Doing what?

When I tilted my head, Roger brought the violin he had mentioned earlier. He skillfully applied rosin to the bow and tuned the violin, then held out the instrument in front of me.

“I’ll teach you.”

“What?”

“Here.”

I wanted to refuse, but Roger stubbornly pushed the violin further towards me.

‘Ugh.’

Before my eyes, instead of the violin, an illusion of five gold bars flickered. If I broke it, I thought I might have to take out a part of my internal organs.

“…Can I handle it carelessly? I’ve never handled a violin before, so I’ll definitely use it roughly.”

“I told you. It’s already broken.”

He placed the violin in my hand and took a step back.

I had seen someone play it, but it was my first time actually holding a violin. The fully felt wooden texture was more delicate than I thought.

It felt like it would break with just a little force, making me nervous.

“What are you doing? Hurry and put it under your chin.”

“…Don’t rush me.”

I swallowed naturally.

No matter how defective the instrument is… What if I accidentally break it and Roger gets furiously angry at me?

I stared blankly at the violin and saw the four thin strings.

“Hey, how much does each string cost?”

“Don’t worry. The strings aren’t that expensive. Actually, the E string broke frequently, and it cost about 30 gold per string?”

He’s crazy.

“Suddenly, my stomach is really…”

“Don’t think about running away and hurry up.”

30 gold was enough money to buy a bunch of fountain pens that I wanted. Did they gold-plate the strings of this violin or something?

“Tuck your chin in a bit more. Otherwise, the violin will fall.”

“Really? Can I really use this violin?”

“Are you going to keep asking?”

He taught me how to place the violin under my chin first. When I kept moving my body, Roger’s hand grasped my shoulder. As soon as his hand touched me, I unconsciously put more strength into my shoulder.

“You’re putting too much tension.”

Roger pointed it out right away.

“What if it falls?”

“Haa…”

“The one who should be sighing is me.”

“If you’re worried about it breaking, don’t move this body first. Later on, you should be able to support the violin with your chin even after taking your hand off.”

As soon as he finished speaking, he forcibly removed my hand that was holding the violin. Soon, I put all my strength into my chin. If the violin falls, I die too.

“Relax.”

“…”

“Your shoulders too.”

Be quiet!

Roger pointed out my stiff posture one by one. It was completely different from when he was glaring at me fiercely. He openly touched my face, shoulders, and hands to fix my posture, then smiled faintly.

“How is it?”

The posture became a bit more comfortable. The violin resting on my chin was more stable than before. It seemed like it wouldn’t fall unless I relaxed my strength, giving me confidence.

“It’s not falling?”

“Right? You’re just unnecessarily scared. It won’t fall if your posture is good.”

I envied those who played instruments well, but I never knew how to hold an instrument myself. Now I can only fix the violin to my body, but my mind already feels like I’ve perfectly performed a solo piece.

“I feel like I can do something…”

“Right?”

“How do I hold the bow?”

This time, I asked first. Roger said just a moment, then soon brought his own bow.

“Try following me.”

The hand movement for holding the bow was unexpectedly peculiar.

“You need to place your little finger more towards the end.”

“Like this?”

“A little more back. There you go.”

Surprisingly, he taught me how to hold the bow without getting angry or impatient. The hand shape that was unfamiliar at first now looked quite good.

“How do I look?”

“Let me see from a distance.”

Roger took a step back to look at my posture.

“Pfft. You really look strange.”

It seemed my posture was awkward, as he couldn’t hold back his laughter.

“D-don’t laugh. It’s my first time learning!”

“Yes. I was perfect from the beginning though.”

He subtly bragged about himself.

“When did you start playing the violin?”

“According to my mother, I carried a violin around as soon as I was born. I started playing when I was 4 years old.”

“That’s amazing. Actually, I’ve wanted to learn the violin for a long time too.”

“Don’t you have a violin in your mansion?”

“There is one, but… My parents don’t assign me a tutor.”

“Why?”

To explain the reason, I would have to talk about my birth from the beginning. What if I purposely tell him and Roger looks down on me? I didn’t want to show my weaknesses right away to someone I met for the first time today.

“Well, you know.”

I gave a bitter smile.

Roger was silent for a moment, then approached the bookshelf again. What he took out was a violin tutorial book. It seemed to be for beginners, as the open score had only a single note name.

“Usually, you start learning the violin with ‘la’. You just need to take your hand off and move the bow.”

“Sounds easy?”

“Mm, give it a try.”

That much is nothing.

As I looked confident, Roger slightly raised his chin. Now, I was going to make a cool sound and knock down the arrogant Roger’s nose bridge.

I placed the bow on the string as he instructed and moved it. Now I just need to make a sound, but instead of the beautiful sound I expected, an unpleasant friction noise came out. It was the sound of scratching a chalkboard hard with fingernails.

This isn’t right. I tried again, but the same sound repeated.

“It’s terrible.”

“…Life doesn’t always go as planned.”

“What are you talking about?”

“A young kid like you wouldn’t understand.”

“Don’t say weird things and relax your hand. Gently.”

He placed his hand on top of mine and moved the bow. As if by magic, when Roger helped, a much smoother sound came out.

“Wow!”

“How is it?”

“It’s pretty. The sound is very pretty!”

When I spoke excitedly, Roger blinked his eyes and soon smiled.

“It’s fun, right? The violin.”

“Yeah. Quite.”

“Then come to our mansion once a week. I’ll teach you.”

Suddenly?

“Why would you?”

“I’m bored. There’s no one my age in this village.”

“You don’t go to school?”

“It’s dull.”

It was a kind offer, and I wanted to nod my head as I felt, but there were several issues that bothered me. Isabel would surely oppose it, and I also had no money. Roger said he would teach me for free, but it felt suspicious.

What if he later uses this to make unreasonable demands of me?

“You don’t want anything from me, right?”

“What are you talking about? I would never do such a thing with a violin.”

“Really? How can I trust you when we just met?”

“Mm, should I stake my wrist then?”

“…That’s terrible.”

“If you can’t trust me, learn once today and then decide. It will definitely be fun.”

Roger was proactive.

* * *

Before I knew it, it was lunchtime. It was when the vibration from making so many sounds resonated up to my head. A maid who briefly entered the room said to come down for a meal.

Roger and I put down the violins and headed to the dining room. The delicious smell stimulated my nose. The table was full of various meat dishes and even delicious desserts.

“You must be hungry. Have a seat.”

Mrs. Bakus guided me to a seat. It was next to Isabel. Isabel seemed to have had a lot of conversation with Mrs. Bakus, as her expression looked much better than before.

As I sat next to her, Isabel silently picked up a fork and knife and started eating first.

“I heard the sound of a violin.”

Mrs. Bakus asked me.

“Ah, Roger taught me.”

“Really? It’s very rare for Roger to teach someone the violin.”

At Mrs. Bakus’s words, Roger, who had been actively communicating with me, lowered his head deeply. Now that I think about it, Roger can’t even pull himself together in front of Mrs. Bakus.

Knowing his true nature, all of Roger’s actions seemed shameless. I wish he would treat me the way he treats Mrs. Bakus… Of course, that’s impossible.

“It was fun.”

“You two have become close. Roger doesn’t like it when someone touches his things carelessly, so even when relatives come to visit, he never lets them touch his instruments. And that’s not all? He’s very sensitive.”

“Is that so?”

I put a piece of meat in front of me into my mouth. It must have been freshly grilled, as meat juice flowed out with each chew, making it savory.

“How’s the food?”

“It’s delicious. Madam.”

Mrs. Bakus smiled brightly and shifted her gaze back to Isabel.

“Your daughter is very smart. Isabel.”

“Maybe as much as Roger.”

“Roger inherited a lot of this family’s blood, that’s why. But Lize… Isabel, she resembles you a lot.”

At those words, I almost dropped my fork. Who did she say I resembled? Somehow it felt like I had been severely insulted.

Isabel must have felt the same way, as slight wrinkles formed on her face that had been calm. I was a bit worried that Isabel might take out her anger on me later because of this.

“It’s like I’m seeing you when you were young, Isabel. Really, I never thought you would get married and have a daughter who looks just like you…”

Isabel raised her head to look at Mrs. Bakus.

“Why?”

“You always said you didn’t want to get married before.”

“That’s all in the past. And I was too young then.”

“Still, I thought you wouldn’t get married and would go your own way. So I was very surprised when I first heard the news of your marriage. But after seeing Lize today, I think I understand why you got married.”

I was worried that Isabel might get angry at this rate. But at the kind voice without a hint of hostility, even Isabel couldn’t spit out thorns. She tried to maintain her dignity and just chewed the meat.

“Is that so? Then what do you think? As a potential bride for Roger?”

Roger was suddenly mentioned from her mouth. Roger, who had been eating quietly, was the first to drop his fork.

“Oh my. I think it’s great!”

“Really?”

“The two seem to get along well too. How about holding an engagement ceremony once they both have their coming-of-age ceremonies? Hoho.”

My gaze met Roger’s. It’s a joke, right?

“Only if it’s beneficial.”

“Really? My goodness. To have a pretty child like Lize become our Roger’s bride, how wonderful would that be?”

Mrs. Bakus and Isabel really intended to marry us off. Only then did I realize why Isabel had brought me here instead of Silke or Swell. She brought me here meaning, don’t mess around and hurry up and marry some young master from a good family!

Unfortunately, in this place, the rights of married women to engage in social activities are quite limited. Isabel was aiming for that.

If I had known this would happen, I should have refused even if I had to throw a tantrum when Isabel suggested coming here.

“Roger, what do you think?”

Mrs. Bakus asked Roger. Roger slightly shrugged his shoulders and moved his lips. His purple eyes moved as if agitated.

Please, say the right thing. Show your true feelings, Roger.

“…If Mother likes it.”

No way.

“I don’t mind.”

That mama’s boy!