the child’s lessons to end.

As expected, Rublion was in the library. He strode in and said with fierce eyes.

“I didn’t expect you to stab me in the back.”

Rublion, who was reviewing what he had learned today, stared at Askal standing with his arms crossed. Then, closing his textbook with a thud, he said.

“In the end, I didn’t say anything, did I?”

“You would have if I hadn’t been there.”

“That’s not guaranteed. Did you see? How the area under Mom’s eyes has turned dark?”

Askal, looking at Rublion who was cupping his own cheek as if genuinely worried, said with a sigh.

“I shouldn’t have let you catch me that night.”

He sighed deeply, saying that being caught by the child during his nighttime activities was his biggest mistake. Then he recalled what had happened a few days ago.

In the dead of night when everyone was asleep.

Once Askal set the goal of completing the mural, even sleep felt like a waste of time.

Although he was building up practice to paint with the same quality as before, it was challenging because the Tide Falls he had seen through a child’s eyes felt different from the waterfall now.

The waterfall was only half-painted. Moreover, it was only at the level of being distinguished by colors, so the future looked bleak.

For this reason, feeling that he needed to get used to the brush more than the mural, it was exactly the third day of secretly practicing painting at night.

Askal, who had sneaked out of the bedroom, walked quietly towards the mural room where he had gathered canvases for practice, making sure his footsteps couldn’t be heard.

Out of a small concern that the smell of oil paint might have a negative effect on the pregnant Schmidt, he was also carrying clothes to change into after finishing practice.

As he was walking quietly like that, he felt like someone was following him from behind. Schmidt was sleeping, so it couldn’t be her. Then, could it be a servant or knight on patrol?

If it were them, it wouldn’t matter if they discovered his nighttime activity. As long as Schmidt didn’t know.

Rublion, who had woken up a little after midnight, had been lying in bed with his eyes wide open before finally getting up. He thought of going to the doctor to get some scented candles to help him sleep.

As Rublion quietly opened the door and came out, he saw something moving at the edge of his vision. Quickly turning his head, he saw a large shadow just turning the corner of the corridor.

Although it was dark, thanks to the large and high moonlight, he could at least tell that it was a person.

Suddenly, curiosity struck him. If it were a family knight, there would be no need to move so secretly, and if it were a servant, they would be carrying a lamp.

‘Could it be… a thief?’

This was the Artenbach mansion, boasting the best security. Unless someone was crazy enough to want to die, they wouldn’t dare try to rob this place.

That’s why he was even more curious. Rublion, thinking that closing the door might make a sound, left it as it was and walked towards where the shadow had disappeared.

Since his feet were bare, he walked on his tiptoes, making no sound.

Thus, playing a game of tag with the shadow that was almost caught but not quite, Rublion climbed to the third floor of the mansion and found the shadow standing in front of a door, looking around.

The child hid behind a large statue, a corridor decoration, to avoid being seen. It was perfect for a ten-year-old boy to hide.

‘Who could it be?’

As he wondered, he peeked out. The shadow opened the door, then reached inside to feel along the side of the door. With a click, the light in the room turned on, revealing the identity of the person he had been following.

‘Father?’

Rublion was curious why Askal was suspiciously entering that room alone at this late hour. So he decided not to follow any further. He decided to just appear openly.

“Father, what are you doing here?”

Although he had vaguely realized that someone was following him, Askal had carelessly thought it was just his imagination as there shouldn’t have been anyone who would. Seeing Rublion suddenly appear, he hid his surprise and answered sternly.

“Work isn’t finished yet…. And you, don’t tell me you haven’t slept until this hour?”

“I woke up from sleep. But do you have work left to do here?”

Rublion slipped through the open door. Askal, who didn’t have time to stop him, was startled and said.

“This is not where you should be, Rublion. Your place is in your room.”

The boy ignored his father’s advice that he should go to sleep. That wasn’t important right now.

“What’s all this?”

A room full of the smell of oil paint and practice canvases. A few landscape paintings were lying dried on a large round table.

Rublion’s gaze turned to the wall. There was something that caught his eye more intensely than the paint and canvases covering the floor.

“Is this… the Tide Falls?”

The child asked, discovering the unfinished mural. Askal, realizing it was too late to turn back, ruffled his own hair with his hand and said.

“This must be kept secret from your mother.”

“Are you trying to paint a mural?”

“Yes.”

The child’s eyes turned to the paintings on the round table. They were far superior to the works he had seen in the art gallery and Black Swan.

“Whose paintings are these?”

“Mine.”

“You painted these, Father?”

Rublion’s mouth gaped open. Then, unable to hide his surprise, he said.

“Father, you should be a painter, not a lord.”

“Is that an insult or a compliment?”

“Both.”

The child couldn’t take his eyes off the painting of Schmidt soaking in the hot spring and himself clinging to her neck, smiling brightly.

“Can I have this?”

He had been half-doubting when told his father had painted it, but seeing this painting, all doubt vanished.

“I’ll give it to you if you promise to keep what you’ve seen today a secret.”

“I promise. Please give it to me!”

Askal tapped the canvas lightly with his finger. He was checking if the paint had dried.

Startled by his rough attitude, Rublion quickly took the canvas, saying to be careful. Watching the boy, Askal said nonchalantly.

“It’s just a practice piece I painted to warm up. Don’t fuss over it.”

“…This is just practice?”

Rublion’s mouth gaped open again.

“I take back what I said about you becoming a painter. I can’t stand by and watch you become an invasive species in the ecosystem.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“It is a compliment.”

The child carefully traced the painting with his finger. Then he asked if it had a title.

“If I had to give it a title, I’d call it Practice 2.”

“If you give such a title to this painting, Apollo won’t forgive you!”

Rublion said with wide eyes.

“I’ll give it a title. It’s mine now, after all.”

“Do as you like.”

Askal cleared one side of the sofa full of canvases. Then he gestured with his chin for the boy to sit there.

Bringing an easel near the sofa, Askal answered Rublion’s various questions sincerely.

He didn’t expect to be discovered so quickly by someone other than the butler, but the atmosphere different from the days of quiet practice put him in a good mood.

Rublion showed off what he had learned diligently about aesthetics and Renaissance art. Askal spent quite a long time exchanging conversations with the child that one would expect to have in an art gallery or Black Swan.

Then, perhaps worried about staying up too late, he suggested to Rublion that it might be good to return to his room soon.

“I want to go with you, Father. The corridor is dark and scary, isn’t it?”

“Nonsense.”

It was impossible for Rublion to be afraid of dark corridors. For a child who roamed the mansion alone even in the middle of the night to say he couldn’t go alone because the corridor was scary was just an excuse because he didn’t want to go.

Askal quietly looked at Rublion, who was cutely acting coy with his lips slightly pursed. Then, shaking his head, he said.

“I’ll go wash up, wait a little.”

“You’re going to wash now?”

“Yes. If I smell of paint, your mother might notice.”

“Ah. I see. Take care.”

Rublion watched Askal heading to the bathroom out of the corner of his eye and made a resolution.

‘I need to study harder and become a master surpassing Father.’

He had been confident in this field in his own way, but after seeing his father’s skill, he realized he had been a frog in a well.