Chapter 398: The Match Had Actually Begun Long Ago!
"Mm… finally finished."
Just as Luke expected, Sara put down her brush a few seconds later and looked at her masterpiece with satisfaction.
Judging by her expression, this final painting was clearly the one she liked most.
Luke's amazed voice sounded behind her.
"This really is incredible."
Looking at Sara's painting, Luke was sincerely impressed.
Ignoring the somewhat questionable subject, the quality alone deserved to be called unparalleled.
Ordinary art was an artist imitating the work called "reality," which had been created by the gods through their imagination.
Sara's art was a "miracle" capable of making reality itself seem obsolete.
Compared with an ordinary painter, the difference between Sara's work and theirs was like a divine masterpiece beside a forgery.
The gap could no longer be measured in simple terms.
However, Luke's heartfelt praise startled Sara.
Immersed in her art, she had completely failed to notice him quietly approaching.
She jumped from her chair in alarm, lost her balance, and fell to the floor.
Luke looked helplessly at the clumsy girl.
For a moment, he found it difficult to connect her with the master artist who had been completely focused only moments ago.
Silently sighing, Luke stepped forward to pull her up.
However, after only two steps, his bare foot landed on something.
It was wet and slightly sticky.
Luke's face immediately darkened.
Glancing at the nearby easels, he assumed he had stepped in spilled paint.
Some pigments were extremely difficult to wash off skin, and since Luke was barefoot, his mood instantly worsened.
But after looking down at the liquid, then at the chair where Sara had been sitting, Luke's expression became strange.
He looked at the young artist, whose gaze was now darting away as her little secret was exposed. Then he looked at the mysterious liquid on the chair, and finally at the painting that seemed to be moving.
Luke sank into deep thought.
The atmosphere grew heavy with ambiguous tension. It seemed as if something was bound to happen if he just went with the flow... But Luke's brow gradually furrowed.
Something... wasn't right!
Sara's behavior itself was not fake.
At this distance, Luke could easily distinguish a genuine reaction from an act.
Her embarrassment and the attraction caused by observing them and becoming absorbed in the atmosphere were real.
Luke had a feeling that if he tried to make a move on Sara now, she would probably half-resist, half-accept, given the circumstances.
Whether it was because of the audience or the atmosphere, her lack of common sense, her desire for his body, or simply her intention to trade for the model.
In short, if he wanted to, this matter seemed to be a natural progression.
And Sara's performance at this moment also confirmed this point.
The question was... where did this feeling come from?
At Luke's current level, his instincts were extremely accurate.
One could even call them a form of foresight.
Anyone who reached sufficient strength could develop something similar, so it was nothing unusual.
Luke knew the feeling originated from within himself, and its accuracy was as reliable as always.
At first glance, everything seemed reasonable.
However!
This "feeling" was not something that activated casually. It was never such a convenient ability.
Its true name should be "danger warning."
That was right.
It was an instinctive warning that should only appear when Luke, someone important to him, or something he valued was approaching danger.
No matter how he considered it, it should not activate because of a chance to flirt with a girl.
Luke did not believe his abilities had developed in such a ridiculous direction.
Thinking carefully, Sara appearing today had been strangely coincidental from the beginning.
She arrived neither earlier nor later, but precisely when Luke was distracted and his judgment was at its weakest.
Knocking, forcing her way inside, gaining sudden inspiration, and reaching an agreement.
Everything appeared reasonable, yet it all shared one common factor.
Coincidence!
Sara had coincidentally chosen the perfect time to knock, happened to be staying in the room beside Luke, and experienced an artistic breakthrough at that exact moment.
Then her final sentence had perfectly appealed to what Luke wanted.
The current situation had been built entirely upon a long chain of coincidences.
Combined with the instinctive warning that arose at the final moment, it almost seemed as though fate itself had cleaned Sara up and delivered her directly to Luke.
Luke could not be certain he was not overthinking it, but the strange feeling lingered in his heart and refused to disappear.
Frowning, he looked at the flustered painter before hesitating and asking,
"Your name is Sara, right?"
It was rather amusing.
After everything they had experienced today, they had already crossed the boundaries of ordinary acquaintances, yet they had never formally introduced themselves.
That made Luke feel even more strongly that something was wrong.
"S-Sara Bloodlily… Th-That's my name."
Sara's expression seemed calm, but her trembling voice and evasive gaze revealed that she was far less composed than she appeared.
"Do you remember why you came to find me tonight?"
Luke's question stunned Sara.
She had not expected him to ask that.
In Sara's eyes, Luke was clearly an extremely shameless man after what she believed he had done to Edelweiss-sama.
Though she lacked common sense in some areas, Sara was well aware of her own beauty.
In this ambiguous atmosphere, she had already mentally prepared herself to be "bullied" and didn't strongly resist the idea.
After all, in her eyes, Luke was a rare, perfect man. Surrendering her body to him wouldn't be so hard to accept.
She had never intended to experience romance in this lifetime. But if it was with a perfect model like Luke, it would be a good thing for Sara, who planned to dedicate her life to art.
'Wait… why did I come to find him again?'
Sara suddenly regained her clarity.
She had come to complete a painting that was extremely important to her.
Yet after her inspiration erupted, she seemed to have completely strayed from her original purpose!
"I think… I came to ask you to pose for a nude painting…"
Sara answered while looking uncertainly at the several intimate portraits around the room.
It seemed that she had already accomplished her goal.
But the painting she originally intended to create was supposed to be something entirely different.
…
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