Chapter 38
He recognized her at a single glance, even from afar.
“Um…”
“What is it?”
“Could the lady standing over there perhaps be…?”
“That’s right. It’s Lady Greenwood.”
At the head maid’s words, Adrian swallowed hard.
Because Ines had suddenly appeared before him at the most unexpected moment, his entire body instantly stiffened with tension.
His palms kept growing sweaty.
Without realizing it, Adrian repeatedly clenched and unclenched his fists, his eyes wavering restlessly.
Unaware of Adrian’s condition, the head maid casually explained how this meeting had come about.
“Lady Greenwood said she wanted to see you. Since she cared enough to write you a letter of recommendation, she must have been curious about how you’ve been doing.”
“I-I see…”
Hearing that she had wanted to meet him only made Adrian stammer even more nervously.
Sensing his nervousness and wanting to put him at ease, the head maid spoke in a gentle tone.
“What you need to do is simple. Just answer Lady Greenwood’s questions well. For example… yes. Tell her what kind favors His Grace has shown you. It would be even better if you could keep milady good company until His Grace returns.”
Then she lightly patted Adrian on the back and added a brief scolding.
“Stand up a little straighter as you walk. You finally have nice clothes on, don’t you? If you hunch your back, they won’t look nearly as good.”
“Ah, yes…”
Startled, Adrian immediately straightened his slumped shoulders and back.
It made him seem almost a head taller.
The head maid looked him up and down.
‘What a strange young man. He didn’t seem all that different when I first saw him at the entrance.’
No matter how much someone’s living conditions improved, if the habits ingrained in their body remained the same, they would never appear to have changed very much.
Adrian’s clothing had certainly changed greatly compared to the day he first came here.
Even so, he still looked insignificant.
It was because of his timid eyes that constantly watched other people’s reactions and his hunched back.
But now, his presence felt different from when she had met him at the entrance.
The head maid observed him carefully.
Then she quickly realized it.
‘That’s it.’
‘His eyes.’
‘His eyes are different.’
The painter’s crimson eyes were sparkling.
As though he were looking at the most precious thing in the world.
‘Just like our Duke, he can’t take his eyes off Lady Greenwood.’
The head maid smiled softly.
She liked people who knew gratitude.
Seeing the young man unable to hide his gratitude toward Ines, who had shown him such kindness, she decided she should continue treating him well whenever he visited the mansion.
“In any case, I’m counting on you. This is only your second time entering the gallery, isn’t it? I hear Lady Greenwood has a great interest in the House of Angel’s artworks. If you explain them well to her, His Grace will surely reward you generously.”
However, the head maid’s words never reached Adrian.
His mind had gone completely blank.
Even so, without blinking once, he continued staring only at her.
She was standing at the end of the corridor.
The goddess who had saved him.
Ines Greenwood.
Because he had encountered her so suddenly and unexpectedly, it all felt utterly unreal.
As Adrian hesitantly stopped before her, Ines greeted him kindly.
“You were Adrian, weren’t you? Have you been doing well?”
Hearing Ines remember his name, Adrian became so dazed that he forgot he was even supposed to answer.
Had the head maid not poked him in the side, he would have stood there absentmindedly committing that discourtesy forever.
“Ah! Yes, yes. I’ve been doing very well, thanks to you.”
Coming to his senses, he gave a foolish reply.
Feeling embarrassed, Adrian lowered his head deeply.
Then he heard Ines’s gentle voice.
“I see. I’m glad. I heard you received the Duke family’s sponsorship. It seems you’ve received even more support than I expected.”
Adrian stared blankly at Ines, who looked like a spring flower.
Before he realized it, his true feelings slipped out.
“I thought I’d never be able to see you again, Miss.”
“That can’t be true. Once Adrian becomes a famous painter, we’ll meet often at social gatherings.”
“Someone like me could never…”
Adrian was speaking ill of himself out of habit.
Then he hurriedly shut his mouth.
He remembered the butler telling him that excessive humility would only disgrace Ines, who had recommended him.
Perhaps that was why the head maid standing beside him stiffened slightly.
However, instead of correcting him, Ines gently reassured him.
“You may not know it, Adrian, but I do. You’re going to become a famous painter.”
That was precisely why Ines had asked Cedric to call Adrian over after Cedric had decided not to meet him.
No one in this world knew.
Not even Adrian himself.
Only Ines knew how extraordinary a painter he truly was.
And what magnificent masterpieces he would leave behind.
She had realized that although Adrian had received the House of Angel’s sponsorship, Cedric paid little attention to him because he was still an unknown painter.
What Adrian, who had spent his life in solitude, needed most right now was confidence in his own work.
After learning that she had purchased his tea cups, Adrian had come straight to the Greenwood Count’s estate.
She remembered the desperate look on his face as he longed to have his true talent acknowledged through paintings into which he had poured his entire soul, rather than through those crude tea cups.
It was the same this time.
This sensitive artist believed he had received the Duke of Angel’s sponsorship only because of his future fiancée’s letter of recommendation.
What he truly wanted was to be acknowledged for his own work.
Ines knew very well how much courage it had taken Adrian to come to the ducal residence without even making an appointment.
Cedric’s cold reception would undoubtedly crush his confidence.
Knowing that, she simply couldn’t pretend not to see it.
That was why she had impulsively asked for Adrian to be brought here.
“I think you should have a little more confidence in yourself, Adrian. I heard you brought a new piece with you today, didn’t you?”
“Y-Yes. That’s right…”
“I’m sure it’s a wonderful piece. May I see it as well?”
“Of course! Ah, no. I mean… it would be an honor.”
To Ines, who had told him he could become a great painter, Adrian answered loudly.
‘I see.’
As he spoke with Ines, Adrian realized something.
If he continued receiving the House of Angel’s sponsorship…
Then even if only by chance, he would be blessed with opportunities like this to meet Ines.
Strength naturally filled Adrian’s hands.
‘If I can become a great painter…’
Only then did Adrian truly begin taking the butler’s and the head maid’s words to heart.
Though they had corrected him countless times, he always unconsciously returned to hunching his shoulders and back.
Now he straightened them completely and carried himself properly.
Once he gained fame, he would surely be able to visit the Duke of Angel’s residence much more often.
Then he would have many more chances to see Miss Ines.
The thought filled him with such joy that his face shone with delight.
***
The two of them slowly walked through the gallery.
Even on the day he had first visited with Ines’s letter of recommendation, the Duke of Angel’s generosity had allowed him to feast his eyes upon the magnificent collection.
No matter how many times he saw them, every artwork displayed in the gallery was breathtaking.
However, today those masterpieces had completely lost their power.
Adrian couldn’t focus on the great works before him because he kept stealing glances at Ines walking beside him.
To Adrian, Ines herself, as she carefully admired each painting and sculpture as though engraving them into her memory, was the most perfect work of art.
“What do artists think when they see works like these?”
After silently gazing at the artwork for quite some time, Ines asked Adrian.
Startled, Adrian turned his head.
Only then did he realize that he and Ines were standing before the masterpiece of a painter renowned as one of the greatest artists of the age.
“Ah, well… I suppose we wonder whether we’ll ever be able to leave behind a work like this before we die.”
Adrian rubbed the back of his neck as he looked at the painting.
Unlike before, however, he blinked slowly.
He neither lowered his head out of habit nor hunched his shoulders.
“But these days, I think differently.”
“Really? What do you think now?”
“I make a promise to myself that before I die, I’ll create a work even greater than this.”
Ines smiled faintly at Adrian’s ambition, sensing that something about him had changed.
“You will.”
“Really?”
“Yes, of course. You can do it too, Adrian. You can paint works just as magnificent as this.”
Then Ines playfully said to Adrian,
“So, you consider this piece a masterpiece.”
“Don’t you think so, Miss? I… think it’s an exceptionally fine work.”
“No. I think so too. But that doesn’t mean it’s a p
erfect work.”
Ines pointed toward the corner of the painting with her finger.
“Can you see how the canvas has risen ever so slightly because the brushstrokes were painted over several times?”
