Chapter 32: The Painter from Lavarus

The black horse had stopped a while ago. But neither of them had any intention of getting up from their seats.

“The forest won’t recover anyway. Failing to find you was a clear mistake. I received money from Helter to patrol the forest, and if it comes out that I couldn’t find a single person, what do you think the result will be?”

“…”

“The emperor’s knights will be dragged into scandal, and the knight orders of other kingdoms will be disgraced as well. All the funding received from Helter over the years will be exposed, and how much was skimmed off will be plain to see.

The kings who handled the patrol will lose their positions or fall out of the emperor’s favor. The king’s knights will be summoned to the Embezzlement Bureau, have all their assets taken, and leave their children with lifelong scars.”

“…”

“If the forest has to be wiped out once more anyway, erasing every record and hiding you would be better in every way, don’t you think?”

But Jerond should not have been the one to reach that conclusion. It was something that required his father and the emperor’s officials to gather and promise not to leave it in any record. Even so, Jerond made the decision himself, created a new identity, and had her stay in his castle.

“I’m the captain of the search party. But being the captain doesn’t mean I hold every decision.”

‘Then why…’

“I reached that conclusion after considering the situation where any one of the emperor’s loyalists might object. But apart from that, it was also a decision for you.”

Jerond’s black eyes deepened. They were so black they even looked blue.

“If your existence is revealed by someone else’s hand, your life cannot be guaranteed. So don’t look at me with contempt. I know why you look at me that way, but don’t look at me like that anyway. This is a warning, and an order.”

She could not disobey. If she did, she would lose her life. And Jerond’s face as he gave that order looked somehow lonely.

Luti bowed her head as if to answer, and Jerond stepped out of the carriage first. When he opened the door, a bright, clear wind blew in. Jerond held out his hand as if to escort her. Luti hesitated, then took it.

Her silk shoe touched the clean ground.

That was how Luti had to be tied to him.

When Jerond arrived at the shopping street where nobles gathered, doors opened all at once and shop owners came out to bow. Commoners and nobles walking the street looked startled. Even the gatekeepers guarding the street and doors turned wide eyes to Jerond and the woman beside him.

“This is where guild shops line the street. Owners of transport ships from the port each bring different goods to sell.”

“…”

“If you see something you like, pick anything. If you need something, you can tell me.”

As Bardel expected, Jerond asked Luti if she needed anything. But under so many gazes, she could not say what she needed. Nothing came to mind, and the stares of the women hiding their faces behind veils and fans were too sharp. Even Luti, who had never lived among people, could not miss it.

It was jealousy toward her, envious looks because she stood beside Jerond.

“Look around from shop to shop.”

Ardo the butler would call in tailors and seamstresses himself. He would hire a few more maids who spoke little; one would clean her room, and the other would serve as a maid for her painting work. Necessities would be bought as they came up, and matters of grooming had been left to a maid named Bardel.

But that alone was not enough. The woman who had lived in the forest knew nothing, and had nothing but her body and a pouch of salt. So he wanted to show her that life in the human world had things one wanted even without needing them.

He would buy it all, from the most basic things to things you could not even look at without money. Jerond had enough wealth to do that, so today everything in this shopping district was going to become Amblin’s.

Jerond first went into a shop selling perfume and cosmetics. As he entered under the gatekeeper’s welcome, noble women happened to be out to see the new goods; they had covered the shop’s sofas with silk and were enjoying tea.

“Oh my! Who is this!”

The woman with a flawless white face was the shop’s owner. She pushed out her full chest under the thin dress as if showing it off and pressed close to Jerond.

“You left the castle for so long. I was waiting anxiously.”

The shop mistress was a woman who had lost her husband and was raising a child alone. She preferred only high-quality fabric and sold expensive perfumes and ingredients to wealthy nobles and rich farmers’ sons. She, too, was in love with Jerond.

“She is the painter who will paint my portrait.”

“Ah, finally, the one I’ve only heard about…”

The woman’s eyes flashed. She scanned Luti from head to toe so fast there was no time to falter. After looking Luti over with a sharp eye, she took her dress hem and gave a polite bow.

“I am Inaa Predel, mistress of the shop Artemir.”

“…”

“If it has to do with beauty, there is nothing I don’t know, so speak comfortably.”

At her seemingly humble manner, Luti turned her eyes to Jerond. But he was already surrounded by women in beautiful dresses.

Luti, unable to make a sound, moved her lips. She wanted to call Jerond’s name but could not, and when she lowered her eyes, her face appeared faintly in the large mirror inside the shop.

“They say you came from Lavarus. You really do have such a healthy skin tone. How do you have skin as fine as well-roasted wheat grains? Your thick hair is the healthiest and fullest in this town! Your eyes, nose, and mouth look as if they were drawn in fine detail. Oh my, and seeing the colors you applied so lightly, you must truly be a famous painter.”

Bardel had scrubbed her with soap and applied goat oil to hide her rough skin, but she could not match those pretty women.

They were highborn young ladies who had never properly stood in the sun or held a hoe. Skin burned by sunlight, scarred and darkened, would look to anyone like a woman who had only known hardship. And yet, fine skin? Thick hair? With a face steeped in hardship, she had to hear such flattery just because she was accompanying that man.

The mistress lightly drew Luti over. Then, as if showing her something truly rare, she seated Luti on the silk-covered sofa.

“Since you came from Lavarus, you must know how difficult and hard it is to produce color. That makes it all the more rare and precious.”

The mistress brought out a box inlaid with ivory and jewels. Just looking at it was dazzling. Then one of the women surrounding Jerond cried out.

“Oh, what is that! Mistress! When I asked to see it, you didn’t even blink!”

“Right! Good heavens! You said it was still crossing by ship!”

The women grew angry enough to make their tea cups tremble. At their accusations that she had deceived them, the owner smiled softly and replied.

“Don’t misunderstand. It arrived at dawn today. It is a warm new item that just reached us. It made us wait days, and arriving at dawn today, it seems this item was meant for the painter.”

When the box opened, exclamations burst from the women. Two round bottles and one jar wrapped in precious white jade were clearly from a far country at a glance.

“This is a cream containing an ingredient called musk. It has a thin consistency, and when applied to the skin it brightens the complexion and brings back skin as soft as a child’s. It is made from an ingredient that cannot be harvested even in this great empire, so this is truly for a precious person.”

Even nobles drooled over it. The owner had brought out something even a countess could not readily buy, and it was because of Jerond.

“How does it look to you, my lord?”

Jerond glanced once at the fragrant thing from far across the sea. Then, keeping his eyes fixed on Luti, whose eyes were wide, he answered.

“Does my opinion matter? You said the owner of this item is that woman.”

At Jerond’s reply, the mistress looked slightly flustered. The item’s owner might be that woman, but the one paying was the young, handsome lord.

“Well, she is a guest brought by my lord…”

“A guest?”

Jerond slowly walked out from among the women surrounding him. Then he lifted Luti’s chin with perfect courtesy.

“Amblin.”

At that moment, another round of exclamations burst from the women. It was not even comparable to when they had seen the item from far away. Jerond, who had traveled every corner of the empire without a single scandal, so that there had even been rumors he preferred men, had touched a woman from Lavarus. And he had called her name in a wonderfully attractive voice. One woman even let out a gurgle and fell backward.

“They say it’s the newest product that arrived today. How is it? Do you like it?”

Luti, her chin still held by him, shook her head.

“Why?”

Luti only blinked a few times instead of answering. There was no real need to answer; it was an item she didn’t need. Even if she applied something fragrant to her face, her fate would not let her become like those women. Instead of answering, Luti snapped the box lid shut. At that aloofness, so different from how she had been with the candy box, Jerond’s lips curled up.

“She says it’s not to her taste.”

It was refreshing that she didn’t react to something precious. She could have opened her eyes wide and looked completely smitten, but this sullen face pleased him quite a bit too. He had thought she had some greed because she clutched the candy box, but the opposite, unexpected reaction made him want to laugh.

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