Glancing at Roger who was sitting in front of her, she quickly averted her gaze from his sharp eyes.
Roger had turned his chair around, resting his chin on the back of it. It wasn’t just his piercing gaze that was frightening. If my posture was awkward, he would shoot me with the bow he was holding.
Even now.
“It hurts, doesn’t it!”
Unable to bear it any longer, I burst out in a disgruntled voice, causing Roger to instantly furrow his brows. My goodness. When he first taught me the violin, there was no trace of his gentleness.
He was a completely different person now, like a tiger of a teacher standing before me.
It was a complete deception.
“Bad posture.”
“……!”
“Touching the wrong places again and again.”
“…….”
At Roger’s criticism, I was at a loss for words. His claim that I had no talent for the violin was one hundred percent true. My posture was still awkward, and I repeatedly touched the wrong places even when I was just pressing a single string.
The bigger problem was that I played a wrong note without realizing it was wrong. On the other hand, Roger was able to catch it instantly, even if the sound was slightly off. Roger was also an excessive perfectionist.
A temperament that became furious at the slightest mistake.
“Lise.”
“Yes, yes. My apologies. I’ll start over.”
His personality was the complete opposite of mine, which made things even worse. As Roger became more familiar with me, he openly showed his peculiar temperament.
“I told you that’s not the place, Lise.”
“I understand. I’ll try again.”
Gathering courage, I played again, but Roger’s sigh was inevitable. I, too, was getting angry and frustrated, wanting to put down the violin I was holding.
‘This darned violin!’
The violin was much more temperamental than I thought, making strange sounds if even slightly mishandled. I sometimes thought that people with big fingers couldn’t play the violin.
Roger even stuck stickers at the position where the strings should be touched, but it was still difficult to find the exact note.
I was on the verge of putting down the bow due to the limits of my patience.
“Kids, I brought some snacks. Eat and continue.”
With perfect timing, Mrs. Buckers quietly entered, carrying a plate of macarons. Last week she gave us homemade cookies, and this time, the macarons were slightly warm, perhaps made by her as well.
Happily, I put down the violin and bow carefully before Roger even spoke. Roger didn’t nag at me, who had worked hard, any longer.
“Is practice going well?”
“Yes, it’s going perfectly well.”
I was dumbfounded at Roger’s mechanical answer, as if to prove he wasn’t a mama’s boy.
Just a moment ago, he was angry with me, and now he says practice is going smoothly.
‘So that was going well, teacher.’
I looked at Roger, and he elbowed my waist. I almost dropped the macaron in my hand, but I couldn’t fight with him in front of Mrs. Buckers and just gave him a slight glare.
“How about you, Lise? It’s been 2 weeks, is it fun?”
Mrs. Buckers asked me.
“Yes, it’s very fun.”
But I’m not a pushover either. I lied with a naturally smiling face.
This time, Roger looked at me with a suspicious gaze. I did what he did and secretly elbowed his waist. Unlike me, Roger couldn’t hold back and dropped the macaron on the floor. The outer part of the macaron that Mrs. Buckers had painstakingly made cracked slightly.
“Oh, Roger! Be careful!”
“So, sorry, Mother.”
As Roger picked up the macaron, he glanced at me once.
“Wouldn’t it be nice if you two played a duet sometime? Isabel would like that too.”
“Is that possible?”
“Possible?”
“Playing a duet with Lise’s skills…….”
Roger said sincerely. Annoyed at his candid speech, I tried to hit him in the side again but held back.
“I’ll try hard, ma’am.”
“Yes. Ah, I must have interrupted too much? Keep practicing, I’m leaving now.”
Mrs. Bacchus said that and then left the room immediately.
When Roger and I were left alone, we glared at each other without saying a word.
“With those skills, you think you can play a duet with me in this lifetime?”
“Hmph, then we’ll do it in the next life. If I end one life and live again, there’s no such thing as the next life, right?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, but you won’t make it in the next life or even the one after.”
“You ever been hit with a violin bow?”
The brat stimulated my competitive spirit.
“I’ve never been hit, but you be careful. If you swing it around carelessly, you might just get hit back.”
“This mama’s boy.”
“Mama’s boy? What’s that?”
Roger asked.
“It means you’re very close with the lady.”
“It doesn’t seem like that, but we are close indeed.”
Yes, their closeness really makes me jealous!
Roger and I exchanged a few words and then practiced again. Talent is important, but it can’t beat effort. I practiced every day with the intention to make Roger’s mouth agape.
I learned diligently with that mindset.
[This is a time separator.]The Villainous Demon Lord Laid an Egg for Her (Female-Dominated)
Several months after transmigrating into a book, Yu Wu found herself facing the demon lord Li You, who could no longer conceal his dragon horns. With one hand on her aching waist and the other gripping a sharp sword, she stared at him.
The demon lord’s eyes were red with fury:
“This is all your doing! Today, I won’t rest until I kill you!”
Yu Wu rubbed her temples. Putting aside the taboo against bloodshed during pregnancy, wasn’t it this very man who willingly walked into her trap that day?!
Warnings:
- Male pregnancy.
- Height ratios are set to mirror typical male-female height proportions.
- Characters include a foot-loving demon lord and an eldest daughter from an immortal family’s concubine lineage.
