Once again, Marcus swallowed his shock when looking at the sight before him.

As an artist, his entire body trembled with the desire to paint what he saw.

The whole place looked mythical.

Baymard itself was glorious, beautiful and otherworldly.

But the palace made him feel like he was in the heavens.

It was a level higher than the rest of Baymard, and it could make anyone feel like they were in the presence of the Gods and all those above.

Marcus took out his blade and gave himself a small cut to keep his excitement in check.

Sometimes, pain was the right medicine to bring anyone back to reality.

Even if one was with the most beautiful woman and was in ecstasy, the moment extreme pain came, that feeling of joy would inevitably vanish in the twinkle of an eye.

Marcus knew his mission and he would never give the enemy the upper hand.

He stabbed himself, tore a piece of clothing out and bandaged it while in the car driving into the palace.

Not surprisingly, his men did the same as well.

Just like that, they were brought into the palace and led to the building that had the audience hall.

Inside the hall, two secretaries and several guards were already waiting there.

Earlier on, they received the order before Landon and Marcus arrived.

So they prepared everything needed for this unexpected meeting.

Someone had to take meeting notes, no?

Bam.

"Your majesty."

Everyone saluted Landon respectfully while he took his seat on the throne.

Marcus scoffed and grumbled inwardly.

So what if he was king?

His status was still higher than his within the three continents.

.

"Mr. Marcus, tell me... Why exactly did you storm my palace?"

"Why?

Because I came here as a representative of the Arts Society.

That's right!

We, the members, have a bone to pick with you."

"Oh?

How so?" Landon said while relaxing into his throne.

Marcus gritted his teeth even more because of his care-free attitude.

Here he was standing and tilting his head towards, while the bastard was just relaxing on the throne without a care in the world.

F*** You.

Marcus took a deep breath and calmed himself.

"Do you know how much trouble you've given the association?

We've been losing money and clients recently.

And it's all your fault.

Firstly, we came to tell you that we disapprove of your so-called Academy of Arts and Beauty here.

We heard that you have painting courses that are different and are an abomination from what we, as artists, approve.

We are here to give you a warning to stop teaching such courses.

We also want you to stop selling Paint as well."

Landon looked at him and chuckled.

He had a feeling it was about it.

But why should he stop just because others don't approve?

He sneered at how greedy and shallow-minded these people were.

.

"And what if I say no?"

"Then you'll leave us no choice but to ban you and your art academy from the world.

Why should we allow such a ridiculous school to go on?

Most of the paintings from your so-called artists would never make the cut in our society."

"Why?"

"Because of the rules!

Firstly, great art needs to express an intellectual message.

And all acceptable art falls into five categories; Still-life, Landscape, Genre, Portrait, and History.

These categories are ranked by their capabilities to deliver an intellectual message.

Still-life and Landscapes are at the bottom, followed by Genre and Portraits.

Leaving History to be the top of the list and is currently society's sweetheart

Now, apart from what is painted, we also care about how it's painted.

So with all these, how can we accept your trash?"

Landon looked at him and smiled silently.

He understood where they were coming from.

But they were just too closed-minded.

.

Their paintings were very similar to the Mona Lisa or those painted by Michelangelo and other famous painters.

Their paintings always had cooler tones with no shouting colours.

They believed that it should be like this.

They chose darker shades of every colour, which was their choice and shouldn't be forced on anyone.

Another thing was their categories.

Still-life portraits just showed inanimate objects.

Like, one could paint a close-up portrait of an apple by a spoon on a wooden table.

That would be still life. 

And because it didn't express any intellectual message, it was ranked way at the bottom with Landscapes.

As for Genres, they mostly painted the life of the poor to keep the rich feeling good.

Some took these paintings and felt proud of where they were in life.

Of course, Portraits were portraits of people.

Typically, nobles.

And there were rules for portraits.

You couldn't smile, the colours didnt need to scream out, and so on.

So with all the Baymardian paintings of young girls and girls laughing with their teeth out in the open, how can Marcus and the rest accept it?

They couldn't accept anyone showing teeth in a painted portrait.

Again, why were the colours so vibrant?

They even saw an abstract painting similar to Picasso's back on earth and realized that it didn't fall into any categories.

The body proportions were just awful.

What the hell was this painting?

It was trash!

[Picasso: (=_=)]

.

Last on the categories list was History.

Without a doubt, this was the most expensive and famous category of all.

There were paintings of King's raking the throne, paintings after the war, and many more.

This was a hot-blooded era.

And paintings like this conveyed intellectual messages far beyond what one could imagine.

Mythical paintings also fell under history as they were very interested in the gods, ancestors or whatever their belief was.

In the empire of Czare within the Morgany continent, there was a famous nude painting of the Earth Goddess Pilla, a symbol of womanly perfection.

In the painting, she was idealized, with all little angles and several nude women looking at her as if she was the world itself.

Their bodies were smooth and beautiful, having no body hair.

The scene was complex and layered but still very simple.

Its colours were natural and nothing that one wouldn't find in nature.

They weren't too saturated or harsh, so the colour tones were cool.

The scene invoked a balanced harmony.

So for a long time, the only way to be recognized and be successful was to follow the art society's rules.

No pictures with smiles, no overly bright colours, everything needed to have a balance with depth and perspective, no portraits of overly exaggerated figures and so on.

The only thing that was painting small in size was a man's private because they believed it took away the sheer simplicity and beauty of the painting.

In short if they did so, all eyes would all on that, rather than the painting itself.

Marcus had even seen a picture of a pregnant lady with a thin lining of hair along her rounded belly.

(*Most pregnant women will have this trip across their belly when pregnant due to hormonal fluctuations.)

Looking at the time strip of hair, Marcus felt like the whole portrait was an abomination.

How can body hair be painted?

Only the head hair and beards were allowed.

So what was this?

Apparently, the female painter wanted to give pregnant women some sense of belonging and pride.

For all those whose husbands feel appalled to be with them during pregnancy, for all those who find themselves in a depressing or bad time when pregnant, the artist just wanted to reach out and grab their hands through the painting.

The woman in the painting laughed and rubbed her belly lovingly, and in the background, all sorts of chaotic scenes surrounded her.

But since when should they as painters care for such things?

The painting was accusing them of wronging their wives.

This was an outrage!

What business was it to others on how they treated their wives?

Didn't they give large so dowries in exchange for their lives?

No one had the right to poke fingers at them even if they mistreated their wives.

The painting didn't even fall into any of the art society's categories.

So it was rubbish!

At the time, Marcus swore to find the painter and the last and give them a piece of his mind.

But he was told that the lady was made up and didn't exist.

And the painter was here in Baymard under the protection of this little imp.

So he was determined to give Landon a piece of his mind.

The number of ridiculous things that he had seen was far too many.

And he had to put a stop to it now!

.

As for Landon, he truly felt like the paintings from those of the art society were undoubtedly beautiful.

Nonetheless, he didn't approve of their so-called rules that restricted artists.

For heaven's sake, let their imagination run wild.

If painters wanted to paint a stick-like lady with an overly fat head, like the Bratz dolls, then let them.

If they wanted to paint something like anime with overly big eyes, then why not?

If they also wanted to paint gravity-defying hair that lit up like the Sayans in Dragon Ball, then by all means, they should.

Characters with whiskers on their faces, someone releasing ice from their hands, anything goes.

What exactly was the problem here?

And why couldn't they paint someone who was laughing?

Was it really that bad?

Funny enough, Baymard still taught and painted Marcus' kind of paintings, but they expanded their categories to the 21st-century's standard and classes.

Duh?

There are so many categories, so why limit them?

It didn't make sense.