Today we were introduced to a new Japanese student joining the academy, Shinnosuke Kobayakawa (who everyone refers to as Shin) and his younger sister Sakura from Kamakura. The idea of having a fellow Japanese student to speak with was exciting at first for Lili, but she quickly came to learn Shin who claimed he lacks confidence in his English, wasn’t actually struggling at all– instead, students flocked around him to praise how fluent he was. Sucks to be Lili when she had just earlier offered to help him out if he found himself stuck with any words. Additionally, she had learned that the not only is Shin’s tuition being covered, but also his living expenses. For Lili, the extent of her studies as a representative student only covered her tuition. So it seems either Shin’s skill-sets is valued that much more than Lili, or it’s his elite’s status that’s giving him further benefits.
Shin’s specialty is wood sculpture as he hails from a family that specialize in it. Although he had just arrived to London, he had been working on a wooden sculpture throughout the journey there. So even though it was “roughly done” as he puts it, it was still good enough to display at the National Gallery exhibit.
Now this is where things got kind of weird for me. Initially I thought the National Gallery exhibit was going to be a lot more important in this episode, but instead it was used as the setting stage to reveal Kit’s true background. I find this a bit unfortunate, because I feel like this was going to be an importance instance where we’d see what kind of reception Lili’s work was going to get, especially now that Shin’s in the picture. Although he’s in a different group (Sculptures), it does still add to the rivalry of performance in exhibits like this. Instead, the most we got out of it was Kit’s art overshadowing everyone’s as per usual.
On the subject of Kit’s background reveal, I figured the truth would come out sooner or later, but not like this. Needless to say, as a viewer, it certainly comes as no surprise that Kit, or rather Christopher, comes from a very high prestigious family. That much was obvious already. His father Henry Thomas Church, is the Duke of Carisle, who served as a foreign diplomat. However because Kit prefers to just pour himself into art, taking care of himself and his expensive shoes are the least of his concerns. In-fact it’s because he’s actually such a slob that despite Peter revealing the shoes he wears were made by a man who makes stuff for the Royal Family, nobody really seriously considered that he’s in fact, quite close to royalty.
As for Kit’s father, at first glance seems to be the laid-back type, and doesn’t appear to be particularly bothered with Kit pursuing the arts. In fact he seems to be quite happy to see Kit surrounded by friends, which seems to be why he had decided to extend an invitation for them all to visit the Drunnheim Hall over the winter break. Kit frantically tried to get them to say no, but considering the reputation of the place, no one except Lili at first were foolish enough to turn it down. But Lili only changed her mind after Dorothy made a point that if she goes, she’d have the chance to see gorgeous landscaping and more of Kit’s works up close.
And indeed! It is no exaggeration to say the Drunnheim Hall might as well be a freaking museum in itself. Lili was justifiably speechless at just the entry way. The Church Family is a famous dukedom, who has worked closely to the royal family, true elites. And you can see their wealth and status by the fact they are the landlords of this very village, which the escort went as far to describe as their garden, goodness! That’s uh… certainly one way to put it!
Although Kit lives as very luxurious lifestyle, it’s clear as day that he doesn’t feel like he fits in with the aristocrats. He vehemently dislikes constantly having to wear stuffy clothes, over the top extravagant meals, aristocrat hobbies like hunting because he hates the idea taking a life, the expectations of inheriting the family’s responsibilities even while not being first in line. All of this is incredibly suffocating to him, what he wants is just to freely enjoy art. And it’s certainly something he can do because he undoubtedly has the talent for it.
Meanwhile between his father and his brother, it appears it’s really only his brother who has been expressing the frustration of Kit not doing his part, His father on the other hand, seems to be fine with how things are at the moment. It seems the main reason why he had invited everyone to the Drunnheim Hall is because this was the first time he has seen Kit have friends, and he wanted to show his appreciation for it. The head maid Maria later revealed to us that Kit grew up as a lonely, introverted child, so it made her happy too to see him have friends.
Speaking of which, it was endearing to see how Kit was trying to help Lili at the table, but she didn’t quite get the hint when he kicked her for her attention (would’ve been better had he quietly nudged her though, but that’s part of his awkwardness isn’t it?). It was especially adorable how he had told her to follow his lead, but Lili literally mirroring his exact actions, making it pretty obvious what she was doing.
As for Lili, she can’t seem to stop paying attention to Kit, and was quick to notice that he wasn’t quite himself as she knows him to be. She described seeing this version of him as someone in an entirely different world, and that’s probably among one of the reasons why he hates it so much. Notably, Kit seems to have a shorter tempter when he’s in this environment, compared to how they usually see him, as he tends to be either completely aloof or asleep when they are at school. Goes to show that he feels a lot more comfortable and free when he’s away from his family’s domain.
