Chapter 24
“You called for me, Miss?”
To the butler who soon entered the drawing room, Ines gave an unexpected order.
“Please prepare some clothes this man can wear. He’s going to meet Duke Angel, so he can’t go dressed like this.”
Clothes? Adrian turned pale and waved his hands frantically.
“I-I’m truly fine.”
However, after briefly looking Adrian up and down in shock, the butler simply nodded without the slightest change in expression.
“I believe there should be something that fits him among the new clothes prepared in the guest rooms. I will prepare them at once, Miss.”
“Thank you. And who usually takes care of styling the servants’ hair?”
“Anna and Marie usually handle that. But why do you ask?”
“That’s good. Marie? Please tidy Adrian’s hair a bit. I think it needs some grooming.”
“Really? Ah! To be honest, I was thinking the same thing. Just looking at that hair has been suffocating me.”
Perhaps because cleanliness was in Marie’s nature, enduring Adrian’s messy hair had been torment for her, as she clapped happily in delight.
“First, washing up should come before anything else. In the meantime, I’ll prepare the clothes. I’ll also have the carriage waiting in advance.”
The capable butler instantly organized the order of tasks, then led the still bewildered Adrian outside.
Marie and the butler took Adrian toward the bathhouse. As warm water filled the bathtub, Marie habitually nagged him.
“Wash yourself thoroughly before coming out. Especially your fingertips. The soap is right here. Don’t be stingy with it, make plenty of lather and wash properly. Understood?”
“This place is……”
“It’s the room the servants use.”
Though he was a guest, Adrian was not a noble, so they could not bring him to the guest room.
“Don’t tell me you dislike it because it’s a servants’ room?”
“N-No! It’s not that.”
Just being able to use abundant warm water in the middle of winter felt like unimaginable wealth to Adrian.
“You absolutely have to wash yourself clean before coming out. Understood?”
Closing the bathroom door, Marie continued nagging until the very end.
A little while later.
When Adrian came out of the bath, the butler brought him a new set of clothes. From the spare garments prepared for noble guests, he felt a texture he had never once touched in his life.
The scent of fragrant soap coming from his freshly washed body felt just as foreign as the sensation of the luxurious fabric. The reflection of himself in the mirror looked awkwardly back at him.
“Wow.”
Honest as always, Marie openly gasped in admiration while looking at Adrian. Unlike his filthy appearance from earlier, he now looked fairly presentable.
No, saying merely presentable was not enough. He looked incredibly handsome. All she had done was comb back the shaggy hair that had been covering his forehead. Yet simply changing his clothes and revealing his forehead made Adrian look like a completely different person.
At Marie’s reaction, Adrian shrank back nervously and watched her expression.
“I-Is it strange?”
“If you mean the way you speak, yes. But your appearance? No. Not strange at all. Now stay still. Let’s quickly trim your hair and return you to the Miss.”
Coming back to her senses, Marie rolled up her sleeves and began cutting Adrian’s still damp hair with scissors.
☆☆
It took quite a long time before Marie returned to the study.
While waiting, Ines heard the sound of snow piled on the trees outside falling heavily because it could no longer bear the weight. Her gaze naturally drifted toward the window.
‘By the time the hunting festival begins, the weather will probably become completely clear.’
Just thinking about the hunting festival approaching before her made her chest feel tight.
It was a grand event where all the most prominent figures of high society gathered. Her father was already pressuring her to act affectionately with Cedric. But for Ines, it was a place she wanted to avoid somehow if she possibly could.
‘Should I pretend to be sick?’
After thinking for a moment, Ines shook her head.
It would only be a flimsy temporary measure.
Just like when she injured her foot, he might come visit her while she was ill.
Rumors openly spreading that Cedric frequently visited the Greenwood estate would be far more fatal than a single day at the hunting festival.
‘Besides…….’
There was something bothering her. Since events were no longer unfolding exactly the same as in her previous life, she could not be certain, but during the hunting festival in her past life, a certain incident had occurred. More than Cedric visiting her while she was sick, that was what troubled Ines even more.
“Haah.”
A sigh escaped from her without her realizing it. Just then, a knock sounded from the direction of the door.
“Miss, we’re coming in.”
Marie’s voice sounded strangely excited. Seeing Adrian entering alongside Marie, Ines widened her eyes in shock. At Ines’s reaction, Marie became even more proud and excitedly opened her mouth.
“Miss, you were surprised too, weren’t you? What do you think? My skills?”
Feeling proud, Marie gazed fondly at her handiwork and continued speaking.
“Maybe artistic blood flows through me too. If hairstyling counts as an art form, that is.”
This was practically the same as finding a pearl inside a shell.
Who could have guessed a face like this had been hidden beneath that messy hair?
She had expected him to look fairly decent, but after washing him properly, dressing him in good clothes, and neatly styling his hair, he looked like an entirely different person from before.
“You’re right. I really was surprised.”
Unable to take her eyes off Adrian either, Ines answered honestly.
His once dry and rough black hair now shone smoothly, and the eyes now clearly revealed through the neatly parted strands gleamed with an alluring ruby-red color.
His thin and slightly sharp jawline instead gave him the refined aura of a delicate artist.
“At this level, anyone would think you’re an honored guest. Even the Angel Ducal House won’t look down on you. Besides, since you’re carrying the Miss’s recommendation letter, surely the Duke himself will treat you respectfully too, right?”
At Ines’s reaction, Marie became even more excited, causing her voice to grow louder.
The moment she heard the words “Duke Angel,” Ines suddenly regained her senses and finally looked away.
She had been staring at another person’s face far too intently. It was rude behavior.
“I’m sorry. I stared too much, didn’t I?”
Embarrassment caused Ines’s face to flush red.
“N-Not at all.”
Despite saying that, Adrian’s face was just as red as Ines’s.
☆☆☆
Adrian still could not fully comprehend the situation unfolding before him.
When he had first decided to visit the Greenwood estate, he thought he would be fortunate if he was not simply thrown out.
If, by some chance, the gatekeeper chased him away, he had only hoped he might at least be able to deliver the painting even if he could not meet the young lady of the Greenwood Count family who had saved his life.
But now, what was happening?
He was riding in the Greenwood family’s carriage while carrying a letter of introduction written by the young lady herself on his way to visit the Angel Ducal House.
Instead of his shabby old clothes, he wore soft and high-quality garments, and the black paint that had always stained beneath his fingernails had been completely washed away. The strange feeling was as refreshing as his shortened hair.
‘An angel…….’
If angels truly existed, perhaps they would look exactly like that.
Soft brown hair. Green eyes.
Ines was the most beautiful person Adrian had ever seen in his life. Her appearance was beautiful like an angel, but even more so was the kindness she showed toward someone as insignificant as himself.
“I thought there was nothing left I wanted to paint anymore…….”
Lake Verota, which he had seen with his mother. He had lived on unable to die because of the strange obsession of wanting to paint the scenery of that lake.
Then unexpectedly, he received money from selling the teacup. Though the completed work turned out smaller than he had originally planned, once the painting was finished, he no longer had any attachment to life.
Since he had managed to leave behind one artwork while alive, it meant he had achieved the goal of his life.
Whether or not he could survive the winter well with the remaining money no longer mattered to Adrian.
But…….
Adrian’s fingertips twitched.
It felt as though a fire had suddenly ignited somewhere inside his chest.
He never forgot anything he had seen once. With his extraordinary memory, he had already perfectly engraved Ines’s face into his mind.
He wanted to paint her.
He had discovered yet another beauty that deserved to remain in this world.
Adrian swallowed dryly, and his Adam’s apple moved sharply.
The first person who chose his teacup when nobody else even glanced at it.
The first person who looked at his painting and called it beautiful.
And the first person who made him want to paint them.
It was the young lady of the Greenwood Count family.
‘To paint her portrait…… I’d have to become a famous painter.’
Portraits of high-ranking nobles were always commissioned from the most famous painters of the era. Adrian’s red eyes gleamed with firm determination.
☆☆☆
The Greenwood family carriage carrying Adrian soon arrived at the Angel Ducal Estate. The moment the gatekeeper saw the family crest, he immediately delivered the news inside.
As luck would have it, Cedric was staying at the estate at the moment. Though he was soon planning to head out to prepare for the hunting festival.
“A carriage from the Greenwood Count family?”
“That is correct, Your Grace.”
At the butler’s report, Cedric looked slightly surprised. A carriage from the Greenwood Count family had arrived so suddenly without any prior arrangement. However, Ines’s face soon came to mind, and Cedric smiled softly.
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