Please Take A Step Out Of The Portrait

Chapter 18

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Vivian’s POV

Although the war of nerves between Edmund and Rovelyn occurring for unknown reasons made me feel uneasy, the more pressing issue was the rapidly rising fatigue. Using a lot of mana made my body droop exhaustedly like wet cotton.

A huge pile of petals were underneath my shoes. Clamour filled the party hall momentarily, and the gazes soon scattered. It’s possible that it wasn’t the first or second time that they didn’t get along. 

“…How do I reverse the summon?”

I learned it before, but I don’t remember how.

As it was a petal made of mana, I thought that it would be for the best if I reversed the summoning personally. 

I pressed on my temples with my fingertips for no reason and tried my best to recall my memories. Was this the right method? 

I picked up a petal by the hem of my dress. While fiddling the soft and thin petal with my thumb and index finger, I blew on it and imbued my mana into the air that was blown out. 

As I whispered the spell, the petal slowly floated into the air.

With that as the beginning, all the petals within the wide hall began to float up into the air one after another. Just like how it first appeared, the petals disappeared one by one. Just like time has reversed, the rain of flowers moving in reverse was a very unrealistic appearance. 

Magical power also escaped continuously, as much as the laws of the earth were violated. 

Still, after practising for a few days recently, the flow of mana was much better than I thought. Right, it’s not as if I couldn’t do it. What other insulting words were there, to tell a mage that they shouldn’t use magic?

In order to not make a mistake like before, this time I focused my attention right to the last petal. It wasn’t until the petals on my shoes floated into the air and disappeared like burst bubbles, did I look around my surroundings.  

“……”

“……”

There were more gazes than I thought, so I took a deep breath. 

If there were only one of two gazes, I could accept them skillfully, but many gazes were aimed in this direction throughout the wide hall, and even from the direction of the hall that was sectioned off. 

“…Why.”

I moved my legs stealthily and clung to Edmund’s side. 

Edmund chuckled lowly, and grabbed me to hide me in his embrace. As he was much taller than me, it was easy for me to avoid eye contact, and thanks to that, my unease quickly subsided. 

For some reason, I wanted to check whether those gazes were still on me, so I tried to look over Edmund’s shoulder by tip toeing. However, my attempt was thwarted as Edmund pressed on my head hard. 

“What’s wrong with everyone?”

“…I’m currently thinking that you’re more amazing than I thought you were, so what about them?”

This was considered amazing?

“Why?”

“Are you asking because you’re unaware?”

“Isn’t this something all mages are supposed to be able to do?”

If my sister heard such words, she would be speechless at how much of a waste of magic it was. 

“Rovelyn, are there still a lot of people looking here?”

“Not currently.”

She glanced around and smiled while shaking her head. Her voice sounded like it was a threat to those that were still looking over here, to get them to turn their heads on their own. 

“…In that case, that’s fine.”

When I gave Edmund, who was holding me tightly, a slight push, he let me go with a sad face. When I retreated a few steps away from him, something was caught in my shoes. 

What. What’s this? Fortunately, the person that was behind me caught me, who was reeling because of my heels, and I didn’t fall like previously. 

“Thank– you.”

The man standing behind me was the same person with platinum blond hair that I saw during the auction earlier. He was the one that fought fiercely with Edmund for the portrait, . 

In other words, it was the Crown Prince of the Empire.

“I greet Your Highness, the Crown Prince.”

“Your Highness, what brings you here?”

“Long time no see, Rovelyn. And Eddie.”

How should I react to him?

Edmund said that the Crown Prince really wasn’t much, but the Emperor within my memories was an omnipotent person in power. In addition, the fact that the Emperor that I knew of was a crazy tyrant that spoke for itself. 

As such, Rovelyn’s and Edmund’s impolite attitudes made me uneasy. 

Apparently, the Imperial Family couldn’t do anything about the Deer Family, and Edmund and the Crown Prince seemed close.

I hid my confused mind and stood quietly, but Edmund stood out first. 

“I wanted to introduce you first, but this is Vivian Summers.”

“Aha, ‘Her’?”

The Crown Prince looked at Edmund and I alternately, with a face that looked like he had quite a lot that he wanted to say. 

I thought about whether I should treat him as if he was the Crown Prince of my time, but when I looked at how the people around me treated him, I thought that it would be fine for me to not do so. 

…Whatever. As I bent over and held the train of my skirt in one hand, I placed my right hand under my left collarbone and lowered my upper body slightly in greeting. 

“I’m Vivian Ataraxia Summers.”

The Crown Prince laughed.

“I’m Leon Swanye Sierra.”

The Crown Prince also introduced himself briefly. Edmund seemed to be close with the Crown Prince, as he spoke grumpily. 

“I heard you called me, but I couldn’t find you after looking for a long time. Where were you?”

“It’s because something else cropped up. I’m sorry.”

“…Why did you do that during the auction earlier?”

“What did I do?”

The Crown Prince responded with a nonchalant shrug. It seemed as though he cared quite a bit for Edmund.

“Your Highness raised the price so much that I wasted so much money.”

“What do you mean wasting money? I raised the price fairly.”

They were probably talking about the fierce battle they had for a successful bid over . The Crown Prince smiled lightly, as if he was looking at his cheeky youngest sibling.  

Rovelyn cut into their conversation, berating Edmund for being rude, but Edmund didn’t pay it any attention. I took a step back from them and watched the situation.

“The Deer family tends to overindulge Edmund.”

“That’s not it.”

“Especially Aunt, she sides with him too much.”

What’s the relationship between the Crown Prince and Edmund? I checked the faces of the two people before me with a confused expression.

“Lady Summers seems to have a question.”

“…What’s the relationship between Edmund and the Crown Prince?”

All three of them stared at me and blinked.

I let out a low exclamation as I watched the three of them blink side by side. 

It seems as though Edmund would appear if half of the Crown Prince and Rovelyn’s features were mixed. 

With a threatening expression, Rovelyn stepped on Edmund’s foot.

“Ah, what is it, Noona?”

“Don’t show such indecent behaviour before His Highness.”

“Yeah, it doesn’t matter when it’s just us.”

When the Crown Prince stood up for Edmund immediately, Rovelyn’s face twisted, as if she had eaten a rotten apple. 

“This isn’t the time to chat about Deer’s overindulging way of raising children, or something like that. To treat His Highness without reserve… Edmund.”

When Rovelyn jabbed her elbow towards Edmund, he made an ‘ugh’ sound and grabbed the area near his ribs. 

“Aren’t you becoming too arrogant?”

“……”

Rovelyn and Edmund seemed to be one or two years apart, while the Crown Prince looks around four or five years older than them.

Edmund rubbed his side and said.

“Didn’t I tell you?”

“Nope.”

“The Crown Prince is my cousin.”

Hm?

“My mother is an Imperial princess.”

His Majesty’s younger sister.

I couldn’t help but laugh dryly.

The Deer family.

It seems like it’s quite easy for this family to kill and eat an Empire. Their wealth isn’t shaken when a painting was bought for 500 million Zulang, and a Lady of the house that’s from the Imperial family. 

“How is Aunt doing?”

“Mother, she’s still the same. This time she went on a business trip in a hurry, and other business cropped up, so she gave me half of Chervanni, and I benefitted as a result.”

“So, you don’t have the intention to officially introduce your lady?”

“Ahh, she isn’t my lady yet.”

The Crown Prince nodded distractedly and turned completely towards me. After staring at my face to the point of being rude, he then chuckled. 

“I wasn’t going to say this.”

“Yes?”

“I think I see why rumours that Edmund was besotted with Miss Summers appeared.”

“……”

I was a little uncomfortable. The words that I heard the most after I first revealed my face in this place, was that I looked exactly like the portrait, as if I had walked out of the portrait. I recalled the portrait that I didn’t have memories of, and tried my best to ignore my displeasure. 

It was unpleasant for people to think of me impersonating the painting, but it was just as unpleasant for people to treat me like I was the portrait after giving me a glance. 

It is hard to determine which of the two was more unpleasant.

“I don’t know whether Edmund is besotted by me or not…”

Right. Portrait.

My sister drew me very realistically. And that painting was one of the most famous paintings in ‘The Deer’.

“First of all, I am indeed the Vivian Summers in ‘her’ portrait.”

“I see.”

However, that doesn’t mean that I, a person named Vivian Summers, will become Sasha Summers’ .

All of the discomfort I had all this time stemmed from this. In fact, even Edmund, the person that I trusted the most here, showed signs of having such thoughts, might have contributed to my discomfort. 

The Crown Prince nodded readily and suddenly reached a hand out towards me. Edmund was slightly annoyed, saying, ”Oh, your Highness the Crown Prince,” and Rovelyn threatened Edmund with a threatening, “Edmund Deer.”

However, the Crown Prince smiled slightly, uncaring of the two of them. 

“The Imperial Family is always obsessed with the golden age of the Empire.”

If it was the golden age of the Empire, it would refer to the time period where I lived in or the period before that. But why was he bringing that up? 

I stayed still as I couldn’t understand, but Edmund stepped in immediately. 

“We are currently in another golden age, Your Highness.”

“It’s Deer’s golden age.”

“……”

At the Crown Prince’s words that were telling him to shut up, Edmund closed his mouth  

“I too, know the Imperial Family’s dance from back then.”

As I stood there dazedly, he gave Edmund a playful smile, directly took my hand and briefly pressed his lips lightly on it. 

“Please sing us a song.”

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