Chapter 4

My Husband Lives Inside the Painting 

“……What did you say?”

Snap—

As the tangled threads finally came undone, I realized the reason for that strange sense of familiarity I had felt from the very beginning.

‘I’m inside the painting.’

But it still didn’t feel real.

“There’s no way something that ridiculous could actually happen……”

As I muttered, Camille’s large hand covered the back of mine.

Drawn back to reality by the sensation, I looked up to find his familiar yet gentle eyes fixed entirely on me.

“Your longing created a miracle.”

“A miracle?”

“Do you really need to think about it that deeply? Whatever the reason, I’m alive here in front of you right now.”

Then he said the words I had wanted to hear more than anything.

“Ob. You’re my savior.”

“……I’m your savior?”

“Yes.”

His voice slowly seeped into my ears.

“So don’t think about anything else. Just stay here and have fun with me.”

A little while later, when I came to my senses, he was already standing behind me with his hands wrapped around my shoulders.

Just as I was about to heighten my guard, his lips came close to my ear, and his low voice whispered,

“Forget all about the outside world. You only need to focus on the two of us.”

At his sweet words, my mind grew hazy again.

“There are still so many things we haven’t done together.”

“Ah……”

Camille helped me to my feet, then took my hand and led me outside.

A vast field of flowers stretched out before us. The cool breeze scattered my hair, while Camille walked ahead, holding my hand, his back filling my vision.

“You like flowers, don’t you?”

He suddenly turned around, his eyes curving into a smile as he continued in a sweet voice.

“We’ll stay together forever in our very own greenhouse.”

“In our own greenhouse……”

To me, who had never once imagined a future with another person, those words tasted like sugar lingering on the tip of my tongue.

No. In truth, there was no need to think about it at all.

‘Who could possibly need me in the real world?’

If not Camille, then who?

Yes. There was no reason for me to go back.

‘There’s no need to think about anything else. Just stay here, like Camille said.’

I walked through the flower field with him. The scenery was so beautiful that it was hard to believe I had painted it myself.

“It’s much better than reality, isn’t it?”

“……Yes. It feels like a dream.”

“You can enjoy it as much as you want. Everything here exists for you.”

Camille approached me with a smile as radiant as a flower.

Then he picked a small wildflower and carefully tucked it into my hair.

“You’re beautiful, darling.”

‘But did he normally speak to me so casually……?’

“Ob, come here.”

That fleeting doubt was quickly washed away.

As though entranced, I willingly followed wherever Camille led me.

The former Duke of Ortega had two sons.

Camille, his eldest son, born to his lawful wife, Belladonna.

And Claude, his illegitimate son, born through a maid.

There were only two years between the two brothers. So it was obvious, even without seeing it firsthand, how violently Belladonna had reacted when she learned of Claude’s existence.

Naturally, Claude earned Belladonna’s hatred, and when he turned eight, he was sent to the western territory.

Having grown up there ever since, Claude had never expected to return to the main estate.

……Not until his older brother, Camille Ortega, died on the day of his coming-of-age ceremony.

“Do not think that you will inherit the family.”

The mother he was seeing again after so long had withered like an old tree stripped of its moisture.

Even so, her eyes still held that vicious malice.

“I called you here simply because I needed insurance to get us through this chaotic period. You have only one thing to do. Don’t cause any trouble and keep yourself out of sight as though you were dead.”

“Ha……”

“Otherwise, I will send you back to the western territory. Do you understand?”

Claude sighed, roughly running a hand through his black hair before dropping back against the chair.

“Yes.”

It was a careless answer.

He said nothing more and turned his gaze toward the window as though thoroughly fed up.

‘I never expected anything, but I didn’t think she could be this shameless.’

His eyes were much sharper than Camille’s. Their irises, resembling golden roses still in bud, had turned cold.

Claude’s life in the western territory had not been particularly bad.

At first, he had been looked down upon simply because he was an illegitimate son, but by then he had firmly established himself as a young lord and was busy managing the territory day after day.

‘She summons me at the busiest time of the year…… and then tells me to do nothing but stay here.’

Irritation boiled inside him.

Before spring arrived, the fields had to be plowed.

Once the hard earth that had frozen over winter was worked again, it would soon be time to sow the seeds. To summon him at such a busy time and then use him like a guard dog to watch over the mansion!

‘City people. They’re all like this.’

Claude wanted to turn everything upside down and go back, but he couldn’t.

Belladonna had threatened to cut off funding to the western territory if he disobeyed her orders.

‘That woman must have had something to do with my brother’s death, too.’

Claude didn’t even bother hiding his expression as he cast a blatant sideways glance at her.

The chilly confrontation between mother and son, reunited after so long, was abruptly interrupted by a loud crash from outside.

“What is going on?”

“I-I’m sorry. One of the maids suddenly caused a commotion……”

“I have something urgent to tell Lady Belladonna! It’ll only take a moment!”

“T-this really……! You can’t!”

“Move! Lady Belladonna! Lady Belladonna!”

A disheveled maid burst through the maids trying to block her.

Upon closer inspection, she was even missing one of her shoes.

“Who is this?”

Belladonna frowned, apparently displeased that the maid had interrupted their conversation.

But the maid paid no attention to her cold gaze and dropped to her knees.

Then she shouted with all her strength.

“M-My lady has disappeared!”

‘My lady?’

Claude, who had been watching the situation with interest, raised an eyebrow.

‘Come to think of it, didn’t my brother say he had taken a wife?’

Since no ordinary marriage proposals had ever come his way despite carrying the Ortega name, Claude had assumed his brother would spend his entire life under Belladonna’s thumb. So when he suddenly heard that Camille had married, he had found it rather surprising.

“She was always in the studio, but when I went there this morning, she wasn’t there……!”

Seeing the maid looking as though she might burst into tears at any moment, Claude frowned.

His brother was dead, and now his wife had disappeared.

“Well, that’s convenient. I was wondering how to get rid of something that was no longer useful anyway.”

And Belladonna didn’t even spare the maid a glance, just as Claude had expected. A perfect trifecta.

‘This damn household hasn’t changed at all.’

Claude swallowed a curse.

“……What?”

The maid’s eyes widened in confusion at Belladonna’s calm words.

“If she does not return within a week, clear out her room.”

“W-wait. How can you say something like that……!”

“Evelyn. Take her out.”

At her command, the woman standing behind Belladonna quietly bowed her head.

“Lady Belladonna!”

The maid was seized by the others and dragged away.

Even amid such a cold reaction, the girl continued screaming until the very end. She might still be young, but she certainly seemed useful enough.

Meanwhile, after taking a sip of black tea, Belladonna spoke again.

“I’ve prepared a room for you in the annex. I imagine the place where you stayed as a child will be more comfortable, won’t it?”

……Ah, right. They had still been talking about that. A mocking smile escaped Claude at how absurdly she had treated the maid as though she had never existed.

“Ah, that cramped little room.”

At his defiant reply, Belladonna’s fingertips paused for a moment.

“……I thought that now that you’re eighteen, you might have become at least a little more mature. I was mistaken.”

“I grew up without parents. You know that, don’t you?”

“It would be best if we avoided each other as much as possible. Take your meals separately in your room as well.”

“I was planning to do that anyway. I have a rather weak stomach.”

The distance between the two of them was too great to ever be bridged.

With a sardonic smile, Claude rose from his seat and looked down at his mother without even bowing his head.

“By the way, Mother, you really are remarkable. Your talent for throwing people away hasn’t changed at all.”

“……”

“I’ll be watching to see how long you can keep living like this.”

Leaving those cold words behind like a declaration of war, Claude walked away. Belladonna did not spare his departing back even a single glance.

I began living inside the painting with Camille.

‘How many days has it been already?’

The thought briefly crossed my mind, but there was no need to count.

Reality no longer mattered to me.

“Ob! Look at this! There are flowers blooming even on the trees!”

“They’re beautiful.”

“How about we go all the way over there today?”

“Okay.”

Camille was by my side.

Just having him smile at me, speak to me, and hold out his hand was enough.

As though that alone were the reason I existed.

‘I’m happy. I wish this moment could last forever.’

Forgetting even the fact that my earnest wishes had always betrayed me, I made that wish anyway.