A Painting of the Villainess as a Young Lady

Violet began a new painting.

Still as ever, her art was way ahead of her time. And, still as ever, her art had the ability to ensnare the viewer’s heart.

Among all the things that Alec said, the only thing Zylo somewhat agreed on as well was how ‘Violet’s art looks like a witch’s painting’. If she had been born a few hundred years prior, she would have been recorded in the history books as exactly that—a witch.

Even so, while her art continued to rattle the viewers’ minds, her daily life did not change all that much.

Violet still got along with the employees. And she secretly enjoyed chatting with the maids, it’s just that she liked to listen to them more rather than to talk.

She spent long hours working on her new painting, and even more hours sleeping.

The days were peaceful.

The position of Violet’s model for her sketches had eventually been relegated to Zylo; they were always together anyway. In the end, he resigned himself to being her croquis model.

With how much hustle and bustle this all was, a picnic—or something like a picnic—was naturally how they spent those leisurely hours.

The same was true of that day. Mary laid out a mat where Violet usually sat, and even brought out some snacks that had been prepared beforehand. Zylo was usually given some snacks to eat as well.

“Since we’re already here, I want to observe your muscles, too.”

“…I will pretend that I did not hear that.”

“Oh, Uncle[1]! Is your body in good condition?”

“…I’m not an uncle.”

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“Mary, all knights are quasi-nobles, so you have to be more careful with how you talk to them. Besides that, Sir Benthel is clearly of noble birth.”

“Oh gosh, I apologize deeply.”

“…It’s fine.”

More peaceful days followed, except for one.

* * *

Alec was eventually kicked out of the annex.

Well, it would be vague to say that he was ‘kicked out’. Nonetheless, it’s a good thing to Violet and everyone else that he no longer returned to this place.

It was Duke Everett himself who expelled Alec from the annex.

Though he was a very busy man, Duke Everett dropped by the annex at least once every two weeks.

No particular commotion led to Alec being expelled. Rather, unlike how obviously he bared his teeth in front of Violet, he laid flat on the ground while he was in the duke’s presence. He showed such a weak disposition the moment he was faced with someone stronger than him.

Still, he was demoted.

At the duke’s singular behest.

And the reason behind this was simple—that man’s eyes were insolent.

Alec did not dare protest against the duke’s command. His name removed from the dukedom’s chivalric order and was promptly demoted to serving a vassal household

Zylo lamented briefly. Another knight would have taken that guy’s place long before if only he reported this earlier. If he did, the duke would have overturned the entire chivalric order on the grounds that they all dared to behave recklessly against their superior.

Then again, the person involved herself did not care a single bit about anyone who was hostile to her, and this included Alec.

Of course, the duke, too, was not exempt from her indifference.

The meetings between the ducal lady and the duke were always simple. They could have a brief chat over tea, then they would go upstairs so that the duke could take a look at Violet’s paintings. The duke did not have a lot of time to spare, so there was only a limited number of things he could do during that time span.

Standing by them as they interacted in this way, Zylo was quite tired of watching the father and daughter like this.

Herron, the duke’s aide, gave Zylo a comrade’s smile. The only one who was already used to the sight of the father and daughter was Mary, and she followed and attended to Violet without fail.

“But when will you send me a painting…”

“…Do you truly wish to have one?”

“I’m not one to say empty words.”

“…We do not have enough manpower here to send someone out separately.”

“I’ll send another new escort knight tomorrow.”

“…Please do not send more than one. I dislike it when things get complicated.”

“…Alright.”

As he listened to their conversation, Zylo recalled one from long ago.

Mikhail once vented his anger to him, saying that the duke’s favorite child was Violet.

After the duchess passed away, it’s true that the duke did not take particular care of the household’s internal affairs, but there weren’t any talks about him giving the ducal lady special treatment either. So, Zylo brushed this off lightly, thinking that it must just be something that only the siblings thought.

But he found out later. As a matter of fact, the duke favored the ducal lady. Indeed, despite the ducal lady doing such terrible things, the duke did not give her any punishment. This proved his favoritism.

Still though, with the duke’s demeanor towards her bordering more on apathy, it’s difficult to say whether that kind of affection was affection, let alone favoritism.

Zylo observed the father and daughter in front of him again. Being a witness to the duke’s unusual taste in art and the ducal lady’s resolute attitude… Zylo unknowingly took another step back.

Beside him, Herron smiled faintly. There’s a chance that he’s only calculating how much leftover work there was and how many overtime hours he’d have to face later, but nevertheless, his smile was mixed with a hint of lamentation.

* * *

The new escort knight that the duke sent was a quiet man.

He might be under the notion that the same thing might happen again if he were to send a knight from a commoner background, so the new knight that the duke sent was a member of a vassal household, just like Zylo.

The new escort knight, Ozen, was taciturn—in as much that he could not be read. Well, Violet didn’t bother to wonder what’s going on in his head anyway, so she soon moved on.

Even the people of the annex did not reject the new knight who was not making any racket.

But no matter what kind of change went on around her, Violet continued drawing or painting whenever she felt like it. In fact, there’s nothing else that she had to do besides this.

“My body’s a little stiff.”

“Isn’t it because all Milady does is lie down or draw every single day? You also have to move your body sometimes!”

“……”

Violet was, for the most part, serene. However, there were still times when her excessively peaceful life would be struck with anxiety.

This ducal residence was not a peaceful place at its core. Just as the emperor ruled over his empire, the duke, too, ruled over his enormous duchy. As such, the duchy contained such politics and its own government as well.

And it’s for this reason that the duchy was overwrought with political intrigue, while incidents and conflicts were never-ending.

¹ Uncle – translated from ‘ahjussi’, and I wanted to translate it as ‘mister’ instead, but it’s a term of address that I’d like to reserve for later in case it’s needed. Basically, Mary called him ‘uncle’ because he seemed too old to be called ‘brother’, to which Zylo feebly protested against. ↩