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< 2. Auction finale.>

Vivian’s POV

After Yurision River’s visit, I recovered quickly.

Ever since I came here, I’d been suffering from chronic fatigue all along, but after another mage helped to find a path to my magical energy, my body felt much lighter.

As I moved the magical power skillfully, the magic rose from my fingers like a shimmering haze.

“Perfect.”

As Edmund was overly concerned, he kept me half locked up in the mansion and overprotecting me, but it was already early summer when he nodded his head unwillingly.

“What’s this? Isn’t this Edmund from the Deer family?”

The days where I sat at the terrace of the hall and languidly enjoyed the early summer breeze repeated.

As soon as I had gotten better, Edmund was taken away by his mother, the director of The Deer and the Madam of the Deer family. He had definitely told me that he was currently taking a long vacation, but that long vacation had apparently ended a while ago.

Whenever I met his busy self everyday, I would try my best to make fun of him.

“What’s wrong?”

“I’m bored.”

Edmund’s face, which was gaunt as he couldn’t get proper sleep, grimaced.

I wanted to ask where had the Edmund that had constantly asked me why didn’t I tell him about my illness disappeared to.

Actually, when I looked at him standing by the wall with a look of lament on his face that said he would disregard everything and bring me around immediately if I said I was bored, he did seem to be quite busy.

“Take a walk in the mansion and look at some of the paintings around.”

“The weather is so pleasant that it’s such a waste to stay inside the mansion. What are your plans for the weekend? Do you want to go on a picnic?”

“..I have something really urgent to do.”

“Oho!”

He did say something like that a few days ago. I readily nodded and spoke.

“Then, let’s go when your matters have been settled.”

“Wouldn’t the right season for it have passed when I’m done?”

“No.”

It was obvious that his words got shorter and shorter due to lack of sleep. I had even snorted as I watched him zone out momentarily while in the middle of a conversation. My sister had also walked around the mansion at the end of the year with such an expression.

I felt apologetic about getting him to go out and play when he’s like that.

“I can go out by myself.”

It was just a picnic anyways. And this city was where I was born and raised in. I wasn’t a child, and I wasn’t as quiet as I was 200 years ago. So I thought that it wouldn’t be bad for me to go out alone.

However, Edmund had firmly stated from the very beginning that I wasn’t allowed to go out alone.

“Honestly, I think you’re being overprotective.”

As soon as I had just finished talking, Edmund’s expression clouded over.

“..Isn’t our relationship like that?”

“Oh my, Deer. You’re speaking as if we have some kind of relationship.”

At my words, Edmund unfolded his arms as he chuckled and held my fingertips. He then bowed and kissed my fingers, looking at me languidly.

“Lady Summers. Have you forgotten about the intense time spent together last night?”

Well, shall I play along with him? Even when he was babbling nonsense while being very tired, his face glowed despite being haggard. Instead, because it looked gaunt, his handsome face looked more defined, adding slight decadence to his looks.

I giggled and covered the corners of my mouth with the back of my hand.

“Aren’t you giving too much meaning to just one night?”

As I raised my head and turned my gaze away slightly, Edmund paused momentarily, lost for words.

“..Let’s stop here. It might cause misunderstandings.”

“What’s wrong, Edmund Deer? Even if we denied it, it doesn’t mean that the intense time we’ve spent didn’t happen.”

“Please, Vivi.”

With his ears reddened, Edmund eventually burst into laughter. He smiled lightly in embarrassment and brushed my hair backwards.

“You have to speak properly. The only thing we did last night was play chess.”

From how his gaze was kept aimed behind me, it definitely seems that there are servants that were passing by near them.

“Chess, what a sophisticated, elegant, and passionate battle it is.”

“Yeah, it’s my fault.”

He quickly admitted that and grabbed my hand, entangling our fingers before letting go. He, who had stopped by the mansion in order to prepare some important documents, headed towards the study.

“So, what exactly are you busy doing?”

“This time, the season for Chervanni Auction House’s large-scale art auction is upon us, so I was sorting out the paintings that we intend to purchase.”

He was surprisingly busy, to the point where I didn’t get the chance to ask him about what he was busy with.

Was my portrait successfully bidded for at a place like this?

“I’m curious.”

It was interesting that there were people who would spend large sums to buy paintings.

“There’s a family called the Mercis that appeared like a comet about a hundred years ago. That family was also quite the art lover, and collected all sorts of paintings, but not long ago, it filed for bankruptcy.”

“That’s a shame.”

As I expressed my regret over the Mercis without batting an eye, Edmund smiled calmly and recieved my regret.

“To me, it’s something to be thankful for. As there will not only be undisclosed works by well-known artists, famous paintings would also be appearing, so it is gaining interest from the world.”

“In that case, are you participating in the auction?””

Edmund nodded as he undid a button, perhaps due to the hot weather.

As another button was undid, his neckline was revealed. My gaze was drawn turned towards the line from his neck to his collarbone unknowingly. Apparently, although he doesn’t look like it, he would work out every morning while I was asleep for a long time.

Come to think of it, he seemed to have said that he was good at tennis..

“Before I graduated, I often played polo games. I’m busy now, so I prefer doing some light exercise.”

As he walked, he undid another button.

“So, I’m drafting a budget for that. In auctions such as these, the works will be released in advance, but the most famous works won’t be revealed until that day itself. So I have to predict what kind of works will appear, allocate the budget according to those predictions, and decide which paintings to bid for. I have to make decisions for those kinds of things.”

It seemed like there was much to be done just by listening to his explanation.

As such, I spent the time wandering around the mansion and looking at the paintings.

Thanks to this, while he was gone, I spent the last few days wandering around the mansion and looking at the paintings. Actually, rather than the paintings, what I found more interesting was the time-worn mansion itself.

Just as Edmund had mentioned, the entire mansion that was owned by the Deers, was like a small art museum.

The large paintings that I was mainly viewing a few days ago, have recently become the small paintings that were located in nooks and along the corridors.

In fact, it was huge to the point that calling it a ‘small’ gallery was pathetic.

I wasn’t that interested in paintings originally, but as I was surrounded by paintings everyday, I naturally became interested in it. Perhaps that was why I became interested in the auction.

I was curious about what kind of people would purchase my sister’s paintings for the price of dozens of mansions.

I followed him through the hallway exhibiting abstract art, which had been greatly revived over the past 100 years. It’s an area that I really couldn’t understand.

“In that case, when you’re participating in the auction, are you attending in order to bid for the art museum?”

“Usually.”

Also, between the sounds of my shoes hitting the marble floor, Edmund’s heavier footsteps rang out.

“If something that I want appears, but it isn’t something that’s intended to be purchased for the art museum, I would bid for it at my own expense.”

“I see.”

“Would you like to attend this auction with me?”

“Seriously?”

Can I also attend? Really?

Edmund stopped walking and turned his head towards me. At the sight of my face that was filled with expectations, he couldn’t help but smile.

“So you’ve been waiting for that sentence.”

“Can I really come along? It’s work, though.”

“It doesn’t matter. It’s a kind of social function anyways.”

“Wow!”

He hesitated for a moment with a vague expression, before opening his mouth eventually.

“However, Sasha’s painting will definitely come out. Will that still be alright for you?”

“It’s okay!”

“Of course, there would be many paintings by other artists, but according to predictions within the family, the finale would probably be a painting by Sasha.”

That’s nothing. I nodded readily.

Perhaps Edmund was quite shocked by my collapse that day, he simply used cloth to cover some of the paintings in the mansion. When I asked a passing maid what painting was this, she awkwardly replied that it was a painting drawn by my sister.

“I don’t mind. I’ve always been curious about what an auction is like.”

“The auction house established by Chervanni has a longer history than other auction houses, and due to it being a company established by a deeply rooted aristocratic family, it has a more old-fashioned taste, so it should be quite interesting.”

“Is an art auction different from the auctions that I know of?”

“I’m not sure what the auctions from 200 years ago were like. It’s probably different from an ordinary auction. Moreover, the last day of Chervanni’s art and jewellery auctions are known as the most famous party in the world.”

He continued to explain the meaning, before nodding his head.

“The auction will be held over a week, but the party is held on the last day. The most famous painting will also be appearing on the last day as well, so let’s go together on that day.”

He brushed against his bright blond hair.

“The auction starts in a week. Tomorrow at this time, my work will be somewhat finished, so let’s go and get our outfits together.”

“Do we have to go shopping?”

“Because it’s a party.”

I would normally call for people into the mansion to match clothes or purchase items. As such, I didn’t understand what Edmund said a while ago, to go out and enjoy shopping.

“And after the auction, let’s go on a picnic before the weather gets hotter.”

“That’s a good idea.”

He opened the door to my study and nodded gracefully, as if he was gesturing for me to enter. I entered, and he didn’t follow, instead smiling lightly while holding the door.

“Sure, I’ll be back after work.”

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