Chapter 1: Introduction
London, England, April 13, 1735.
Dear Diary,
I have returned to you to tell you what life has done to me for the past seventeen years since my birth, let me start at the beginning. When I was born, my mother left my father alone to raise me as the Lady of London. However, he did not know what to do but sit with me and read to me. My father has always been caring and has always loved me, he was always there when I was happy or sad. When I turned five, I was already able to read Shakespeare's literature and I began to learn French. My father was astounded by my extraordinary gift of learning fast. He was proud of me whenever I could read difficult words and spell them out and even say them in French. When I was ten, I had painted a portrait of my father, a large one in fact. I asked him to come look at it after I had finished it. It was the first time I had ever seen my father shed a tear. He said that it was a masterpiece of beauty that the world needed to see. A week later, the painting was placed in the Grand Hall where when a guest walked in, they would see the artwork I had painted. My father only wanted to praise me for my natural gifts and talents and show everyone what the Lady of London was capable of. When I turned fifteen my father wanted to speak to me about my future at the Inoue Estate. He told me that I must be a strong woman and I must find the right man to marry. Then he said that he wanted to invite many Lords from different parts of London to see me so I could be married. As each of them came, they all admired my work and my well-mannered speech, but of course they believed they could not satisfy my needs and did not want to marry me. Now I am seventeen years of age, still I am seeing more Lords wanting to see me. I do still see the ones that I met when I was fifteen because they admired me and were inspired to find their own gifts and use them for good. I have befriended many Lords, but I have not found one that has wanted to date me yet. I do have one Lord in particular that I am quite fond of and I usually ask him to visit often. He is Lord Izaya Orihara of London. Lord Izaya is very handsome, has very dark black hair, chocolate-brown eyes, and is only a little taller than I am. He enjoys the political drama of our society, it somehow amuses me. He is very kind to me when he visits and is very polite around me. You could say that we are very good friends. He tells me stories about his life and shares his dreams with me. He is very handsome as well, he has a certain look he gives me when he thinks I look ravishing or beautiful. I enjoy his company because he is different from all the other Lords across England. Lord Izaya wants to see my gifts in action, he wants to understand my thinking by observing my style and technique. One day he brought me all of his paints, a brush, and a canvas and asked me to paint the scene before me. I looked over the canvas and saw our rose garden with the angel fountain in the middle. I was nervous to paint in front of him, but the feeling did not stop me from picking up the brush and painting. I first began with the fountain. It was as white as the clouds above. The bottom was large and circular with two nozzles that shot water up, making it land in the form of a rainbow. Then there was the middle piece of the fountain. It is about six feet high and looks like a bloomed flower where it opens up to reveal the angel on top that had a flute which had water coming out on one side like a small waterfall. I then added the stone walkway which was a light grey color. Then I carefully began to paint the roses along the side with small strokes. I finally got to the sky. It was a beautiful blue sky with the fewest of clouds. When I finished he got up and viewed the painting from behind me. He took the painting off of the stand and held it out in front of him, he examined it closely and paid attention to every detail. He then turned to me and said, "You are very remarkable my lady, it seems as though there is nothing that I do not understand about your gift of painting. It is a matter of a natural ability and a great amount of focus, you need not any technique, for you can paint what you can see and make it real." I was surprised to hear him say those words to me, no Lord could ever come up with such a conclusion. He looked at me warmly and handed me the painting. "Do you not want it, my lord?," I asked him. He scratched his head and said, "Well my lady, I believed that you might have wanted to keep such a masterpiece as your own." I smiled and shook my head, "No my lord, it is a gift to you. You asked be to paint it, so I painted it for you to keep." Before I gave him the painting I looked through his paints and found a fountain pen. I put my signature on the bottom right corner of the painting, then gave it to him. He smiled a joyous smile, "Again my lady, you are quite remarkable." I was happy to hear him say those words to me. He kept looking at the painting as we walked back to the Estate. I invited him to have some tea, but he politely declined for he had to get back home soon. He thanked me for the painting and said he would come see me again soon. He got into his carriage and we waved goodbye for the day. I walked back into my home and gazed at the painting of my father I had painted and said to myself aloud, "Remarkable they say…" I must say farewell to you for now darling, but I will return soon.
Forever yours,
O. Inoue
