While she had been thinking about this and that, Violet suddenly headed to the gallery before the sun had even risen.
With the dim daybreak as her only illumination, her paintings became foreign to her. They were so disparate, as though they were paintings that shouldn’t exist in this world.
No one here really appreciated her paintings.
On Violet’s part, she figured that this sense of disparity was due to the vestiges of ‘Yeon Ha-yoon’ within her.
She couldn’t quite say that she was mourning, but she was filled with sorrow for the small life that just crumbled and shattered.
The paintings here were the culmination of Violet and Yeon Ha-yoon’s lives—crushed to pieces, put together once more, mixed with each other, and thereby drawn.
And yet, these paintings felt like they belonged to a stranger.
‘It’s not for nothing that people say I could have been put on a witch trial because of these paintings.’
Violet smiled bitterly, recalling all the words whispered behind her back by those who had seen the paintings.
In a case like this, it was better to return to her roots and paint as she always had. Violet knew this, too.
However, that was easier said than done.
Ever since she regained her previous life’s memories, Violet had changed. Instead of a seamless amalgamation of the two personalities, the existence itself of ‘Violet S. Everett’ had created a sense of incongruity.
And as long as she had the memories of Yeon Ha-yoon, she had no choice but to feel as though she had become a stranger to herself.
A stranger.
As soon as she realized this, a feeling of loneliness struck her. Unidentifiable emotions gnawed at her, and at the very end, all that’s left was a dark abyss.
Violet realized that she would never be able to be part of this world completely.
‘It’s not mine, I’ve never been here.’
She would never be able to blend into this world. Violet’s ‘will’ would no longer feel like it was completely hers.
Violet cared for her own people, but in the end, she would always and forever walk down a parallel line to them. She would not be able to bring herself to accept the ethics and laws of the world, yet she would have to live with those squalid and insignificant memories while living in the body of a ducal lady.
It had even come to the point that it’s impossible to know whether her paintings belonged to ‘Yeon Ha-yoon’ or ‘Violet’.
She must be getting emotional because daybreak was nearing, but Violet was serious about this.
Whilst ruminating over all that troubled her, Violet could no longer regard this matter as simple whining.
As she was unable to fall deep into slumber from the dark evening up until well into the morning, the first thing that Violet said to Mary was this.
“Let’s go to an art supplies store.”
Mary was surprised.
And, she thought to herself, What’s going on with Milady? I can’t believe that she’s going outside the house two days in a row.
In any case, Mary thought that this was a good thing, so she quickly told Roen the news.
Hearing about this matter before being able to eat breakfast, Roen laughed and answered.
“No.”
According to Roen, any outings should be set in advance because they were all on a certain schedule. Consequently, to her chagrin, Violet became audience to one of Roen’s lectures: If you act impulsively and without purpose, your life’s bound to be ruined!
“That doesn’t matter. I’m not doing anything anyway, and whatever I do, busybodies will poke their noses into my business and sniff out anything worth of gossip no matter what.”
“Even still. You can’t.”
Violet gave him blatantly annoyed glare.
Roen flinched. However, he stood his ground and didn’t budge.
This damn control freak.
Before Violet could retort indignantly once again, Cairn piped up first.
“Yeah I agree— It doesn’t matter, does it? Frankly, there’s no difference whether Sister’s going out to play or work. Aren’t you just painting at home because you have nothing else going on? Who cares if you’re going out to play whenever you want to?”
It sounded like he was siding with her, but at the same time, it was quite backhanded. You’re unemployed anyway, so go ahead and play to your heart’s content.
Wordlessly, Violet pinched her younger brother.
“Ouch! Hey, I’m helping you out here!” Cairn cried out in anger.
“You can’t go, and that’s the end of it. Violet, think about your position. You can’t just go wherever you want, whenever you want.”
“I thought you wanted to be confined at home, by the way.”
“I’ll go through the process of arranging an official outing, so hang in there for a few days. If you want to go out incognito, I can arrange for that, too.”
“Ugh, seriously, everyone in this family has problems with their temperament… It doesn’t matter! Sister isn’t making a fuss in high society anyway, and it’s not like something’s going to happen today. Or, let me guess? Are you jealous that I might go on a trip with Sister instead of you?”
“Running your mouth, I see. And still, many unexpected things could happen.”
“I’m going to follow Sister anyway, so there won’t be any problems.”
“You’re the biggest problem.”
As the conversation flowed like water, the topic naturally changed to the next one.
Quite truthfully, Roen wasn’t wrong.
However, Violet was peeved.
“Uuuugh, fine, whatever. Let’s write a contract or something. You’re free to kick me out if I cause any problem at all. That’s good enough, right? Hm? Just give me one sword and kick me out. But! Even if we write down that contract, I won’t be causing any incidents anyway!”
“…Hmm.”
Cairn spoke with all sincerity. At this point, he was shouting for himself rather than in Violet’s defense.
Violet thought to herself.
‘If you’re given a sword and subsequently kicked out, I guess you’ll go and do some mercenary work.’
To the side, Roen looked like he was thinking the same thing.
