episode_0077

“The painting on the right is the very famous piece.”

Frida Lorraine (?-?) , unknown year, oil on wood

“This masterpiece is characterized by the boy’s enigmatic expression and the delicate texture of his clothes. Aside from its fame, it is also noteworthy that little is known about this work. The period of its creation, the end of the Arsul Dynasty, was a time of great turmoil due to war, and there are no records of the process of creating this painting.”

“Judging from the fact that a large number of similarly composed sketches have been discovered together, it is presumed that the artist, Frida Lorraine, put in a lot of effort to complete this work. The fact that it was never sold to anyone and remained as her heirloom shows how special her love for the work was.”

“There are various hypotheses about who the boy in this painting is. The claim that it is a painting of her husband lost its power when it was revealed that Lorraine herself ended her life as a bachelor without children. Without having a single partner throughout her life, she must have lived a life filled with passion for art. How could she, who lived such an ascetic life, paint such erotic beauty?”

The girls, who had been quietly listening to the curator’s explanation, began to whisper among themselves.

“It’s clear to me that Lorraine was a total idiot.”

“Kekeke, it’s more lewd when you can see a little bit of thin clothing than when you’re completely naked.”

The girls look like vigilantes like Mila and Remili, but they wear modern clothing like hoodies and jeans. In their pockets, they each carry a palm-sized piece of high-tech electronic equipment.

“… Of course, the paintings were not drawn to simply stimulate the viewers’ physical desires. Pornography and art may seem ambiguous at first glance, but there is a fairly strict difference between them. The fact that none of Frida Lorraine’s sketches contain explicit descriptions close to the former is evidence that she pursued pure beauty. ”

***

Square square square

Only the sound of the quill pen scratching against the surface of the paper and the rubbing of a piece of charcoal against the canvas fill the quiet study.

Kyle’s study was a good size for one person’s den, but it felt a little cramped for two, so the distance between them was closer than usual.

The two of them had taken refuge here because someone who had been happily chatting away while showing off their unconscious exposure had already fallen asleep in bed, and they were each engrossed in their creative work, occasionally rubbing their sleepy eyes.

“… … Hey, Kyle.”

“… … Why.”

Frida suddenly opens her mouth.

“If I die first… I’ll leave my paintings to you.”

“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”

Kyle dipped the pointed end of his quill into the inkwell, glancing at Frida with a dubious expression.

“No, seriously. I just had this thought… … .”

“What are you thinking?”

Kyle taps the quill on the edge of the ink bottle and tries to continue writing, but then puts the quill back into the ink bottle and turns his head towards Frieda.

“I am drawing lines on the canvas without thinking about anything right now… but I think that maybe these things have a much longer lifespan than mine.”

“… … … Indeed.”

Kyle stroked his chin and thought about the meaning of those words, and then he felt that they were indeed plausible, so he nodded in agreement.

“If a lot of time passes from now… . Even in this country, by then, there will be enough children I gave birth to, and children my children gave birth to, to surround the bed I’m lying in, right? ”

“… … … .”

Kyle, who had been nodding and listening to her, paused for a moment, but decided to remain silent and listen as he felt that it was not the time to be nagging.

“… I have a compulsive habit of scribbling my name on my work. Even if it is a crude doodle that can hardly be called a work of art. It probably comes from my desire to decorate my humble self with the name Lorraine. Anyway, if there is a name, even if these things live on for a long time, it also conveys the fact that there was a human who drew them, right?”

“Yeah yeah, so what?”

Kyle, watching over her shoulder at the unfinished sketch on the canvas, began to get a sense of what she was trying to say.

“I hope the fact that I drew these sublime things won’t remain for too long. That’s why I’m leaving it to you. Of course, I’ll be the first to choose what to leave to my family, but death is something that comes suddenly without warning. I’d like to ask you to take care of the rest of the things that I couldn’t get rid of.”

Frida said, as she meticulously traced each strand of hair from each sacred area onto the canvas.

“You can just ask your family… … ?”

Kyle asked, tilting his head. Frieda shook her head.

“You know there’s no order to the reading, right? If you were me, would you make your family read it?”

When Frieda asks back, Kyle is silent. She accepts this as unspoken agreement and continues speaking.

“Please take good care of it. Burning it would be the most certain, but if you’re short on money then you can sell it. But please remove the part with my name on it. You can scrape it off with something sharp, or burn it with fire, there are many ways.”

Kyle burst out laughing at how he could tell such a story with such a serious tone.

“Phew… … . Okay, I’ll do it for you. It shouldn’t be that hard. ”

“Okay… Thank you.”

***

At the very moment when the two women were pledging their thousand-year resolution in the corner of the room, there were also those in the vigilante camp in front of the northern gate of the Songrad Fortress who were also pledging their firm resolve.

“Jackie replied. As expected, he doesn’t seem to have any intention of surrendering and paying the price. I plan to finish them off before dawn.”

Mila continued speaking in front of the assembled team members who were fully prepared even in the late hours of the night.

“The source of our hunger, sorrow, and all other suffering lies just beyond those stone walls. It is not enough to just keep them locked up. Now, let’s go! To exact bloody revenge!”

In Mila’s case, she had no direct grudge against the bandits, but the members who were listening to her felt something boiling up deep in their hearts. They were disappointed that they could not respond with a loud shout because it was a surprise nighttime operation.

After finishing her short speech, Mila turned her horse’s head and moved to the designated location. Her heartbeat also began to increase involuntarily, and her hands holding the reins began to sweat.

The final mission, the quick decision, these words had been strongly present in her mind even before the departure. Before putting the helmet that had been tucked into her side back on, Mila kissed the precious handkerchief that Ray had handed her and pushed it deep into her bosom so that she would never lose it even during the intense movement.

“Ray, I’ll finish this quickly and go back… … !”

Hurrruk hurrruk

After each member took their assigned positions, they all lit their torches. Just as the bandit guards standing on the walls of Songrad began to suspect something was fishy outside, loud trumpet sounds began to erupt simultaneously from all over the place.

“Waaa …

“What, what is it! Why are they acting like that all of a sudden!”

“It’s a night raid! The guys are coming!”

“Report to Jackie right away… … !”

thud

Kuung

A huge rock flying in a parabolic arc crashes into the castle wall, making a loud noise. One of the sentries running down the stairs, feeling as if the ground was shaking, loses his balance and falls down with the bricks.

“Prepare to fire!”

With Ailee’s loud shout, her subordinates, each drawing their bow strings, appeared in front of the shield-wielding agents.

“Shoot!”

“What’s going on… Why is it so noisy when I’m sleeping… … .”

“Hey, guys are coming outside! We need to get ready… Ugh!”

Arrows soared into the sky and rained down on the castle walls. The bodies of the bandits who were running around in confusion were hit by the special arrows of Maibaon, which were quite expensive.

“Pull!”

“Keuuu!”

The sisters’ mother, who must be fast asleep by now, also reloads the catapult by pulling the rope with all her might, enough to make the veins on her forehead pop out.

The loud noise of rocks crashing into each other continues, and the cracked stone wall spits out a cloud of dust. As the proudly standing castle wall gradually crumbles, the atmosphere becomes more and more tense.

“Whoa, retreat! Retreat to the inner wall!”