A Painting of the Villainess as a Young Lady

“…All of them, even the Young Masters— They acted like that?”

“Those godda… No, my older brothers. They’re case is a bit more unique, but they generally act that way too, yes.”

Swear words bubbled up at her lips, but Violet narrowly corrected herself in a graceful manner.

Mary noticed Violet’s heavy-handed correction, and she smiled widely. Soon, however, tears welled up in Mary’s eyes once more.

“If half the rumors are true, then the other half must be false. But despite it all, nobody took your side, they all just thought that you’re evil, they never tried to talk to you even once and just continued like that…”

“……”

“Then, hiic. Milady, you continued to… You just kept on…”

Violet soothed Mary again, patting the girl’s back and giving her a piece of the tart. Mary took out a handkerchief and sniffled, and continued to speak with such melancholy.

“My dearest Lady… You’re not evil. You’re so kind. But everyone just kept saying you’re bad, so…”

Who knows, she’s not really kind. Still, Violet did not deny that she was a wicked woman, but at the same time, she no longer denied Mary’s words.

Perhaps it’s because her environment has shifted, but… No matter who it was, it felt good to have someone on her side.

Instead of making excuses to justify herself, Violet merely ate tarts together with the girl, and they had a long chat.

* * *

No matter what happened, time moved forward.

It had already been fifteen days since Aileen’s visit.

After learning that Violet hated Aileen, Mary deliberately did not bring up the other ducal lady.

In the meantime, Violet made three paintings to let out her negative emotions.

Although she still wasn’t satisfied with the skill level that she was at right now, her paintings gradually looked more like paintings as she practiced again and again.

Of course, this was entirely Violet’s assessment of herself. Her art style way ahead of the current era, and the abstruse painting would surely make anyone exclaim the moment they saw it.

The only person who was seeing her paintings was Mary, whose eyes kept chasing every move that Violet’s making.

It’s not as if they had deep conversations, but after talking to each other a few times, Violet found that she had become close to Mary, and the two of them often had tea together.

The refreshments that came with the tea seemed to have had sugar poured into them, but it’s not all that bad.

Her taste buds seemed to be attuned to sweet things, so she thought they were good, too.

And as Mary could see this from her point of view, she was very satisfied as well. She especially got those expensive desserts from a well known patisserie that’s difficult to buy from due to the demand.

Mary wasn’t the only one who got closer to Violet. As unexpected as it was, Violet became close to all the employees of the annex.

Well, their relationship was a bit too ambiguous to say that they’re ‘close’ now. But at the very least, they weren’t anymore afraid or hostile towards her like before.

This was all thanks to Mary, too.

After learning about Violet’s true situation, Mary had been filled with a sense of duty. She went around, actively explaining Violet’s side.

Since there’s no reason for her to stop the girl, Violet left Mary alone as she did those things. Thus, Violet’s position in the annex shifted ever so subtly.

‘She’s become nicer.’

‘She was never a bad person at all.’

‘She’s actually very kind, she just got angry.’

Many such words came and went.

Regardless of which answer was correct, it’s true that Violet was not as vicious as she had been. Because of this, more and more people slowly became more comfortable around her.

In fact, the employees of the annex had been a bit lax these days, but Violet did not reprimand them. Rather, the employees would heatedly reprimand each other whenever they saw her be so generous towards them.

In any case, whether it was Violet or the employees, they were all in the same boat. They all got kicked out from the main mansion, and they were now staying together in this small corner of the ducal residence, here at the annex.

It’s only natural for them to strengthen their bonds in their own way.

Besides, aristocrats—to them—were like faraway beings that would be out of reach. However, though Violet still carried herself with the same air of nobility that an aristocrat would, it felt as if she was a real human being… just like them.

Violet treated employees as, exactly that, employees. They work for as much as they’re paid.

Blood flowing through one’s veins shouldn’t be considered high or low. After all, it’s all just red blood, so she was straightforward about treating other people.

With that attitude, the employees of the annex also became closer to Violet.

But… Perhaps she became too familiar to them?

Violet couldn’t help but think so after she’d been told that there was a dog that gave birth to puppies recently in the barn of the friend of the younger cousin of Angelica, a kitchen maid.

How exactly has it come to this, really.

Well, this could all be credited to Mary herself. The girl truly had such a high level of sociability. She’d been standing up for Violet so much these days, worried that the lady might be harmed.

Nevertheless, Violet just stayed on the sidelines. Even if she were to be transformed from the villainess of the century to the victim of the century, there would actually be no difference to how she would act.

Nevertheless, even if they weren’t on especially friendly terms, she thought this was preferable enough.

Since they were more comfortable around her now, just in time, she wanted to practice some croquis.¹ She decided to ask the employees of the annex to be her models.

.

.

.

One would think that the situation was getting better…

However, there soon arrived people who served to rain all over this parade.

¹ [From Wikipedia] Croquis – is a quick and sketchy drawing of a live model. Croquis drawings are usually made in a few minutes, after which the model changes pose or leaves and another croquis is drawn. The word croquis comes from French and means simply “sketch”.

(sidenote)

See also: ‘Spirit Fingers’, a manhwa set in the modern era. They do croquis a lot in their art club, but more than that, it’s a wholesome coming-of-age story centered on art, friendships and personal growth.