Viscount Ambert's residence was located in the core area of Will Main City.
Although it wasn't an ancient castle like the Merrick family's, it was still a sizable detached house.
In the art studio on the second floor, which had been recently tidied up.
Anna was looking expectantly at the painter, Ruiz, beside her.
"What do you think of my painting? I tried really hard this time!"
…
"It's quite good. If you pay attention to some details, the painting will be even more vivid."
Ruiz, standing beside her, was about 1.7 meters tall and had a slender build.
As he spoke, he had already picked up a paintbrush and started to touch up Anna's painting.
The fingers holding the paintbrush were long and slender, with well-defined knuckles.
His focused expression while painting, his azure pupils, and his chiseled jawline indeed held a certain personal charm.
With just a few light strokes, he added a few faint rays of sunlight to the painting, instantly bringing the originally unremarkable manor garden scene to life.
What Anna liked about Ruiz was this artistic talent for painting, and she also liked his face when he was focused on his work.
"You're truly amazing, Ruiz. No matter the painting, it becomes completely different after you add a few strokes!"
Anna snuggled up to Ruiz like a little bird.
In the quiet art studio, the young man and woman soon embraced.
Anna's actions grew bolder, her shawl slipping off at just the right moment. Her breathing grew heavier, and her whole body seemed to want to melt into Ruiz's arms.
But before she could make another move, Ruiz subconsciously pushed her away.
"Ruiz? What's wrong?"
Seeing the flash of nervousness on Ruiz's face, Anna tried to comfort him with understanding.
"Don't worry. As soon as the day of the duel between Lister and Kunt arrives, we'll leave the Duchy of Will together."
"Just like we planned, we'll find a place with beautiful scenery to live."
"Then no one will be able to stop me from marrying you!"
…
Hearing Anna's words, Ruiz put down his paintbrush, the fear and worry on his face growing more pronounced.
"Anna, can we really escape?"
"I've noticed that in the past few days, the way Viscount Ambert looks at me, it's as if he's already discovered something!"
…
"You're overthinking it. I know my father."
"He just doesn't like me painting, so he dislikes you by extension."
"Besides, he's completely focused on climbing up to the Duke or the Merrick family right now. Even I am just a tool for his family's advancement. How could he have the time to bother with you?"
Anna was right about this. Viscount Ambert himself was the duchy's finance minister, and his daily work was already tedious.
Not to mention that his mind was now mostly on the family's development,一心想成为新的以职业者为传承的世袭贵族.
If it weren't for Lister and Kunt, even Anna herself wouldn't receive much attention from Viscount Ambert, let alone a mere painter like Ruiz.
But no matter how Anna explained, Ruiz's mood remained low.
"Shouldn't we reconsider this!?"
"If we just leave the city like this, the world outside isn't as safe as the Duchy of Will…"
…
"What do you mean!?"
Anna, who had been looking like she was head over heels in love, instantly changed her expression!
Even with her rose-tinted glasses for Ruiz, she could hear the hesitation in his words. She stared at him with cold eyes.
"I don't mean anything else, I'm just worried about your safety."
In his heart, Ruiz had actually started to regret it long ago.
_He liked Miss Anna, but his feelings weren't that deep. After all, they had only known each other for a little over half a year.
To be honest, Ruiz probably valued the Ambert family behind Anna more than Anna herself.
His initial hope was to marry Anna and become part of Viscount Ambert's household.
It wasn't until the unwelcome guest in the city, Lister Merrick, took a fancy to Anna and began to pursue her relentlessly that Ruiz had already given up half his hope.
Who would have known that for his sake, Anna would first firmly reject Lister's pursuit, and even after learning of her father Viscount Ambert's intentions, she had already made early preparations to elope with him.
From then on, things spiraled out of control.
The real Anna was far from the innocent face she showed when she was with him.
On the contrary, she was quite resourceful. Under Lister's relentless pestering, she devised a plan to seduce the Duke's son, Kunt, and then provoked his relationship with Lister.
This ultimately caused a city-wide uproar, inciting the conflict of a duel.
And she planned to elope with him on the day the entire city was distracted by the duel.
Ruiz's earliest hope of marrying the Viscount's daughter and entering the Viscount's sights had suddenly turned into an extremely difficult and highly dangerous elopement!
And it would simultaneously offend three major powers: Viscount Ambert, Baron Merrick, and the Duke of Will.
"I'm telling you, if you back out now, I might just be punished by my family, but your life…"
"Hmph~!"
…
"Anna~! I really didn't mean that."
"I'll definitely be ready when the time comes. Let's practice painting for now!"
At the mention of painting, much of Anna's anger dissipated, and she nodded silently.
Ruiz finally breathed a sigh of relief. This was the only thing he had that could make Anna listen to him. He immediately took out a fresh sheet of paper and began to paint.
...
Inside the Merrick family castle, Lister was researching materials in the family library.
Unfortunately, most of the information was only about the Lucian Kingdom, and information on other surrounding kingdoms was extremely scarce.
Not to mention information about the more distant Great Chu Dynasty that he was looking forward to.
The Great Chu Dynasty was the novice village of the world of "God's Revelation," the first expansion, and also the period when the most passive skills were produced.
Lister wanted to take advantage of the early timeline in the game world. After the main storyline of the Duchy of Lucian concluded, he would go to the Great Chu Dynasty to try his luck.
If that didn't work, he would just wait in the Great Chu Dynasty for the players to arrive.
According to his calculations, it should only be a few more years until the day players descend upon the world of God's Revelation.
Although he wasn't sure if "God's Revelation" would actually launch again, or if players would really arrive.
But for Lister, he could only bet on his luck. The best place to collect a large number of passive skills was in the Great Chu Dynasty of the first act.
Unfortunately, even now, he had no idea of the specific locations of the Great Chu Dynasty and the Lucian Kingdom.
Even though during the third act, the two major powers would have direct contact and conflict.
"Tap~ Tap~"
In the library, the old butler Anke slowly walked up to him.
Lister put the book in his hand back on the shelf. He would try his luck with the Great Chu Dynasty matter later when he went to the Lucian Kingdom.
He nodded at the old butler, signaling him to report the news.
"Baron, there has been no reaction from the Duke's castle."
"Still nothing? Are you sure Kunt is in the Duke's castle? Was the message delivered to him?"
…
"The message was passed to Lord Kunt's personal attendant in the Duke's family. It must have been delivered to Lord Kunt."
"It's just that Lord Kunt hasn't left the castle since Duke Will II announced he would witness the duel."
"Could it be that the Duke has grounded Lord Kunt?"
The old butler guessed to himself, but the possibility of this guess was somewhat low.
For such big news, Lister just hadn't spread it yet.
In reality, this was a huge scandal. The Merrick family, to which Lister belonged, only had him as the sole heir, and he himself didn't care much about face, so it was somewhat better.
The ducal family was the ruling power of the Duchy of Will. For the Duke's son to duel someone over a woman was already quite disgraceful in itself, lowering the status of the ducal family of Will.
Not to mention that this woman actually had a lover on the side and might even be preparing to run away at any moment.
If this got out, the ducal family would lose all face.