Hearing Iver's answer, Yanis was clearly somewhat surprised.
"So that's how it is..."
Her emerald pupils widened slightly as she murmured in a low voice.
Beside her, Isabel nodded happily in agreement. "I like the 'Crystal Sea' too."
In her understanding, the "Crystal Sea" was Yanis's signature work. It was also the painting she liked best.
The fourteen-meter-long painting had been created entirely through the techniques of a "magic painting." When viewed with the lights off, one could even hear the sound of waves.
When a candle was lit, however—even the tiniest amount of light shining on the canvas would illuminate the entire deep-blue sea.
The light would then freeze the ocean in the painting with a creaking sound, turning it into beautiful crystal, while the temperature in the room fell along with it.
Each time the angle and brightness of the light changed, the openwork reliefs that appeared as the crystal solidified would change as well. In summer, as the angle of the sunlight gradually shifted, the Crystal Sea would undergo endless real-time changes.
These paintings had once all been stored in Professor Moriarty's art museum.
About six or seven years ago, the Queen had grown old, and her health had become increasingly frail. She could not stand the heat in summer, while the "silver frost" created by alchemy was too cold. Thus, after obtaining Master Yanis's consent, Iver's adoptive father moved this painting to the Silver and Tin Palace.
Once the curtain over the painting was drawn aside, the cool air flowing from it could make the entire palace as refreshing as autumn. It would not become so cold that the chill pierced one's bones, either.
In winter, as long as the curtain was drawn, not the slightest trace of cold air would escape. Anyone walking nearby could