Almighty painter

Chapter 864 Kara's Letter
“You just mentioned that during this journey, Kara had a completely different perspective from her contemporaries.”

Dr. Gustav crossed his arms in front of the whiteboard and said in an admiring tone: "Is it because she has a broader perspective? Her identity makes her unique and special."

"Mr. Verne wrote this science fiction novel at his home in France, referring to the train timetables published by major train and cruise companies in newspapers."

The doctor said: "And Ms. Kara personally embarked on such a journey. Although she did not circle the earth, it took her much longer than eighty days. She knew what she would face, but she still bravely chose to start."

"Good question."

Miss Elena also looked at the board.

"If you ask me, is Kara like an angel... is she an extraordinary person, or even an apostle of art?"

The Catholic worldview believes that some people are born into the world with a unique and special mission, and they are called apostles.

Anna said absentmindedly: "While others were immersed in traditional narrative methods, Kara successfully broke free of it all. The reason she started her journey was that she wanted to record something, wanted to change something, and hoped to use her brush to record the shadow of the empire."

"Um……"

The woman hesitated for a moment.

"It will be a very beautiful story, sacred and perfect."

"I was going to say that Kara was an exemplary woman, an exemplary ascetic, sufferer and martyr. Like Joan of Arc. I believe in the power of this story."

“I also think I should be honest with myself.”

At today's interview, someone has already set a good example.

He changed Anna's mind.

It would be easy for Miss Elena to make up such a story.

Her great-great-grandfather gave a few coins as tips to the black singers working in the gentlemen's club every day at lunch, and was later praised by Oil Painting magazine as the Austrian Dr. King and a pioneer of racial equality.

What's more, Kara sacrificed her life for her artistic dream.
No amount of praise can be overstated.

"I really hope this is the truth of history. I can proudly tell everyone here that Kara is so different. She boarded the train with some grand goal, just like a mountaineer determined to climb Mount Everest. Maybe it's possible? After all, I don't know why she made such a decision. She didn't say hello to her family, and there was no mention of this matter in the letters she left. So, emotionally, I am willing to have beautiful expectations and room for imagination -"

"Intellectually, I don't think that's the case."

Anna was silent again.

"There were many determined people of that generation, both men and women. They had great ambitions, aspirations and ideals. Some of them had political ambitions, some were involved in social activities, and some were engaged in ascetic exploration in the academic field, such as Nurse Nightingale and Marie Curie."

"They are both giants in their industries, who have done groundbreaking work. They are also people whom I admire very much. They are both representatives of the courage and wisdom of women of that era." Miss Irene said: "Madame Curie and Carla are almost the same age, while Nightingale is older. Nightingale was already very successful in the 1870s and was a female pioneer who enjoyed great success. I believe her story was also inspiring and encouraging Carla at the time."

"But I don't think she's like them."

Anna said softly.

"Is not it?"

Someone asked in a low voice.

This is Gu Weijing.

"I don't think so."

Anna replied softly, "Because they are all so strong and resilient. There were critics in the newspapers at the time who ridiculed them as tomboys, but I think that is a very strong kind of heroism. Reading the stories of these people always gives me a strong sense of belief, as if to say..."

"Hey, I'm going to get there! I'm going to do it. No matter what it takes. Whether it's distilling dangerous radioactive elements from 40 tons of asphalt in scorching temperatures or washing hundreds of smelly gauze. Leukemia or anything else, don't try to stop me."

"Whether the critics want it or not, whether you like it or not. I will start my journey and reach the end."

"As long as I'm alive, I'm moving forward."

Anna said.

As she spoke, her face exuded an elastic luster, as if illuminated by the candlelight.

"Both of them had even personally reached the front lines of the war, to treat the wounded in the midst of artillery fire and hail of bullets... There were some truly brave and truly shining people in that era. The moment they started to take steps, you couldn't help but believe that they would reach the top of the mountain."

"I wouldn't push it to say that Kara is one of them."

Anna refused: "I hope she is the strongest person. I hope she got on the Eurostar with great ambitions, such as the desire to become a great painter or the desire to record the world. But I don't think... at the moment of leaving Geneva, she should not have any ambitions in her heart. The world is turbulent and changing, but Carla has always been a person who is very indifferent to politics since her teenage years."

As the woman paced in the study again and again, she thought about this question seriously.

"When she started her grand tour, Kara had neither strong anger nor sober thinking in her heart. She had nothing, nothing at all. Perhaps she didn't even have the urge to record anything. Kara, she... was simply a young woman who ran away from home, was a little boyish, and a little crazy about people."

"This is very much a road movie," said Gu Weijing.

"Yes."

Anna echoed.

"A young girl who was crazy, a prostitute who was mentally ill, a single woman who had just gone through a divorce, jumped into a taxi for no reason and asked the driver to drive down the street. There was no reason, just forward. It was a very road movie-like scene."

"I personally don't think Kara started this journey with the mentality of a saintly nun saving all living beings."

"Mr. Gu, remember what I said - the charm of the travel plot lies in its simplicity. It is only about what you want to see on this journey and what you actually see."

"What do you think Kara wants to see?" Gu Weijing asked.

“Something of a unique visual spectacle.”

Anna pursed her lips.

"I said that the novels of Agatha Christie or Jules Verne inevitably bear the traces of the unique thoughts of that era." "You call it a kind of dream talk." Gu Weijing said.

"Yes, and I don't think Kara's growth stage would be particularly exceptional..."

"You are the Elena family." The young man's tone sounded like both a question expressing hesitation and a statement expressing certainty.

Anna just shook her head.

Yes.

She answered in her mind.

We are the Elena family.

It is because we are the Elena family.

The Elena family is a group of people who are very capable of saying one thing and doing another, Anna thought sarcastically.

It's easy to pretend to be righteous before the blow falls on you.

The old count drank with his artist friends in the salon, called them his best friends and said that art is the life of our family.

I was so angry that I almost fainted when I found out that my daughter was becoming a painter.

The next generation of counts were polite to black people in the club and gave generous tips, but told friends at home in private that I was not discriminating against black people, but as a Catholic I should obey God's will. Since God gave everyone different skin colors, it is better to "keep your distance." If he knew that his grandson was later taken away by the Gestapo to the "private room" of Mauthausen concentration camp by Adolf himself, he would probably have a new view of his words.

The absurd historical farce is always repeated over and over again.

……

The Irina family always speaks beautifully, is good at playing tricks, and only takes the benefits without getting involved. Since the Thirty Years' War, the Irina family has gradually withdrawn from the imperial military system.

Kara's grandfather had to withdraw from the core of court politics because of a falling out with Marshal Gyulay and the newly enthroned Emperor Joseph during the Franco-Austrian War of 1858. He turned to research and invest in the construction of a railway from Lyon to Liechtenstein, and the family's focus shifted to commercial investment.

The officer's uniform that the old earl never took off was more like a Cosplay suit that followed the fashion trend of European aristocrats at the time.

His rank of Colonel of the Royal Horse Guards, like his seat in the House of Lords, was more of a ceremonial honor.

The political structure of the Austro-Hungarian Empire was extremely complex. Its strategy was only in the center of Europe. It had no colonies, and its overseas interests were even less involved. Of course, they could speak sweet words like crazy and appear to be very affectionate.

To them, these were always things far away, and all they had to do was to love art in their manor.

For the first ten years of her life, Kara was a rich lady, but not a typical aristocratic daughter.

It's pretty much the same after all.

Miss Elena had no confidence. Just because of the last name "Elena", she was born noble and different.

"The moment she stepped on the train, she probably wanted to see what the overseas territories of European empires described in the newspapers looked like. It was a unique adventure, she had a sufficient annuity, and servants with pistols, so... why not?"

"It is entirely possible that she, like Mr. Fogg, planned her journey based on the train schedules in the Paris newspapers, treating it as a Columbus-style adventure. Did I mention that Carla actually likes to read those traditional knight novels? Maybe she can reach the end, or maybe she will only turn back halfway because of the war, the railway accident, or even because she just loses interest."

"You also said that this is not a hunting adventure, this is a game."

Gu Weijing said.

"I think this change in mentality occurred during the journey. That is, the difference between what she wanted to see and what she actually saw -"

The difference between Her Excellency Baroness Kara von Elena and Kara.

Anna said to herself.

She took something out of the box.

Heavy file box.

The host placed them on the coffee table, making a heavy "puff" sound, which reminded Gu Weijing of the sound of Awang jumping from the table onto the bed.

"You said that the more literature we have, the deeper our understanding of a person will become."

Anna opened the file box.

"For reasons of preservation, all the letters and telegrams I brought today are photocopies of the original versions."

"Today is July 7th. I am writing this letter on the train to Geneva, from where I will go directly to Istanbul (I will attach the itinerary at the end of this letter), and I will also be traveling with..."

"Please don't blame my personal maid, Miss Eugenie. She is almost going crazy. She is pacing around in the corridor outside the carriage. I tried to persuade her, but it was useless. She also tried to persuade me more than 20 times, but of course it was useless."

Anna read.

"I know Miss Eugenie will definitely send a secret telegram to her family from Geneva. This is her duty. I am a little sad, but I won't embarrass her."

"I know you'll be furious. But I don't care, just as you never cared if I was furious when you wanted me to get engaged to Mr. Powell."

"—and always your daughter, Carla von Irena (even though I don't wish it to be so)."

Miss Elena finished reading the letter and then said.

"This is the first letter that Carla sent to her family from the station in Geneva."
-
"On August 8, after an intermittent railway journey, I finally arrived in Istanbul, five days later than I expected. I couldn't catch the next train. It's hard to say. The trains here have only been opened for three years. The trains operated by the French have never been on time. Eugenie..."

"I still can't believe what kind of feeling I have in my heart at this moment. Istanbul, Constantinople, Constantine (the latter two names are written in Latin and Greek respectively), the city of my dreams... I am by the city wall, looking at the distant bay, thinking about how the warships spewing Greek fire were burning on the sea. When I was a child, my uncle told me the story of my great-grandfather's interaction with the Ottoman princes as an envoy. The mysterious Turkish Sultan never showed up in front of people, hiding behind the wall to listen to the conversations of his ministers, and from time to time ordering palace servants to pass on secret orders... When I was a child, I felt that this was just like a story in "One Thousand and One Nights"..."

"September 9th... This is the fifth letter I have written, or maybe the sixth, but I don't know if you can receive it, or when you can receive it. Maybe when I arrive in Damascus, I can try to send a telegram directly - Wolfe, my brother, I have said this many times, but since I don't know if you have received my previous letter, I will say it again - this place is completely different from what I imagined. I don't know if it is better or worse. It is neither the kind in Richard Burton's novels nor the kind in "The Thousand and One Pages"..."

(End of this chapter)