"Y-you two... stop looking!"
Amid Zhezhi's pleading, she finally finished the painting she was making for Ling An and Tide Sis.
In her studio, she covered her bright red face and set the painting before them.
Only she knew how much psychological pressure she had endured, and how much determination it had taken to finish the painting despite the toe-curling humiliation.
That determination alone had kept her going. With even a little less of it, she would have abandoned the commission.
"The... the painting's finished..." Zhezhi murmured.
Tide Sis gave her a complicated look, nodded slightly, and accepted the painting.
Clearly, she had never expected Zhezhi's studio to contain so many paintings of Ling An. It had come as quite a surprise to her, too.
But seeing how flushed Zhezhi was, even Tide Sis could hardly say anything, afraid she might crumble and faint before her the next second.
She sighed and turned her attention to Zhezhi's painting.
Without a doubt, the most striking elements were the figures of Tide Sis and Ling An.
At Tide Sis's request, the painting was set in a Tacet Field. On the pitch-black ground, Ling An in his Crownless True Form and Tide Sis stood gazing into each other's eyes, each occupying one side of the canvas.
Those gazes, however, were precisely where Zhezhi's skill shone.
Rather than seething with murderous intent, Ling An's and Tide Sis's eyes conveyed the epic sense of destiny that came with a meeting between fated rivals.
Their gazes entwined within the painting, almost taking on tangible form.
Ling An and Tide Sis could not have been more pleased with Zhezhi's work. After readily paying her fee, they rolled the painting into a scroll and tucked it away for safekeeping.
"Th-thank you!" Zhezhi bowed excitedly.
Compared with her previous