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Journey of the Painter

A story of a certain painter traveling and meeting a lot of people. Using her paintbrush, she brought their images, experiences, hopes, guilt, and wishes to life. [Temporary book cover from tweeter]

Ayano_Ena · Fantasy
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4 Chs

To be young

I scratched my head once, then scratched it again twice until I ended up scratching it multiple times. Honestly, I'm starting to get irritated.

"Is a land full of flowers, enough? No, something's lacking with it...Then how about the sky?"

"It's too common, Young Master."

"How about the sea? There are no girls who dislike the beauty of the sea, right?"

"Yes, you're right. Girls don't dislike the sea but it doesn't mean they like it, either," I remarked.

"What do you mean by that, Miss Painter?"

I looked over the canvas at the young lad walking restlessly around the room. A few days ago, the heir of a certain lord of a certain city summoned me to paint a canvas as a gift for the girl he seemed to admire.

"I mean what I mean, Young Master," I said nonchalantly. Well, it doesn't matter what kind of creature he wants me to paint, as long as they pay me.

"That's...quite complicated."

"I suppose kids can't understand what we adults are thinking."

"You aren't looking that old, though."

Try to say that again, brat.

"Anyway, a painted flower is fine, right? I'm sure she will like it."

"What are you talking about, Miss Painter? That's why even now you still haven't had any marriage proposal... Please, take it seriously!" Please, be thankful that you are the son of the lord.

As I listened to his nonsense, a breeze entered through the window and swept my papers up, scattering them around the room. Being the lazy person I was, I left them lying there and bit a yawn.

So, when would I start? I asked myself as I watched the brat rocking his brain just to find a perfect gift for a girl.

Now that I mention it...

"So, who is the unfortun...luck girl? Considering how you are looking for the best gift, I'm sure she's a daughter of some lord or something...A girl born from a rich family? Or don't tell me...the princess..." I gave him a mocking glance, hand on my mouth, giggling. Ho-ho-ho, what a high standard you have there, kiddo.

Contrary to what I expected, he went silent and seemingly averted his gaze. "A daughter of aflwoerhdjsns." Of course, he didn't say that. His voice was just too low that I could barely hear it.

"What? Come again!?" I prompted, leaning in with my hands on my ear.

He formed his hands into a fist as though he was bracing himself and closed his eyes, then blurted, "A daughter of a flower seller! Are you satisfied now?"

After catching his breath, his face suddenly turned red, full of embarrassment.

"Oh-ho-ho, to be young..."

"Don't make fun of me!" He paused and then looked at the window. "The truth is, I met her two months ago...

To be brief, two months ago, he had a quarrel with his father, and just like what most kids do, he snuck out of their mansion and wandered alone in the city. Though, not all kids live in a mansion but...oh, well.

Being the son of the lord, he never had a chance to have a casual roaming around the street hence, he wasn't familiar with the direction and ended up losing himself in the middle of the crowd. That was when a girl, around his age, grabbed his wrist and pulled him from the surging wave of people.

The girl introduced herself as the daughter of a flower seller. After that, they went to the town square day by day just to play around then, as you expected, the young master fell in love with the daughter of a flower seller. It felt like the story was straight out of the book but trust me, he told me there was no fiction in this story. Well, it couldn't hurt to believe in him.

"Oh, she is a daughter of a flower seller. So what's their store look like?" I asked...well, their story was quite interesting.

"That is... She hadn't shown their store to me...yet."

Why were you sound uncertain in that one?

"I see...that's a shame, though." What a cliffhanger.

I plopped my head on top of my canvas and looked at him twiddling his index fingers.

"What is it, Young Master?" It seemed like he still had something to say.

"The truth is...there's one more problem," he confessed, and let out a troubled laugh.

If it was because of their status, then I already know it. Yup, I truly know it.

"I...introduced myself as a son of a fruit vendor," he added.

I looked at him with a dead fish eye.

"I mean...what can I do? I'm so nervous when we first met so I just said fruit vendor and she also said that...she's not good with people with higher status than her." He swung his arms aggressively then halted as he realized the latter part of what he'd said.

"I see, so the heir of the lord is no good for her." He recoiled as I said this fact. "Well, good luck, Young Master!" I grinned at him and continued working on my canvas.

"Hey, don't just casually brush me off!"

"I'm just a painter, you know. And since as you said, I never have a marriage proposal, so I have no idea what sort of advice I could give to you."

"Urgh!" He recoiled.

I continued stroking up and down and pay no mind to the lad who was now rolling on the floor, spitting his complaints to the world. No idea why he was doing that, though.