Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
After the gloomy melody, a cello appeared before Lucien, who turned it around delicately and played music that was as profound as a man’s voice. The violin, having lost support, simply floated in midair.
Enshrouded in the romantic atmosphere weaved by the conversation of the mellow cello and the soft violin, Natasha recalled her first encounter with Lucien. Because of a Symphony of Fate, the two of them were first connected, and because of their mutual interest in music and Lucien’s humor and delightful self-embarrassment now and then, she gradually became his good friend, which allowed her to discover his advantages other than music. He was calm, gentle, smart and fun. There was no pressure to hang around with him, and she could be herself freely.
Those were the days that were as beautiful as the spring of April. Perhaps, it was in their deepening relationship that she gradually forgot Lucien’s gender. Their love sprouted for the first time.
In the easy and pleasant melody, musical instruments behind and next to Lucien echoed on their own with his violin.
Those musical instruments seemed to be given their own souls and gathered into the concert of an orchestra. It was also as if many transparent musicians were playing together with Lucien.
Thanks to magic, Lucien’s solo performance sounded like a minor orchestra.
The soft violin and the magnificent cello ‘stood’ together again. The deep feelings and the reluctance to say goodbye surfaced in Natasha’s heart clearly. That was the farewell after their life-and-death escape and their support for each other. Lucien was about to leave Aalto for Holm. She believed that they would meet again, and she knew it was in the best interests of Lucien, so she let him go generously, but she still found herself missing him although they hadn’t been separated yet.
Perhaps it was at that time, when Lucien carried her through the dark forest determinedly, that their friendship transformed. However, because of the pain that Sylvia brought her and her negligence, she merely regarded their feelings as those between two good friends.
From the brass instrument, a creepy, rigorous melody spread out. Grief, fear, panic, sorrow and other feelings flowed out while the violin was competing with the allegro in the band. Natasha seemed to have sensed Lucien’s hesitation and agony after he realized that he fell in love with her. She also recalled her suffering back when she was in the abbey. The sole comfort for her at that time was the letters from Lucien. However, having walked further and further down the path of magic, and having disgraced the Cannon and the Doctrines again and again, he seemed unable to even keep being a good friend to her, a devout believer and the future duchess.
The violin let out resolution and anger. Natasha seemed to have heard Lucien’s sigh when he made up his mind, and remembered how she treated Lucien as her best friend just like before, overcoming her psychological barriers. However, the pressure from the Church, the duchy, her father, the Violet family and the citizens cast everything into shadow again. They raged like storms and presaged the possible tragic ending.
In retrospect, Natasha realized that she had regarded Lucien as the most peaceful and gentle part of her mind since then, but her perception was enveloped by the mists of her habits back then.
Lucien continued playing the violin, and the cello began to play itself while nobody was around, as if it were listening to the violin’s subtle confession of love. Then, Lucien turned to the cello, and the violin started to play on its own, as if the time had come for the gentlemen to tell his feelings and for the lady to listen.
It reminded Natasha of the beautiful scene when they met again in Holm and finally told each other their feelings towards each other. It was sweet and warm, but the lovely memory did not last when the melody turned hasty and sharp. The situation in Holm, the danger one year later, and her worries for her father who was far away in Orvarit all turned into rapid notes that constituted a grievous scene. The melody that feathered the wonder of love emanated the sorrow that could make souls cry in such an atmosphere.
Natasha had seen such devastation before, but her emotional experience with Sylvia was not as deep. The moment she thought that Lucien and her would end up like this, she felt that the music whose sadness reached her soul was speaking for herself. She clenched her fists and vowed to break all the obstacles.
But what if her father was the obstacle, and it was a helpless choice for Lucien’s safety?
Obstacles were not so easy to be broken!
Natasha’s face was somewhat twisted while she struggled in her heart. As her sorrow reached the summit, she finally took a step. Any difficulty could possibly be resolved, and giving up meant that they would never see the dawn. At such a moment, she could only press forward and try to resolve the difficulties until she died!
As if moved by her determination, after the intense grief, the flutes played the soft, splendid melody again together with the harp. Natasha seemed to see the view of Mountain Paradise where all pains were gone and only happiness was left. In the end, the violin began to play the thematic melody in solo again.
This time, there was no more vague sorrow, but only comforting beauty.
Such an atmosphere was like two hands that still held each other after all the vicissitudes of life, the warm eyes of understanding after all the difficulties were overcome, and two butterflies that danced with their dreamy wings around each other after breaking away from the thick cocoons that shackled them.
The music stopped, but the melody still lingered, awing everything into silence with its beauty.
“I have never heard such a music style before, but it is also the most beautiful violin melody I have ever heard. Thank you for your birthday gift, and thank ‘Lucien Orchestra’ for their performance.” A long time later, Natasha finally said hoarsely, “I like the final part best. It seems to have sublimed the whole music.”
Half a month ago, after much deliberation, Lucien selected The Butterfly Lovers’ Violin Concerto 1 , which was composed by Mr. He Zhanhao and Mr. Chen Gang. While it was a tragedy, the ‘Turning Into Butterflies’ part represented beautiful hope, and he could express his feelings with it after slight adaptation. It was also fit for the conditions between himself and Natasha.
Putting down the violin, Lucien stood and bowed, “I’m honored that you like it.”
“I noticed that you used a lot of different tricks when you played the violin. For example, sometimes you only used two strings.” Natasha walked to Lucien’s side with a smile and pulled him back to the table. Seeing that he was about to explain, she hurried to hint that it was unnecessary and simply went on. “It’s not easy to see you play the violin. Its charm is entirely different from that of the piano. However, it is not the time for this right now. The music just now let me scrutinize our relationship in retrospect. I find it hard to hold back my feelings. I only want to have you and feel you.”
Lucien smiled, “It’s your birthday today. You’ll be the queen.”
Naughtiness beamed out of Natasha’s smile. “Is that so? Excellent. That’s what I want, too. Since today is my birthday, I’ll take the lead of everything. You can only accept and cannot take any action until I tell you to. Do you understand?”
Lucien was about to reply, when Natasha added, “Rest assured. I won’t cross your boundaries. In fact, I tried to transform you into a girl exactly because I wanted to ‘care for’ you. Your current status will do. There will be even the additional feeling of conquest. Would you like to cooperate with me?”
Lucien smiled. “You are the queen today.”
Natasha chuckled, “For me, music is an excellent birthday gift, but there is only one best birthday gift, which is you.”
While talking, she picked up a piece of cream from the table and smeared it on Lucien’s throat, before she licked it. When Lucien tried to hug her, she stopped him: “Don’t move. Follow my commands.”
……
The messy velvet quilts covered their naked bodies, and the air of love filled the room.
Lucien felt lucky that he had changed his bed to a magic bed, which saved him from another collapse experience. Natasha, on the other hand, was like a kid who was occupying her favorite toy. She tied Lucien up with both hands and legs as she breathed steadily sound sleep.
“She had been taking the lead the first couple of hours. She must be exhausted.” Lucien’s right hand was under Natasha, so he extended his left hand and eased the vague worries on her face.
Suddenly, Natasha opened her eyes and said in a daze, “It’s already dawn? I fell asleep.”
“Not yet. Sorry for waking you up.” Relied Lucien gently.
Natasha put on a brilliant smile. “That’s great. I didn’t plan to sleep at all. It’s probably going to be half or one month later before we meet again. How can we pass the night sleeping? Even random talking is better than that!”
Lucien smiled, “Not a problem. Right, I’ve been confused about something. Why is Sard not worried that the pope will notice what he is doing?”
Lucien did not find it inappropriate to discuss such matters on such an occasion, and Natasha felt nothing wrong, either. Continuing using Lucien’s right hand as her pillow, she said, “Because I am the queen of Holm.”
“Huh? What do you mean?” Lucien was puzzled.
Natasha smiled, “That’s a secret way that the pope checks the major parishes. After the schism of the North Church, the pope discovered that some northern nobles had detected anomalies a long time ago but they were killed when they tried to report the issue. Henceforth, emperors, kings and duchies have been given ways to directly contact the pope. Once the Grand Cardinal behaves inappropriately, they can report it to the pope.”
She stopped calling the pope as His Holiness.
“Perhaps, other nobles and night watchers can reach out to the Church in secret, too, but the right to talk to the pope should still be a royal prerogative. I certainly would not report to the pope that something wrong is going on in my kingdom, so Sard is not worried at all.”
“That explains a lot…” Lucien nodded. Then he recalled something else. “Sard’s goal is unclear. In case of accidents, give the structure of the divine power circles in the Nekso Palace to me when you have a chance. I’ll try to improve them. Then, you’ll ask Richard to change them accordingly, so that Sard will not control the defense of the Nekso Palace all of a sudden.”
Natasha was stunned, “You are going to improve the divine power circles?”
Wasn’t it supposed to be the clergy’s job?
Lucien smiled, “You forgot what happened before? For a sorcerer, the greatest difficulty to improve the divine power circles is that they may accidentally cut the power source of such circles. After the incidents with Ell and Francis, I am already able to identify the central part that distributes energy and make unrecognizable changes on other parts.”
Besides, he also had ‘Sun’s Corona’ as a reference.
“You’re more and more capable now. I’ll give the structure to you when there’s a chance to.” Natasha teased Lucien.
……
After another half night’s lingering, Natasha put on her dress and left affectionately when it was dawn.
Lucien, slept for another half day, then returned to Allyn in a pleasant mood but unsteady feet.
“Master, Arcana and Magic have been published in advance. The discussion is rather heated.” The next day, when Lucien walked into the Atom Institution, Heidi and other students greeted him with the journal, asking half in confusion and half in excitement, “But why isn’t your paper published? The guys who are in favor of the wave theory all claim that you… you have recognized the reality.”
