âclose your eyes â i donât want you to see it until itâs ready.â there is a pink flush to the emperorâs cheeks, self-conscious as she is in this; no matter how long she works, she can never truly be satisfied with this. yet ⌠yet she knows this will mean far more to bernadetta than anything she could buy for her.
the strokes of the painting look clumsy, nowhere near as deft as bernadettaâs, but the image is clear enough â a portrait of bernadetta herself, in profile, surrounded by her favorite plants.
edelgard has one of the palace staff move it into view, then gestures for them to leave them. âokay⌠you may open your eyes now, but⌠please, donât judge it too harshly.â
bernadetta obeyed , keeping her eyes closed and trusting that edelgard wouldnât let her fall into anything or trip . her hand found its way onto edelgardâs arm , keeping steady and close . no , this is definitely not an excuse to touch edelgard , shut up .Â
when she opens her eyes , she feels her heart skip a couple beats . because no one had ever taken the time to do something like this before , and she was floored .
arms flung around edelgard , and bernadetta made an excited cooing noise .  â thank you , â she breathed out .  â thank you , i love it . â
