Courtesan

Korutijāna (コルティジャーナ)

Arte continues to overreact around Leo. One of Leo's regular customers, the courtesan Veronica, requests a portrait for a client. Arte is surprised to find Veronica is well educated and cultured. Veronica in turn is surprised Arte doesn't judge her courtesan career, so she asks Arte to paint her portrait instead. Over several days, Arte and Veronica become close, but Leo notices Arte's distracted behavior. Arte confides in Veronica, who realizes Arte is in love with Leo. As a warning, Veronica shows Arte a former courtesan who fell in love and is now working as a common street prostitute. 

Over the next few days, Arte sees Veronica playing mind games on a client. Seeing his misery, Arte confronts Veronica about her cruelty. Struggling with the painting, Arte eventually overreacts when a customer insults the hard work of her local baker. She suddenly realizes Veronica also works hard at her job. Determined, she completes the painting and forces herself to act normally around Leo. Delivering the painting to Veronica, Arte admits that while she cannot respect how Veronica treats her clients, she does respect how hard she works to support herself. Veronica accepts this and they remain friends.