“I think you should use a bit darker shade.”

“Pardon?”

“I want the lipstick to be more red, and maybe some highlight to my eyelids too, something more flashy in a way.”

Melissa and Joanne looked at each other in surprise at the weird request that followed. Rowena was not one to express much opinion on getting ready or dressing up. Even at the banquet the other night at the “fox hunting event,” she had left most of it up to Joanne.

“Perhaps it’s too difficult for you?”

“Ah, no. I’ll arrange it as you wish.”

Shaking her head at the measured question, Melissa did as she was requested and fixed her makeup. The smooth brush ran over Rowena’s face, after a few moments, she opened her eyes when Melissa told her it was done, and admiration words began to flood her.

“You looked beautiful to begin with, but now you look even more stunning.”

“Indeed, since this portrait that a lot of effort is put into, it’s best to look the most beautiful way possible.”

“You’re really stunning! The portrait will be exceptionally beautiful.”

Laughing a little at the praise that followed, Rowena took the mirror Joanne had extended to her again. Looking at the now much darker makeup than before, she could no longer see that woman’s features in her face.

“Yeah this will do.”

“What?”

“Nothing. Shall we begin then?”

Rowena asked the artist in the distance as she handed the mirror back to Joanne. The artist, cheeks flushed, nodded with a look of enthusiasm.

“Ah, yes! Please adjust your posture as I described earlier.”

* * *

The portrait work took longer than expected. The sketching process alone took two hours a day for a full month. The background had already been painted and the posture was in place, but the facial expression was the most difficult part.

A portrait of a woman in an elegant dress against a peaceful, warm natural background, also sitting in an elegant posture, leaving only her face empty.

 Jenok explained to Killian, who was staring at the  painting closely, in a cautious manner.

“The artist is renowned for taking too much pride in his art and being very particular to the point of not completing the work until he is fully satisfied with it. It has been difficult to hire him since he was booked for the next five years, so I actually had to pull a few moves here and there to have him accept the offer ….”

The problem was that this was a portrait that would officially go up in the family corridor on the day of the engagement ceremony. But it was impossible to say for certain whether the difficult and sensitive artist would be able to complete the portrait in the next three months or so.

“He is insisting that he didn’t get a smile he likes very much, and that as soon as he sees a smile he likes, he’ll draw it in right away. But we’re going to the island tomorrow.. Shall I put pressure on him?”

“No.”

Shaking his head, Killian looked at the servant standing beside him and had him put the  painting away.

“Let him accompany them to the island.”

“What?”