In order to see his starting point, Kaywhin was showing his skills by drawing the basics of all still-life paintings, an apple.
Yelena glanced at the picture drawn on the canvas.
There was a lumpy, red circled.
Without a single shred of deceit, Yelena sincerely told him, “Not at all, you’re doing very well.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yep. Among all those that I have taught, you’re really the best at painting.”
Yelena had actually never taught painting to anyone other than Kaywhin.
While this might mean he was the best in a category consisting of only one person, at least it wasn’t a lie.
‘He really does paint well. Look at his perfect sphere, and such a compelling choice of colors. Mhm, he really does have talent.’
And Yelena was actually inclined to think that her husband was skilled at anything he put his hand to.
Although it was hard her judgment to be objective one, in any case, after she had finished admiring her husband’s skills, Yelena continued glancing at Kaywhin’s side-profile as he concentrated on painting the apple.
After the problem with the families of Anna and Hans had been resolved, Yelena had suddenly realized something.
Anna and Hands, who had become a married couple twenty years into the future, had helped Yelena even though they knew that she was a noble.
Although, now that she had thought about it , it rather seemed like they had helped Yelena ‘because’ she was a noble.
The world had ended. Feudal classes no longer held any meaning.
There was nothing to be gained from helping a noble, and the commoners might even feel inclined to take out their grudges on their former lords.
However, in the future, Anna and Hans had even sacrificed their lives in order to save the noble, Yelena.
‘Their reason for doing so…’
It might just be because of her husband.
Yelena pondered this as she gazed at Kaywhin.
Anna and Hans owed a lot to Kaywhin.
Their lives were saved when they were just children, and they even received material support as they grew up.
This was no small debt.
Anna and Hans may have felt compelled to repay the favor that they had been given.
And if it was because of this that the two of them had decided to save a fleeing noble, the person who had ultimately ended up saving Yelena in the future was…
“Kaywhin.”
“…yes, Yelena?”
Perhaps because he was so focussed on drawing the apple, Kaywhin’s reply came slightly slower than usual.
There was something strange going on. Yelena couldn’t help but think that he looked cute like this.
Her husband might be handsome and imposing, but it was a far cry to call him cute.
If you thought about it, it was obvious.
Was there anything that could be called cute about a tall, fully-grown man who was twice your size?
‘But he really is cute.’
For some reason, she kept getting the urge to pet him.
Holding back the impulse, Yelena said, “I should secretly stroke his head later, once he’s asleep.”
‘Once you’re done with painting the apple, we can try and paint something together, so is there anything you would like to draw?’
Kaywhin’s hand froze.
With bewildered eyes, he turned to look at Yelena.
Yelena didn’t realize what she had just done until the moment that their eyes met.
“Ugh!”
The realization came too late to change anything.
She had switched what she had wanted to say with what she had been thinking.
During Yelena’s moment of shocked enlightenment, Kaywhin replied.
“If it’s something like that… then you don’t have to do it in secret.”
“…”
“…”
“Yelena?”
“Please don’t talk to me. Right now the inside of my head is a mess.”
Her husband really needed to appreciate just how much endurance it was taking for Yelena to remain sitting there instead of fleeing the room immediately.
After taking deep breaths and fanning herself with her hands, she finally managed to calm down.
Right then, ahem, things had gotten a bit embarrassing for her, but just by looking at the results it could be called a success.
Because thanks to her slip-up, she had inadvertently gotten his permission.
“If that’s the case, I’ll just go ahead and pat your head. Since you absolutely said that I could, husband.”
To be precise, he had said that she didn’t have to do it ‘in secret’, but that was no different to giving her permission to do so.
Yelena boldly placed her hand on top of Kaywhin’s head.
The black hair wrapped around her fingers felt soft to the touch.
“…”
“…”
As she was stroking his hair, their eyes suddenly met.
It didn’t feel right to avoid his gaze, nor did it seem suitable to praise how soft his hair was, so Yelena merely smiled at him.
“…ahem. Well then, why don’t we continue the class? Right, there’s a lot that I need to teach you, so let’s finish up this apple first.”
After a while, Yelena withdrew her hand, straightened her posture, and hypocritically encouraged Kaywhin to get back to work.
Like this, she had managed to abruptly complete another stage of skinship for newborn lovers, stroking his hair.
For some reason, it felt like she was walking on clouds.
Trying to contain her excitement, Yelena kept her gaze fixed down onto the canvas.
As she did so, Kaywhin’s gaze lingered on her side-profile for a little longer than usual.
***
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