All that once glittered was gold, until it turned to bitter ash and ruin. Juliette Laurant has always dreamed of a simple life, painting to her heart's content and unbothered by men and women alike. She gains her wish, to paint in a way that is envied by all who see it, but at the cost of her life's work, and the sudden arrival of a stranger whose only desire is to be seen once more. Now, trapped by the hands of fate, she must find a way to put an end to the stranger's cycle of despair or discover what awaits her at the end of life's final portrait ~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Failure. That is what she always was. Nothing else. Her life never knew beauty, but shame. Rich garden being symbol of shame she could never get rid off same as Hester Prynne could never take off her scarlet letter. But maybe even for her is hope waiting at the bottom of Pandora's box.