Chapter 39: [Extra Edition] Ethan’s Orangette│Read translated stories and daily updates at: Awebstories.com
I’m drawing a picture for Sir Ethan.
I want to make corrections, but if I do, the quality of reality will be inferior, so I’ll draw as I see it.
Last month, Sir Ethan and I went to dinner together for the first time.
He had come to the capital with his parents and was staying at the Tegperi residence to attend a meeting between the House of Demont and the House of Nozy.
I had never met Sir Ethan before I graduated from the academy and I got engaged to the second prince.
For a while, when the rumors about His Royal Highness Georges, the Baroness, and me were making the news in the capital, I was staying at the Nozy residence in Sanju, Tegperi, but Sir Ethan was away on business on the Tegperi border, and I never saw him.
I took a break and read over the letter I received from Sir Ethan today.
It is full of trivial things, such as where he is now and what he has tasted of the local specialities.
The letter is written in Sir Ethan’s typical easy going manner. He is not very good at writing letters, but I feel that he is doing his best, and that gives me a good feeling.
—○█○—
At the graduation ceremony, I was alone.
I didn’t ask His Highness to escort me, and I didn’t feel particularly sad when I saw him enter with the Baroness.
… although it was painful to see people looking at me with pity.
When my brother heard that I was going to the graduation party alone, he offered to escort me, but I refused, not wanting to expose him to pitying looks.
Surprisingly, it was my brother who was most upset with His Highness.
I had expected him to be upset with me for not being taken seriously by His Highness. He said it was okay for him to humiliate me, but he could not stand it when others humiliated me.
He used his foul mouth to the fullest, denigrating his Royal Highness and the Baroness. I even laughed at his brilliant swear words. I wish Lady Olivia could have heard it.
When my brother saw me laughing, he said, “What are you laughing at?” He was even angrier.
At graduation, it was Sir Tristan, Lady Olivia, and Lady Adele who got as much attention as the prince.
Adele wasn’t wearing her usual male attire, but a shiny beige dress.
No ribbons, no frills, no embroidery. The only accessory was an amethyst necklace. And yet, she was more beautiful than anyone else in the room.
Mr. Ethan accompanied Lady Adele.
I thought, “If Sir Ethan is so used to seeing Adele looking so beautiful, I don’t have a chance,” but then I stopped thinking.
How could I have been so stupid?
I spoke with Sir Ethan only five times during my studies. The first time I showed him a picture, the day after when he gave me a new alias, when I informed him about the progress of Sir Tristan’s picture, and when I gave him the picture
Every time we talked, it didn’t take long, but Sir Ethan was easy to talk to. We could laugh quite naturally.
I liked going to school because I could see him sometimes. On the days when I could see him, I was happy about my good fortune.
I watched from afar as he laughed at parties with his friends, and I could see it in his eyes.
When I graduate, I won’t be able to see him anymore.
Even if I have to go to a monastery in the future, I’m sure I’ll keep thinking about him.
—○█○—
That’s what I thought.
I’ve dragged Sir Ethan into the dissolution of my betrothal to His Highness.
I am very sorry, but I am happy to be Sir Ethan’s fiancée. I may be a selfish person.
There were times when I worried that I was hallucinating and that none of this was real, but we did have our first dinner together, and Sir Ethan is now drinking tea after dinner right in front of me.
I am grateful for this chance meeting.
“Do you draw self-portraits?”
“No, I don’t.”
I don’t feel like drawing my own face.
“I understand now why Olivia wants a picture of Tristan, and I want one too,” he says.
“Is it a picture of Sir Tristan?
“I don’t want a painting of Tristan. I want Chloe’s picture.”
Chloe. You’re the first person to call me that.
That’s nice.
“I’m out of town a lot, so I don’t get to see you as much as I’d like, and Chloe’s a good artist.”
Is it safe to assume that Sir. Ethan feels the same way about me?
“Then may I also draw a picture of Sir Ethan?”
Actually, I already have one. I look at it every day. I didn’t tell him because I didn’t want him to think I was creepy.
“Of course.”
Sir Ethan replied in an easy-to-understand manner.
—○█○—
I draw a self-portrait of myself while looking in the mirror and sign my signature [Orangette] on the bottom.
He said he wanted to come up with an alias based on a flower or a poem, but he didn’t know which one to choose, so he chose the name of his favorite pastry.
Sir Ethan said it was because my dark brown hair and eyes looked like his favorite chocolate dessert. Since then, I have fallen in love with my hair and eyes.
When I’m with Sir Ethan, I notice that I like more aspects of myself. But Sir Ethan will always be the best.
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