Van Gogh Reborn! - Chapter 107
The next day, as promised, I headed to Paris, France.
The last time I came, I couldn’t see the Musée d’Orsay properly, so I wanted to stop by again, but first, I wanted to see Henry Marceau’s collection.
Raphael’s [Small Cowper Madonna] is in Henry Marceau’s personal collection, so it will be hard to see it if I miss this opportunity.
“Do you really have to go?”
Grandpa didn’t sleep on the plane for some reason and showed signs of displeasure.
“How about we go to Orsay? You weren’t able to properly see it last time, right?”
Grandpa doesn’t seem to want to go to Henry Marceau’s place.
“It’s important to get movie props, grandpa. Then will grandpa not come with me. Don’t you want to see Raphael’s painting?”
“…,”
Even grandpa can’t say anything when Raphael’s name was bought.
Grandpa coughs and feigns ignorance.
About an hour later, there was an announcement that we would arrive in Paris soon.
I wrapped the snack given by the airplane staff and filled it into my mouth.
When I came out of the airport, Arsene Musso, Marceau’s secretary, was waiting for us at the airport.
“Welcome to Paris.”
“Hello,”
The car Arsene brought was light brown and looked like it was made of wood, unlike the other cars.
“Oh,”
Grandpa and Uncle Bang also looked at the car curiously.
When I touched it, it felt like it was not wood.
It’s not like general paint, while the color and color pattern are excellent no matter what type of paint is used.
The pattern, texture, and workmanship of this wide range of paintings are also great.
“I’ve never seen a model like this before.”
“The vehicle was painted by El patron himself.”
Arsene answered Uncle Bang’s question with a smile.
He’s a really great Artist.
“Did Director Nolan arrive?”
“I was informed that he will arrive tomorrow evening.”
It seems that things in England have not been solved yet.
Nolan and his staff, who are working together on a number of things related to this year’s release and ‘The Strange Castle’, also felt great.
“And this,”
Arsene handed over an envelope.
The envelope, embroidered with gold leaf, was sealed with wax.
Seeing the wax hardened like a lily, seemed like the symbol Marceau family
“Was he from a royal family?”
The lily is a crest used by the French royal family for a long time.
“That’s right.”
I wondered why Henry Marceau’s personality was like that, but now I found the answer.
It seems to be an inherited personality.
Arsene opened the envelope with a knife.
It was an invitation that begins with the elegant phrase,
“We invite you to see Marceau street.”
I don’t think Marceau wrote it.
There is a postscript attached in the last line.
I think he wrote this himself.
Come if you don’t have anywhere to go.
I nodded and put the invitation in the envelope.
“Where can I take you?”
“There’s an accommodation Director Nolan booked for us. we’ll go there.”
“Okay.”
Uncle Bang opened his smartphone and told me the hotel address that Nolan Productions booked.
The car sent by Henry Marceau was very comfortable because it canceled all the outside noise and it did not shake even on a small bump.
“Then I’ll pick you up tomorrow morning.”
“Thank you.”
“At what time shall I come to pick you up?”
When I looked at grandpa and uncle Bang alternately asking for answers, Uncle Bang stepped up and answered instead.
“It would be rude to go too early. Can I ask you to pick us up around ten?”
“I will.”
“Please give my greetings to Marceau, too.”
“Yes.”
⏩ ⏩ ⏩ ⏩ ⏩ ⏩
Henry Marceau looked around the VIP room and nodded.
Henry Marceau arranged the collar and moved his feet in a relaxed manner.
As he walked down the central staircase through the hallway on the second floor, his secretary Arsene entered the mansion.
Henry wriggled his eyebrows.
He couldn’t see who he was supposed to see.
“I’m back El Patron.”
Arsene bowed his head.
“What about Sir Ko Sooyeol?”
When Henry Marceau looked for Ko Sooyeol, Arsene lowered his hat to the side and replied,
“I took them to the accommodation that Director Nolan booked for them.”
“What about the invitation?”
“I gave it to Mr. Ko Hun.”
“He didn’t come after reading it?”
“Yes. I’m going to pick them up at 10 a.m. tomorrow. Mr. Ko Hun sent his thanks for sending a car.”
Henry’s lips twitched.
In order to show off his collection, he personally supervised and waited after preparing the exhibition room and the VIP room from the morning.
Moreover, even though he wrote and sent an invitation, Ko Hun made him wait one more day, which made him feel very uncomfortable.
He regretted that he had a deep conversation once and opened his heart a little to him.
Henry Marceau’s clothes fluttered as he turned around.
⏩ ⏩ ⏩ ⏩ ⏩ ⏩
Henry Marceau’s nanny Sherry, who was preparing for the meal, saw Arsene going out and asked.
“Are you here alone? What about the guests?”
“What?”
Arsene asked back, raising his eyebrows.
“Henry told me to prepare some food for the guests.”
“I gave the invitation, but he said he would come tomorrow.”
“Oh, my. I thought they’d come right away. It’s his first time bringing friends to the house, you know. It’s been a mess since morning.”
“Haha.”
Arsene thought that the atmosphere felt different from when he left the mansion.
The carpet was new and the flowerpots were placed everywhere.
⏩ ⏩ ⏩ ⏩ ⏩ ⏩
“Henry, Henry!”
Sherry Gado called Henry Marceau as she climbed the central stairs.
Sherry, who entered the study, saw Henry looking out the window and hit him on the back.
“How can you tell me to prepare food even before you made a promise? Who’s going to eat all that stuff?”
“Is there one or two people in the house?”
“How can we eat it all?”
Sherry Gado, who was complaining to Henry Marceau, covered her mouth when she saw Henry Marceau from the side.
“Oh my, are you sulking because your friend didn’t come?
“What are you talking about?”
“Oh, my God. Our Henry also gets upset. It’s okay dear. He said he’ll come tomorrow.”
“Shut up! If you don’t have anything to do, lie down and watch TV!”
“Hey, did you think I’m slacking around here? Even today I’ve been cooking for your friend since morning, to the point I feel like I broke my waist.”
“Why would you do all that? I told you not to work!”
“How can I not do anything when everyone is working?”
“Didn’t you say your back hurts!?”
“But still I’ve to be in the kitchen. Who’s going to cater to your picky taste, if it isn’t me?”
Henry Marceau was at a loss for words.
“Don’t be noisy and don’t work from now on. I’ve already warned you.”
“It’s okay for now. If I don’t work, I’ll be bored.”
Sherry Gado checked Henry Marceau’s face and smiled and tapped his shoulder.
“Henry, you’re all grown up. I’ve nothing to worry about now.”
“Don’t worry. If you’re bored, go out and shop. Why don’t you use a spa where you get a massage. why don’t you take the card and not use it?”
“Oh, it’s fine. So? Are you sure they’re coming tomorrow?”
“I don’t know!”
⏩ ⏩ ⏩ ⏩ ⏩ ⏩
I tossed and turned at the thought of seeing Raphael’s work.
I fell asleep at the dawn of the morning and barely woke up to the sound of grandpa waking me up.
I ate bread and salad that the employee brought me, but my eyelids keep closing.
Grandpa laughed as I was eating with my eyes closed because I thought I would regret not eating it since it smelled like high-quality butter.
“Hey, little guy. If you eat like that, you will put the food into the nose instead of the mouth.”
“What can I do grandpa, I’m sleepy?’
“Didn’t you sleep?”
I shook my head to get rid of sleep.
“I couldn’t sleep thinking about looking at Raphael’s paintings, so I kept looking it up on my smartphone.”
“It’s not good to look at your phone before you go to bed.”
“That’s right.”
If I look it up, I become curious about that.
Time flies when you surf the internet without any objective.
The Internet is really scary.
“I did find one thing though.”
“What?”
“Why was Vincent sick?”
Yesterday, I searched for a famous painting and found a post called “Some Things That made life of Vincent Van Gogh hard.”
I knew from grandpa that I got lead poisoning and got sick.
When I read the article, it was definitely painful.
“They said the epilepsy drug caused more damage.”
“What do you mean?”
“Digoxin? It contained a substance that suppresses seizures, which made his heart beat violently and increased his anxiety.”
“Hmm. Certainly, considering the medical level at that time, they could have prescribed it wrong.”
In the early 20th century, my grandfather gave morphine to a person who caught a cold.
“What’s morphine, grandpa?”
“It’s a drug.”
“……Do they give drugs to someone who’s sick?”
“I think so. It’s said that it calms them.”
It is a prescription that does not make patients comfortable but makes people around them comfortable.
“And you said it was because of wine, right grandpa?”
A story about lead poisoning.
“I did.”
“I think it was because of absinthe.”
In fact, when I drank absinthe, my mind became clear for no apparent reason.
I drank a lot even though I knew it was not good for my body because I felt strange when I drank it continuously.
“In fact, if you drink absinthe, the color around you feels brighter. Maybe because of that,.”
Grandpa looked at me with a happy smile on his face.
“It was revealed in 1990, that long-term use of terpene and tuzon substances in absinthe can destroy the optic nerve.”
“Then Vincent should have suffered from absinthe.”
I shook my head.
“Terpene is not a substance that lasts long. If you’re going to have a problem with terpene in absinthe, you have to eat more than 2g to get a side effect.”
“2g is a very small amount?”
“Yes. But 1 liter of absinthe contained 6 milligrams of terpene.”
I have to drink 333 liters to have a problem in my body due to absinthe.
It is not a substance that remains in the body for a long time, so you should drink it in a short period of time.
Maybe my stomach will burst before that.
The hallucinations I felt were the stimulant effect of Absinthe.
Now, it contains a very small amount of stimulant ingredients compared to the ingredients in coffee.
For me and others, who were less exposed to stimulants at that time, it had a tremendous effect.
“So epilepsy that he inherited from his family lineage got worse because of eating lead-based sweeteners and paints along with the wrong medicine and alcohol.”
Grandpa nodded his head.
“I see. There’s another story about him like that.”
Grandpa pretended as if he didn’t know about it, but I think he already knew it.
He went with me as if he didn’t know so that I could talk.
“What is it?”
“Actually, the image of absinthe is inflated. It contains drug substances, so it cannot be imported, and now there are rumors that the drug substance has been removed.”
Absinthe seems to be popular alcohol even in modern times.
“Most of the bad rumors about absinthe spread in the 19th and 20th centuries were spread by winemakers.”
“Why grandpa?”
“The wine didn’t sell well because people drank cheap and easy liquor to get drunk.”
Certainly, I drank Absinthe because it was cheap and easy to get.
I found a drink that can easily get me drunk because I didn’t have money.
Really.
I feel again how much effort and time it takes to know the hidden truth.
With what was revealed in 1990, even now, doubts about absinthe have not completely disappeared.
