#Side Story 4. For a Painting Where We’re All Together Nov. 2023
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9. Olivia blinked repeatedly. Even as the rims of her eyes reddened, her clear gaze did not leave the painting. Her lips, which had been moving as if she wanted to say something, pressed shut firmly, but instead of hurrying her, Edwin wrapped his arms around her small back. And as he placed his lips on her white nape that was exposed again, Edwin too looked at the painting he had drawn. Perhaps Olivia might guess. Just how careful each line, each dot, had been in drawing that crayon picture. But had he not drawn young Olivia’s picture himself, Edwin himself would never have known for the rest of his life. Why Olivia, who drew so much better than him, had been unable to draw his childhood portrait herself.
. . . Three nights ago. As he looked at Olivia’s sleeping face, Edwin thought that her childhood must have been that of a baby angel. And the thought that suddenly came to him soon became unstoppable.
“Me too. I liked it so much when Mother sang to me. On days when I was incredibly excited, I jumped around next to her, and when my hair got tangled, she always brushed it again for me. Sometimes I liked the feeling of her hands brushing my hair so much that I deliberately messed it up.”
A lovely child with rosy, chubby cheeks and sparkling green eyes. A child who, when you brushed out her tangled hair from playing, smiled brightly and messed it up once more, begging to be brushed again. Just imagining it brought a smile to his lips, and Edwin finally decided to capture all of that Olivia on canvas. But the moment he brought the canvas and picked up the crayons, he laughed hollowly. He couldn’t draw them. How much that bright, clever eye would sparkle, how beautiful that smiling cheek would be. No matter how much sincerity and effort he put in, his drawing would surely never match the real young Olivia. With an empty canvas before him, Edwin had to swallow his regret.
If only he could see the real Liv’s childhood. Since there was no magic to turn back time, his regret gradually extended toward a solution achievable in reality. Could he not acquire a childhood portrait of Olivia? Usually, noble households would call in a professional painter once a year to record their growing child and have a portrait painted of the child. If he contacted Lady Madeleine, might he not be able to obtain even one? Surely there couldn’t be not a single painting drawn over more than a decade. But the extending expectation was blocked at “surely.” Edwin smiled bitterly and shook his head.
……
He felt like he’d be angry if there really wasn’t a single one. He felt like he’d be upset even if she wasn’t smiling in those portraits. So he steadied his heart again. And he drew young Olivia himself. With a bit more baby fat, with rounder eyes. The four- or five-year-old Olivia who had been filled with nothing but brilliant happiness. But even as he looked at the picture he had drawn with such difficulty, it was equally regrettable. What if there were a delicately drawn portrait rather than one that merely captured the features? And what if it were a portrait drawn by the person who knew young Olivia best… That is, just like the picture of her childhood that Olivia herself would draw.
“No matter how hard I tried to draw well, this was as far as my skill could go. Of course, even with my drawing skills, Liv’s childhood looks like an angel, but…….”
Edwin, who had been speaking softly, slowly lifted his face from Olivia’s nape. And shrugging his shoulders slightly, he slowly looked at her face. Perhaps because she was holding back tears, the corners of her eyes and the tip of her nose were all flushed red. Edwin slowly swept down her disheveled hair and whispered his true feelings.
“……
It can’t compare to the real childhood, I suppose.”
Her pretty lip corners rose shyly. She was like a small smiling rabbit. Edwin was quicker than anyone to press his lips to those pretty lips. Now his lady no longer ran away like a startled rabbit at a single brief kiss. Rather, she smiled at him with narrowed, flushed eyes. As one kiss became two, and two spread to ten. As Olivia burrowed into Edwin’s arms, she suddenly pulled her body back with a start. Edwin’s eyes darkened deeply at the abruptly empty embrace, but soon he burst into a low, languid laugh as if deflated.
“I’ll frame the angels Edwin drew for me and keep them safe. Because they mustn’t get crumpled.”
Olivia placed the portraits of young Edwin and young Olivia on the table with a playful face. And she grabbed Edwin’s arm and hugged him again. It was right at that moment that Edwin, who had been collapsing helplessly under the cute temptation rushing in like tidal waves, remembered what he had forgotten to say.
“Ah, how about drawing a picture for me to keep too? If Olivia herself, who knows my angelic childhood best, were to draw it, I think it would be the best.”
Edwin coaxed her with a subtle voice. He was sure that Olivia would naturally grant his request. But the answer from her smiling face completely deviated from his expectations.
“I don’t want to?”
“Pardon?”
Olivia burst out with a clear laugh. And with a face soaked in happiness, she lifted the picture of young Olivia.
“I’m joking about not wanting to. The truth is, it won’t work. Because no matter how hard I try, I wouldn’t be able to draw it with as much love felt as in this picture you drew for me, Edwin.”
Of course that would be true……. Edwin chuckled and attacked Olivia’s weak point.
“A picture infused with love and a well-drawn picture would be different. If we go by that logic, it is Olivia, not me, who could draw my childhood best.”
“If you kept learning painting from me, Edwin would surely surpass my drawing skills within a few years, wouldn’t you?”
“……
I suppose it might be possible—if my Bibi, who remains busy even when the frozen lands melt, were to teach me.”
“Of course. But I have a condition.”
“If it’s my running training, as much as you like.”
Watching Edwin boast with his nose in the air, Olivia pondered for just a moment. But her resolve was already set. Olivia smiled sweetly and tugged on Edwin’s sleeve. As if it were only natural, Edwin bent his knees to match Olivia’s height. Just as he waited to hear what she would say, a thin breath reached his ear.
“……
Draw a picture of all of us together too.”
When his Bibi’s whispering voice tickled his ear, Edwin wore a blank expression for a moment. All together? A peculiar feeling tugged at his heart. So Edwin deliberately asked again about the scope of “all together.” Then Olivia, who had been smiling boldly as if provoking him, lowered her eyes. A faint tension rose sweetly over her peach-colored cheeks, and a whispering voice tickled his ear.
“With our child.”
Our child. Olivia smiled a little and added.
“If it’s alright, I wish there would be children.”
Since it was the first time she had spoken aloud a family plan she had only vaguely thought of, Olivia moved her lips once more. A child of Edwin and herself. Even though it was a story of a distant future, not yet born or even conceived, Olivia’s heart fluttered. Countless unknown possibilities flickered in her mind. But there was one thing she could assert even in this situation where she knew nothing. Olivia spoke with a bit more confidence.
“Surely, like in your drawing, Edwin…… they’ll be as beautiful as angels.”
“…….”
“What do you think, Edwin?”
After asking as if whispering, Olivia slowly looked at Edwin’s face. And she firmed up her smiling lips. Though he gave no answer, Edwin’s expression said it all. Amidst joy and delight, within the slowly spreading brilliant happiness, Olivia realized that Edwin was thinking the same thing as her. Then after quite some time, Edwin’s lips finally parted.
“……
I think they’ll be too beautiful.”
“…….”
“If I am to capture that beautiful appearance perfectly, should I practice hundreds of sheets starting from now?”
The words spoken in such a tense voice were so amusing that Olivia burst into laughter again. Before the radiantly spreading happiness, Olivia hugged Edwin. Because it was clear that his firm embrace and affectionate laughter would enfold her forever, Olivia pressed her lips to Edwin’s beautiful face.
* * *
It was a day when the midday sunlight spread roundly. The prince’s office was filled with the scratching sound of pen nibs. Howard looked at the approved documents with a pleased face. These past few days, His Highness’s concentration was second to none. The frequency with which he used to return to his bedroom, without even taking out more documents once the minimum tasks were finished, had also decreased compared to usual.
“Your Highness. May I ask one thing?”
“What is it.”
The prince answered indifferently to 2nd Aide Winster’s question. His gaze remained fixed on the documents.
“Why have you been so diligent in state affairs lately?”
At the question asked with genuine curiosity, Howard looked at Winster with sharp eyes. Everything that disturbed His Highness the prince’s concentration
- Of course, the Princess Consort was naturally the exception
- was a target of punishment for Howard, and Winster was a special target of punishment among them. The words from this special target of punishment seemed to pique the prince’s interest. He slowly raised his head. A languid smile like spring flowers began to spread across his beautiful face.
“……
Three years… that won’t do.”
“By three years, you mean……”
Unconsciously repeating the prince’s words, a voice like a flash of lightning swept through Howard’s mind.
“Three years. Within exactly three years, Vikander will be reborn as an empire.”
For a moment, Howard’s throat tightened. Ahem, he tried to clear his throat, but the emotion would not easily subside. Before he could ask again, Edwin smiled bashfully and looked at one corner of his desk. It was the picture of baby Olivia he had completed with Olivia a few days ago.
“For now, Edwin is busy. So once all the busy things are sorted out……”
At the same time, Olivia’s voice rang in his ears like an auditory hallucination. The overly sweet thrill wrapped around him in an instant. The sparkling eyes, the childishly moving lips, the gentle voice speaking of a heart-fluttering future—Edwin let out a low sigh. This won’t do. He sprang up from his seat. The attendants standing before the door opened it, and at the same moment the prince smiled brightly and left the office.
“I’ll do the rest tomorrow.”
“Y-Your Highness? Your Highness?”
The prince, who had poured lava onto Howard’s passion once more, disappeared before his eyes. Though Howard desperately called out to the prince belatedly, thud—Winster blocked Howard’s path with an outstretched hand.
“You should let him go. Well, he’s a newlywed.”
Newlywed. Before that weighty word, Howard quietly lowered his outstretched hand. At the same time, Winster smirked. And gauging Howard’s mood as he stared blankly at the unapproved documents, Winster stepped backward. He had to leave when the moment was right. He had to seize the fortune that had befallen him, who had suffered in the position of 2nd Aide ill-suited to his fate.
But before he could even take a few steps, a gloomy voice snatched Winster by the nape.
“Where is the 2nd Aide trying to go when he isn’t even a newlywed? Hmm?”
“Ah, I was just……”
“Finish grasping the situation. Once the frozen lands melt, the lords and their heirs will come soon.”
At the firm, formal voice, Winster pouted. But he had no reply. As a small sign of dissatisfaction, Winster began to read Urgen’s report once more instead of working.
- Franz’s regime is already on the brink of a cliff. They tried to extinguish the fire by urgently confiscating Count Elkin’s property, but the people no longer have faith in the imperial family. The operation to reclaim the southeastern region can also proceed without great difficulty.
This was something he had expected since leaving the capital. Winster’s favorite part was next.
- The Crown Prince’s Palace has been sealed for several weeks. Dozens of healing mages came and went, but none who emerged looked well. And this is really top-secret information.
The handwriting for the top-secret information was much smaller than the other writing.
- A disturbing rumor is circulating among the people of the capital. Upon learning that all the empire’s granaries have passed to Vikander, the lower nobles also seem likely to take collective action against the imperial family before long.
* * *
“……
Ah, Your Highness?”
A calm voice approached over her hazy consciousness. Under the dazzling sunlight, Olivia opened her eyes thinly and looked ahead. As her blurred focus gradually sharpened, she saw Hana smiling before her.
“I apologize for disturbing your rest, but perhaps you could lie on the bed for a moment, Your Highness. You mentioned you’ve been feeling numb lately, so I thought a bed would be more comfortable than the sofa.”
Only then did Olivia realize she had been dozing while leaning against the sofa. Good heavens……! Belatedly clearing her throat with ahem and straightening her body, her languidly loosened body did not move as fast as her will. Olivia silently raised only the corners of her lips in embarrassment. The perceptive Hana poured another cup of tea and said,
“It’s really spring, so the days are warm that even I keep getting sleepy from noon.”
Olivia cast her gaze beyond the window. As if announcing the full arrival of spring, soft new shoots had sprouted on the trees in the garden. The sight of small birds hopping about and moving between branches was peaceful. A faint smile began to play at the princess consort’s lips. And she slowly rose. Watching her slow movements as if she were still half-asleep, Hana felt an inexplicable pang in one side of her heart. The young lady who used to wake at dawn at the grand ducal residence now slept in late in Vikander, and from some days, she had even been enjoying languid naps like a young bird drying its feathers in the sun. Seeing her look so comfortable, as if she had completely adapted to Vikander, Hana herself felt rather delighted.
That was all proof that her tension had been released! How pleased Lady Bethany would be if she knew. Hana smiled brightly and looked at the princess consort. Unaware of her thoughts, Olivia chuckled. And following Hana’s willing suggestion, she went to the bed. Though her eyelids were heavy, her lukewarm headache, and even a strange low fever—she felt they would disappear refreshingly after a good sleep.