Episode 89
Translator: RaidenTL
Episode 89
At last, Elysia lifted her head and asked sullenly.
“Were you always this shameless?”
“I’ve never been shameless. I’m just confident.”
Just as she was about to open her mouth to retort, an urgent knock interrupted them. Evan, who hadn’t yet put down the potion bottle in his hand, asked.
“What is it?”
“A reply has arrived from the House of Count Linton. They wish to visit as soon as possible.”
“A reply…?”
Elysia heard Evan muttering to himself, trying to recall if he had ever contacted the Lintons from this mansion, and quickly answered for him.
“Ah, I sent it. I thought I should tell them I found Caden’s killer. Though I was… mostly half-asleep when I did.”
“El, you need to rest.”
“A few words should be… fine, right?”
“And here I just barely managed to kick my brother out by telling him you needed a recovery period.”
Evan, looking displeased, studied her complexion before letting out a soft sigh and setting a condition.
“Finish everything within ten minutes and get some rest.”
“…Ten minutes? That’s barely enough time to say hello! At least give me an hour—”
“Twenty minutes.”
“Fifty minutes. That’s my final offer.”
After some bickering, the two managed to reach a dramatic compromise. On the condition that she would rest deeply as soon as their conversation was over, Elysia secured forty minutes. Then, remembering something she needed, she let out a sigh.
Ah, I really need that… But can I even do it…? Deciding she should at least try, she waved her arm toward the desk.
“Senior, can I have a piece of paper?”
After receiving a pen and paper from Evan, Elysia began to draw something on the page with a look of intense concentration.
Evan sat in the chair beside the bed, staring blankly at her pouting lips, before shaking his head with a hollow laugh. He felt like he’d become a madman, having nothing but strange thoughts all day.
A good while later, Elysia held up the paper, on which she had drawn an unidentifiable, mysterious being, and asked with a serious face.
“How is it?”
Evan, who rarely lost his smile, found his expression crumbling. By the time he snapped back to his senses after staring blankly at the drawing in her hand, it was too late. Seeing Elysia looking down at her own cursed hands, crestfallen, Evan hastily made an excuse.
“Uh, the drawing is just so powerful… it took me a moment to respond.”
“Senior, you’re a terrible liar…”
“No, it’s incredibly difficult for a drawing to have this much personality. It’s a sloth, right? It’s cute.”
“A sloth?”
Evan felt a chill run down his spine. His face darkened as he belatedly realized that the word he’d uttered with such certainty was, in fact, the wrong answer. Elysia, gaping in shock, stammered as she asked again.
“A… a sloth?”
“No, on second thought, I don’t think it is.”
“A… sloth…”
“That was a slip of the tongue. I’m sorry.”
Evan looked at the figure in the drawing, which appeared to be standing while draped in something like a shaggy fur hide, and thought, But seriously, if that’s not a sloth, what is it?
*
Blair rushed over the moment he received the letter permitting his visit. With the help of a maid, Elysia put on a simple dress that Evan had sent someone to Minerva to fetch early that morning, then staggered down to the drawing-room.
Spotting Elysia, who was practically being carried down by Evan, Blair asked.
“…What happened to you?”
“I went through some shit.”
“What kind of shit?”
“Got choked a bit, slapped, and shot once.”
Elysia recounted the ordeal she had suffered with a deadpan expression, then added.
“Oh, and I was drugged up, too. Almost forgot that part. Thanks to that, I’m still a little out of it.”
“I-I’ll take responsibility.”
“Hey, you should take responsibility for yourself first. Who’s taking responsibility for whom?”
Elysia scoffed, brushing off his words as she once again explained in detail what she had heard from Alma.
How Hertz had been involved in the drug manufacturing, the reason the will was written… The more she explained, the darker his expression became. After finishing her explanation, Elysia glanced at the clock and asked.
“So, do you need it?”
“Need what?”
“The killer’s face.”
Blair flinched and averted his gaze. It was only two days ago that he had stubbornly insisted he would rather let the world believe his cousin had died by suicide than reveal such a shameful truth.
His lips parted, but he remained silent, unable to answer easily. Elysia, who had been waiting with uncharacteristic patience, checked the time she had promised Evan and abruptly held out the crumpled piece of paper.
“Here.”
“What is this… a beaver?”
“No! Are your eyes on your feet?! How in the world does this look like a beaver?”
As she exploded in anger, Evan, who was sitting beside her, flinched. The guilty look on his face wounded Elysia a second time. Damn it, so he wasn't teasing me, he genuinely thought it was a sloth… Was my drawing really that awful?
It was only natural, since she had never once drawn a composite sketch with her own hands. Pointing at the drawing with her finger, she tried her best to sound kind as she explained.
“I tried my best to draw her… It’s a woman…”
“That’s a person?”
He still didn’t get it, even after her kind explanation. This guy had to be a complete idiot. Yes, that was it. There was no way her drawing skills were that bad.
Having successfully rationalized the situation, she swept her hair back and began to lose her temper.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake…! If it’s not a person, then what is it?”
“It’s not a beaver holding a branch?”
“No, she’s holding a rifle. Can’t you see?”
“That’s a rifle? I thought it was a beaver building its house—”
“Are you trying to pick a fight with me?”
As she shot up from her seat, fuming, Evan grabbed her arm. He looked down, looking troubled, and tried to stop her.
“El, calm down…”
“Ah, let go, Senior! This guy is picking a fight with me…”
“…He’s probably not picking a fight…”
Evan muttered the words with an expression that said he really hadn’t wanted to say them, then glanced at her cautiously. Elysia stared down at the drawing she had spent so much time and effort on and asked.
“Is it that bad?”
“…To be honest.”
“Son of a bitch… So there really are things effort can’t fix.”
Art truly is the realm of talent. What a dirty, unfair world…! Wait, talent? Talent, you say.
In that moment, Elysia recalled someone who had flashed through her mind and let out a smirk. Aha, now that I think about it, there’s someone perfect… I really do have good luck with the small things.
She turned to Blair, who was staring intently at the paper with the bizarre, creature-like drawing on it.
“Alright, I’ll give you some time since you’ll need to make a decision. If you decide you want to catch the killer and avenge your cousin, contact me. I’ll send you a proper composite sketch then.”
“That might be difficult… with your skills.”
Elysia glared at Blair’s cautious reply and turned to Evan.
“Are you sure he’s not picking a fight with me?”
“This time… I’m not so sure.”
“I’ll just have to endure… Ugh, I’ll take care of that problem myself, so you just make your decision.”
“Fine. I’ll take you up on that. This is… a matter the family should step in for.”
Huh, right now? Elysia’s eyes widened as she stared at Blair, surprised by his quick decision. With a resolute, emotionless expression, he made her a promise.
“Thank you. For everything… I owe you a great deal. I will reward you handsomely. Truly, thank you.”
“Good, as long as you know.”
“What kind of reward would you like? I will pay you whatever you wish.”
Struck speechless by the sudden question, she just blinked. She already had plenty of money. Adding a pittance to infinity wouldn’t make much of a difference.
Having instantly dismissed the reward offered by a count as a mere pittance, she fell into thought. Should I ask him to donate some money to Minerva’s medical and chemistry departments? Or maybe give the Prefect Office a luxurious makeover…?
In that moment, she thought of exactly what she needed.
“When I ask for help, you help. No questions asked.”
“…That’s it?”
“You might say it’s ‘just that’ now, but I’ll be sucking you dry to the bone soon enough.”
Blair gave her a bewildered look but nodded for now. He has no idea what his future holds, acting so carefree. Clicking her tongue, Elysia rested her chin on her hand and muttered in an ominous voice.
“Now then, how should I win her over…”
At that very moment, Siene, who was smearing a paint-splattered palette with her brush, shuddered. Wiping the paint flecks from her cheek with her sleeve, she looked out the window and murmured.
“What was that…?”
Despite it being summer, a chill ran down her spine. Is someone planning to exploit me…? Siene tossed the palette she was holding aside and collapsed onto the bare floor.
The master artist, having poured all her energy into her work, was in a state of near-exhaustion. Lucian, who was looking at the painting she had wildly dashed off with a face that never seemed to get used to it, handed her a water bottle and asked.
“Finished?”
“I feel like I’m going to throw up.”
Unlike him, who painted with calculation, Siene tended to lose all reason when she held a brush, painting in a furious storm. Naturally, she neither drank water nor ate, so by the time she finished, her body was completely worn out.
The paintings she created in such a trance-like state were all masterpieces. The only problem, if there was one, was that Siene’s art was always abstract.
Lucian glanced down at Siene, who had taken the water he offered and was struggling to swallow it. He was startled when she suddenly snatched the sketchbook from his hands and cried out.
“Why are you taking that—”
“What on earth are you drawing that you have to hide it so much? You’re making me curious.”
Flipping through the pages one by one, Siene froze when she found a page filled with a familiar face. A smiling face, tucking hair behind an ear; a look of intense concentration, with stray hairs escaping from a high ponytail…
The sketchbook was filled with more varied expressions of her own face than even she knew she had.
Staring at the drawings, which were dripping with the affection of a keen observer, Siene’s eyes widened as she stammered.
“You… you…!”
“I, well, that is—”
“You really are amazing at drawing people!”
Lucian, who had been desperately trying to come up with an excuse, stared dumbfounded at Siene, who was looking down at his drawings with a blush, completely captivated. The man stammered, his expression turning sour.
“Wait, that… what you have to say… is that it?”
“You capture your subjects with such unnerving accuracy… I could never draw things exactly as they are! You’re truly incredible!”
As if the fact that it was her own face being drawn didn’t even matter, Siene was focused solely on the art.
Even back when she and Lucian were at each other’s throats, Siene could never tear her eyes away from his art, because his paintings contained everything hers lacked.
Terrifyingly precise proportions, lines without a single stray mark. His art was logical, calculated, and extremely realistic.
Just then, Siene noticed something in his art she had never seen before and furrowed her brow slightly. Pointing to a page depicting her smiling as she wielded a brush before a canvas, she offered her critique.
“By the way, this one’s a bit beautified. It’s not like you.”
But I drew it exactly as I saw it, without any beautification…
Lucian, who had almost blurted out his thought, stiffened. His ears turned bright red as he hastily took the sketchbook back.