‘Duke Buin’s illegitimate child.’

A presence that had been momentarily forgotten appeared. Deborah’s pupils trembled slightly, but neither Irene who spoke nor Dia who was listening intently noticed that Deborah was flustered.

‘Come to think of it, Dia doesn’t know right now.’

At least in this room, Deborah would be the only one who knew that Zen was Duke Buin’s illegitimate child.

‘I should be careful not to act awkwardly for no reason.’

Deborah composed her expression once again.

“These days, compositions by composers from Geman are trending……”

Irene added about a minute of in-depth explanation. She probably would have continued explaining if she hadn’t seen the beads of cold sweat forming on Dia’s face.

“Ahem.”

Irene, who cleared the atmosphere with a cough, said.

“Anyway, since the currently active composers from Geman were greatly influenced by composers from Grasian, it feels somewhat familiar. Young lady, do you perhaps know Yeats’ art song?”

“The only art song I know is ‘My Beautiful Hometown’……”

Dia said cautiously. Irene smiled with satisfaction.

“Yes. It’s the most famous of Yeats’ art songs. The sonata I’m about to play has a part that takes its motif from Yeats’ Beautiful Hometown, so you’ll have fun finding it.”

After saying that, Irene bowed beside the piano. Deborah gave a small applause, and Dia, startled by the sound of clapping, quickly joined in.

Irene, seated at the piano, began to play. Although no one had played the piano until Irene placed her hands on it, the tuning was perfect, and Irene’s performance was of a high caliber.

‘It’s been a while since I’ve heard such a performance.’

Surprisingly, it wasn’t common to hear real instrument performances, including piano.

They say even the middle class takes a piano as part of their dowry, but there was nothing like a piano in Bumerz. For them, a performance meant stomping on the floor with hands and feet, and tapping glasses and bowls with forks.

‘That kind of performance is good, and this kind is good too.’

Deborah glanced at Dia. She saw a round and pretty head. How could her hair be so beautiful? It must be innate, of course.

The young lady with the pretty head and beautiful hair was listening intently to the performance.

After about 3 minutes had passed like that, Irene lifted her fingers from the last key and raised her foot from the pedal. Irene, who had finished her performance, smiled softly and asked Dia, who was applauding with a flushed face.

“There was a melody in this piece that repeated like ‘My Beautiful Hometown’, did you notice?”

Dia, looking nervous, glanced at Irene and said.

“I think I heard it near the end……”

“That’s right! It’s this melody.”

Irene lightly pressed the piano keys.

“Oh, my dear hometown. My……”

Irene, who was humming along with the melody, couldn’t finish the song and tilted her head.

“My…… What was next?”

Dia shook her head.

“I’m sorry. I don’t know well either.”

“Oh, there’s nothing to be sorry about. I forgot like this too.”

The lyrics of the song weren’t that important right now. But when memories are on the tip of your tongue like this, it’s hard to turn your attention elsewhere.

“My……”

Irene frowned as she tried to recall the lyrics. Dia also fell into deep thought, but the lyrics just wouldn’t come to mind.

At that moment, Deborah clasped her hands in front of her chest and opened her mouth.

“Oh, my dear hometown. My sun, my plains.”

At the sound of Deborah’s singing, Irene’s eyes widened. Not only that, Dia also turned around in surprise.

“It is my love.”

Deborah hit the last high note clearly. Satisfaction was evident on her face.

“Ahem. Are these the correct lyrics?”

Deborah, who had sung properly for the first time in a long while, cleared her throat and said.

“Ah. Yes. They should be… correct.”

In fact, Irene hadn’t properly heard the lyrics. It was because Deborah’s singing voice was shocking.

Deborah smiled calmly at Irene and Dia, who were still struggling to regain their composure, and said.

“Huhu. Are you surprised? Actually, I’m quite tone-deaf.”

Deborah thought of herself as lacking in many things, but her singing ability was singularly deficient.

How bad must it have been for even the kind-hearted residents of Bumerz to tell Deborah it would be better not to sing?

“I, I’m really bad at singing too!”

Dia said urgently. Deborah smiled warmly at the cute sight of her fretting and wondering how to comfort Deborah.

“Huhu. Thank you for trying to comfort me. But I’m fine.”

Deborah had sometimes wished she could sing well, but she was never upset about the fact that she was tone-deaf.

Once, when Deborah was humming a song, Charles had told her.

He said it with a very serious expression, without a hint of laughter. How funny it was. So when she smiled slightly, Charles added seriously.

Right. Charles was a man who didn’t know how to speak empty words.

‘He was an honest and kind person.’

Perhaps Charles was the only person in this world who liked Deborah’s trembling, goat-like singing voice.

And that person no longer existed. Deborah’s heart felt heavy every time she was reminded of this fact, but she could still smile.

‘Because I’ll never forget that a kind person named Charles existed.’

Being unable to forget someone you can’t meet could be a terrible punishment, or it could be a gift that can’t be exchanged for anything else.

That’s why memories of Charles sometimes left a huge hole in Deborah’s heart, but almost every moment, they comforted Deborah who was living alone in this world.

‘Ah, my nose is getting tingly for no reason.’

Deborah deliberately smiled brightly to hide her reddening nose tip.

“Tone-deaf people usually don’t have a sense of rhythm either, but Deborah, you kept the beat accurately.”

Irene comforted Deborah, helping Dia.

“Oh my, really?”

“Yes. You were quite on pitch too. It’s just that your voice trembles finely.”

“Oh my, I might not have been such a bad singer after all.”

At Deborah’s words, Irene paused for a moment, then nodded slowly. In contrast, Dia nodded quickly. Finding their reactions cute, Deborah covered her mouth and chuckled.

‘My mischievous side is acting up.’

Well, it had been acting up since she sang earlier. Anyway, Deborah decided to play another prank since things had come to this.

“Actually, I used to like singing, but being tone-deaf, I didn’t get to do it much.”

“Yes……”

“So, would it be alright if I sang one more song?”

Irene’s eyes trembled. Seeing her open her mouth without being able to give any answer, Deborah was about to smile and say it was a joke. But then Dia spoke.

“Of course! As much as you’d like!”

Dia even clapped her hands to encourage Deborah’s singing.

‘Oh my. This wasn’t the situation I had in mind.’

As Deborah, who had become embarrassed, was about to say it was a joke, Irene, feeling sorry for her hesitation, placed her hands on the keys and said.

“Shall I accompany you with the same song as before?”

“No, it’s fine.”

Before Deborah could add “It was a joke,” Irene said.

“I feel like playing accompaniment after a long time too, so don’t hold back.”

Deborah gave a nervous laugh.

‘I shouldn’t have played around.’

Deborah felt sheepish, but she remembered that there were occasions where singing was showcased among noble ladies. She didn’t know if such a thing would happen to Dia.

‘Well. Let’s think of it as an extension of the lesson.’

Deborah approached the piano with elegant steps like a noble lady, grasped the hem of her skirt, and gave a gentle greeting. Irene was a bit surprised by her demeanor, but soon came to her senses at Deborah’s eye signal and began the accompaniment.

‘Hmm. A beautiful prelude.’

As the prelude ended, Deborah took a deep breath, placed one hand on the piano, raised the other hand elegantly, and began to sing.

“On those beautiful green hills.”

It was an incredibly trembling voice. Irene nearly collapsed at Deborah’s still shocking voice, but she gritted her teeth and endured.

And so Deborah completed a short art song. It was regrettable that she sometimes got the lyrics wrong and missed the beat, but it couldn’t be helped. That was Deborah’s limit.

“Thank you for listening.”

Deborah bowed, placing her hand on her chest. Dia, with a face flushed red, applauded enthusiastically. But at that moment, a sound other than Dia’s applause was heard from the direction of the door.

“Pfft.”

It was the sound of laughter. Everyone’s gaze, including Deborah’s, turned towards the door. Deborah smiled faintly at the face of the man visible through the slightly open door.

‘Oh my, what timing.’

Cedric, with his hand covering his mouth, was shaking with laughter to the point his body trembled.

“Mr. Rareford? You don’t have to hold it in like that.”

Deborah said playfully on purpose. Cedric, wiping tears from his eyes, opened the door that he usually opened lightly with difficulty and said.

“I swear I wasn’t eavesdropping. The door was open from the start.”

“Huhu. I didn’t suspect such a thing.”

“Ah, then that’s a relief……”

Cedric, who almost burst into laughter again, covered his mouth. His body, bent as if showing off his shoulders, trembled slightly.

“Puhuh.”

A clearer sound of laughter was heard. Irene stared at Cedric with surprised eyes, and Dia checked Deborah’s expression.

She was worried that Deborah might have been hurt. But Deborah just smiled subtly.