novelWhat Happened in Austria (4)
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In his youth, he had chosen one of the paintings, piled up at one side, to imitate it.
He was wearing a one-eye magnifying glass to see the painting better, and his cotton shirt was covered in so many colors that it was hard to know what color it had been at first.
The handsome and lively man, who had been painting with passion, now showed up here as an old man.
"This is your favorite 2011 Bordeaux grand cru."
Cavani had his servant bring some wine, and the old man brightened up while saying, "Oh, my mouth is going to have a good time since forever. Well, why have you called this old man? And who is this lady with blue eyes and that Asian?"
Cavani smiled brightly and introduced Haejin and Silvia in English.
"This man here is Mr. Park, he is a special appraiser my family has invited. He has extraordinary talents and inspiration. If he had known how to paint, my family would have gotten an artist to sponsor."
The old forger looked at Haejin, clearly interested.
"A special appraiser of the Medici... and an Asian, I am surprised."
His English was good, probably because he was an art dealer.
Although he said so, his eyes showed contempt.
Actually, discrimination on Asians happens frequently in Europe.
In a way, it was unusual for Cavani di Piero Medici to be fond of Haejin regardless of his race.
"You won't think so once you see what he can do." Cavani sensed the hidden meaning in the old forger's remark and smiled bitterly. Then he continued, "And this beautiful lady here is Silvia, Mr. Park's partner."
"Ohh, nice to meet you. Are you from America? Or Spain? Or Morocco? Spanish women are passionate and splendid. Although I've never met you before, I can feel that passion in your eyes."
It could be natural for him to be curious as Silvia's skin was a healthy brown unlike white people, but Haejin didn't like that attitude.
He looked like he would collapse and die at any moment, and he was trying to flirt...
"Thank you, but I am here for work. That kind of compliment is not appropriate, so please stop, " Silvia firmly replied. The old man then burst into laughter, "Hahaha! I knew it! I knew you would be so charming. I'm Matias Leno. Getting to talk with you alone is worth coming all this way. Have you heard about me?"
Haejin frowned, and Cavani hastily stopped Matias, "That would be enough with the introductions. Matias, you were not so talkative when you were with me, but now you are chattering like a little girl. It feels like I am seeing someone else."
"Haha, I shouldn't have humiliated myself in front of the head of the Medici family. I apologize."
Cavani continued, "I called you here because I have a few questions. Of course, there will be matters you cannot easily talk about, but I hope you would answer wisely, considering the relation between us."
In a way, it sounded like a threat. Matias realized how serious the situation was and said, "That is scary enough. Okay."
"One of the two paintings you sold me before is real, " Cavani then said.
"What? It is real?"
Haejin carefully studied his reaction.
Judging from his skills capable of making a fake Egon Schiele's Sunflowers, he thought he must have known Alexander Archipenko's painting had been real.
However, Matia seemed to know nothing about that painting.
Cavani grimly nodded, "I am delighted to be so fortunate, but as you well know, this is a very sensitive matter. If that painting has resurfaced, a lot of the other paintings can be slumbering somewhere."
"So, you want me to tell you from where I got it?" Matias asked.
"Yes."
Matias stroked his few streaks of beard and soon shook his head, "As I told you before, credibility is everything to me. I cannot tell, even if it is you who are asking."
His refusal made Cavani frown.
"Hmm... I must have expressed myself in the wrong way if it sounded like I was asking. I am sorry, but I am not asking. You must tell me the truth here."
"Even you cannot push me like this. This is about my credibility." Matias resisted harder than expected, so Cavani's expression turned cold. Then, Haejin asked him, "Are you connected to the people who made the fake painting?"
Cavani looked at him with surprise. It was as if he was asking Haejin what nonsense he was making up.
However, Haejin didn't simply look at him, instead, he kept staring at Matias.
"What are you talking about?" Matias asked back.
Haejin wasn't just asking. As he had casted a confession spell, Matias couldn't lie.
However, he couldn't ask directly if he was the forger. Even if he would answer truthfully...
In fact, both Cavani and Matias would suspect Haejin had added some kind of drug to the wine.
Haejin, therefore, had to be careful not to be doubted, so he couldn't push the man further.
"Do you know how to paint?"
Matias stammered at another unexpected question, but soon he started speaking.
"Yes, but why are you asking?"
"I'm just curious. Did you learn it from school? I guess you wanted to be an artist, " Haejin commented.
"I attended the University of Applied Arts in Vienna... but why are do you keep asking me these things?" Matias asked again.
Although he was answering, he couldn't understand why he was replying to Haejin's questions.
"I am just curious because you said you were an art dealer."
Haejin really wished he could ask, 'it was you who imitated Egon Schiele's painting, wasn't it?', but Cavani seemed to think Haejin had to have a reason to keep asking those sort of questions so he took it from there and said, "If I'm not wrong, I've never heard that you attended the University of Applied Arts in Vienna. As far as I knew, you studied economics in America... were you lying to me before?"
It turned out Matias had lied to him before about majoring in economics.
"I, I..." Matias couldn't say anything. He was capable of not answering as it was Cavani's question, not Haejin's.
The spell itself wasn't enough to make him confess the truth. The question had to be asked with magic, so Cavani's question had no great power.
However, because of that, both Cavani and Matias didn't get suspicious.
"You must know I can find out about your works and grades if I want to. You'd better tell me yourself."
Matias had to talk as Cavani kept pressing him and said, "Actually, I did study art at the university, but I wasn't trying to fool you. I was just ashamed as I never made a good painting."
Haejin interrupted him again, "It is strange. The University of Applied Arts in Vienna is a prestigious university of art. If you had said you had graduated from there, your words would have had much more trustworthiness. I really can't understand why you said you learned economics that has nothing to do with art."
This made Matias frown even harder.
Haejin was trying hard to reveal his weak points. Matias then raised his voice, "Don't you know that most art dealers haven't majored in art?"
"Of course. However, although there aren't many art dealers who have graduated from the University of Applied Arts in Vienna, there can be no reason to bother to hide that fact. Well, you must have had your own reasons, but I really cannot understand it, " Haejin replied.
"Who do you think you are to keep lecturing me like that!" Matias now yelled in German. However, seeing this, Cavani grimly said, "It is really strange. You have never lost your temper like this in front of me, but you are now yelling at Mr. Park. Is there really something? Have you really made a forgery of Egon Schiele's painting?"
The second he finished speaking, Haejin immediately added, "Did you do it?"
He hadn't planned to ask directly like that, but thanks to Cavani, who suddenly asked a sharp question, he was able to add his own question.
"I... I... didn't."
"Huh?"
Haejin was rather surprised to hear the answer.
There was no way Matias was capable of countering his magic. Then, Matias wasn't the one who Haejin had seen the past.
He didn't mean to ask further, but he couldn't help asking, "Then, who is that forger?"
Haejin immediately regretted making a stupid mistake, but Matias' answer was something he really didn't expect.
"It's... it's my brother!"
Matias wasn't shocked by his own answer and continued to explain, "I lost my life because of him! I had to give up painting because of him. That idiot, he abandoned the pride of an artist and his family for money..." he then knelt to Cavani while looking down and muttered, "I cannot lose my credibility because of him. I swear, I have nothing to do with him. I even gave up my dream because of him."
Matias gave up and tried to find a way to survive.
"Okay. If you are telling the truth, who is your brother?"
Matias explained, "He is Benedict Leno, and he attended the University of Applied Arts with me. He had great talent in art, so everyone around him had huge expectations about him. However, he then left home because he thought our family wasn't supporting him enough and became a forger. At first, I even worked with him as it was to help our poor family, but I stopped after we got enough to live by. After that, me and my mother tried to stop Benedict, but he wouldn't listen. His talents bloomed in his forgeries, and it became impossible to tell them apart from reals. But..."
"But?"
Matias continued, "Because one of his fakes, a Jewish family with considerable power went bankrupt, and he became a runaway. That was more than three decades ago. I've never seen him after that and only heard rumors about him sometimes."
Haejin interrupted to be sure, "Is that really true?"
Matias looked down, heartbroken and said, "Yes."
Haejin was asking with magic, so it had to be true.
"Then, do you know where he is?"
Matias quickly shook his head at this, "I haven't heard about him for more than a decade. Maybe he is dead. I started to think he was dead at some point and didn't even try to find him."
Haejin had been thinking he was about to catch the guy, but it was another dead end. He felt sorry for the man as he knew he was telling the truth, but then Matias said something unexpected.
"I cannot tell you from where I got the fake Egon Schiele's painting, but I can tell you how I got Archipenko's painting."
Cavani frowned and leaned forward while asking, "How did you get it?"
"From the Vatican."
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