Katharina doubted her own ears.

“…Did you just say it’s sensational and obscene?”

Then Count Hamilton, standing next to Count Horace, chimed in as well.

“I was also surprised. How could such an explicit and harmful painting be created by a lady as virtuous and dignified as Your Highness the Imperial Princess!”

Katharina looked back at her painting again with an incredulous expression.

It was just a man and woman kissing. As the background was winter, they were wearing thick clothes, and they weren’t even groping each other.

Katharina, who had been momentarily speechless in disbelief, tried to refute belatedly, but Count Horace was faster.

“Your Highness is the flower representing the Empire. Who dared to impart such a harmful painting style to such a noble person?”

‘…I see through these old men’s intentions.’

Katharina gritted her teeth slightly.

Katharina’s painting teacher was a famous artist known for his radical and free style.

His ideology and personality were very different from the mainstream artists of the system, including Count Horace.

However, recently his disciples had been gaining considerable fame wherever they ventured outside the Empire. Naturally, the master’s status rose along with it.

This must have been quite displeasing to Count Horace and his faction.

So it seemed they were now attempting to use the Imperial Princess, his most prominent disciple, to kill his influence.

‘Ha. There’s a limit to how much they can disrespect me!’

Sparks flew in Katharina’s eyes.

Not only did they dare try to use her, the Empire’s only Imperial Princess, but they even went so far as to shame her like this!

However, Katharina couldn’t rashly express her anger. Her position as the Imperial Princess rather held her back.

This was in the midst of the Empire’s founding festival. Not only the imperial nobles, but also foreign dignitaries were watching her.

As Katharina swallowed her shame and remained silent, Count Horace smiled coaxingly and said.

“Your Highness, if I may be so bold, how about taking down this painting? With your excellent education, I’m sure you can create a more elegant and modest painting…”

“How strange.”

A calm but resonant voice cut off the count’s words.

For a moment, Count Horace turned towards the voice with a frown, but soon his eyes widened.

“You who value ‘modesty’ so highly, Count, did you not purchase a statue of a naked angel at last year’s founding festival?”

The Duchess of Heigenberg, who had been standing there unnoticed, asked the count with a clear expression.

The count, understanding the meaning a beat late, let out an incredulous laugh.

“Ha, what an ignorant thing to say! That wasn’t simply nudity. It was meant to express the raw, sacred beauty of the body as created by God!”

Katharina, who had been staring blankly at Ariana’s appearance for a moment, snorted at those words.

‘Hmph! Sacred beauty?’

Katharina remembered that angel statue clearly.

Wasn’t the angel thrusting out its ample bosom a bit too much to be called ‘sacred’?

Ariana said with an awkward smile.

“Well. As I recall, for something like that, there was a giant snake rather sensually coiled around the angel’s body.”

“That too was meant to depict the angel resisting evil, symbolized by the snake!”

Count Horace protested in an exasperated voice.

As if not hearing those words, Ariana naturally turned her gaze to the count’s side.

“And Count Hamilton. Didn’t you purchase a painting of naked men and women having an outdoor feast at the last art auction?”

Count Hamilton exclaimed with a bitter laugh.

“Goodness! That’s a masterpiece expressing how beautiful human friendship can be when it transcends even social norms. How dare you condemn its intention as impure!”

Katharina almost snorted, forgetting her dignity for a moment.

‘They freely buy and sell paintings of nude parties, yet they make such a fuss over me painting just a little kiss?’

The more she thought about it, the more furious she became. She wanted to immediately use her imperial authority, even forcibly, to kick those two out on their behinds.

Katharina opened her mouth but couldn’t utter any words hastily. If she spoke now, her voice would probably come out trembling like a goat due to agitation.

Instead, what was heard was once again that calm and static voice.

“As you said, all art has intention.”

Ariana, speaking at a pace neither fast nor slow, looked around at the two counts.

“Then why did you criticize Her Highness’s work based solely on its appearance, without even considering its intention?”

“Criticism? I merely expressed concern out of worry!”

Count Horace cried out as if it were absurd. Count Hamilton chimed in as well.

“If there were to be any issue with the reputation of Her Highness, the most virtuous Imperial Princess in the Empire, it could become a flaw when she marries in the future, could it not?”

“…!”

Katharina pressed her palm hard with her fingernails.

She knew well that the Crown Prince was looking everywhere to sell her off to the most valuable place.

Having failed to become the Duchess of Heigenberg, she would probably be married off to a foreign country soon according to her brother’s wishes.

For now, the Emperor was blocking it, but his health was not good. There were widespread rumors that abdication would take place soon.

“Well.”

Ariana tilted her head gently.

“Aren’t the ones tarnishing the Empire’s reputation not Her Highness, but… you two, who shout first without even recognizing the artistic value of her work?”

“Wh-what did you say?”

Count Horace’s eyes bulged.

Her retort without even blinking an eye was extremely vexing.

‘A woman shamelessly sits and paints a picture of a man and woman kissing, and even when pointed out, she responds so brazenly!’

The unique identity of imperial art. It was a dignified, refined, and solemn tone. The Empire alone in the entire continent was maintaining its conservative tradition.

Those two women were ruining that tradition. And in front of foreign envoys, no less!

‘Even if the Duke pulled strings, why did His Majesty the Emperor allow such a woman the very last stage! That’s why she’s so arrogant now!’

In fact, that was the biggest cause of the unpleasantness boiling in Count Horace’s stomach right now.

It was the first time since Eduardo Lopez’s death that he had lost the final slot of the music festival.

To think that such a young woman would take the last stage, surpassing him, a master of imperial music.

Culture and art were the foundation of a country, so how ridiculous must the Empire look in the eyes of foreign dignitaries?

“Then I, Horace, humbly request to be enlightened by the Duchess’s lofty insight. What artistic value have I missed in Her Highness’s painting?”

‘If I lay it out so blatantly, she won’t be able to say anything.’

Count Horace inwardly swallowed a sneer.

No matter how he looked at it, the Imperial Princess’s painting appeared to be nothing more than an illustration from a crude popular novel.

“I’m not well-versed in painting, so I’m not sure if I’ve correctly grasped Her Highness’s intention, but…”

Ariana looked back at the painting with an uncertain expression.

As expected, what could she possibly say? At best, she’d probably prattle on about ‘the colors are pretty’ or ‘the sentiment is beautiful’.

Just as Count Horace was inwardly sneering with such thoughts, Ariana slowly opened her mouth.

“From the moonlight to the lighting, all the light sources are unified to guide the gaze in one direction, and in doing so, the perspective on the opposite side, which is shrouded in darkness, is intentionally ignored. As if to say that in the moment when the two people are touching each other, no other reality has any value. I wonder how the envoy from the Kingdom of Ende sees it?”

Ariana asked the envoy dressed in Ende attire with a gentle smile.

The envoy nodded vigorously.

“Indeed! The displacement technique, where strange objects take the place of stars in the night sky, also precisely conveys the intention Lady Ariana mentioned.”

“…”

Count Horace was momentarily speechless.

Perspective and displacement technique? What was even more astounding was that upon looking at the painting again after those words, points exactly as Ariana had described became noticeable.

‘…Ha. It must be a lucky guess.’

There was no way the Imperial Princess, who had likely only studied art at a basic level, would have calculated and painted all those things.

However, just as Count Horace opened his mouth to refute.

“Now that I hear it… it truly is a work of depth.”

Another envoy also muttered in a dazed voice.

The dignitary beside him also smiled at Ariana and said.

“Thank you, my lady. If you hadn’t pointed it out, I might have appreciated the work without noticing such delicate points.”

Starting with those two, appreciation began pouring in from all around.

They were all praises for the Imperial Princess’s delicacy, and Ariana’s discernment in recognizing it.

Count Horace and Count Hamilton stood frozen in the middle, unable to get their bearings.

Ariana smiled faintly.

“Do the two counts perhaps have a different view?”

Count Horace gritted his teeth.

Too many people were already agreeing with Ariana’s opinion.

To claim that her view was wrong at this point would mean refuting all those dignitaries.

“I…”

After a moment, Count Horace said as if sighing.

“…It seems my eyes were blurry since I didn’t wear my glasses today.”