A dreamless night.
After having breakfast delivered by Ryan in his hotel room again, Gu Xinghe left the hotel.
Upon arriving at the castle, Gu Xinghe stared intently at Mia, who had opened the door for him.
Although they are indeed indistinguishable in appearance, they do not wear different clothes due to their different personalities.
However, we can tell from some subtle differences in temperament.
Gu Xinghe still sensed that the Mia in front of him was not the one he had spent time with last night.
Does the shift between different personalities occur based on the difference between day and night?
While Gu Xinghe was pondering this, Mia led him to a room on the second floor of the castle.
This is the second-floor studio that Gu Xinghe has not yet set foot in within the castle.
It appears that this studio is Mia's private studio, where she often paints.
As soon as Gu Xinghe stepped into the room, he could smell the unique scent of paint.
Perhaps it is because of the regular ventilation and cleaning.
The smell in the room wasn't pungent; it just made you realize that this studio was indeed different from the outside world.
Perhaps it would be an exaggeration to say that I felt an artistic atmosphere in this room.
But it's like the scent of ink that emanates from a freshly printed book.
After a period of time, the smell of ink from the books will not be unpleasant to people.
Rather, it has the unique flavor of books that have accumulated knowledge.
In the studio before me, a dozen paintings with dark gold frames hang on the walls painted deep red.
The figures depicted on it are different portraits, seemingly representing different successors of this artistic family throughout history.
The contrast between deep red and dark gold further highlights the noble yet understated atmosphere in the studio.
Below these paintings, a painting that looked quite familiar to Gu Xinghe was placed on an easel to the side.
Clearly, that was the painting "Warm Sunshine" that Ingres had once stolen.
But from another perspective, this is undoubtedly a new painting.
Gu Xinghe looked at the brand-new painting—
In the painting, he saw Ingres, whom he had met just yesterday, chatting and laughing with his wife, Melie, as they did housework together.
The altered version of "Warm Sunshine" doesn't appear to have undergone many changes.
The newly added figures do not seem out of place, but rather as if they were part of the whole painting, as if this was the original scene.
Mia did not offer any explanation for this.
Rather, it's more accurate to say that this was already a tacit understanding between her and Gu Xinghe.
At this moment, she seemed like an artist expressing her feelings after looking at her own painting.
"People in the world only know how base and narrow-minded they are, and they feel that the world they live in is too narrow."
But I feel that having such a complete little world of my own isn't so bad.
Gu Xinghe sighed at Mia's words.
"No matter how big or small the world is, to them, it is a complete world."
Hearing that Gu Xinghe seemed to agree with her, Mia turned around and said to him.
"Mr. Gu Xinghe seems to really like the look of my painting. Why don't we fulfill our promise now?"
"Is it an agreement that he will paint a picture of me as payment?"
"That's right."
Hearing Mia's confirmation, Gu Xinghe thought that this must be the painting that Mia herself drew as a reward for the main quest in the game instance.
However, the process of painting oil paintings is complex and not as simple as the sketches done on the street.
Unlike before when he only drew sketches of portraits, this time Gu Xinghe needed to keep the pose unchanged while drawing.
And so, on this day, Gu Xinghe once again recalled... the fear of being dominated by Mia.
As he sat down on a bench in the studio as Mia instructed, she asked him to keep the same pose as much as possible.
Gu Xinghe saw her walk straight towards him.
Mia stood in front of Gu Xinghe, lowered her head slightly, and began to carefully and gently arrange his bangs and hair.
It seems they are tidying up his personal image before creating a portrait of him.
Because of the extremely close distance, Gu Xinghe was unable to see Mia's full appearance.
This is the feeling of not being able to see the other person clearly, but the other person is serving you attentively and meticulously.
It still made Gu Xinghe feel a sense of novelty, something he hadn't experienced in a long time.
After tidying up Gu Xinghe's bangs and stray hairs, Mia then walked up behind him.
Although Mia hasn't officially started painting yet, Gu Xinghe has been maintaining this pose for a long time, just as she said.
This is not difficult for him at the moment, and it also makes it easier for the other party to move.
Feeling Mia's movements on him, Gu Xinghe couldn't help but think—
If it were Mia from last night, she would probably take advantage of his current inability to move to play a trick on him.
Thinking this, Gu Xinghe couldn't help but chuckle softly.
"What are you laughing at?"
"I think you're more like my stylist than a painter now."
Although he couldn't see Mia's expression as she stood behind him, Gu Xinghe sensed that she seemed to be in a very pleasant mood.
"Then, Mr. Gu Xinghe, your client and your personal stylist, I must remind you again, please do not move."
Taking Gu Xinghe's teasing as an example, Mia also took the opportunity to acknowledge the identity he had mentioned.
Although he really wanted to turn around and see what Mia was doing behind him.
But after Mia reminded him several times, Gu Xinghe managed to suppress his urge to turn his head away.
Based solely on his keen senses and the occasional touches Mia made on his body, he could roughly guess what she was doing at that moment.
And right after I finished styling my hair.
Gu Xinghe could feel that Mia was now standing behind him, meticulously rummaging through and straightening his collar and the wrinkles in his clothes.
But even with these extremely subtle movements, Mia's fingertips inevitably brushed against the side of his neck several times.
The back of the neck and spine are the weak points for most people.
Although Mia's touch seemed accidental, it still made Gu Xinghe feel a slight tingling and itching sensation.
Rather, it is precisely this non-straight hammer-like motion that evokes this feeling.
Although Gu Xinghe's current physical abilities prevent him from trembling slightly reflexively under such gentle touch, unlike ordinary people.
But this ambiguous, unintentional touch still made Gu Xinghe feel a little uneasy.
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