Please Take A Step Out Of The Portrait

Chapter 17

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Vivian’s POV

Ordi-et…?

I didn’t know much about it other than the fact that it’s a small rural village in the Summers’ territory. 

It seems that my sister drew the village. Even so, I didn’t know about it. It was surprising that my sister drew so many paintings, but I couldn’t possibly know all the names of her paintings. 

I kept my silence as I didn’t know how I should reply, but she wasn’t offended and continued to ask me about this and that. 

“What’s your name? Can I be introduced? I know Edmund was supposed to introduce you personally. I’m quite curious, and it feels as though he would never introduce you…”

She then mumbled, “I really wanted to meet you since a long time ago!” 

She had light brown hair and wore an elegant black dress which had embroidery in extravagant gold thread everywhere, making it seem as though she was an incarnation of the goddess of death. 

From the fact that she didn’t meet anyone with such a strong presence during the earlier auction, she probably arrived after the second part of the event, the party. 

Due to her already gorgeous looks, despite the sleek looks of the man that appeared to be her partner, he didn’t give a strong impression. 

“By the way, who…?”

“Oh my, I didn’t introduce myself. My name is Rovelyn Deer. I’m Eddie’s older cousin. This is my fiance.”

“I’m Hector Valcara.”

“I came over as soon as I saw Edmund leave.”

Edmund’s cousin, Rovelyn, held a hand out to me and smiled brightly. While she looked a little fierce, she looked like a puppy when she smiled like this.

If she was his older cousin, wouldn’t she suspect me of being a scammer? Various thoughts, such as annoyance and hatred and the like, swept through my mind. 

However, with her expectant face in front of me, I pushed those thoughts away and held her outstretched hand. 

“I’m Vivian Summers.”

“I didn’t believe it when I only heard rumours. I thought that it was just a scammer that he caught. I’d thought as much. I was only thinking about when Edmund, that rascal, would kick her out.”

I laughed at the words that mercilessly pierced my heart, and kept thinking about when I could run away from this uncomfortable place.

“By the way, seriously.”

Rovelyn shook her head slowly and made a hushed exclamation.

“Vivian Summers.”

She made a series of exclamations.

“Seriously, how is this possible? How did you travel through time? Magic? It has to be magic, right?”

“Oh, yes, well.”

“It doesn’t matter if that isn’t the truth. From the looks of things, you don’t look like you’re staying beside that child because you want something from Deer.”

Although she said that, her following words were full of questions regarding older sister’s sibling, ‘Vivian Summers’.

“What kind of person was Sasha?”

“Are there hidden unreleased works by Sasha?”

“I’m quite curious about Sasha’s romance,” so on and so forth.

I answered them one by one, but eventually closed my mouth. Rather than questions about me, there were more regarding my sister, but it’s unfortunate that my understanding of my sister was fragmentary. Perhaps the researchers of this era would know more than I do. 

Considering the fact that I got much more information from the book I barely managed to open. 

Unaware of my feelings, Rovelyn just stood with a smiling face. 

“Edmund really liked Ms. Summers. To a serious extent.”

She smiled refreshingly.

“At least, it isn’t a portrait now, but a living person…”

But the more I heard from her what Edmund was like, the more I couldn’t get rid of my feelings of discomfort. The thought that I was like a living portrait to Edmund arose. 

In the meantime, perhaps Rovelyn’s fiance had other matters, but he disappeared after whispering in her ear. Rovelyn came a little closer to me.

“Hey, Miss Deer?”

“Please call me Rovelyn.”

“In that case, Miss Rovelyn.”

“Rovelyn.”

“…Rovelyn.”

Only then did she smile brightly and nodded. 

‘Edmund, where are you?’

Rovelyn approached me without caring whether I froze up or not. 

“I’m really curious about something.”

“Please speak.”

“The Summers were a great family of mages. In that case, is Vivian also a mage? Can you emit fire without drawing an enchantment?”

I was rendered speechless for a moment.

It was clear that magic has indeed fallen here. 

Could a mage emit fire? In that case, just what could mages do here? Did they just inject their own magic into enchantments available in the market without using their own magic?

After tilting my head for a moment, I decided to choose a magic that I could use immediately. A magic that wasn’t as burdensome but still interesting…

I glanced around, before lifting my index finger. My finger whipped about like I was drawing an enchantment, and my magical power moved. 

“Like this?”

“What?”

A petal fell right over her puzzled face.

“Huh?”

Another petal. And one more.

Rovelyn looked up blankly. Yet another pink petal fell right under her eyes to her cheek. Her slightly gaping lips made me feel good for some reason. 

This sort of magic was the basic of the basics, and has always been well received when shown to people that were unfamiliar with magic. As such, it was also the most commonly used magic when I escaped the mansion and wandered around the city. 

Like bubbles appearing in the air, petals fluttered and fell over our heads. 

Rovelyn righted her head that was tilted up towards the sky.

I thought that she didn’t look like Edmund at all, but looking at her current appearance, their eyes seemed quite similar. Rovelyn’s silver gray eyes were sparkling. 

“Vivian, can’t you come to me instead of Edmund?”

Rovelyn grabbed my hand. Surprised by the sudden contact, I tried to back away, but Rovelyn’s grip was stronger than I had expected. The recoil caused my body to sway.

“Ah!”

“Careful–!”

Rovelyn reached out a hand to try and grab me, who was about to fall, but ended up falling together with me instead. As Rovelyn was hurriedly trying to take care of me, who was seated on the floor dazedly, the gazes of the surrounding people were focused in this direction. And…

“…Oh dear.”

I added more magic when I fell.

“Huh?”

“Is that snow?”

“It’s flower petals!”

“Oh, goodness. Flowers are falling down like snow!”

At the sight of flower petals falling over my head, everyone raised their heads and looked upwards at the ceiling. 

Additionally, petals gradually continued to fall onto the ground where Rovelyn and I were still sprawled out on, beginning to pile up on the back of my hand. 

Looking up at the party venue from a lower place than usual made it seem larger than expected. They were like villagers, shouting exclamations while watching my magic. 

Some people reached out their hands and tried to grab the petals.

As I watched the unrealistic scene before me dazedly, as the petals fell before my eyes, I slowly closed my eyes and opened them again. 

I’m in trouble.

A huge one at that. 

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I met Edmund’s gaze. 

In the midst of everyone’s exclamations, Edmund was staring at me scarily, and not at the ceiling.

“……”

As soon as our gazes met, I closed my mouth quietly as Edmund’s eyes narrowed. And his mouth moved. Although I couldn’t hear his voice as there was a distance, goosebumps formed. 

‘You, used magic.’

I didn’t know what else Edmund, who became startled whenever I used magic ever since I collapsed, would say to me. Although the trivial magic were unavoidable and could be given a pass by, saying, “Yes, yes”, even I couldn’t say that the falling petals were trivial. 

The petals are falling one by one above his flashy blonde hair, unlike his expression. 

Rovelyn reached out to me after slowly getting up from her position.

“Are you alright? Were you hurt?”

“Yes, I’m fine.”

I reached out to grab her hand and stand up, but what I had actually grabbed was a big and firm hand. 

“Did you get hurt?”

I stared up at Edmund blanking while holding his hand. 

When did he come over? I looked up at him while about to rise from my seated position on the floor. He was just as dazzling as the sun, standing with his back against the light. 

His hair that was brushed neatly backwards showed slight annoyance and worry through his revealed forehead. 

Instead of helping me up, Edmund just sat in front of me. 

Our eye levels matched in an instant. Edmund took off his left glove and touched my forehead. He gently brushed away the flowing bangs and touched it with a cold hand. 

Perhaps the memory of the day I collapsed was too shocking to him, he would always treat me like a glass doll with cracks. Even if I coughed wrongly once, he probably would come running over like this. 

Edmund said with a hint of disapproval.

“Vivi, you have to be careful until your body is completely fine.”

“I’m really alright.”

After getting back up with his support, the rain of flowers stopped with a flick of my finger. Not much time has passed, but the dark red carpet was covered with petals that didn’t match with it. 

“However, Vivian–”

I turned my head away with a face that was tired of Edmund’s nagging, which would certainly continue for a long time. And, on such a day, it was Rovelyn that saved me with good timing. 

“My dearest Eddie. Can’t you see your Noona?”

[T/N: ‘Noona’ means sister, and is used as a form of address to his older cousin. In Korea, it’s considered rude to call relatives that are older by their names even if you’re from the same generation (siblings/cousins) I’ll keep it as ‘Noona’ instead of sister because Rovelyn isn’t actually Edmund’s sister >.<] “…Rovelyn.” “Rovelyn? Daring to call your Noona directly with her name, it seems that you’ve lost a lot of your manners after not meeting for a while. Why was it that our Eddie could still stay at the art museum without being dragged away by Uncle?” Watching Edmund, who could have rebutted, quietly shut his mouth, I internally revised my assessment of Rovelyn. I thought that she was a pushover like Edmund, but she’s a really scary person.  “Don’t harass the innocent girl.” But Edmund’s meekness only lasted for a moment. He threw away the innocent sheep’s mask immediately and his face turned blank. Then he looked at me and Rovelyn alternately and spoke. “Have the two of you greeted each other already?” “Of course.” “Did you say something weird to Vivi?” “…Edmund Deer.” ═══∘°❈°∘═══