Ko-fi shop has been renewed, you can find the link at the end of the chapter.
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Diana waited desperately for the Crown Prince to command her to leave, but her fervent wish was not granted.
“Wait… Hold on. Are you the new girl who started a few weeks ago? Raise your head.”
As Diana hesitantly lifted her head, Duke Kristen’s gaze swept across her face.
Hugo quickly assessed the situation. She was a maid from the house of Duke Osfil, undoubtedly named Diana Escalif. She had been hired by Emel, the valet known to be a spy for Prince Aizen, and was currently under investigation for her dubious past. Hugo’s eyes sharpened as he observed her.
She was undeniably beautiful. Even with paint smeared all over her, her natural beauty remained evident.
Could she, by chance, be the subject Felix mentioned when he said he “found something he wanted to paint”?
Hugo looked back and forth between the Crown Prince and the maid, filled with suspicion.
“Your Highness, do you intend to paint this girl?”
“Perhaps.”
The indifferent reply only made Diana’s back grow colder. Felix, without averting his gaze from her, murmured, “She’s worth trying a few things on.”
“What do you mean by that… No, never mind that for now. First, we should clean up this place. Everyone, come in.”
The Duke hadn’t come alone. Diana could hear the measured footsteps entering the room. She estimated there were more than ten people.
Hugo began introducing the new staff.
“This is the new head chef, Joseph. He’s worked with the Kristen household for over thirty years, preparing meals for my wife and me, so I’m sure Your Highness will be satisfied as well. And we’ve brought in new maids. It’s unthinkable for the Crown Prince’s residence to have only one maid. Go ahead, introduce yourselves.”
“Greetings to His Highness the Crown Prince. I am Katrin, second daughter of the Louisiana family. I will assist with all my heart to serve you.”
“Louisiana?”
For the first time, Felix shifted his gaze away from Diana. The Louisiana family was one of the pillars supporting the Crown Prince’s faction, alongside the Kristen family. Clearly, the Duke had gone to great lengths to select the staff after their last encounter.
“This girl will manage the villa along with Runok. And these are the servants my daughter and I have known for a long time. I’ve personally chosen them for their ‘aesthetic decency.’ If any of them betray you, you may take my head instead.”
“Your head? Now that’s somewhat intriguing.”
Despite the Duke’s efforts to emphasize his meticulous selection of staff, Felix responded with a completely uninterested expression. Hugo noticed that Felix’s gaze had never left the paint-smeared maid.
This wasn’t a good sign. The maid, still recovering from her illness, was visibly trembling, and the way Felix looked at her was unusual. He had been holding a charcoal stick for sketching ever since the Duke entered.
When the Crown Prince remained silent, the room was filled with a tense stillness.
Tossing and catching the charcoal stick in the air, Felix finally spoke.
“One of you, go to the bathroom and fetch water.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
A young servant quickly sprang into action.
Felix grabbed a stiff piece of paper and started sketching absentmindedly. The atmosphere in the room shifted as though the very air had changed when he began drawing.
With just a few strokes, a figure emerged on the blank paper—a small face, a slender dancer-like body, and a simple dress with an apron, free of any patterns. Her long hair fell to her waist, and her lowered head gave away her identity as the maid.
“Drawing a living person?”
No, something seemed off. Covered in paint, the maid looked no different from a corpse drenched in blood at first glance. Felix captured her image effortlessly, just like he did with the corpses he painted….
Hugo suddenly felt a chill.
“Is he planning to kill her?”
But Felix’s interest soon waned. He smeared the charcoal over the paper, erasing the woman’s neck and face. He clicked his tongue in dissatisfaction. Even though it was just a preliminary sketch, it was already unsatisfactory to him.
The moment he tossed the charcoal aside, the tension in the room eased. Hugo finally exhaled the breath he’d been holding.
“…The new staff won’t cause any problems, so please conduct yourself appropriately, Your Highness. The servants have been assigned to their respective duties. Please try to familiarize yourself with their faces and names. Also, the number of guards for the villa has been doubled for your safety.”
Hugo gestured to the maid behind him as he spoke. The woman introduced as Katrin approached Diana, carefully gripping the clean edge of her sleeve between her thumb and forefinger, as though picking up trash.
Katrin murmured, just loud enough to be heard, “Ugh, the smell…”
Diana’s ears burned red with humiliation. It was no longer just embarrassment; it was pure disgrace.
Hugo waved his hand in frustration, trying to dispel the overwhelming scent of paint and oil that filled the room.
“Your Highness, let’s send this maid back now. The oil smell is unbearable.”
Finally, Diana heard a welcome suggestion. Forgetting her humiliation, she longed to return to her room and clean herself up.
As much as Diana relied on her hearing, her sense of smell was just as crucial. With her nose overwhelmed, her perception was reduced to half its usual capacity.
In a room filled with so many people, the overpowering smell of oil masked every other scent—the perfume Hugo might wear or the body odors of the new staff. Without scent, she couldn’t distinguish between them. She needed to return to her room and wash off the paint.
“You may go ba—”
“Don’t touch her.”
Diana’s hopes were crushed yet again. Felix coldly interrupted Hugo’s words.
“Diana.”
It seemed he had no intention of letting her leave. Diana turned her head blankly toward the voice. From the shadows, a devilishly sweet voice called her.
“Enter the bathroom.”
The word “bathroom” struck her like a premonition of her fate. She didn’t know why, but it felt inevitable, like the day he’d ordered her to assist with bathing.
Or was it an instinctive sense that he wouldn’t let her go so easily?
“Then I’ll arrange for her to get cleaned up and—”
“Enter.”
With just one word, Felix silenced everyone. As always, the Crown Prince’s single command was enough to compel Diana.
Stunned, the Duke and the servants could only watch as Diana hesitantly moved toward the bathroom under Felix’s unwavering gaze.
***
“Take it off.”
His orders were always concise.
“Why are you doing this to me…?”
Diana weakly parted her lips.
Why are you doing this to me?
The question, unable to be voiced completely, lingered in her throat. The man, quick-witted as ever, surely understood the words she couldn’t bring herself to say.
A response, dripping with disdain, came back.
“You can’t possibly keep wearing that, can you?”
It wasn’t the answer she expected, nor was it anything close to what she had hoped for. After spilling paint all over her, why now…
But she was too drained to express her frustration. Let it be, she thought. Just empty your mind. Life hadn’t been kind before; this wasn’t the first time she’d faced hardship.
However, her actions couldn’t keep up with her resolve. Her fingers fumbled repeatedly at the buttons, slippery with paint. Watching her struggle, the man clicked his tongue and intervened.
The two buttons she’d been grappling with were undone in an instant. She groped behind her back, trying to untie the apron strings herself, but even that was taken out of her hands.
Once the apron and dress were removed, the slip and bare skin underneath bore only minor traces of paint. Left in her undergarments, Diana hunched her shoulders. Yet, instead of stripping her further, the man brushed aside the pale blond strands of her paint-streaked hair. His hands were also smeared with red paint.
Rinsing with water alone wasn’t enough to wash away the oil-based pigment. Felix’s eyes shifted to the soap sitting on the bathroom shelf. Letting out a brief sigh, he picked it up.
“It’s hard to tell who the servant is here.”
The slippery soap touched Diana’s cheek. He lathered it and began rubbing her reddened skin, gradually removing the paint. Her skin, already irritated by the harsh pigment, grew even redder under the merciless touch of his hand.
***
The portrait of Pride has opened a ko-fi shop with 5 advanced chapters. Ko-fi shop will be updated with each update in website. Here is the: LINK
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