Two Friends (2)

The same day, the two friends stayed in the classroom after school to draw.

“How many hours are you going to be gone today?”

“We’re going to crush it and then go to the guest lecture.”

“A guest lecture?”

“Didn’t you know? Baron Lanzkoi is coming.”

“Who’s that?”

Seeing her friend scratching her head, Judith jumped to her feet.

“You don’t know Baron Lanzkoi? Everyone in the world knows about him?”

“Then I must be an animal, not a man. A dog!”

“Oh, don’t kid yourself. Don’t you know the rising star of the art world?”

“Oh, he’s a painter?”

Her friend, who had been slumped over her desk, flicked her ears in disbelief.

He had no interest in art and didn’t really want to know.

Judith, who had always been an ardent admirer of the Baron, interrupted her with a long-winded explanation of how great he was.

Unaware that her friend was listening in one ear and spilling out the other at the boring art talk.

“Anyway, I hear he started late, but he’s already been recognized for his skills and is an adjunct professor at the Hersian National Academy. I’d love to be his student if I ever get the chance.”

“Is that so great?”

“Of course! I decided to become a painter after seeing Baron Lanzkoi’s paintings.”

“Well, that’s great. I’ll support you in fulfilling your dream.”

And so the two friends painted until it was time for the lecture.

How long has it been?

They were both deep in their drawings when suddenly the front door of the classroom slammed open.

“Oh, this isn’t the place, sorry to interrupt.”

A deep-voiced gentleman apologized.

Recognizing his face, Judith jumped out of her seat in surprise.

It was the same as the self-portrait Lanzkoi had drawn.

“Ba-Baron Lanzkoi!”

“Where have we met before?”

“I, I was waiting here to hear the Baron’s lecture.”

“Ah, so you’re a student here to hear my lecture, how nice.”

Once inside the classroom, the Baron walked over to Judith and offered his hand to shake.

Her hands trembled as she grasped his.

From these hands came such great paintings.

She had a vision of his hands glowing as if they were coated in gold.

Her friend, who had been slumped on the desk, cracking the drawings, looked up with a sullen face, and then became as still as a statue.

He had never seen a man so noble in her life.

She had been a commoner all her life, and all the nobles she had seen at the Molniski Ladies’ Academy had been women, so it was also the first time she had ever seen a noble man.

The eyes of a girl who had never known love instantly filled with excitement.

“Ah, do you want to shake hands?”

The words made her friend jump to her feet.

The papers on the desk fell off the desk and scattered on the floor.

“I’m, I’m sorry!”

Baron Lanzkoi stooped to pick up the fallen papers before she could rush over.

“Did a student draw that?”

“Ahh! It’s graffiti, don’t look at it!”

Flushed with embarrassment, her friend reached out to grab it, but the baron stepped back, avoiding her hand.

He stood there for a long time, admiring her paintings.

Judith suddenly felt uneasy for no reason.

When the Baron had finished looking at her friend’s paintings, his tightly closed lips parted.

When she saw her idol’s warm gaze on her friend, not on her, she knew what he was going to say.

“If you don’t mind, why don’t you become my apprentice?”

“Yes?”

“It won’t cost you any money, of course. In fact, I’ll pay you a stipend to help me with my work. It’s kind of like an apprenticeship.”

Ominous premonitions were never wrong.

Baron Lanzkoi had never had an apprentice before.

Neither had he at the students at the Hersian National Academy.

And now it was her friend, who knew nothing about art, who had received the honorary first offer.

Judith wished it was all a dream.

“Wait, hold on a second. What’s all this sudden……”

“I’ve never seen such an impressive painting. I can see that you’re a bit clumsy, but with a little polishing, you’ll have something that will amaze the world. Why don’t you take my guidance and we’ll grow together?”

“Impressive? My paintings?”

“I didn’t realize you had such genius.”

That day, for the first time, her friend felt her heart skip a beat.

An intense shiver swept through her body at the word genius being used to describe her.

In that moment, it didn’t even occur to her that this was the position Judith had been dreaming of for years.

Her friend just nodded.

“Yes, I’ll do it!”

Judith felt a deep, indescribable sense of betrayal at that the woman she had counted on to say no for her.

Having gotten the answer he wanted, the Baron set the paintings down on his desk and took his apprentice’s hand in his own.

Judith slowly lifted the paintings that reversed her fate.

What could have possessed him so?

The question was soon answered.

The moment she saw her friend’s paintings, she felt the hairs on her head stand up.

It was enough to make the Baron’s mind reel.

No, there was no one in the world who could look at them and not be moved.

She hated her friend.

She hated her friend for complaining about her own lack of talent.

‘Was she trying to make fun of me?’

Judith sometimes pitied her friend for not being good at anything.

At the same time, she felt a sense of superiority.

If she gave up on her dreams, she always had an alternative path to follow.

Studying was her talent.

But she was so serious about her dream of becoming a painter that she was willing to give up what she was good at and take the thorny path.

As if laughing at herself for being so desperate, her incompetent friend, who was only thinking about meeting and marrying a rich man, did it without any effort, without any desire.

She was born with a talent she didn’t have.

An overwhelming talent that she could never match, no matter how hard she tried.

***

Eventually, the friend became an unofficial apprentice of Baron Lanzkoi.

They were eager to share this proud news with everyone, but the Baron asked them to keep it a secret for the time being, saying that women painters were not yet well-received.

Judith put on a brave face and told her friend that she congratulated her, but of course she didn’t mean it.

That day, Judith threw away all her art supplies and never drew again.

Her roommate saw the tools in the trash but didn’t ask about them.

It was an opportunity that would never come again.

She had no intention of reversing her decision for Judith, so feeling sorry for her was a luxury.

And so the two friends grew apart.

Time passed quickly and graduation day arrived.

Standing at the lectern as valedictorian and delivering her speech, Judith bit her lower lip when she spotted Baron Lanzkoi in the back seat.

He must have come to congratulate his apprentice.

The thought of her friend’s future as a titan after graduation, with the support of her mentor, made her feel sick.

‘You’re not even a friend.’

She felt angry, as if her place had been taken away from her, even though she hadn’t been given the position of apprentice in the first place.

A vicious predator who’d trampled on her friend’s dreams.

When I graduate, I’ll never see that abomination again.

That was her only consolation.

Her hatred for her friend reached its peak after the graduation ceremony.

As she stood waiting for the carriage to take her home, she saw the back of her friend’s head in the distance as she and Baron Lanzkoi walked into an alley, wary of their surroundings.

It was no exaggeration to say that most problems in human affairs are caused by curiosity.

Judith’s curiosity had also led to unexpected tragedy.

Drop.

The bouquet she’d received as valedictorian fell to the ground.

A rustling sound drew the attention of a man and woman who had been kissing passionately in the alleyway.

“Ju-Judith……!”

The friend who had sent her lover away ran up to her.

“Since when did you start seeing the Baron?”

“Since that…….”

“Did you covet the position so much?”

It was obvious that her friend was talented.

But Judith wanted to believe that it wasn’t a matter of talent, that she had cheated by flirting.

She wanted to denigrate her friend’s talent by doing so.

“It’s a misunderstanding. It’s true that I’m dating Baron Lanzkoi, but it’s not the reason I was chosen as his student. It happened during the joint party with the Academy… That’s when I became his student.”

Judith had missed the party because she was sick.

But she couldn’t believe what her friend was saying anymore.

Shee’d stolen her dreams, and now she was dating a nobleman.

She hated her for having everything she ever wanted.

“If you’re so confident, why didn’t you tell me you’ve been seeing him all this time? You had plenty of chances to tell me.”

“I didn’t want you to take it the wrong way…….”

“Then stop it right now. Why don’t you talk to the Baron and ask him to take me as his student instead?”

“I’m sorry, I can’t do that.”

“What?”

Judith asked, her voice trembling.

“It was thanks to him that I first realized I had a talent. You told me I’d find something that would make my heart sing!”

Why is a blessed life, where talent aligns with dreams, only granted to her friend?

“Can’t you at least understand me? I’ve been having a hard time. Yhere are things I’ve never told you…….”

The friend held Judith’s hand and shed a tear.

How lucky, she thought.

With everything she had, what could be so hard?

I’m the one who’s in so much pain that I want to die.

Judith coldly slapped her hand away.

“Don’t touch me. It’s dirty.”

“……What?”

Her friend’s eyes widened in shock.

“I hope you become unhappy. I wish for you to deeply regret this moment and suffer with every fiber of your being.”

“Judith…….”

“I sincerely pray that you will be abandoned by everyone and live and die in eternal solitude.”

With that, Judith turned completely away from the girl she had once considered a friend.

She didn’t know.

That in the near future, she would come to regret that moment with all her heart.