The Versatile Master Artist

Eliot took out a bouquet of white roses from the trunk of the SUV parked by the roadside and placed it before the statue.

The secretary paused for a moment.

”Miss?”

She always felt that placing a bouquet of white roses before the bronze statue of Old Count Elina, on the eve of an important shareholders meeting, was a bit ominous, like a funeral.

Out of the corner of her eye, Eliot glanced at the girl’s expression.

Ultimately, she could only sigh softly and handed the bouquet to Miss Elina.

Anna received the bouquet.

She bent over and placed the white roses on the pedestal at the foot of the statue.

”I’m a bit uncertain. Do you think—”

The girl scratched August’s ear, letting its pink tongue chase her fingertips draped in black silk gloves.

Eliot hesitated for a moment.

She wasn’t very sure whether the other party was questioning her or talking to her hound.

”—the new management would remove and destroy this bronze statue?”

”How is that possible! This was a gift donated by the citizens to the magazine. What right do they have to do such a thing?”

Upon hearing the latter part of the sentence, the secretary exclaimed directly.

Young professionals, shocked and angry, felt a sudden blankness in their minds.

A look of extreme astonishment surged on her face: ”Even if Sir Brown has such intentions, the city government and the residents of Glietz City wouldn’t agree to such a thing!”

”Really?”

Anna laughed self-deprecatingly: ”I, the last daughter of the Ilyena family, don’t have the confidence that you do, Eliot.”

”But... Count’s statue has been erected here for over a century. It is the guardian spirit for artists around the world.”

Eliot, nervously, pinched her fingers and said.

”This statue is part of ’Oil Painting’ magazine and part of Glietz City.”

The secretary’s tone grew more resolute: ”It should, like Princess Sisi’s museum, Mozart’s residence, the Vienna cafe where Cwieg wrote ’Yesterday’s World,’ become an eternal mark of Austrian culture.”

”Without the Old Count’s contribution to art, ’Oil Painting’ magazine wouldn’t be as glorious as it is today. They not only want to drive you away but can’t even accommodate a poor sculpture!”

In the 19th century, Austria was still known as the cultural heart of Europe.

People used to say.

London remained secluded, Paris was merely the profile of a kingdom’s capital.

It was only when a European came to Austria, stood on Heroes’ Square outside Hofburg Imperial Palace, built by Emperor Joseph, looking at towering monuments, the tons-heavy bronze statue, and hundred-meter-wide straight streets.

Only when the majestic neoclassical-style imperial palace unfolded before him.

He would truly understand what the grandeur of a flourishing empire meant.

At that time, more than a third of the Western world’s luminaries had lived and settled here.

Now those musicians’ residencies, cafes where literary masters gathered, libraries where philosophers held debates—many have remained as eternal cultural relics.

Austrians reminisce and cherish those infinitely glorious moments on the world stage.

Being a native of Glietz City.

Eliot had grown up watching this bronze statue before the ’Oil Painting’ magazine.

This had become part of her cultural understanding of this land.

How could it disappear?

Let alone Miss Elina, who found it unacceptable.

Even she, the secretary, could not accept it!

”Nothing is eternal, dear Eliot. My great-great-grandfather was just an art enthusiast. If it weren’t for being a little wealthier, he certainly wouldn’t have stood shoulder to shoulder with masters like Cwieg and Mozart.”

Anna’s face did not show much desolation.

”Since it is part of ’Yesterday’s World,’ in the magazine’s desire to turn the page and boldly transition to their view of the future, moving this statue is a symbolically significant act.”

”Even the Austrian cabinet’s finance department has approved the National Publishing Group’s share-sale action, and the city government will make necessary concessions.”

She lightly tapped the base of the bronze statue with her finger: ”So I wanted to spend a little more time here today. I might not see it anymore in the future. I don’t even know if they’ll allow me to move this statue to my own home. I now slightly understand the sentiments of visiting Mr. Otto with my aunt as a child, when he showed me photos of the Old Imperial Palace.”

(Note: This Otto refers to the historical figure Duke Otto, Otto von Habsburg, who was the last crown prince of Austria-Hungary during WWI and lived until 2011; a renowned restoration advocate in Europe.)

”Descendants ineffective, ashamed of ancestors, that’s probably the feeling.”

”But… it’s not your fault.”

Secretary Eliot, with heartfelt sorrow, bit her lip.

Those bankers are all wolves and tigers adept at disassembling others’ legacies.

Miss Elina, such a cold, stubborn, and uncompromising young girl, how could she possibly fight against them!

”I’m not as sad as you think, just feeling a bit nostalgic. There’s nothing to regret. My ancestors, when they founded this magazine, certainly couldn’t imagine becoming a statue here for a hundred years.”