As Long As You Are Happy

“A good morning to you, Miss Irina!”

Waking Irina up with her cheery voice once again, today Delphia was energetically cartwheeling around the dining hall. 

As more servants entered the duke’s estate one after the other, Irina was assigned a maid. 

However, Irina wanted Delphia, whose face she had at the very least gotten used to seeing, to continue to come visit her and so did Delphia. 

‘I still want to continue protecting her for some reason.’

Irina was not feeling well at the moment. 

But, objectively speaking, the problem was not with Irina’s health. 

“She’s just having difficulties eating and sleeping.”

Mister Veron, the estate doctor, provided his diagnosis after examining Miss Irina. 

“That doesn’t mean her body is weak. Especially since she is their daughter.”

“But, Mister Veron. She collapses with just a tap.”

“I’ve said this before. She just needs to eat well, sleep well and rest well. Then, she’ll soon be as healthy as anyone else very soon.”

That was why Irina was more comfortable with her but perhaps it was only because Delphia was the first person Irina had met after she left the slums. 

Delphia wanted to keep protecting her, staying by her side, telling her things and making her laugh. 

‘Whenever Miss Irina’s smiles, it feels like my body is being cleansed!’

That was why Delphia had accepted Irina’s request and become in charge of waking her up in the morning. 

To be exact, she was incharge of waking her up and having breakfast with her. 

Delphia liked chatting with Irina, Irina liked being with Delphia and Irina’s maid liked to sleep longer in the mornings so it was a win-win situation for all. 

The only problem was.

“… Good morning.”

For some reason, Irina looked drowsy.

“Hm? You don’t look like you’re having a good morning at all.”

Delphia circled around Irina who had just woken up but was staring off into space for some reason. 

“Ah!”

As though realising something, Delphia snapped her fingers. 

“You slept late again yesterday, didn’t you?”

“Yes…”

Her answer was then followed by a yawn.

“Good grief, it’s not good for your body to keep sleeping late like this.”

“Alright, I get it.”

Rubbing her eyes, Irina yawned again. A cheeky smile then spread along her lips. 

“It’s just such a nice day to sleep in.”

“Did you like the painting that much?”

Delphia tilted her head.

“That couldn’t be it, right?

Viscount Percy held his charity auctions regularly. 

Some of the paintings displayed in the event had already been donated even before the start of the war. 

Thus, both the number and quality of the paintings there would not have been as good as before. 

Paintings that would provide good returns would have already been sold off because of the war or concealed to be used as emergency funds. 

‘The painting his grace chose must have been the best one there…’

No. There was still that painting.

Wasn’t there a piece of work that hadn’t been sold all this time because it was too expensive for anyone to buy?

“Ah… I liked staring at the painting too, but–”

Irina let out a soft yawn before shaking her head as she wondered why she was still drowsy even though she was already walking. 

Following the movements of her head, her golden hair swayed as well. 

“I like the fact that I am understanding something better.”

“I see.”

“Yup.”

Irina flashed a broad smile. 

“Now, I know the name of the painting and I know who the artist is.”

She now knew what kind of life they had lived and the story behind the painting. 

Even though the artist only had a few of their works achieving that level of fame. 

Nevertheless, she had gained knowledge. 

“I am ashamed to admit this. Well, to tell you the truth, I was the only one in the slums who couldn’t even count.”

Whether it be the children selling flowers to passers-by, people begging along the streets or those making money wiping shoes. 

Everyone could count the coins they earned and know the amount of money they had made that day.

Only she didn’t know. 

She did not know how to count, read the characters on coins or even understand the different value denominations of the currency. 

All she knew was to grab a broom, sweep, mop and serve food. 

“They were afraid I would try to escape the slums if I knew too much.”

Ben was exactly right. 

Each time Ben abused her, the onlookers in the slum would laugh at her as though they thought of her a fool. 

But she always imagined what it would be like to run towards the end of the street she stared at. 

“In fact, the inn I had worked in was situated on the edge of the slums. It was somewhere I could escape the slums from with just a few steps.”

“…..”

“But I couldn’t escape.”

Anytime Ben hit her, anytime she was cursed at, anytime she felt like she really was going to die if she continued living like that.

Irina would run to the very edges of the slums. 

All she had to do was cross that line. 

She could live a normal life on the other side. 

“Because anytime I tried, I wondered what I would even do after I left.”

Because I was a fool. 

I had no money and I was not learned. 

What can I do if I were to leave here?

There’s nothing to life for me out there but to starve to death.

In the end, she would only wander around for a bit before returning to the inn.

“Now that I think about it, I remember trying to convince myself that the inn was a good place to live too.”

Life there was hard but at least they gave her food. She had a place to sleep too.

“Even though I knew how my life would end, at least, I was alright now, right? And that’s why I continued to stay there.”

Irina smirked. 

Even though the older sisters that used to take care of her vanished from the inn one after the other. 

Even when she saw the bodies being hailed out of Barrodon’s estate with her own eyes, she could not bring herself to escape. 

She had been naively trapped in a cell without bars. 

“But something dawned on me yesterday.”

As Viscountess Alphington taught her writing, counting and various other things, she would get the same feeling when strangers helped her with even the smallest of things. 

But she hadn’t been as touched as she was yesterday. 

“There was something in front of me that I understood and could even explain.”

She could mingle with strangers with the etiquette and knowledge she had been taught and learned. 

And she was happy to do it. 

Now, if she were to return to the edges of the slums, she was certain she would not hesitate to cross the line this time. 

“That’s why I couldn’t sleep.”

She had left the candles lit the whole night while she reflected on all that happened earlier in the day. 

Staring at Irina who had a bright smile on her face, Delphia said. 

“Miss Irina, you are amazing.”

“Out of nowhere?”

“Hey, there’s nothing sudden about this! I just find you amazing!”

Delphia grinned at Irina. 

“Do you know how difficult the official Imperial language is? Even more so the aristocratic version! It is amazing to me how you managed to learn both in just a few months and even more amazing how you have already learned about art!”

“… I’m not as amazing as you think me to be.”

With her cheeks flushed red, Irina tapped one of her feet on the floor. 

“I just, read books on paintings because they had more images than words.”

“Hey, there are people who still wouldn’t understand the book even if you showed it to them every day. Take me for an example.”

Delphia shrugged her shoulders. 

“I might look like this but I had studied both art and music when I was a child. I even learned how to play the piano for a long time. But now I don’t remember a single thing from what I had learned.”

“… Really?”

“Yes. I hadn’t been interested in what I had been learning either, that’s why the words just entered one ear and left the other. Still, thinking I still had it in me, I tried reading a score recently.”

With a darkened expression, Delphia immediately shook her head. 

That meant she had failed. 

“I… I thought cooking was my gripe and vice but I realised that there was more.”

In an instant, the air around them felt heavy.

Irina almost added in spite of herself because Delphia looked so sad when she spoke. 

“S-still. Dame Delphia, you’re wonderful with the sword! And you get along with the rest with such ease. You’re great and amazing too!”

“Am I?”

Life quickly returned to Delphia’s expression as she pointed her thumb up.

“That’s why you’re amazing too, Miss Irina!”

“…..?”

That wasn’t how she expected things to go. 

Irina merely nodded because she thought the conversation would only go circles if she continued to deny it. 

Finding Irina cute, Delphia smiled. 

“By the way, Miss Irina. What kind of painting did his grace purchase? It was a charity auction so I’m sure he bought one or two.”

“He only bidded for one of them. The ‘Flowers in the Field’ by Deniker. Do you know of it?”

“Huh?”

Delphia unintentionally let out a noise because she had been too startled. 

“Deniker’s painting? Did his grace really place a bid on that painting?”

“Yes.”

What was wrong? Why was she so surprised? 

It couldn’t be.

“Dame Delphia.”

Irina grabbed Delphia’s hands and held them tightly. 

“Just as I thought, is that painting expensive?”

At the time, she had fallen for the duke’s eloquence but not now. 

‘No matter how many books I read, I can’t find the price of that painting anywhere.’

But it was only natural.

What book on art would quote the price range of a painting? 

It only talked about how ‘The artist shot to fame’ or how ‘It was a painting loved by everyone’.

She had been anxious because she couldn’t find anything else about the painting. 

“Is it expensive enough for your eyes to pop out like that?”

Irina’s blue eyes began to shake. 

“Just, how many years’ worth of meat can you buy the painting with?”

Irina took a step closer to Delphia. 

“Or is it enough to buy a carriage?”

Or could it be…

“C-could it buy a house…”

“Good grief, no!”

“Daniker might be a famous painter but her hands are fast enough that she churns out several paintings every year. That’s why the painting is not that expensive.”

“Really?”

“I’m speaking the truth. I was just surprised because you mentioned a painting I recognised. There aren’t many I recognize in the first place.”

It was only after she asked Delphia a couple more questions did she smile in relief. 

The books she read had also mentioned how fast Daniker’s hands were. 

“You surprised me. I thought the painting was expensive. Ah, shall we go eat now?”

With a bright smile on her face, Irina walked ahead of her and Delphia who followed closely after her smiled 

Concealing the fact that the ‘Flowers in the Field’ cost more than most aristocratic mansions in her throat. 

And just a few days later. 

The ‘Flowers in the Field’ hung on one side of Irina’s room.