Ko-fi shop has been renewed, you can find the link at the end of the chapter.
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Felix pushed Diana’s back toward the entrance. She nearly stumbled as her foot caught on the low threshold, but she quickly regained her balance. She could immediately tell that she had entered the interior of a place. The door shut behind her, and the flow of air ceased.
There was no smell of blood or paint here either. Instead, the scent of the forest that had drifted in from outside mingled with the cozy aroma of fabric. A faint smell of burnt wood lingered, likely from the ashes and soot left in the fireplace.
Someone knocked on the door. A servant who had carried art bag, easel, and canvas set them down near the entrance.
Felix gestured for the servant to leave. The servant bowed politely, closed the door, and left, leaving the cabin enveloped in silence once more.
Diana hesitated before asking, “Master, what should I do?”
“Familiarize yourself with the layout. We’ll be staying here for a while.”
“Yes, understood.”
Though she answered, she was taken aback. For a while? Diana hadn’t brought any belongings with her. There had been no instruction to pack clothes or items for a few days.
How would she manage without a change of clothes? More importantly, was the Crown Prince himself planning to stay here for several days as well?
“Then how will meals or baths be handled here?”
“There’s no need to worry about, or handle, things I haven’t explicitly mentioned. Just focus on doing what I tell you to.”
“…Understood.”
Someone else must be coming to attend to those needs, she thought, reluctantly convincing herself. Diana began to slowly explore the interior. She regretted not bringing her cane. Finding a broom in a corner, she decided to use it as a substitute and began to walk around the first floor of the cabin. To the right of the entrance was the fireplace; to the left were bookshelves, an armchair, and a carpet. A window was set into the wall opposite the door. Adjacent to that room was a small kitchen and dining table.
Beside the living room window, stairs led to the second floor, which appeared to be a bedroom. Though the structure was simple, it didn’t feel humble.
It was called a cabin for lack of a better word, but it resembled a private palace for the Crown Prince, equipped with luxurious items of the highest quality.
As Diana cautiously explored this new space, her master let her be.
Occasionally, though, she felt a sharp gaze piercing her from somewhere. Whenever she bumped into something or caused a small noise, she would hear a faint click of his tongue. Knowing he was watching her made her heart pound.
He must think I’m pathetic.
Misjudging the angle, she slammed her hip against the table. As she reached out to gauge the table’s dimensions, a disapproving voice rang out.
“Have you always been this clumsy?”
“Well, I left my cane behind. It takes me a little time to get used to a new place. My apologies. If you could give me a little more time…”
“Enough. I can’t stand to watch this any longer.”
For some reason, his irritation flared. How perfect did he expect a blind person to be? His capriciousness was hard to keep up with.
With a short sigh, Felix strode over and grabbed Diana’s arm, pulling her roughly.
Before she could understand why, he ordered, “Take it off. Start with this headscarf.”
It was an order she was now used to. Diana unfastened the tightly wrapped cloth around her head. As she lifted her arms to undo the knot, her sleeves slipped down slightly, revealing her wrists. Her wrist bones, which had bumped into several objects, were tinged red.
Beneath them, faint bruises marked her forearms, not yet fully healed. Noticing the bluish marks that were only a few days old, Felix immediately pulled up her sleeve. Scratches and abrasions covered more than half a dozen places on her arm.
The last time Felix had seen Diana’s bare body, it had been relatively unmarred except for a few faint scars. The new injuries were undoubtedly recent.
“What’s the meaning of this?”
“Pardon?”
“Did you fall down the stairs while I wasn’t looking?”
“Oh… no. It’s just that the layout of the palace changed recently, and I’ve been adjusting to it…”
“The layout changed? When?”
How could he not know the changes in his own residence? Felix’s orders had seemed like the obvious cause, and Diana couldn’t hide her surprise.
“Since new people arrived… many things have changed from how I remember them. Even the location of the art supplies…”
Before she could finish, a disbelieving chuckle escaped him. How had he missed the servants bustling around right in front of him? What had his attention been focused on?
Felix turned her around and undid the button on the back of her neck. Beneath the opened collar, her pale back was also marred by bruises. Recalling the woman who had spent so long stumbling and hurting herself around the cabin, Felix furrowed his brow.
“This isn’t what I want to draw.”
“…….”
“Don’t you understand? I want to paint something flawless and beautiful, not something tattered and torn like a rag. Unless I feel moved, that is.”
“I’ll… be careful.”
She replied, but she was bewildered. Was her condition really so bad that it deserved to be compared to a rag?
As the thought crossed her mind, Felix grasped her wrist. Though his grip wasn’t tight, she instinctively yelped in pain. She had bumped it against a corner earlier, and a new bruise was already forming.
“I went out of my way to bring you here, but it’s been pointless.”
The man genuinely seemed to be in a low mood, so Diana remained silent. There was only one thing she understood.
He brought me here to draw me….
She had pleaded with him several times, conscious of the servants near the door or outside the window. But now, those watchful eyes were gone. It meant there was no one here to spread tales about whatever might happen.
In other words, there was no reason for the man to generously tolerate her unruly defiance anymore. Diana dared not move as he knelt and lifted her dress to examine her bare calves.
Her ankles and knees were the parts of her body she injured the most after her forehead. As expected, red and blue bruises marred those areas. Felix’s annoyance simmered from deep within and transformed into anger.
“Did someone order you to do this? Who was it?”
“No one. There was no one, uh, no one,” she stammered.
“You’ve lost weight too. It’s not like your weight would drop if you were eating and moving as usual. Has your food changed?”
She instinctively knew she shouldn’t answer honestly that no one had been providing her meals. If she revealed that the head chef had been giving her nothing but rock-hard bread for a week, it might result in her receiving proper meals again. But the new chef wouldn’t escape reprimand from the master.
In the end, Diana herself would end up isolated.
“It’s because I’m nervous. You call for me, um, every day, master. I can’t afford to make a mistake and upset you….”
“So, you’re saying it’s my fault?”
“That’s not it! I’m not blaming you, master—.”
“You are mine.”
“…….”
“No one other than me can ruin what’s mine. Not even you. Yet you’ve done this to yourself—it’s utterly ridiculous. And just earlier, in the yard….”
Felix clenched his teeth without finishing his sentence. The moment he had seen the woman almost tumble into the well, his heart had chilled. That he had considered putting her on a horse—a massive warhorse, no less—left him stunned at his own carelessness.
“Enough. Go inside. If I see you before things are sorted out, I’ll send you to Aizen, so bear that in mind.”
“If you mean sorting things out, I can—.”
Before she could finish speaking, Felix shoved her into the room adjacent to the kitchen. The door shut mercilessly, cutting her off mid-sentence.
Left with no choice, Diana began to take stock of the room she had been pushed into. It wasn’t as large as the living room or the second floor, but it was still spacious for a maid to use alone.
“What’s the big deal about a few bruises….”
Sitting on the worn-out bed, Diana rubbed her aching ankle. What had she almost collided with in the yard earlier? The loud voice calling her name strangely echoed in her ears.
There had been a scent of water, so it was probably a well. Was that something to get so worked up over? If he had been startled, why?
…Surely he wasn’t worried about me, was he?
His hypersensitivity to her injuries, his lowering himself to check the bruises in person—could it be, perhaps….
Diana abruptly snapped back to her senses, startled at the thought that had crossed her mind.
No. What was I just thinking?
At best, he was probably just displeased that his subject for the painting had flaws. Diana forced herself to rationalize her master’s eccentric behavior that way. There was no way he sincerely cared about her.
He wasn’t the type of man to possess such warmth. She tightly bound her heart and disciplined her thoughts.
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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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