Ariadne sensed something was wrong when she saw that all-too-familiar expression.

“You know, Arabella.”

Isabella embraced her younger sister with extreme affection. Then she gestured with her chin for Ariadne to leave.

When Ariadne hesitated, clearly reluctant, Isabella whispered tenderly to Arabella.

“Sisters have things to talk about, you know.”

Isabella, who had been so insistent about “Now call me elder sister” and such in front of Cardinal De Mare, changed her demeanor so easily. Arabella looked at Ariadne with a slightly guilty expression.

Isabella urged Arabella.

“Hurry.”

Reluctantly, Arabella turned to Ariadne and said:

“Um… could you leave?”

For some reason, Arabella looked at Ariadne and the word ‘elder sister’ rose to her throat, but it was difficult to call Ariadne ‘elder sister’ while Isabella was watching.

Having received Arabella’s request to leave, Ariadne no longer had any reason to stay. She stood up, gave a slight bow, and left the sisters’ reception room.

After confirming Ariadne had left, Isabella looked at Arabella with that deep smile in her small eyes.

“A family becomes noble because of its most talented member. You know that, right?”

Arabella nodded unconsciously. She seemed intimidated by Isabella’s beauty, or perhaps by the weight of her elder sister.

“Are you going to give up that position to a stone that rolled in from outside?”

Isabella cupped Arabella’s cheeks with both hands and made her look at her face.

“I’m your real elder sister.”

Isabella looked straight at young Arabella with mesmerizingly beautiful amethyst eyes, coaxing her like one would a bird.

“Soon there will be a consecration Mass attended by His Majesty the King, Her Majesty the Queen, and His Highness the Prince. I heard that noble young ladies and gentlemen can volunteer their talents there.”

Isabella released Arabella’s face and began twirling her amber hair around her finger as she continued.

“You’re too young to apply anyway. Give this to me, and I’ll submit it on your behalf. And since we need to practice, we’ll need a pipe organ, right? I’ll ask mother to get one for us.”

Arabella looked slightly confused. As a 10-year-old girl, it seemed difficult for her to make a judgment when her elder sister spoke in such a sweet, honeyed tone.

Something felt off, but she couldn’t pinpoint exactly what it was.

“But Isabella elder sister. Are you good at playing the pipe organ?”

“No. I’m not particularly good with keyboard instruments.”

“Then how will you offer it at the shrine? This will mostly be adapted for pipe organ. You’re not very good with string instruments either, elder sister.”

Isabella looked at Arabella as if she had said something incredibly foolish.

“Of course, I’ll submit the score as the composer. Someone else will perform it.”

Arabella looked at Isabella with a subtle expression. Slightly irritated by her younger sister’s lukewarm response, Isabella showed signs of being miffed.

“Look, Arabella. To be honest, I don’t even need a pipe organ to submit this piece. But I’m willing to ask mother and father to buy a pipe organ purely for your sake. I’m doing all this for you, and you’re acting so reluctant?”

Isabella flicked her hair over her shoulder and stood up from where she had been sitting right next to Arabella.

“If you don’t want to, then don’t.”

‘My elder sister is smart, surely she wouldn’t do anything to harm me?’

“Elder sister, wait.”

“Wait what? Decide right now. Don’t drag this out, it’s annoying.”

Under Isabella’s pressure, Arabella finally gave in.

“No, elder sister. I’m sorry. You can have this piece.”

Isabella’s pretty face shone with victory. She returned to her sweet voice and stroked her younger sister’s hair.

“You made the right choice.”

Isabella was a cunning swindler, but she was a reliable trading partner. She faithfully kept her part of the contract conditions.

Isabella went to Lucrezia and Cardinal De Mare, using her charm to say she needed a pipe organ, and indeed, a small pipe organ was brought into the house.

Of course, a pipe organ, with its pipes made of tin and lead alloy, pre-assembled in a workshop and then fully assembled at the installation site, was an item that would take at least 3-4 years to bring into a home.

But when Isabella said she needed it, Cardinal De Mare gladly paid several hundred ducats in gold coins, and Lucrezia willingly offered the high-ceilinged prayer room in the east annex for the pipe organ installation.

A major construction project began, and until then, a small harmonium was brought in for Isabella to use.

Arabella watched the unhindered arrival of the pipe organ with mixed feelings.

It was true that a pipe organ was too expensive an item to be installed in a private home just because a cardinal’s daughter, who wasn’t even a professional performer, wanted to play it at home.

‘But why is it okay for Isabella elder sister and not for me?’

As Arabella was looking down at the construction site from the second-floor balcony of the east annex with mixed feelings, Ariadne quietly approached her.

“So you got it after all, the pipe organ.”

Arabella looked up at Ariadne and nodded.

“Are you happy to have it?”

At Ariadne’s question, Arabella shook her head.

“I’m not sure. Why did Isabella elder sister say she would only grant my request if I submitted my piece under her name? Isn’t that wrong?”

“Not everyone is good, Arabella.”

After a brief pause, Ariadne asked Arabella:

“Are you really going to give that Missa Brevis to Isabella elder sister?”

Arabella furrowed her brow and asked back:

“Is there any way I can’t give it to her now?”

“The pipe organ has already arrived. What can she do if you don’t give her the score now? Ask them to take back the installed organ?”

Arabella’s emerald green eyes sparkled with joy. The mere thought of keeping the pipe organ and withholding the score seemed to excite her.

“Hehehe, you’re a genius, Ariadne!”

Arabella happily nuzzled her head against Ariadne like a puppy.

But her joy was short-lived as she thought about the consequences.

“But elder sister won’t leave me alone. If I fight with Isabella elder sister, mother will scold me too.”

“You have to fight against unfair treatment. Nothing changes unless you speak up.”

To some extent, she was speaking to her past self. Ariadne reaffirmed:

“Those people are bad and they’re trying to take advantage of you. No matter how hard you try to be loved, nothing comes back. Lucr… Mother only loves Isabella. Isabella is rotten to the core.”

Arabella looked at Ariadne with a confused face.

“But Isabella elder sister is my real sister, isn’t she? The same goes for mother… They might treat you badly, but… they wouldn’t do that to me.”

Ariadne countered:

“Why did the pipe organ that was impossible when you said you needed it suddenly appear when Isabella said she wanted it? Both His Eminence the Cardinal and mother know that Isabella has no interest in string instrument performance, don’t they? Aren’t they both your real parents?”

Arabella’s fists clenched tightly.

“It’s the same with the tutors. To match your progress, the music teacher, Ms. Mancini, should actually be replaced with a more renowned teacher. But because they’re matching Isabella’s progress, Ms. Mancini keeps coming! But they say the court etiquette teacher was changed to match Isabella’s progress? Why do they only accommodate Isabella’s pace and not yours?”

Ariadne continued to press Arabella without stopping.

“If you just keep quiet and accept everything obediently, no one will know anything is wrong. Unless the person benefiting has a conscience and tries to stop it, but is Isabella that kind of person? Isabella has nothing to say about the score. She’s just stealing it!”

“Stop!”

Arabella detached herself from Ariadne and jumped to her feet.

“The score… Right. I wouldn’t have any use for it anyway, so she probably meant to use it well. My real elder sister wouldn’t have treated me badly on purpose. The pipe organ, it’s too expensive, so His Eminence the Cardinal and mother probably bought it thinking Isabella and I could share it because it would be too much for me to use alone. It’s definitely not that they only bought it for elder sister and not for me. The teachers… it’s because I’m still young.”

Tears welled up in Arabella’s eyes.

“It’s because I’ve been too close with you lately. That must be it. If I give the Missa Brevis to Isabella elder sister and stop being so close with you, Isabella elder sister will treat me well like before. Then mother will treat me well too.”

Arabella pointed her small finger at Ariadne.

“You! Don’t say strange things to me. Don’t badmouth our elder sister just because you’re doing a little better. Our mother loves me! I’m a real De Mare. You’re not!”

After shouting these harsh words, Arabella wiped away her escaping tears and ran away quickly.

Ariadne stood alone on the second-floor balcony of the east annex, looking towards the stairway where Arabella had disappeared with mixed feelings.

Although she had heard harsh words, she didn’t feel particularly hurt. It was too obvious that Arabella had blurted out those words in an attempt to comfort herself somehow.

‘Did I say unnecessary things?’

On the day when the reed pipes that would form the body of the pipe organ were brought to the construction site in the east annex, Isabella, backed by her parents’ affection, triumphantly took the score from Arabella.

The small figure of Arabella, wearing a summer indoor dress made of satin, handing over the parchment score to Isabella, looked particularly cowed.

Even while handing over the score, Arabella, like a mother giving her child to a stepmother, meticulously explained precautions to Isabella.

“It’s a Missa Brevis, so I reduced the harmonies and shortened the length. It’s an ensemble piece, so I drew it as a score.”

(Score: A musical score that includes all the parts for multiple instruments on one sheet. It’s usually used by conductors in orchestras and such.)

Isabella carelessly received the score and skimmed through it perfunctorily.

“So, this is the score? And this is called a ‘Missa Brevis’?”

“Y-yes, that’s right.”

“Alright. Give it here and you can go.”

Isabella took the score without properly examining its contents and briefly placed it on the table in the reception room, then told her maid to take it to her desk in her room.

Thus, no one noticed that between the thick parchment sheets with neatly and precisely drawn musical notes, there was a thin parchment sheet used for practice, with roughly scrawled notes, mistakenly inserted.