Odalisque - Chapter 28

“Brad?”

“Liv, what a surprise to see you here.”

Brad, dressed in clean casual clothes and a hunting cap instead of a paint covered work suit, smiled brightly at Liv.

He took Liv’s hand and shook it, then looked up in surprise when he found Camille sitting across from Liv.

“This man is…”

The fading words seemed to be mixed with impure speculation. Brad, with his eyes wide open, looked back at Liv with an insidious smile.

Liv quickly opened her mouth because she was afraid that he would say nonsense.

“He is Millian’s art teacher. We’re talking for a moment because we have something to discuss about the guidance method.”

There was no need to explain the reason for the meeting in detail, but Liv tried hard to explain it. But for all her trouble, Brad was not looking at this encounter innocently at all.

“Aha, I see. Please take good care of Liv. Hahaha!”

Brad seemed to want to help by posing as a relative of Liv. Liv covered her face in embarrassment.

Camille, looking at Brad who suddenly stepped in, with a bitter expression, nodded reluctantly.

“Oh, yes.”

“So you are an art teacher. I’m a painter, so I can relate to you!”

“I see.”

Camille’s blunt answer was enough to tell how displeased he was with this situation now.

Liv poked Brad’s arm with her fingertip and pointed behind him.

“Brad. It looks like you have company.”

A middle-aged man standing a little away and glancing at them must have been Brad’s company. Liv casually looked over at the middle-aged man.

The middle-aged man, wearing a top hat and a decent frock coat, had a generous and benevolent air about him. He looked too elegant to be hanging out with Brad, so Liv even doubted for a moment that she was wrong. She couldn’t imagine that Brad, who usually liked to gamble and drink, had such an acquaintance.

Just as Liv’s look was about to turn into a look of suspicion, Brad cheerfully said goodbye to her.

“Oh, that’s right. Well, I’ll be on my way!”

Liv wondered if she was just imagining that he seemed more excited than usual.

Liv stared at the back of Brad’s head as he walked to the back of the shop while talking to the middle-aged man who smiled politely.

Brad was happy to have a meeting with a middle-aged gentleman in a coffee house like this, not in a bar. The more she looked at it, the stranger it became.

“You have an unexpected connection.”

Liv, who had been brooding over the weirdness she felt a while ago, came to her senses at once. Camille followed her to look in the direction where Brad had disappeared, still frowning.

It wasn’t just a look at a rude person who barged into the conversation without asking for permission. Liv, tilting her head, asked in a cautious tone.

“Do you happen to know Brad?”

“I know he’s a painter who gets rejected from art shows every year.”

Camille majored in art. He even came from a very famous art school.

However, being a graduate of the Eglantine School of Art did not mean that he knew all the painters across the country.

“But there are a lot of artists like him.”

“… If an artist who gets rejected every year walks around proudly, saying that he has recently met a huge supporter, I can’t help but know.”

Liv became speechless and closed her mouth in response to Camille’s bitter answer.

It was obvious who Brad was referring to as a “huge supporter.” Their work was strictly a secret, and even though he said it ambiguously, Liv was worried if it was okay to tell it around like that.

She thought they had shared the same opinion for the Marquis, who constantly interfered at every working time. But it seemed that he still hadn’t given up with the sponsorship.

“That person didn’t look well-behaved. Of course, it would not be right for me to interfere in your personal life, but… I’m a person of this field, so wouldn’t I have heard more? I would recommend that you keep as much distance from him as possible.”

Camille lowered his voice and advised with a worried look. Staring at Liv, who was lost in thought instead of answering, he continued cautiously.

“Honestly, I’m curious how you got close to such a man. You don’t seem to have any contact with him at all.”

As he said, Liv and Brad apparently had no contact at all. There was no way they could have met, except by chance, since they lived in different places and did different things. Liv recalled a more distant past.

She met Brad not long after she came to Buerno.

It was a day when she was tired after a long trip with Coryda, who was sick. While staying at an inn for a short time, Liv looked for a place to stay and found a not bad looking room for a very low price.

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