Between Your Letter and My Reply

Chapter 62

[Translation By Divinity]

Lilliana, after finishing her preparations for painting, whispered to Damian.

“I’ll be painting for about five hours, so you can enjoy the art while you wait. Okay? Don’t get bored and wander off somewhere else. You should look at the paintings displayed in the museum carefully.”

Damian also thought it would be a waste of time to just sit idly by Lilliana’s side for five hours doing nothing. He nodded and replied,

“Then I’ll look around a bit. I’ll be inside the museum, so call me if you need anything.”

“Okay, enjoy the art.”

Lilliana said with a bright smile.

“And tell me your impressions later, okay?”

After parting ways with Lilliana, Damian started exploring the museum from the first floor.

Honestly, Damian didn’t know much about appreciating art. So he grabbed a map and a pamphlet from the information booth, which Lilliana had briefly passed by earlier to check the location of a painting. Then, he stood awkwardly in front of the first painting.

The first piece in the frame seemed to be someone’s study or sketch. Damian couldn’t tell if it was well-drawn or not. So he moved on to the next painting without much impression.

However, he had no eye for distinguishing between well-drawn and poorly executed art or evaluating artistic value. As a result, Damian was already feeling quite bored after just going through the first floor.

If it were a collection at a famous museum, he could at least admire it even if he didn’t understand the meaning. But since these were paintings by relatively unknown artists, he had no idea how to appreciate them…

“Do you need an explanation about this painting?”

Someone spoke to Damian as he frowned, contemplating a painting. He turned around to find a person standing beside him, grinning.

The person had long blonde hair that reached their chest and thick bangs that covered half their eyes. Damian was more curious about how they could see anything with their hair like that than the fact they had suddenly spoken to him, so he tilted his head.

He couldn’t determine the person’s gender and unconsciously narrowed his eyes, observing them. They weren’t very tall, had a slender build, and at first glance, could be mistaken for a woman. But their voice had a masculine tone, so Damian concluded they were male.

The man approached Damian with a friendly smile.

“I’m the curator of this museum, and I also provide commentary on the paintings to visitors. It’ll be more enjoyable if you hear the explanations about the paintings.”

“Ah, yes.”

Damian was about to decline. He didn’t like having someone tag along. But he remembered Lilliana’s request to look at the paintings carefully, so he hesitated for a moment and then nodded to the man who introduced himself as the curator.

“Then could you please explain them to me? I don’t know anything about paintings. I don’t even know how to appreciate them…”

“Of course. I’ll be happy to explain. Ah, my name is Ray. And yours?”

“Damian Stern.”

“Nice to meet you, Mr. Stern. Do you know the concept of this museum?”

At Ray’s question, Damian belatedly realized that he didn’t even know what kind of paintings were mainly exhibited here. Seeing Damian’s slight awkwardness, Ray smiled and said,

“This museum mainly exhibits paintings related to mythical creatures.”

“Mythical creatures… you mean like spirits or dragons?”

“Exactly. Those mysterious beings that are said to have disappeared nowadays. They might sound like far-fetched stories to modern people, but in the past, they actively interacted with humans.”

Damian nodded at Ray’s explanation. He now understood why Lilliana had brought him here. She probably wanted to show him paintings of mythical creatures to help him understand her better.

“Then, shall I start by explaining the painting you were looking at?”

Ray looked at the painting Damian had been frowning at.

The painting depicted a woman emerging from the waves and conversing with people on the dock. The woman looked somewhat divine, but the people on the dock didn’t seem afraid of her and treated her with familiarity.

“This painting is by an artist named Yugo Song, and it depicts people receiving a promise of good waves from a sea spirit.”

Ray said, gazing at the painting.

“It’s a painting that expresses the interaction between spirits and humans. Do you know much about spirits?”

At Ray’s sudden question, Damian’s eyes darted around for a moment before he slowly shook his head. He had learned about mythical creatures and spirits with Lilliana yesterday, but he didn’t think he understood them ‘well’ after just one day.

Ray’s lips curled into a gentle smile at his honest answer.

“Spirits, though forgotten in this era, were once quite close to humans in the past. They had a good relationship. Although interactions weren’t frequent, and their existence itself was rare. Spirits were benevolent towards humans, and humans, in turn, respected them.”

Ray glanced at Damian to see if he was following along, then continued.

“In truth, there’s no reason for spirits to be close to humans. Their interactions with humans were purely out of goodwill. And a bit of curiosity or boredom. People in the past understood this, so they weren’t afraid of spirits who approached them in a friendly manner. Well, it was a time when such things were considered natural.”

Damian nodded along to Ray’s explanation, then suddenly interrupted him with a cough. Ray turned his head towards Damian and asked,

“Do you have a question?”

“Don’t you usually explain the techniques or styles used in a painting? Or the history of the painting…?”

At Damian’s words, Ray belatedly let out an “Ah.” But he quickly shrugged and said,

“There are many elements to a painting besides techniques and styles. The important thing is what the artist is trying to convey through the painting, isn’t it? The artist ‘Yugo Song’ wasn’t particularly skilled in painting techniques. As you know, he wasn’t famous either. But his paintings tell a story. That doesn’t mean other artists’ paintings don’t have stories. But Yugo Song’s paintings are more suited for illustrations in a storybook than typical paintings. So when appreciating his work, we focus more on the story than the technique or style. The composition of his paintings is also designed to maximize the storytelling.”

Seeing Damian’s understanding, Ray continued comfortably.

“Yugo Song was a painter who lived 500 years ago, in an era when mythical creatures hadn’t been forgotten yet. He mainly painted pictures depicting the interactions between mythical creatures and humans. He was an artist who viewed the relationship between mythical creatures and humans with a warm gaze, just like the painting we just saw. To him, mythical creatures weren’t distant beings. That was true for other humans as well, but…”

Ray suddenly leaned closer to Damian as if sharing a secret.

“Do you know why Yugo Song mainly painted mythical creatures?”

“No, I’m not sure.”

“Yugo Song was actually a spirit.”

“Wh-what?”

Damian asked back in surprise.

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