MDIHC 30

〈030〉

“Did the Countess draw something too?”

What Daniel had found was none other than my drawing.

“Ah, yeah.”

While Daniel was drawing, I had also been drawing beside him. Truthfully, what I really wanted to do was stare at Daniel’s face, but I thought that might make him uncomfortable.

I figured doing something—anything—might help suppress the urge to just sit and stare at him, so I ended up drawing too.

“It looks so real!”

“I’ve only sketched it so far…”

“But it looks just like a real clover!”

Daniel’s eyes widened as he looked at my drawing, completely amazed.

I had majored in biology, and among the various fields, I had a strong interest in botany. So I had done a lot of botanical illustrations. That’s exactly what this drawing was.

“Countess, you’re incredible! You can name any flower I point at without hesitation, and you can draw like this too!”

Daniel clasped his hands together and looked at me with sparkling eyes. Naturally, I couldn’t help but puff up a little with pride under that gaze.

‘I never thought my major would come in handy like this.’

I had only chosen the university and major based on my grades and the need for a scholarship. I never imagined it would help me in this way.

“I want to draw just like you, Countess!”

Daniel said as he gripped his colored pencil tightly.

“Really? You do?”

“Yes!”

Seeing his eager eyes and the determined line of his lips, I felt like Daniel’s artistic path had just been chosen.

“Alright! Then I’ll teach you how to draw.”

Yes! Now I could spend more time with Daniel—legally! Not that it was illegal before, but now I could teach, see cute Daniel, and look at cute Daniel’s drawings. It was basically perfect!

“Are you drawing?”

A familiar deep voice brought my inner excitement to a screeching halt.

“Lord Winchester?”

Honestly, at first I thought I was hallucinating because the day was so bright. You know how you sometimes mistake a mirage or a heat haze for something real?

But it wasn’t a mirage. Walking toward us with long strides was Lord Winchester. A man who shouldn’t even be at the mansion at this hour was now approaching.

“What brings you here at this time?”

“I had to stop by to change clothes before heading to the imperial palace.”

“I see.”

As expected. No way would our workaholic Lord be home in the middle of the day otherwise.

Lord Winchester turned his head to look at Daniel. Just a moment ago, Daniel had been smiling brightly, but now he was gripping his colored pencil tightly and looking at him with a nervous expression.

I thought the puppet show had helped improve their relationship, but maybe that was a one-time thing. Daniel still seemed tense in front of his father.

“……”

Lord Winchester looked at Daniel, then his gaze dropped to the drawing Daniel had made.

‘Compliment it!’

I found myself silently shouting in my head.

‘Come on, just tell him it looks great!’

I even gave him a pleading look. Complimenting a child’s drawing was practically an adult’s duty.

“Daniel.”

Had he heard my desperate inner voice? Lord Winchester called Daniel’s name. If I wasn’t mistaken, his voice even sounded… gentle.

“Did you sleep well?”

……Huh?

And yet the words that came out of that soft voice were utterly ridiculous.

Did you sleep well? Did he seriously just ask that? It’s nearly 3 p.m. and you’re dropping a morning greeting out of nowhere?

Sure, he left so early that this was technically their first meeting today, but still—“Did you sleep well” is kind of off-base, isn’t it, Father?

“Uh… yes.”

Daniel seemed just as confused. He blinked a few times before answering with a slight delay.

“I see.”

See what, exactly? Lord Winchester nodded to himself like everything made perfect sense, leaving both Daniel and me looking at him with the same bewildered expression.

“So then…”

Now what? I stared at him, wondering what else he was about to say—but then he just closed his mouth again.

Wait a second. Could it be… is he nervous too? Is that why he’s saying all these weird things?

I glanced between Daniel, who was still holding his colored pencil and staring at him, and Lord Winchester, who looked expressionless but couldn’t seem to say what he wanted. I tried to get a read on the awkward atmosphere.

“Pfft!”

A sudden noise broke the tension. I turned my head and saw none other than Ethan, Lord Winchester’s aide, standing nearby—yes, the very same Ethan who was present during our rocky first meeting.

“Ahem. My apologies.”

Ethan cleared his throat when all eyes turned to him.

“But why are all of your foreheads… Pfft!“

He tried to explain his laughter, but couldn’t hold it back.

“Foreheads?”

I unconsciously touched my own forehead. And I wasn’t the only one.

“Pfft!”

Daniel and Lord Winchester reached for their foreheads at the same time, just like I did. And then I couldn’t help but burst out laughing.

It was quite the coincidence. Daniel had a bump, Lord Winchester had an injury from training, and I had a scratch from Lady Aitly’s fingernails—all in the exact same spot: the right forehead.

“You really do look like a family.”

Ethan added with a chuckle.

Not that being called a family over something like this was particularly touching, but…

“Hehe!”

D-Daniel?

He was laughing. Daniel was covering his mouth with one hand and giggling.

“We’re the same. Right?”

He looked up at me with a smiling face.

“Yeah. We are.”

“They said… we’re a family.”

Daniel whispered, tugging gently at my clothes. His gaze was directed at his father.

“That’s right.”

Lord Winchester smiled warmly.

“We’re a family.”

His deep, gentle voice repeated the word again.

* * *

Ahh~ Yes, every noble bedroom needs at least one piece of artwork. It makes things feel more… aristocratic, right?

I couldn’t help but smile as I looked at the framed picture placed perfectly in the room where it could be seen from anywhere.

“Is that a drawing by Daniel?”

“Yes!”

I answered Lord Winchester’s question with a smile.

“Did you… perhaps think it was a professional piece?”

It occurred to me that maybe he hadn’t realized it was drawn by Daniel.

“I could see how you might mistake it. I mean, for a six-year-old’s work, it’s pretty impressive, right? At a glance, it kind of feels like a piece from the deconstructivist school. Or even surrealist…”

I tilted my head this way and that, trying different angles as I examined Daniel’s drawing.

“Maybe Daniel’s a genius after all?”

“A… genius?”

“Yes. The way he uses color, the composition—there’s something extraordinary about it.”

“I’m afraid I don’t know much about art.”

“Well, neither do I. But there’s just something powerful about Daniel’s drawings.”

I nodded solemnly at the picture. Lord Winchester’s expression beside me looked serious as well—though now that I think about it, that might just be his usual face.

In Daniel’s drawing, there was a tall man with straight-line eyes and mouth and a red mark on his forehead. Next to him was a woman with round eyes and a smile—she also had a red mark on her forehead.

And at the end stood a small child with round eyes and a similar red mark, but unlike the others, his was raised—a bump.

It was clearly the three of us. Daniel had even captured Lord Winchester’s usual stern expression with a single straight line. Masterful.

“……”

Lord Winchester just stared at the drawing without saying a word.

The silence made me feel a little impatient.

“Isn’t it impressive how well he captured the features for a six-year-old?”

I sought his agreement and looked up at him. His eyes shifted from me to the picture, and then back again.

“Just to confirm… that’s meant to be me, Miss Neary, and Daniel?”

“Exactly! You recognized it right away, didn’t you? That’s why I said he captured our features so well.”

I nodded enthusiastically when he caught on.

“Maybe he really is a genius…”

I murmured, still gazing seriously at Daniel’s drawing. Maybe I wouldn’t even be able to teach him much—he might already be beyond me.