Chapter 60: Harsh punishment.

Signa stared blankly at the painting in the center of the basement.

Even in this situation, she habitually began to analyze how this painting was painted and what meaning it contained.

It was a cultural refinement she had learned to talk to high-ranking nobles, but she never imagined that it would be used to interpret her own portrait.

In the painting, she was wearing a splendid and pure white dress that she would never wear willingly.

A relaxed gold necklace with lapis lazuli decorations. Earrings carved from dragon teeth.

On a table in a corner of the painting, which was so meticulously depicted that even those accessories could be recognized, were the two holy swords she had handled in her lifetime, neatly placed.

Through the pupils of the portrait, which only revealed the left eye, Signa could tell that it was a painting originally made to be hung in a high place, and that the gaze had been calculated in advance to face the viewer standing below.

Finally, the scenery outside the window behind her head indicated that the time period of the painting was dawn.

At the same time, it cast a strong sidelight to create a strong contrast between light and shadow.

“It’s all symbols…”

A painting to be hung in a high place. A huge size. Usually, portraits like this were made to overwhelm the viewer. Portraits of royalty or high-ranking nobles were often made in this way. It was a style that Signa knew particularly well. However, the person in this portrait was wearing a soft and kind smile.

There was even a faint blush on her cheeks. It was completely the opposite of the solemn expression that was usually drawn in portraits for ostentation.

‘The holy sword means a sacred lineage… Lapis lazuli means trust. Dawn means leadership, and dragon teeth mean great achievements. That pure white dress is…’

That was the most intuitive symbol. Purity and love.

Conflicting symbols and approaches coexisted in one painting.

Worship for a leader, intimacy for a lover.

So Signa had no idea what purpose this portrait was made for and what it was trying to say.

“Lover…?”

Signa mumbled blankly.

The expression and outfit were too full-fledged symbols to be a coincidence or a mistake.

It was virtually the same as drawing a wedding dress. There was no room for this to be misinterpreted in any other way.

In the lower right corner, she saw the signature ‘Telarmo Rotelli’.

It was a familiar name. The chairman of ‘Three Lights Trading Company’, and a well-known artist himself.

And he was also a friend of Signa’s, or rather, Thermis’s.

In fact, even if there was no signature, she would have definitely recognized it through the impressive painting style.

Signa, who had slowly walked to the center of the basement, slowly looked around.

It wasn’t just this largest portrait.

All the other portraits around her were all staring at the very center of the basement where she was standing now.

The place where dozens of eyes were directed was this very location.

Me lifting a sword. Me happy. Me mourning. Me in ecstasy. Me meditating. Me despising…

Countless me’s looking at me.

Standing in the center of the basement, Signa felt as if she would collapse at any moment under the onslaught of gazes.

Now it was certain. All of these were custom-made paintings.

Only Ilesha had the financial resources and aesthetic sense to secretly order paintings from someone who was the chairman of the trading company and to create such a suffocating space.

Why. But why on earth?

What was the jumbled message contained in all these paintings?

‘Despising…?’

That was the strangest thing.

It was all positive subjects, but there was the emotion of ‘despising’ that was sporadically repeated among the gazes directed at this location.

As Signa’s mind was filled with complex thoughts, she heard footsteps from outside the stairs.

Tap. Tap. Thump.

At the same time, she also heard a dull sound as if something heavy was being dragged.

Signa suddenly realized that she had been in this place for much longer than she had thought.

This wasn’t a place where she should be.

She had inadvertently looked into Ilesha’s most secret private life.

Whatever she was thinking when she created such a creepy place, it was right to get out of here and pretend she didn’t see it.

“I’m screwed…”

But how? The only entrance to this place was the stairs she had just come down.

Recognizing that her escape route had been blocked, Signa reflexively began to look for a place to hide.

Signa still had really good agility.

The experiences she had risked her life for still shone at times like this.

It didn’t take her a few seconds to run to the corner display case, which was the darkest spot.

Next to that display case was a flagpole with a war flag hanging from it.

Signa roughly covered the display case with the Solenas family’s large war flag and crawled under it.

And she held her breath and slightly lifted the flag to observe the situation outside.

“Heave-ho…”

Soon, Ilesha came into the basement, making a cute effort sound.

But the luggage bags she was holding in each hand weren’t cute sizes at all.

They were almost as big as Signa’s body.

Ilesha, who had dragged the luggage while walking to the spot where Signa had been standing a little while ago, dropped it with a thud.

She didn’t need to guess for long what was inside.

Ilesha put her hand in the bag and took out another portrait.

“Whew…”

Ilesha, who had lifted the painting, let out a satisfied breath and admired it for a moment.

And she approached the still empty wall and carefully hung it up.

‘What, does she still need more paintings…?’

As soon as Signa thought that, Ilesha muttered softly.

“Just a little more in the future. Unless I fill this entire wall…”

About half of the wall she said that to was still empty.

It wasn’t a little at all.

Ilesha, who had returned to the center, began to take out the remaining contents.

Judging from the exhibits that filled this place, those would also be items related to herself in some way, but

Signa couldn’t recognize most of them.

However, Ilesha lifted each and every one of those junk as if they were very precious and filled the still empty display cases in order.

The bag, which had been full, was now thin, and she put her hand in and took out the last item.

A long object was tightly wrapped in thick leather.

As Ilesha carefully unwrapped the leather, the contents that had been hidden were revealed.

Upon confirming what it was, Signa unknowingly covered her mouth.

“Hng…!”

A long sword that was much longer than a normal length.

A hilt that shone with all-over chilling silver.

Only one gem of an unidentified color redder than blood was embedded in the guard.

One of the two swords that Signa was most familiar with in the world. The holy sword Kies.

‘Why does Ilesha have that…?’

It was a meaningless question.

If one sword was possessed by Silissa, the daughter of the elven priest, then it was natural for the imperial family to keep the other sword.

Even if the Emperor was directly holding it or it was being stored in the Imperial Palace’s treasury, Ilesha would be able to receive it enough.

In fact, Ilesha was the only one who could.

What she needed to be curious about wasn’t why Ilesha had it, but why Ilesha had brought it here.

‘Perhaps the holy sword has chosen Ilesha as its new master…?’

But Signa knew that there was almost no possibility of that.

Kies was also a holy sword with a twisted personality in a slightly different direction from Pvanol.

Ilesha? That Kies?

‘Well, everyone I know has changed their personalities, but could it be that that Kies…?’

As Signa was confused, Ilesha hugged the holy sword preciously. And while looking at the large portrait, she began to utter a confession-like murmur.

“Please listen…”

As if the portrait was really Thermis herself.

“Today… I met a girl who looked just like Thermis-nim.”

Signa’s back of the head went dizzy from the shock as if she had been hit.

“If I saw you as a child, you would have looked exactly the same. The atmosphere was so similar… I unconsciously overlapped you with Thermis-nim.”

‘I see. It’s as Yukomis said. Ilesha recognized me right away.’

“You may say it’s a foolish story… But I really desperately wished for a moment that it was Thermis-nim.”

The words that came out of Ilesha’s mouth next shattered all of Signa’s expectations.

“Ah, ebony hair, those clear features, even the small scar, how could they resemble your appearance so much. But…”

Ilesha took a deep breath and shuddered.

“My only love is only Thermis-nim, you.”

‘…Love?’

But as if that wasn’t enough, only more shocking words continued to pop out of Ilesha’s mouth.

“I fell for a mysterious girl whose identity I don’t even know. It felt so familiar, like I had seen her somewhere before, I couldn’t help it. It really happened without me even knowing. I even shared an embrace with another woman, leaving you, no, my only ‘master’… Ah, please forgive me…”

‘Ma…Master…What?’

That was a title she had never heard from her in her lifetime.

“I didn’t do it with ulterior motives. I just briefly had the absurd thought that maybe she would become a substitute for you someday. I cheated in my heart. I’m, I’m sorry…”

Saying that, Ilesha turned around towards the direction where Signa was hiding.

Her heart dropped for a moment, but she hadn’t noticed Signa’s presence.

This time, she was looking at the portrait with a despising expression.

“Forgive me… No, punish me…”

As Ilesha said that, she hugged the holy sword even harder.

“Haa…”

Ilesha was starting to blush darkly to the point that she could tell even from this distance.

The scabbard of the holy sword slid between her legs.

“Ah, uung…”

Her resilient thighs that had sat down wriggled little by little.

Small vibrations rode up from her waist holding the holy sword to above her shoulders, and her breathing began to become rough.

The illusion that she was showing the most outrageous spectacle in the midst of receiving dozens of gazes excited Ilesha.

“Haa… But even that scent when I hugged her was so similar to my master… I was just so hap- Guh!”

Signa’s expression was distorted with horror.

She understood very well that she was seeing a sight that she should never see.

“Ho, perhaps that girl I saw at the Solenas mansion. Coincidentally, there’s also a Solenas villa here, and if Yukomis is hiding something from me… Maybe it was her existence. I was thinking that maybe she came here to avoid the gazes of others like me while I was talking to her.”

Signa closed her eyes tightly and blocked her ears.

“Actually, I was so agitated, but I was struggling to not show it… Ah, on the other hand, I was also thinking if I had her wear those shoes, wouldn’t it become certain…”

But because Ilesha’s voice was gradually getting louder, it was of little use.

“Th, that’s right. Actually, I… promised to meet her agai…nyaah…! I…!”

Only God would know what kind of conversation she was having with ‘Thermis’ in her imagination right now.

Signa, whose face was almost as red as Ilesha’s now, gritted her teeth and tried to hold onto her reason.

But because of the desperate sexiness that had seeped into Ilesha’s voice, Signa felt like she was going crazy right away.

“I, I was wrong. I promise, I promise. No matter what she says tomorrow… Haa, I won’t look away!”

Signa now took her hand off of her ear and covered her mouth.

She didn’t know why, but if she let her guard down even a little, she felt like she would start screaming along with her right away.

“Ugh…!”

This terrible time lasted for quite a while.

A kind of moan she had never heard before resounded for the last time, and the holy sword slid out of Ilesha’s arms.

Her chest, which had collapsed and was panting all over the floor, rose and fell.

The areas where her bare skin was exposed were wet with sweat and faintly reflected the main light of the magic lamp.

When enough time had passed, her rough breathing subsided.

And instead of excitement, tears began to leak out.

“Sniff… Where are you. My only master, Thermis-nim… I miss you.”

She began to scratch her right eye with her fingernails while rustling.

“Please punish me for having such imaginations… Me, who is giving my gaze to just anyone like this…”

Unfortunately, the Thermis who she wanted to punish her was closer to the one being punished right now.

“Please control me, who is so vulgar…”

With very harsh punishment too.