“Fighting over such a trivial matter. You two were too emotional. You could have just talked it out.”

Duke Penton said.

Roger and Yurik didn’t fight anymore. Not only that. They didn’t exchange words and didn’t even look at each other. To dispel this atmosphere, Duchess Penton prepared food and invited us to the table.

“How should we sit?”

Yurik asked. There was about to be another problem here, but fortunately, Duchess Penton assigned the seats.

“Do we really have to sit like this? Duchess?”

The Duchess nodded at my question. No matter how I thought about it, the seating arrangement seemed strange. Across from me sat Yune in the middle, with Yurik and Roger on either side.

Anyone who saw this would think I was the only child of the Penton family.

“Even if it’s uncomfortable, please bear with it for a bit, Lize.”

Duchess Penton asked me to understand, saying that my sitting here was to maintain everyone’s peace.

“At this opportunity, how about Roger and Yurik make up and become friends?”

“But Father. That kid insulted you.”

“Insulted! I never insulted you. It’s just that I’m a bit suspicious…!”

Roger and Yurik reacted loudly. It was obvious they were reluctant to apologize to each other.

“This won’t do.”

Duke Penton sighed and this time looked at Roger.

“Your name is Roger, right?”

“…Yes.”

“Can you tell me why you were suspicious of Baron Kito?”

Roger hesitated for a moment.

“…He just seemed suspicious. He offered to help Lize without any conditions. I was anxious that he might be a strange person. Also, it’s well known that the Penton family and Marsen family have a bad relationship….”

“I understand. But Roger, your behavior earlier could have upset Yurik. Of course, Yurik also treated you badly.”

“….”

“And Roger, while I don’t think badly of your suspicions, Kito and I sincerely believe Lize is a talented child. You’ll know too once you see Lize’s chess skills. Isn’t that right?”

When Duke Penton spoke kindly, Roger closed his mouth.

“I admit I was being sensitive.”

Roger acknowledged his mistake. As Roger slowly raised his head, our eyes met. He didn’t seem particularly angry with me, but the problem was Yurik.

In fact, Yurik’s gaze had been directed at me for a while. Every time I met his gaze, it seemed he was asking me the same question as before.

Me? That kid?

How could I single out one person? This was a harder question than “Do you like mom or dad more?”

“I’ll get up now.”

“But Yurik. You haven’t eaten much yet.”

Duchess Penton held Yurik back as he got up.

“I don’t have an appetite today. I’m sorry.”

“Then Yurik. Could you bring the chess board?”

Yurik flinched at Duke Penton’s request.

“…Lize brought it earlier.”

“It seems the maid put it back. And that chess board is yours, right? Please bring the one in the study.”

Yurik hesitated but eventually left the table. Yurik’s empty seat made the atmosphere cold. Roger tried to avoid talking by forcibly putting food in his mouth, and Yune was still unfamiliar with Roger.

“Roger, do come play often. I hope you and Yurik become close friends. Yurik doesn’t go to school and is very shy, so he has no male friends.”

“…I’ll try.”

Roger said with difficulty, swallowing his food at the Duke’s words.

“Yurik may not dislike you completely, Roger. In the first place, Yurik doesn’t converse well with anyone. He even avoids approaching others.”

“Yes….”

“Right. Even if it’s difficult to make up with Yurik today, since you’re already here, would you like to watch Lize play chess? I also want to clear up the misunderstanding about me.”

Duke Penton smiled slightly to lighten the mood. Soon, Yurik returned from the study with the chessboard. He placed the chess pieces and board on the table and tried to go back to his room without a word.

“Yurik, where are you going? Didn’t you want to watch Lize and I play chess?”

“…I never said that.”

Yurik, you’re completely upset with me.

“Really? I’m sure Lize would want you to watch too.”

As Duke Penton glanced at me, Yurik’s gaze also turned to me.

“…Yurik, I’d like you to watch. Won’t you do that for me?”

I spoke in the kindest and most polite tone possible, but my heart was anxious. I was afraid he would refuse.

“Hah.”

Yurik sat back down without a word. That one action somewhat calmed my heavy heart. I was worried about what would happen if our relationship soured, so I’m relieved.

“Thank you. Yurik.”

“I was just curious about the game.”

Right, right.

“Before we start the game, I’ll give you a gift first.”

The Duke took something out of the bag below. It was paper.

“This is the game record of today’s match between Kito and his opponent.”

“Ah!”

I had completely forgotten about it because of the fight between Roger and Yurik.

“Can I really have this?”

“I have my own copy.”

“Thank you! I really wanted to see it!”

I received the game record from the Duke. The opening showed signs of a fierce battle.

“After the opponent’s f6 knight was eliminated, the game completely belonged to Kito.”

“I think he aimed for it from the beginning. To fulfill the conditions for an attack.”

“Yes. After sacrificing his own pieces to aim for this from the start, he achieved victory.”

The moves Baron Kito made were said to be a very difficult strategy. But to see this strategy in an actual game!

“Amazing….”

“Today, we’ll move the pieces directly according to this game record and analyze how Kito achieved victory. And then how about we play a game?”

“I don’t mind. I want to do that too!”

For a while, I was so engrossed in the game record that I lost track of time. I raised my head.

“…!”

“…?”

My eyes met Roger’s. Roger quickly turned his gaze away. He had a somewhat uncomfortable expression.

* * *

“Do you see this knight here? This is also a surprising move….”

I examined Baron Kito’s game record from today’s match with Duke Penton for about two hours in total.

Duke Penton explained in detail the moves I didn’t discover, pointing them out one by one. Each time, I felt a sense of awe towards Baron Kito.

“Yawn.”

“…?”

The sound of a yawn interrupted my concentration.

“Ah, I’m sorry….”

Roger apologized in a hurry after getting caught yawning by mistake. He coughed several times out of embarrassment and shame.

Only then did I realize that Roger and Yurik were by my side. Roger had a lifeless expression, and Yurik was also expressionlessly flicking his fingers silently.

I felt even more sorry for neglecting the two of them while being absorbed in chess.

“Ah, it’s gotten quite late. Shall we stop here for today? Lize. If we play a match, it seems it will end in the evening.”

“Yes, that’s fine.”

The Duke and I cleaned up the chessboard. Yurik, who had been watching, also helped.

“Thank you, Yurik. But why is Yune so quiet?”

“…She’s probably sleeping.”

Yurik still spoke in a thorny tone. He must still be angry.

“Yurik, how about playing the board game I bought you last time? You only played it once with Yune.”

“I don’t really want to….”

“Why don’t you try it this time? I’ll be disappointed if you don’t play it when I went through the trouble of buying it for you.”

The Duke suggested, sensing my desire to make up with Yurik. Yurik found it bothersome but couldn’t rebel against his father’s request.

“It will take time to find it. I forgot where I put it.”

“Seems like you treated it like junk.”

“You’re mistaken.”

Yurik moved his heavy steps after making a remark.

“Well then, I’ll go take care of the remaining work. Make yourselves comfortable. Roger, Lize.”

The Duke went into the study, saying he had some remaining work to deal with.

Roger and I, sitting side by side on the sofa, ate the whipped cream cake in front of us without a word. I was full, but the sweet taste made it go down well. Roger must have been absorbed in eating too, as he didn’t say anything.

After quietly eating cake for a while, I raised my head and my eyes met Roger’s.

“…Did you enjoy chess? You were talking about it without noticing the time pass.”

Roger asked after a pause.

“Yeah. Isn’t it the same for you when playing the violin? That’s how I am when playing chess. It’s quite thrilling to think about how to corner the opponent’s king.”

“Devil.”

“That’s how the game is, what can I do?”

“…I’m sorry.”

Roger muttered in a small voice. I put down the fork I was holding at the sudden apology.

“For what? Calling me a devil?”

“…For, for being oversensitive.”

Oversensitive? I tilted my head, unable to understand.

“Isn’t that something you should apologize to Yurik for, not me?”

“That guy threw a punch at me first.”

“Then why are you apologizing to me?”

“Just…I felt how much you really love chess.”

Suddenly?

“Are you sick somewhere?”

“That’s not it! I know…how much you respect Baron Kito. But I insulted your teacher.”

I pushed the cake far away and stared at Roger. He kept moving his lips and finally spoke.

“I also had a professor I respected like you. He was a violinist. He taught me.”

“Really? Who was it?”

“…Daruda Bassang.”

I was surprised by the name he uttered. Daruda Bassang was someone even I, ignorant of the violin or music, knew well. A genius violinist who was even a member of the Imperial Music Ensemble.

However, aside from that, there was only one reason I remembered that name.

“Don’t tell me, the Daruda Bassang I know?”

“That’s right.”

Abuse, assault, and fraud.

It was an incident that gradually grew as allegations emerged that he had abused his students or promising young violinists.

When one accuser came forward, several other accusers appeared, and he was completely expelled from the art world.

It was shocking that a genius violinist committed a crime, but an even greater shock was that the victims were his students.

And now, the boy in front of me had just revealed that he was a student of Daruda Bassang.

“…I admired him and wanted to become an excellent violinist like him.”

“….”

“Still, I was treated relatively well. Maybe because I was the heir of an artist family, and I had a famous father and relatives by my side, he didn’t touch me easily.”

He spoke calmly.

“But his behavior was severe a few times. I didn’t know then, but I realized it after everything was revealed.”

I couldn’t even imagine how Roger must have felt. Even I, who had experienced nothing, felt numb in the back of my head from shock.

“After that, I practiced the violin alone. Not trusting anyone. Many wanted to nurture my talent, but you know. I refused them all.”

“Roger.”

“I never wanted to become like Daruda Bassang. I didn’t want to be someone who played the violin with some ulterior motive. To prove this, I grabbed it again. The bow.”

He firmly decided what he had to achieve. Suddenly, I recalled Roger’s words about teaching me the violin. Was this also to prove that he was different from Daruda Bassang?

“Enough. I don’t want to talk about this anymore. It just makes me feel unpleasant.”

Roger changed the subject.

“…I’ll prove it to you.”

“What?”

I slowly opened my mouth.

“I’m learning the violin from you. So I’ll learn well and prove it to people. That you taught me the joy of playing the violin.”

“…Wh-What are you saying.”

“It’s not a joke. I’ll absolutely make sure I don’t embarrass others and become someone you can be proud of. A proud student, a proud friend. Whatever it may be.”

“…Do as you like.”

That was all he said.

“Alright, since it was all a misunderstanding, how about becoming friends with Yurik now?”

“Why did the conversation go there?”

Roger asked with a dumbfounded expression.

Why, you ask. The two seemed to go quite well together. Just looking at their personalities, that was the case.

One was cold-hearted in everything and cared about the gaze of others. The other readily expressed his emotions and tried to show off to others. So wouldn’t the two complement each other’s lacking parts well?

Just then, footsteps were heard on this floor. Turning my head, Yurik was standing there holding a doll, not a board game, in his hand.

“What. That doll.”

It was the doll I sewed. Did he get completely angry because I touched the doll without permission?

“Yu-Yurik. That’s…!”

I tried to apologize urgently, but before I could continue, Yurik hugged me tightly.

“…Huh?”

“Lize.”

He was different from when he was really upset with me.

“What are you doing?!”

Ignoring Roger’s rebuke beside him, Yurik imprisoned me more in his arms.

“Lize, I was wrong. I got moody for no reason…. You’re always being considerate of me.”

“What?”

“I’m sorry! From now on, from now on, I won’t be greedy. So please don’t hate me…!”

Don’t tell me, he’s doing this because I sewed the doll?