Drawing a portrait.

Noah stepped back slightly, crossing his arms. "If this were about liberation, the yellow wouldn't just be a streak. It would expand, it would push back against the red and black. But it doesn't. It's almost lost in the chaos. That's not freedom. That's barely surviving."

"You're looking at this piece and seeing what you want to see. An easy narrative that fits neatly into the scholarly framework you've spent years building. But that's the problem—you're not seeing this piece. You're seeing what you've been told to see."

Diana remained silent, her expression thoughtful. Her eyes flicked between the painting and Noah, her faint smile still lingering as though she'd just witnessed something far more interesting than an art lecture.

Noah stood calmly, his faint smile unwavering, as the old man's words dripped with thinly veiled condescension.