Chapter: 06
“It’s fine. You should see for yourself just how exceptional the instruments from our workshop are.”
In the end, unable to resist David’s urging, Aurelia let out a small sigh, took the violin displayed in the best position, and handed it to Leonard.
“Please handle it carefully. It may not be particularly precious to you, Mr. Deimus, but it’s a precious violin to us.”
Her tone was unmistakably sharp.
However, Leonard didn’t seem to care about Aurelia’s mood in the slightest.
He looked at her with an expression filled with such blatant disregard that it seemed to say, What could someone like you possibly know?
‘He’s making exactly the same expression as Professor Schneider. Do they all attend some academy where they teach people how to make that face?’
An arrogance filled with useless vanity, refusing to acknowledge even in death that there was someone more impressive than himself.
‘Of course, Leonard Deimus is different from other people.’
At least, he really was a genius born with extraordinary natural talent.
But that wasn’t enough to change Aurelia’s opinion.
Even so, it didn’t mean he had any excuse to be this arrogant and unpleasant.
Leonard accepted the violin despite Aurelia’s sullen expression, but his attention was elsewhere.
It was drawn to a small violin sitting behind Aurelia.
“I’d like to try playing that violin over there.”
Aurelia’s face went pale when she saw which violin Leonard was looking at.
“No.”
Before she even had time to think, the sharp answer slipped from her mouth.
Leonard turned toward her, raising one eyebrow as if to say, How dare you tell me no? Then he spoke to David in a commanding tone.
“Take it out.”
“That one is….”
David tried to intervene, but Aurelia’s firm voice cut him off.
“Absolutely not.”
“Since you say I absolutely can’t, it makes me want to play that violin even more. Somehow, I absolutely have to.”
Seeing the sly smile forming at the corner of Leonard’s mouth, Aurelia bit her lip.
Compared to Leonard, her body was much smaller, yet she even rose onto her tiptoes to block his view, refusing to let him see the violin.
‘Professor Schneider was wrong. He doesn’t have the talent of a devil. He’s just a devil himself!’
He was so thin that it wouldn’t have been strange to say he was skin and bones, making one wonder whether he even ate properly.
And yet, despite his gaunt figure, his handsome appearance was impossible to conceal, which made Leonard popular not only in the world of music but also in the social circles that were now gradually collapsing.
‘A devil wearing a handsome mask. A wicked devil who will surely curse you if you happen to cross paths with him.’
Demons were originally the sort to deliberately wear handsome faces.
That way, people would be more easily tempted.
Aurelia believed that, just as her professor had said, Leonard was definitely either someone who had made a deal with a devil or the devil himself.
‘Otherwise, how could a person possibly be so arrogant and utterly inconsiderate?’
When he had first entered the workshop, she had nearly been captivated once by his appearance and once by the opportunity to hear the performance of someone so famous that he was called a genius.
But not anymore.
She felt certain she could never again like either the merely handsome face of that arrogant man or the music produced by his hands.
At least, the perfect music Aurelia knew did not come from the hands of someone like that devil. It came from genuinely loving music and cherishing the instrument held in one’s hands.
Seeing the sharp looks exchanged between the two, David cautiously began mediating again.
“That violin wasn’t made by a master craftsman, so I’m a little embarrassed to take it out and show it to you. Let’s look at another one.”
“If it wasn’t made by a master, there must be a reason it was kept in the vault.”
Leonard took a long stride forward, his large frame easily closing the distance between himself and Aurelia.
The delicate scent of wood that wafted toward her was so strong that Aurelia had to squeeze her eyes shut in surprise.
It was a scent that didn’t suit a devilish person at all.
“You used good materials. Spruce for the front and back plates, and almond wood for the ribs?”
“You recognized them immediately. Yes, you’re right. It was made with good materials, but there are still many areas where it is too inexperienced to be called a well-made instrument.”
Just as David said, the instrument itself felt rough compared to the quality of its materials. Its clumsy workmanship was unmistakable, like something made by someone who had only just begun learning under a master craftsman.
“It certainly is crude.”
Yet even while saying that, Leonard couldn’t take his eyes off the violin for quite some time.
He found himself strangely drawn to it.
“Then you can look at another instrument. It doesn’t seem suitable for someone like Mr. Deimus.”
Aurelia knew as well as anyone that the violin was inexperienced and nothing particularly remarkable.
But no matter how insignificant it might have been, it was precious to her.
Because she had made that violin herself.
Before she began seriously studying the piano, Aurelia had often made violins.
Every sound that came from cutting the wood and smoothing its grain with sandpaper had possessed a different kind of musical charm from the piano, and because the violin had first awakened that feeling in her, she couldn’t help but treasure it.
‘At least, when I made this violin, I was genuinely happy.’
David didn’t entrust wood to just anyone.
“It isn’t something a child like you should be doing. Do you know how dangerous and physically demanding this work is? What if you get hurt?”
Aurelia didn’t give up.
Because she had been drawn in by beautiful sounds.
In particular, because everything sounded beautiful once it had passed through her father’s hands, it was even harder for her to give up. The sounds produced while the wood was being shaped weren’t beautiful at all. But the fact that it could eventually become a string instrument capable of producing an elegant sound once it was completed seemed almost like magic.
If she hadn’t had her heart stolen by the sound of the piano key she had casually pressed while visiting Aiden’s house, she was certain that instead of attending the conservatory, she would have continued learning the workshop trade.
‘Of all people, I don’t want to put something I made into the hands of that devil who even looks down on my father. And I’m not selling it either!’
She had no intention of selling her violin to anyone else, but if the person wanting to buy it was that man, she disliked the idea even more.
‘After treating me with such disregard, you want to buy something I made?’
She didn’t even have to see what kind of evaluation her instrument would receive once it went to him.
She didn’t want someone arrogant, inconsiderate, and seemingly concerned only with himself to judge something she had made.
‘Of course, selling the instrument to Mr. Deimus would let me get a piano sooner.’
But her pride wouldn’t allow it.
Being a promising musician was never a reason to disregard or belittle other people.
‘He thinks that just because he’s a musician, he’s allowed to insult and look down on others.’
He was someone who didn’t deserve to possess the violin that had been the stepping stone and beginning of her dream.
Meanwhile, Leonard still couldn’t take his eyes off the crude violin despite David and Aurelia telling him to look at another instrument.
“Whether it’s suitable for me is something I’ll decide. More importantly, I feel like that violin wants to show me how beautiful a sound it can produce.”
To empathize with the story an instrument created and convey that story to people through music together with it—that was what music meant to Leonard.
He had no interest in why that young woman was making him waste so much of his time.
Leonard’s only interest was focused on the violin hiding away without receiving anyone’s affection.
“Whatever the reason, if a customer wants to buy something, isn’t it the duty of a workshop employee to sell it?”
“I think Mr. Deimus is right, Aurelia.”
Aurelia clenched her fists.
