“What... A portrait?”

Khalid’s sharp eyes narrowed a little.

But I ignored him and greeted the artist sitting under the tent.

“Hello!”

“Oh, what cute customers... Miss?”

“Huh, do you know me?”

“Of course! I sometimes visit the castle to restore murals. I’ve seen you from a distance a few times.”

“Oh, I see.”

I thought I’d disguised myself well, but he still recognized me.

The artist smiled kindly.

“Are you here for a portrait?”

“Yes! Me and my friend! Please draw us together!”

“Leave it to me!”

I dragged Khalid, who was just standing there, over to sit beside me.

“Ruby, why a portrait all of a sudden?”

“You know! When friends hang out, they sometimes take photos or... I mean, draw pictures like this!”

Like making a memory in four shots...

Well, this is just one.

Khalid looked confused.

“Sit nicely. We’ll look better in the picture.”

When I leaned my shoulder against his, Khalid stiffened and sat up super straight.

The artist’s hands moved fast. A real portrait would take days, but a street artist is all about speed.

“Do you really keep portraits like this with friends?”

Khalid asked, barely moving his lips.

I was excited and nodded quickly.

“Of course! And sometimes on dates, too...! Oops.”

I quickly bit my lip. Khalid was still looking straight ahead.

‘He didn’t hear, right?’

I got so excited that I blurted it out.

“I see... with friends...”

he murmured beside me.

Suddenly, I felt his gaze.

“So what was that ‘bad thought’ you had?”

What, was he still stuck on that?

“You’re really obsessed, you know.”

“You think dates are bad?”

“...”

From the corner of my eye, I saw Khalid tilt his head in confusion.

“Why...?”

“...”

“What do people do on dates, anyway?”

I clenched my fist on my stiff leg.

My scalp felt hot.

Khalid looked like he wanted an answer, but I couldn’t meet his eyes.

‘Oh, dear lamb... Please, stay as pure as you are. I’m doomed, though.’

The next day, my birthday party was held in a fancy ballroom!

Even though it was rushed and there were no outside guests, I was happy with just my family and the people from the castle.

“Rubian, happy birthday—even if it’s a little late!”

“Kyaaa! Thank you!”

Shiny chandeliers, gorgeous decorations, piles of delicious food—

Everything was for me.

‘Is this why everyone loves birthdays?’

I wore a party hat and blew out the cake candles. Asha’s homemade fireworks went off—pop! pop!

I laughed, surrounded by all the sparkling confetti.

“Happy birthday, Ruby.”

Khalid whispered to me. That day, we had two portraits drawn and shared one each.

Not only that, but Khalid gave me every single thing I touched in the shops yesterday.

I seriously worried about his sense of money.

“Thanks, Khal. But you really have to start keeping a spending diary, okay?”

“...? I’ll try.”

“You two are close.”

Void suddenly cut in with narrowed eyes.

“Where did you two go yesterday, anyway?”

Lately, Void had been watching Khalid and me way too closely.

Khal, who was sitting next to me, answered casually:

“Da—”

“We just looked around nearby!”

I quickly covered Khalid’s mouth.

Mom, holding red wine, tilted her head.

“Hmm? But I want to hear what Khal was going to say next.”

“Yeah, so it was a da—”

“Khal, don’t be fooled! That smile means Mom’s hiding arrows behind her back.”

“...?”

I yanked on his sleeve and whispered. Khalid looked confused, and Void dragged his chair between us.

“Okay, all done! Time to open presents, everyone!”

Grandpa waved from across the hall.

“Preeeeesents!”

I jumped from my chair.

When I ran over, I saw a huge wall full of colorful gift boxes.

‘Whoa, it would take a year to open all these!’

“This is just a sample. The rest are in Grandpa’s cottage—”

“There’s more?!”

“Son, maybe I should turn my cottage into Ruby’s gift storage? I can sleep anywhere anyway. That’d be better, right?”

“Not bad. It’s more fun to fill up an empty place.”

“What are you talking about!”

I waved my arms and barely saved Grandpa’s cottage from turning into a warehouse.

The colorful boxes had little cards on them too—many had the names of the knights or castle workers.

I picked them up and held them tight.

‘I don’t like too much, but these are really nice.’

“Oh, right. There’s something I really want!”

Just as my family was starting their gift session, I suddenly turned around.

“Huh?”

My family looked surprised.

“Ruby! You should have told us earlier! What do we do, Liam?!”

“Calm down, Void. Given our family’s wealth and influence, we could get anything within a day if we—”

“Not in a day.” 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

“Huh?”

Liam’s glasses slipped a little crooked.

Dad put his hand on my shoulder and knelt down.

He looked a little embarrassed.

“What is it? Tell us, Ruby.”

I grinned.

“Hehe. Come in, please!”

Creeeak—the artist peeked in.

“Ah, hello...”

“Who’s that?”

I puffed up my chest.

“For my birthday... I want to draw a family portrait!”

In the portrait studio, my eyes grew wide.

“Wow!”

“Haha, are you already impressed? It’s not even finished.”

The artist scratched his head, embarrassed.

The portrait had only just been sketched, but I could already make out everyone’s shapes. I was amazed!

“It’s still awesome!”

I gave two thumbs up, and the artist laughed even more.

“Thank you. It should be finished by summer.”

I love it—a family portrait!

At first, my family looked awkward, but now they seemed just as excited as I was.

Dad and my two brothers would be away from the castle all spring, so we decided to finish the picture with me, Mom Rosetta, and Grandpa first.

‘When it’s colored in, it’ll be perfect!’

I was in the center of the picture, which looked kind of funny.

“By the way, sir, you’re heading out today, right?”

the artist asked, cleaning his brushes.

“Yeah...”

I slumped a little.

“Don’t worry, he goes every year. He’ll be fine.”

“Right... Oh! Did you finish what I asked about?”

“Of course. Here.”

He took a small sheet of paper out of his bag—a drawing of our family portrait.

“Thank you!”

I bowed, then left the studio.

Walking down the hallway, I held up the drawing in the sunlight.

The creamy paper glowed. I could feel the rough charcoal lines with my fingers.

“Hehe, even a sketch is nice. Family photo!”

I’d cut out a tiny piece to give to Dad.

There was only one, so it was a bit sad...

“Miss! Did you go to the portrait studio?”

Hazel bumped into me on her way from my room.

“Yeah!”

“It’s all aired out—go in and rest, please.”

“Thanks, Hazel!”

I ran inside and rolled all over the clean sheets.

“Yay, I love it!”

My east room was way bigger than my old one.

There were so many cute things.

Dad and Mom told me to throw out what I didn’t want, but I refused.

‘They picked everything for this room so carefully.’

Dad even remembered where every single thing was.

How could I throw them away?

‘And, honestly, these aren’t really mine, anyway.’

They were for the child of my dead mom and dad.

‘I could never just throw them away.’

“Hmm...”

After rolling around for a while, I scratched my back, thinking.

‘It’s about time I got moving. If I want to break free from the mark’s control...’

As I sat up thinking, my eyes landed on the desk in the middle of the room.

My lips parted a little.

“That’s...”

I walked over and picked up the academy pamphlet.

“Oh, I still haven’t thrown this away.”

I thought I’d left it behind.

The Heart of the Empire—Rietta Academy is waiting ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ for you!

The big ad caught my eye.

‘Now that I think about it, Void and Liam will be going back to the academy soon.’

School...

Honestly, I didn’t have good memories of school in my past life, so I wasn’t that interested.

Plus, the capital was dry of magic. If I had to go somewhere, the southern academy would be better.

I picked at the pamphlet, then looked back at the cover.

‘...Heart...?’

Suddenly, that word stuck in my mind for some reason.