I'm smelling some bullshit there Mark. Ehh Mark, oh Mark... a part of me wants to hate you... but sometimes things are not as easy or as simple as they may seem, especially when there's something that matters a lot to us, something that holds great value to us. And there are people who know how to weaponize them. Also sometimes there's that someone who has a certain kind of influence on us... and sometimes it's not so easy to make a choice that's opposite of what they push us towards, especially when it causes conflict, friction. Not to mention how some traumas also are a factor, and can lead us astray.
...wow I'm yapping, guess it kinda reminded me of something and I started to mumble.

Anyways, very lovely painting there. Bit makes me ponder who painted it and when. I imagine The Countess has some fine artists (or photographers) at the ready heh, either at the ready or easily found, after all who wouldn't want to paint this beauty or provide services to the influential Collins family.

Mark himself doesn't fully understand what he's doing; he's being subtly manipulated.

Yes, the Countess can afford it :D

thanks for updating in the past few years, I'm appreciate you are still working on improve this story. 💓💓 💓