Chapter 481: A Masterpiece Worthy of Remembrance
Even after Eva began to approach adulthood, and the prospect of marriage. She continued with her fencing practice. Her skill with the sword was easily Olympic level, and yet she had no desire to compete on an international stage that didn’t yet exist, at least not for women.
No, she understood her role in life. She would marry the Kaiser’s grandson within the year, or perhaps the next, and they would have children together. She would be his Kaiserin, his empress.
Like her mother, she had no intention of merely looking pretty and doing nothing. Whether continuing her mother’s charitable work to raise the next generation of rulers or advising her future husband on policy and international affairs, Eva had spent her days mastering every skill she could, while maintaining her health, beauty, and intellect.
In the mornings, she sparred with the sword. In the afternoons, she debated politics with her father. In the evenings, she performed her chores. Despite being a literal princess, Eva had inherited her parents’ sense of responsibility. No matter how powerful or wealthy they became, they were still beholden to the people who served them.
Meanwhile, Erwin pressed forward in learning to command his father’s conglomerate. He had been educated in military affairs, he knew how to march, to shoot, and to lead men, but he had chosen a different path than his father.
And because of this, he studied law, economics, and politics at university, while training under Bruno’s elder brother, who had decades of experience in the business world.
But Elsa, the youngest of Bruno’s three oldest children, was a quiet, watchful thing.
If Bruno hadn’t been so close to her, even he wouldn’t have known what she excelled at. Elsa was timid and introverted by her very nature, but she possessed a sense of artistic brilliance that Bruno couldn’t help but admire.
She had a classical touch to her photo-realistic paintings, inspired by Renaissance and early modern masters. Elsa dreamed of painting important figures and events of her era—oil on canvas, timeless and haunting.
While she had always been a gifted artist, something changed the moment she saw her father’s portrait hanging in the Tsar’s Winter Palace. From that day on, she shut herself away in her room outside of schoolwork and family meals, working quietly on a masterpiece.