Chapter 2
< Vivi, At the festival >
“That’s absurd.”
“What can I do?”
At the sight of the man that shrugged his shoulders with a mischievous smile, Vivian raised her hand as if she was about to point at him, before ending up pulling at her own hair.
‘Where did my loose and soft hair go? It’s completely tangled.’
“It’s been 200 years?”
What was more surprising was that this world was almost 200 years after the period of time that Vivian had lived in.
During the first few hours that she had arrived here, Vivian made all sorts of threats, such as “Tell me the truth while I’m being nice,” “First, call for my sister,” “Even if I was the punching bag of the family, I was still a Summers,” so on and so forth.
But the reason Vivian agreed at the very end was due to this mansion.
“How could the Summers leave this mansion!”
When she stood in the garden and looked around, it was the Summers’ mansion that she had lived in for almost all her life.
“It’s regrettable, but it now belongs to the Deers.”
“I’ve never heard of that family before.”
Deer? What kind of family name is deer?
Vivian had memorised almost all of the noble families, but it was her first time hearing the name ‘Deer’.
“It’s okay, you’ll be hearing about it until you get sick and tired of it.”
When she had first opened her eyes, it was natural that she found that room familiar. The Summers’ mansion had withstood the passage of time, and that room was Vivian’s around 200 years ago.
The interior of the room, such as the wallpaper and furniture, was completely different from what she had remembered, but the basic structure of the mansion had remained the same. There wasn’t any change to the scenery outside the window as well.
The Roxen River that could be seen through the wide window was exactly as she had remembered.
“So, Deer.”
“Can’t you call me Edmund?”
“Alright, Edmund.”
“Yes, Vivian.”
Edmund couldn’t hide his excitement when Vivian called his name, and smiled softly.
The raised corners of his lips was like a curve drawn with a thin brush, and the eyes that curved thinly rendered her speechless as she stared at him.
Edmund Deer, a man with picturesque looks.
He introduced himself as the second son of the Deer family, and that he had been using this room ever since he was born.
He was very kind to her, an unfamiliar intruder, and it was the first time that she was treated in such a way, so Vivian panicked everytime he was friendly with her. In fact, she still couldn’t get used to it.
Like a person that was enchanted by her, he wanted to give everything to Vivian, making her at a loss on what to do.
In an instant, dazzling boxes were placed everywhere.
That’s right. As soon as he saw the white nightdress that Vivian was dressed in, he had immediately sent someone to buy necessities for her, starting with clothes.
Edmund held Vivian’s arm lightly, and he asked with his eyes closed.
“Why did you call for me?”
“…It feels like a lot has changed.”
Everything has changed. She could describe it as the world being turned upside down, right?
200 years is a long period of time that she had never had before, so it was difficult to imagine.
Vivian had ignorantly thought that there wouldn’t be much of a difference between the time period that she had lived in and now. But the only thing that remained was the mansion she lived in, while everything else became unfamiliar.
“The Summers… It was the same even when they weren’t in the mansion.”
“The Summers…”
“Don’t say it. I haven’t prepared my heart for it yet.”
She stopped Edmund from talking about how the Summers were currently.
It was a family with a thousand years worth of history. Vivian naturally knew that it would continue to survive for a thousand years more, but the fact that the Summers weren’t in this mansion meant that the family had fallen.
She had guessed that from the moment she heard that this place belonged to the Deers, but she didn’t want to hear the truth yet.
Edmund had a smile on his face, seeming to find it all good.
“Matters of my family aside, I was more surprised by the decline of magic.”
At first, Vivian wasn’t able to understand the situation as she was of the opinion that families of mages were the world’s dictators.
However, she had no choice but to admit that magic has declined after confirming that the magic in the air was much thinner than it was 200 years ago.
She also seems to have understood why the prestigious families of the Empire fell one after another.
“A lot has happened over the course of 200 years.”
Edmund nodded his head.
In the past 200 years, the Summers have fallen, and the families of mages that had ruled the world disappeared one after another.
That was quite surprising, but the thing that shocked Vivian the most was something else.
“I thought that no one would remember something like me.”
Edmund’s composed face clouded instantly. He placed his chin on his palm and made eye contact with Vivian, as if he wanted to hear what she had to say.
“That is because no one was interested in me.”
Born as an illegitimate child, her illness and subsequent death had only wasted the family’s money and resources. How many people would have attended her funeral? Would there be anyone that was upset over her death? Even her sister wouldn’t have cried for her.
“Vivian, you’re one of the most famous people in the history of art.”
“That’s why it’s unbelievable.”
But everyone said that they recognized her. They said that they remembered her.
Immortalised in a portrait, she was the most precious person in the art gallery.
Vivian walked towards the bed. There was a huge frame on the wall above the headboard of the bed. She stared blankly at the picture.
Although she had already spent a long time before the painting, her thoughts always stopped and a suffocating feeling descended on her whenever she stood in front of it.
“……”
Vivian was in the painting.
The image of her lifting her head and making eye contact to the painter as she was reading a book on the sofa.
The parts of her lowly saturated rosy hair that was under the shadow were shaded, while the parts that were under the sunlight shimmered softly.
“……”
She knew where that picture was drawn.
The rose-embroidered sofa was placed in a small and unused study that was connected with an outdoor terrace on the 4th floor.
Ever since she had discovered the study when she was fifteen, Vivian spent her spare time there often. It wasn’t as big and extravagant as the studies used by her sister or her father, but it was the only space that belonged to her.
In particular, the terrace that stretched out to the back was a place where the rays of the sun shone particularly strongly, so oftentimes Vivian would open the window, draw a thin curtain, and lean on the couch with a cat in her lap while reading a book.
She remembered every single one of those moments, but she couldn’t remember that portrait.
“I don’t know why Sister drew me.”
It was Vivian’s older sister that drew the image of her, which was filled with the atmosphere of a warm and sunny spring day.
The Deers had paid the price of three houses for that portrait.
When Vivian had first heard of that, she was shocked.
A portrait of her, a portrait that she doesn’t even remember her sister painting, was actually worth the price of three mansions in the captial. Someone had actually bought the portrait with that amount of money.
“I– I can’t breathe whenever I think of my sister.”
She was the person Vivian had admired the most, the one she wanted to touch and imitate the most, but at the same time, Vivian feared, was hurt by and hated the most.
Her older sister has always been a point of desperation for Vivian, but to Sasha, Vivian felt deeply that she only viewed her as a burden.
“…Is your sister that great?”
She didn’t know when he came closer to stand beside her,
“Sasha is one of the most important and greatest artists in the history of art.”
Right.
The older sister Vivian had admired was amazing. As she spread her magic, the world was colored with a dazzling light. Her older sister was a great mage to the extent that Vivian was hard-pressed to imitate, and the Lord of Summers.
However, her older sister was only remembered as ‘Sasha, the artist’.
Sasha Summers was one of the greatest artists in the world, and as her muse, Vivian was considered one of the most beautiful people in the history of art. Vivian couldn’t help but burst into laughter at that.
“I don’t want to admit to that.”
“Alright.”
Edmund comforted her lightly and sat her down.
“Then, Vivi.”
“Please call me Vivian.”
“Yes, Vivian. Where do you intend to stay? If 200 years had passed, there wouldn’t be anyone that you would know, as well as a place for you to go.”
Ah.
Vivian’s heart sank at the sound of his words.
‘Yeah. Where do I go now?’
Every moment in her memories was in this mansion. As such, the thought of leaving this place didn’t cross her mind. As she opened and closed her mouth repeatedly, Edmund asked mischievously.
“You don’t have a place to go, right?”
“……”
“Would you like to stay here?”
This mansion still belonged to the Summers, but it was unfair that a stranger was making such an offer to Vivian.
At the sight of Vivian’s expression, Edmund smiled at his thought and got up from his seat. He looked around the room once and stood in front of her. He lowered himself before she could raise her head,
‘I don’t like this situation,’ Vivian grumbled to herself.
“You’re a noble, and yet you kneel so easily.”
“I only kneel for Vivian.”
He didn’t go into detail about his family.
However, the distinctive words he used and the attitude that was ingrained in his body made it clear that he had received a fairly good education.
“Hmm.”
It was a little burdensome that he had unhesitatingly lowered his position before her and looked into her eyes, so Vivian pulled back. He just smiled, like he was just happy to see her.
“I like you. I wanted to hear your voice.”
“But–”
“It’s said that love begins with curiosity. What kinds of novels do you like? What kind of music do you like? Do you like summer or winter? What comes to mind when you think of summer? Do you prefer tea or coffee?”
“By the way, I prefer coffee,” he added.
His golden hair glistened under the sunlight coming in through the wide window. Vivian listened quietly to that handsome face speaking softly like he was singing.
“I prefer tea.”
He gently grabbed her hand, which had been lying against her knee, and whispered.
“Do you like dawn that was caught when waking up early in the morning, or do you prefer watching daybreak without sleeping?”
“……”
Inexplicable emotions were intertwined within his silvery-grey eyes. It fluttered like a glass of wine filled to the brim with unexplained affection.
Vivian was confused by his gaze.
“I’ve been curious about you ever since I first met you when I was fourteen. What kind of story exists within that portrait? What kind of mindset and feeling did you look at the other person with?”
He squeezed her hands once with both of his hands before standing up.
As he turned his back against the sun, a shadow was cast over his face. Although she couldn’t see his handsome face, he shone like the sun, making it impossible for others to take their eyes off him.
“I’ve been in love with you for 10 years.”
The other party confessed his feelings for her. It was Vivian’s first time meeting him, and he laughed while saying that he had been curious about her for a long time.
“Don’t go anywhere else, and just stay here. This was originally your room, right? Then, use this room.”
“No, you don’t have to do that…”
“I’m persuading you to stay because I like you.”
At his firm answer, Vivian’s heart beat uneasily.
In any case, she wouldn’t have anywhere to go if he didn’t hold onto her anyway.
That’s why she hesitated even more.
Although her memory of the moment of her death was too blurry, it was clear that she had died.
And now, her current complexion was much better than the deathly pale complexion previously, and her face was younger than she recalled. Even the laborious breathing due to her chronic disease wasn’t present.
It felt like her body had become a few years younger. She felt that she was given about a year more, but questions arose at the same time.
‘Why am I back here? Was the reason I came back related to the portrait that was drawn by my sister?’
Vivian endured the urge to voice the questions that were lingering on the tip of her tongue. She spoke about something else instead.
“The Summers were one of the most prestigious families.”
“I know.”
“I only keep the best around me.”
“That goes for me as well.”
Since she wouldn’t be living here for long, if it was only for a short while, wouldn’t it be better to stay in this mansion that’s filled with traces of her sister?
“If you can handle that, I’ll stay.”
He turned his head over arrogantly, and the mischievous look was completely gone from his face. The fingertips holding Vivian’s hand were proper and selfless. As he bowed slightly from his waist, his lips touched her fingertips gracefully.
“Of course, Lady Summers.”