Chapter 12

Name:Odalisque Author:미나토
“Pardon, sir? But I’m just starting to concentrate…”

Brad, who was muttering with wide open eyes, closed his mouth as soon as he made eye contact with the Marquis. Swallowing his saliva, he quickly drew a smile and nodded.

“Oh, yes, we should. I’ll wrap it up! Ha ha.”

The Marquis put his cigar, which he barely smoked, down on the ashtray, and left the studio with an aloof face.

Brad, who had bowed his head several times towards the Marquis’ leaving figure, was still at a loss for a long time even after the studio door was closed. He only relaxed after the sound of the Marquis’ footsteps completely disappeared. Perhaps his legs had given out, he slumped into the chair with a sigh of relief.

Liv, who was quietly watching the situation with the blanket wrapped around her, picked up her clothes that she had taken off. She deliberately prepared clothes that were comfortable to wear and take off, so it didn’t take long for her to tidy up her attire.

She dusted off the crumpled hem of her skirt and asked an insinuating question to Brad.

“Was there no servant?”

“Yes. I guess they all stayed back for fear of disturbing the work. I decided to just come back because I thought I’d get lost if I kept wandering around. This mansion is very spacious.”

Liv, glancing at Brad wiping the cold sweat with his sleeves, lowered her eyes.

The number of the employees who welcomed them when they came in was well over 10. Considering the size of this mansion, it was obvious that there would have been a larger number of employees stationed here. There was probably a separate accommodation for employees because this place seemed to be a remote area.

Does it make sense that all those people were not waiting near their master?

“Brad, don’t you think that’s a little weird?”

“What do you mean weird?”

Liv’s eyes turned to the floor this time. To the pool of wine and pieces of shattered glass.

“I don’t think he’s someone who would accidentally drop the wine glass.”

“The Marquis is also a human being, so he might do it when he is drunk.”

Brad, who regained his energy, replied casually as he prepared to leave.

“It is humane and good!”

So it was a mistake that he dropped the glass so far that the wine didn’t splash on him?

… Not to interrupt the work?

Liv bit her lower lip.

Am I overreacting? Am I thinking too hard? Am I being so conscious of him that I give meaning to every meaningless action of his?

Liv remembered the Marquis’ face a while ago. The face that looked apathetic and aloof in everything. There were occasional sparks of ire, but that was it.

Basically, the Marquis showed no significant interest in Liv and Brad. He just quietly watched the work as agreed upon.

But then why?

She felt like she had gotten into some kind of bad, malicious attention.

***

Apart from all the uneasiness and doubts that Liv felt on the first day, the work proceeded step by step.

The Marquis still diligently observed the work and interfered under the guise of a mistake.

“Under the guise of a mistake” was only Liv’s guess. Nevertheless, she was confident that her guess had a high probability of being right. No matter how much she thought about it, the timing of the Marquis’ mistakes were strange.

The Marquis made noises, mostly as if to interrupt when Brad began to concentrate. Thanks to this, the nude painting hadn’t been sketched properly yet. Given the usual pace of work, this was noticeably slow.

In addition, the painting work was carried out entirely under the permission of the Marquis, so even if they wanted to draw more, they had to get up obediently if the Marquis said to stop.

Liv inwardly believed that this work would end quickly as she knew of Brad’s work speed. But then she belatedly realized the work environment she had overlooked and lamented. The fact that the Marquis provided the studio, and that they could only work when the Marquis watched was a big obstacle. However fast Brad’s hands didn’t mean anything.

Everything was adjusted according to the Marquis’ wishes. Brad, who initially praised everything as a good thing, seemed to have sensed something off at this point.

But even if he sensed it, what could they do? There was nothing they could do about it.

Brad tried to interpret the situation positively.

“If the Marquis were really trying to harass us, there would have been many other easy ways. He wouldn’t have provided a magnificent mansion as a studio.”

Brad wasn’t wrong. If the Marquis truly wanted to harass Brad and Liv, he could have thought of many other ways to do it without doing this troubling way.

The whole process of providing a huge mansion as a studio, preparing luxurious painting tools, sending a carriage periodically, and being present to watch the work process at every work session was surely quite cumbersome even for the Marquis.

“Liv, don’t worry. I’ll be working on it faster.”