FMV 11

Chapter: 11

Aurelia held her throbbing head in her hands, unable to decide whether she liked it or disliked it.

She had been staring blankly at the piano when David entered the room again, carrying a piano bench.

“I’ve always felt sorry that, even though I told you I supported you, I couldn’t properly buy you a piano. Whenever you went to Aiden’s house and spent the whole day learning to play the piano, I hated myself for not even being able to buy you such a simple thing as a piano.”

“If you’re planning to just let it go after selling my violin like this….”

“That’s not what this is. This is simply a gift. Even though I knew you were saving money to buy a piano yourself, I couldn’t buy one for you because….”

“I know. That’s why I was trying to solve it myself.”

The Bernhard Instrument Workshop certainly made better violins than any other workshop that dealt with them.

But the Bernhard family wanted everyone to be able to own a high-quality violin.

David must not have been able to abandon the beliefs he had upheld as both the owner and master craftsman of the Bernhard Instrument Workshop because of her.

‘And I feel the same way.’

Even during a time when music was treated as though it belonged exclusively to nobles, teaching children music and willingly giving violins to poor musicians was something worthy of respect.

“I’m sorry for selling the violin. It’s true that I couldn’t send the guest Aiden introduced away empty-handed, but I also did it because I thought that after selling the violin to Mr. Deimus, I could buy you a fairly decent piano.”

After finishing, David stepped closer to Aurelia, who was silently sitting with her head lowered, and continued speaking.

He thought that even though his daughter said she understood, she was still secretly blaming him.

Just as David thought, Aurelia was still blaming her father without even realizing it.

For selling her violin despite knowing she didn’t want him to, and for ultimately believing she would fail despite saying that he believed in her.

“Father, you’re trying to say the same thing as Professor Schneider, aren’t you?”

Just thinking about what Professor Schneider had said made Aurelia’s eyes fill with tears.

She could never understand his words, and that was why she felt even more wronged.

And from Aurelia’s perspective, her father wasn’t all that different from Schneider.

“Professor Schneider said that I should give up because I wouldn’t succeed anyway. He said I couldn’t succeed as a pianist.”

She couldn’t say this to friends who might be in a similar situation to hers.

But if she said it to her father, Aurelia already knew all too well what kind of answer he would give.

“You think the same way, don’t you, Father? You think I can’t succeed, so you’re telling me to at least inherit the instrument workshop!”

That was why she felt even more wronged.

People had taught Aurelia how vast the world was and how to make her way out into that vast world. After teaching her everything, it was as though they were suddenly telling her that no matter how wide the world was, there was no place for her in it.

“Lily.”

“I don’t want to hear it. In the end, what Father wants and what Professor Schneider wants are all the same. If this was how it was going to be, why did you send me to the conservatory in the first place? Professor Schneider, too. If it’s a tree I could never climb anyway, why did he keep….”

They shouldn’t have taught her that the world was so vast in the first place.

The tears that fell from Aurelia’s eyes, filled with a sorrow beyond mere resentment, soaked the thin hem of her skirt.

Only when Aurelia finally stopped crying, unable to continue speaking, did David pat her on the shoulder.

“Schneider said that to you?”

To David, Aurelia was too precious to even look at without feeling that she was a treasure.

Of course, what parent wouldn’t treasure their own child? But to David, who had raised his daughter alone, Aurelia meant more than simply being his daughter.

At times, she had been his reason for living, and she had been the reason he endured working all day while breathing in wood dust.

If he had followed his heart, he wanted nothing more than to beat Professor Schneider senseless for leaving so many wounds on his precious daughter’s heart.

“What else did that professor say?”

Aurelia blinked, forgetting to wipe away her tears as she watched David, who was even more furious than she was, strike his thigh with his fist.

She had naturally thought that her father would take Professor Schneider’s side.

Or, even if he didn’t openly defend him, she had thought that her father would inadvertently reveal that he thought the same way.

“He said the other students would raise the reputation of the Zerphium Conservatory, but I wouldn’t. He said I could become a good mother….”

At the part about becoming a good mother, David suddenly sprang to his feet and strode toward the piano in Aurelia’s room, expressing his anger through his actions.

Aurelia knew that her father wasn’t always gentle and mild-tempered, but it was the first time she had ever seen him this angry, so she instinctively rose awkwardly to her feet and followed him.

“That damned old man. Even if she were his own daughter, how could he say something like that?”

David placed his hand on the covered piano and breathed heavily, then let out a deep sigh before returning to Aurelia.

Apparently, he still couldn’t stop muttering curses under his breath.

“Listen carefully, Lily. I’ve seen countless musicians during the several decades I’ve spent in this workshop district, ever since I was eight years old.”

“I know. You always brag that some of them have become very famous musicians now.”

“Yes. But of all the musicians I’ve seen, I’ve never encountered anyone with talent as extraordinary as yours. You’re exactly what people call a genius, aren’t you?”

When her father actually praised her so openly, Aurelia fidgeted awkwardly with her hands. David immediately grabbed one of them and gently stroked the back of it.

His touch was so warm that Aurelia felt tears welling up again, this time for an entirely different reason.

“Don’t let Professor Schneider’s words hurt you. That man is all polished on the outside, but he’s nothing short of an idiot. Instead of recognizing your talent and nurturing it, he says something like that! He must have lost his mind to say such a thing.”

David’s grip on Aurelia’s hand tightened.

No matter how skilled David was—running the oldest workshop in the district and possessing such excellent craftsmanship that even musicians from other countries sought out the Bernhard Instrument Workshop whenever they came to Zerphium—he was ultimately still just an ordinary citizen.

That was why he couldn’t give Aurelia, who had so much talent and so many dreams, everything she needed.

Whenever he fully realized that, David couldn’t help but hate the beliefs he had upheld throughout his entire life.

‘If I could just give up that one principle, I could have given Lily a slightly better environment.’

But whenever David thought that way, Aurelia herself would step in and stop him.

She was a kind daughter who told him that she would prove herself through her own abilities, and that Father should simply continue living as he always had.

And so, in the end, there was only one thing David could give Aurelia.

“Lily, my precious daughter, so precious that even looking at you makes me feel guilty. As someone who makes instruments, I know this better than anyone. Not just in Zerphium, but in any country you go to, you won’t find a pianist more skilled than you. Your father guarantees it.”

To comfort the heart of this wounded child and support Aurelia so that she could follow the path she truly wanted.

If her legs were hurt, he would become her legs, and if her heart were hurt, he would tear out his own flesh to cover those wounds. There was nothing else he could do for her.

“Father….”

“Do it to your heart’s content. Whenever you want to play the piano, play the piano. If you want to become a pianist, then keep moving forward toward that path. Live your life that way. And if it becomes truly difficult, if it becomes truly painful, you can give up then. It won’t be too late. Even if you give up because it becomes too hard for you, what’s there to worry about when you have your father? You have another talent too, don’t you?”

Even if Aurelia became too exhausted and worn out to continue pursuing her dream of becoming a pianist, it would be all right because she possessed the talent to become a master craftsman as well.

To think that Professor Schneider had wounded the heart of such a talented child so deeply. David once again muttered curses at the professor.

But he soon stopped, not wanting to say such things to his precious daughter sitting before him, and forced himself to smile gently as though he had never cursed at anyone.

“Of course, there is still discrimination in the workshop industry. But you’re a Bernhard child, aren’t you? Even if you become too exhausted to continue pursuing your dream of becoming a pianist, you can borrow the name of a distant relative and sell your instruments, so don’t worry. When it comes to music, you’ve been blessed with more talent than anyone else.”