CH 35.1

Certainly, the painting wasn’t anything dangerous. I called the mage to examine the painting again, but there was nothing particular about it.

Derrick, House Valentine’s mage, looked displeased about how he was called to check it twice. It must have seemed to him like I didn’t believe in his abilities.

‘I’m sorry for making you do the same thing twice. Thank you for your efforts.’

‘…No, it’s not like that… Madam. After all, this is my job, so it’s fine.’

My first impression of him was that he looked as if he wasn’t a very social person, so it felt strange seeing him act politely.

He bowed his head to me and soon left as though he was running away.

In any case, I was about to return the painting back to where it was stored in the storage room, but at that moment, Theodore entered the living room.

He gave me a broad smile. However, as soon as he saw the painting, he frowned.

‘You must have been looking at this eyesore. I don’t care for it at all, so you may handle it as you want.’

I paused when he said, ‘eyesore’, then I looked back at the painting again. It was an ordinary watercolor painting of the blue sea.

I organized my thoughts for a moment, then I asked Theodore.

‘May I know what this painting looks like in your eyes? …I’d just like to check.’

A bit perplexed, Theodore tilted his head to the side and answered with a slight grimace.

‘…I’m seeing a depiction of an ominous red sea. Just like blood.’

‘……’

I looked at the painting again. It was surely just a blue sea to me.

So, I called in other people and asked what the painting looked like to them. Everyone answered that it was a blue sea.

Theodore was the only one who was seeing a red sea.

‘Did you mention to Owen or to anyone else that this painting looks like a red sea to you?’

‘No, I never did.’

That’s fortunate then. This matter had yet to reach Owen’s ears.

I told Theodore firmly.

‘It would be better for you to hide the fact that it looks like a red sea in your perspective. I believe it would be prudent to try and look for who’s the artist of this painting… Owen might catch onto something, so please look into it stealthily.’

Theodore stared at me in a daze, but soon enough, he nodded and agreed.

And so, the painting in question was once again stuck in the storage room, wrapped entirely in black cloth so that no one else could see it.

So, the bottom line was that there’s no dangerous spell attached to the painting. But even that was more suspicious.

It was a painting that looked like a blue sea to everyone except Theodore, who instead saw red… The immediate guess I could make was this—it’s because Theodore recently lost his memories.

Perhaps the painting looked like a red sea to someone who was suffering from amnesia.

After all, Owen was the one who gifted such a painting to Theodore…

‘Was it to make sure that Theodore lost his memories? So Owen…’

Owen was either suspecting that Theodore lost his memories, or he probably already knew about it.

If it was the latter… Then it was highly likely that the mastermind behind Theodore’s memory loss was Owen.

‘And it’s suspicious how a rift suddenly appeared in the Ashridge Forest, as if someone had planned for it…’

I still think that it was a very slim possibility, but it seemed to me like the mage accompanying Owen that day was the one who caused a rift to open…

But I’ve never heard of such a case before. And there was no evidence.

I don’t have anything to go on to prove it, but…

‘What if Owen found a way? No, what if he already knew how to do it a long time ago…?’

My heart pounded unsteadily. The suspicious deaths of the previous Duke and Duchess Valentino, as well as that of Camillus Valentino.

And the emergence of rifts suddenly became more and more frequent after Theodore became the duke.

If Father and Owen were the culprits behind all the tragedies that befell House Valentino…

“……”

“…Madam?”

As I was immersed in my thoughts, I didn’t realize that I had stopped walking. In the distance, I stared at the Valentino manor.

It was a place that I was familiar with, but at the same time, a place that I must not become more comfortable in…

There was never a chance that I’d ever be able to call that place ‘home’.

“……”

Under my breath, a small derisive chuckle slipped through my lips. It was laughable, even to me.

I knew that it wasn’t my fault, but why was it that I felt guilty.

Sighing, I shook my head. It’s not in my nature to be like this. At the same time, I wasn’t an entirely kind-hearted person either. Why then.

Perhaps it was because of him, the main character of this tragedy, Theodore Valentino…

‘…Me, to that person…’

As though cutting that thought with a knife, I quickly stopped right there.

I closed my eyes tightly and held my head with both hands.

I repeated and repeated it once more. Not anymore. Don’t harbor any expectations. Not anymore.

However, it was at that moment.

Right then, the voice of the last person I wanted to see rang out.