“Uh, yes...?”
Rosalind unconsciously grabbed my hand at the gesture that seemed natural.
I calmly said as I woke up Rosalind who was asking me a question.
“When we go in, I’ll ask for a warm drink first. You’ll warm up your body and relax your throat with that. I’ll take care of the rest.”
“W-what...? What do you mean you’ll take care of?”
I realized belatedly at the blank voice.
Oh, I didn’t explain. I said after a brief moment of reflection.
“I’ll be your accompaniment. So sing.”
“Uh, really?”
Rosalind’s eyes widened in an instant.
Rosalind, who had come close as if she was rushing toward me, asked repeatedly.
“Really? Really? Really?”
“Yes. Really.”
“I, the song I’m going to sing, ‘About Possession’? Isn’t that a really difficult song?”
“Oh, that’s it.”
‘Should I change my mind right now? I don’t care if it’s a children’s song, as long as I can stand on stage!’
Rosalind’s ears, which were suddenly entangled in confusion, heard a voice that seemed like salvation.
“It’s okay.”
Ariana was lost in thought for a moment.
‘About Possession’.
It was a song that frequently changed between minor and major keys.
Edward had harshly criticized it when he first heard it, saying that it was a song without any foundation.
I knew at the time I composed the song that frequent key changes were not the norm, but I felt that it had to be done that way to capture the dramatic emotional changes of the female protagonist.
And the result was a huge success.
'On Possession' was the representative aria of the opera that sold out the entire performance at the Lopez Opera House for the first time.
The reason why the accompaniment is difficult is because the key changes are so frequent. However, there was a reason for each change: to capture the changing emotional state of the female protagonist.
As long as you remember the reason, it won't be difficult. Even if you don't remember all the notes, as long as you know why you engraved those notes in your previous song.
"Hey, should we try a different song? A song that's easier to play..."
Rosalind unconsciously grabbed my hand at the gesture that seemed natural.
I calmly said as I woke up Rosalind who was asking me a question.
“When we go in, I’ll ask for a warm drink first. You’ll warm up your body and relax your throat with that. I’ll take care of the rest.”
“W-what...? What do you mean you’ll take care of?”
I realized belatedly at the blank voice.
Oh, I didn’t explain. I said after a brief moment of reflection.
“I’ll be your accompaniment. So sing.”
“Uh, really?”
Rosalind’s eyes widened in an instant.
Rosalind, who had come close as if she was rushing toward me, asked repeatedly.
“Really? Really? Really?”
“Yes. Really.”
“I, the song I’m going to sing, ‘About Possession’? Isn’t that a really difficult song?”
“Oh, that’s it.”
I nodded lightly.
“It’s an accompaniment that requires a lot of technique.”
“Ah, right?”
Rosalind’s face instantly turned sour.
Should I not have told her?
What if she runs away, saying that the song is too difficult when she’s the accompanist I found by a miracle?
No, if I don’t tell her, how can I trust her with the accompaniment...! No, even so! What if she says she can’t do it!
“It’s an accompaniment that requires a lot of technique.”
“Ah, right?”
Rosalind’s face instantly turned sour.
Should I not have told her?
What if she runs away, saying that the song is too difficult when she’s the accompanist I found by a miracle?
No, if I don’t tell her, how can I trust her with the accompaniment...! No, even so! What if she says she can’t do it!
‘Should I change my mind right now? I don’t care if it’s a children’s song, as long as I can stand on stage!’
Rosalind’s ears, which were suddenly entangled in confusion, heard a voice that seemed like salvation.
“It’s okay.”
Ariana was lost in thought for a moment.
‘About Possession’.
It was a song that frequently changed between minor and major keys.
Edward had harshly criticized it when he first heard it, saying that it was a song without any foundation.
I knew at the time I composed the song that frequent key changes were not the norm, but I felt that it had to be done that way to capture the dramatic emotional changes of the female protagonist.
And the result was a huge success.
'On Possession' was the representative aria of the opera that sold out the entire performance at the Lopez Opera House for the first time.
The reason why the accompaniment is difficult is because the key changes are so frequent. However, there was a reason for each change: to capture the changing emotional state of the female protagonist.
As long as you remember the reason, it won't be difficult. Even if you don't remember all the notes, as long as you know why you engraved those notes in your previous song.
"Hey, should we try a different song? A song that's easier to play..."
When I was silent for a moment, Rosalind, who was rolling her eyes, cautiously suggested.
I shook my head slightly and said,
"No, let's do 'On Possession'. I'm confident."
"Um, really?"
"Yes."
I nodded and looked back at Rosalind, then smiled faintly.
“I made it.”
I slowly muttered while looking up at the stage.
“This is what paradise was like back then.”
The stage layout was more chaotic than I had thought. It was natural since it wasn’t a formal performance venue like an opera house, but it was surprising considering that Paradise would shake up the system five years later.
“Well, there was a rumor that Dante didn’t intend to grow paradise like this in the first place.”
His interest wasn’t in the stage, performances, or operas, but in ‘music’ and ‘sound’ itself.
And the reason he was obsessed with sound was still shrouded in mystery even five years later.
“Anyway, I can’t play it like this.”
Playing the same music in a cave is completely different from playing it in an open field.
Even good music needed a desirable space where the sound could resonate well.
I, who had just come to a conclusion, called over to an employee who was passing by.
“The stage and the seats are too close. It’s burdensome for singers, and the environment is such that their voices can’t resonate properly.”
An employee who was caught passing by blinked blankly.
“Then what should we do?”
“Please spread some distance and send a few employees to guard the stage.”
“Oh, yes..."
“The reflectors are also not in the right position. Could you have them face each other a little more?”
“Hey, who messed with this?”
“Who the hell are you, young lady?”
The employee followed my instructions for now, despite her bewildered expression.
Even though it was their first time seeing her, the way she gave orders naturally seemed so natural and familiar.
Moreover, everything she said sounded reasonable, so they reluctantly followed her.
One of the employees who was resting at the scene nodded.
“Who is that lady?”
“I don’t know. She’s the accompanist.”
The colleague who was watching with an indifferent face shrugged his shoulders.
“The accompanist? Then who’s the singer? Could it be the country girl behind her?”
“Why is the singer’s nose so red? Is it Rudolph or something?”
“She must have been outside for too long. Someone saw her crying earlier.”
“Outside on this cold day? Oh, really. Don’t singers even take care of their throats?”
I shook my head slightly and said,
"No, let's do 'On Possession'. I'm confident."
"Um, really?"
"Yes."
I nodded and looked back at Rosalind, then smiled faintly.
“I made it.”
***
I slowly muttered while looking up at the stage.
“This is what paradise was like back then.”
The stage layout was more chaotic than I had thought. It was natural since it wasn’t a formal performance venue like an opera house, but it was surprising considering that Paradise would shake up the system five years later.
“Well, there was a rumor that Dante didn’t intend to grow paradise like this in the first place.”
His interest wasn’t in the stage, performances, or operas, but in ‘music’ and ‘sound’ itself.
And the reason he was obsessed with sound was still shrouded in mystery even five years later.
“Anyway, I can’t play it like this.”
Playing the same music in a cave is completely different from playing it in an open field.
Even good music needed a desirable space where the sound could resonate well.
I, who had just come to a conclusion, called over to an employee who was passing by.
“The stage and the seats are too close. It’s burdensome for singers, and the environment is such that their voices can’t resonate properly.”
An employee who was caught passing by blinked blankly.
“Then what should we do?”
“Please spread some distance and send a few employees to guard the stage.”
“Oh, yes..."
“The reflectors are also not in the right position. Could you have them face each other a little more?”
“Hey, who messed with this?”
“Who the hell are you, young lady?”
The employee followed my instructions for now, despite her bewildered expression.
Even though it was their first time seeing her, the way she gave orders naturally seemed so natural and familiar.
Moreover, everything she said sounded reasonable, so they reluctantly followed her.
One of the employees who was resting at the scene nodded.
“Who is that lady?”
“I don’t know. She’s the accompanist.”
The colleague who was watching with an indifferent face shrugged his shoulders.
“The accompanist? Then who’s the singer? Could it be the country girl behind her?”
“Why is the singer’s nose so red? Is it Rudolph or something?”
“She must have been outside for too long. Someone saw her crying earlier.”
“Outside on this cold day? Oh, really. Don’t singers even take care of their throats?”
“Does she have a cold? She's shivering. How can she sing properly like that?”
“Leave her alone. It’s a wasted time anyway.”
It was a weekday afternoon. It was an ambiguous time before dinnertime.
It was the time when there were the least customers, so it didn’t really matter who took the stage.
If the level was too serious, it would have been okay to drag it down in the middle.
The guests who had been laughing and drinking since the afternoon also gave a little glance when the stage became busy, but that was it.
“Why is it so noisy over there?”
“There’s a performance.”
“Hey, it was nice that it was quiet this time of day.”
Rosalind went up on the stage where no one was paying attention.
‘Whew...’
The only audience members were a few drunken rascals and indifferent-looking employees.
However, Rosalind was happy just to be on the stage and not in a desolate alley.
‘There are people who will listen to my song.’
I have to do well, I have to really work hard.
Rosalind looked back, steeling herself dozens of times.
Ariana, sitting in front of the piano, checking the keys, looked like a scene from a neat landscape painting.
Rosalind couldn’t help but admire her calmness and maturity, which were on a different level from her own trembling.
‘I’ll really do well since my benefactor came.’
The mean, vile traitor Mark had left, but instead, didn’t a benefactor come to me like a miracle?
Rosalind was determined to do her best not to let this good fortune go to waste.
Soon, Ariana began to play the first note.
“Ah...”
She could feel it with just that one phrase.
The performance of the mean, philandering traitor Mark and that lady were fundamentally different.
If Mark’s performance was merely a technique of drawing out notes from the music sheet with an instrument, Ariana’s performance was conveying a story beyond that.
“On Possession.”
This is the aria that the heroine, a great seductress, sings when she meets a priest in a church she happened to visit one day and falls in love with him.
A scene where she realizes and rejoices that a true possessiveness that no jewel or handsome man could arouse is overflowing within her.
The emotion of wanting to hold onto that shining existence with these hands even if it no longer shines.
The gloomy D minor began to resonate as if it were drawing out such a desire from the depths of her stomach.
Rosalind slowly opened her mouth as if possessed by something.
"I want to make your gaze and even your breath mine."
The nobles who had been drinking ceaselessly blinked and looked away.
As each gaze turned toward her like the lyrics of the song, Rosalind felt a shiver run through her head.
The thirst of the heroine who wanted the priest's gaze and every gesture to be hers spread through Rosalind's body. The sticky melody blooming from Ariana's fingertips took Rosalind into the cathedral where she encountered the beautiful priest.
"Why can't we be together when I want it so much?"
As the aria rose, those who were sitting stopped clinking their glasses.
Those who were dancing and chatting and those who were casually passing by began to look at each other as if they were being drawn to it.
Rosalind's voice also expanded as the accompaniment reached its climax.
“Wow... Who is that, young lady?”
“The song is a song, but the piano is art... ‘On Possession’, right? Was it something like that?”
“Shh, shh! I can’t hear it.”
People began to sit down one by one in the audience that wasn’t even half full.
Rosalind felt her heart pounding as she felt the countless gazes focused on her.
The next verse is the part where the female protagonist wholeheartedly accepts her feverish first love and makes it bloom.
Rosalind opened her mouth, feeling the female protagonist’s pain and joy deep in her heart.
“If only you could be mine... Oh!”
In an instant, Rosalind's body froze as if struck by lightning.
A thrilling sensation pierced her vocal cords. It was a pain that brought tears to her eyes. Fortunately, it was the end of a verse, so it wasn't noticeable, but some people looked at her with a slightly suspicious look.
'Ugh, it hurts... '
Rosalind's heart raced during the short interlude.
Something was wrong with her throat. She could tell without even making a sound.
Was it the aftereffects of being outside in the cold for a long time?
“Leave her alone. It’s a wasted time anyway.”
It was a weekday afternoon. It was an ambiguous time before dinnertime.
It was the time when there were the least customers, so it didn’t really matter who took the stage.
If the level was too serious, it would have been okay to drag it down in the middle.
The guests who had been laughing and drinking since the afternoon also gave a little glance when the stage became busy, but that was it.
“Why is it so noisy over there?”
“There’s a performance.”
“Hey, it was nice that it was quiet this time of day.”
Rosalind went up on the stage where no one was paying attention.
‘Whew...’
The only audience members were a few drunken rascals and indifferent-looking employees.
However, Rosalind was happy just to be on the stage and not in a desolate alley.
‘There are people who will listen to my song.’
I have to do well, I have to really work hard.
Rosalind looked back, steeling herself dozens of times.
Ariana, sitting in front of the piano, checking the keys, looked like a scene from a neat landscape painting.
Rosalind couldn’t help but admire her calmness and maturity, which were on a different level from her own trembling.
‘I’ll really do well since my benefactor came.’
The mean, vile traitor Mark had left, but instead, didn’t a benefactor come to me like a miracle?
Rosalind was determined to do her best not to let this good fortune go to waste.
Soon, Ariana began to play the first note.
“Ah...”
She could feel it with just that one phrase.
The performance of the mean, philandering traitor Mark and that lady were fundamentally different.
If Mark’s performance was merely a technique of drawing out notes from the music sheet with an instrument, Ariana’s performance was conveying a story beyond that.
“On Possession.”
This is the aria that the heroine, a great seductress, sings when she meets a priest in a church she happened to visit one day and falls in love with him.
A scene where she realizes and rejoices that a true possessiveness that no jewel or handsome man could arouse is overflowing within her.
The emotion of wanting to hold onto that shining existence with these hands even if it no longer shines.
The gloomy D minor began to resonate as if it were drawing out such a desire from the depths of her stomach.
Rosalind slowly opened her mouth as if possessed by something.
"I want to make your gaze and even your breath mine."
The nobles who had been drinking ceaselessly blinked and looked away.
As each gaze turned toward her like the lyrics of the song, Rosalind felt a shiver run through her head.
The thirst of the heroine who wanted the priest's gaze and every gesture to be hers spread through Rosalind's body. The sticky melody blooming from Ariana's fingertips took Rosalind into the cathedral where she encountered the beautiful priest.
"Why can't we be together when I want it so much?"
As the aria rose, those who were sitting stopped clinking their glasses.
Those who were dancing and chatting and those who were casually passing by began to look at each other as if they were being drawn to it.
Rosalind's voice also expanded as the accompaniment reached its climax.
“Wow... Who is that, young lady?”
“The song is a song, but the piano is art... ‘On Possession’, right? Was it something like that?”
“Shh, shh! I can’t hear it.”
People began to sit down one by one in the audience that wasn’t even half full.
Rosalind felt her heart pounding as she felt the countless gazes focused on her.
The next verse is the part where the female protagonist wholeheartedly accepts her feverish first love and makes it bloom.
Rosalind opened her mouth, feeling the female protagonist’s pain and joy deep in her heart.
“If only you could be mine... Oh!”
In an instant, Rosalind's body froze as if struck by lightning.
A thrilling sensation pierced her vocal cords. It was a pain that brought tears to her eyes. Fortunately, it was the end of a verse, so it wasn't noticeable, but some people looked at her with a slightly suspicious look.
'Ugh, it hurts... '
Rosalind's heart raced during the short interlude.
Something was wrong with her throat. She could tell without even making a sound.
Was it the aftereffects of being outside in the cold for a long time?
She thought the warm water Ariana gave her had calmed her down, but it seemed not to be.
'What should I do? The next verse is a high note.'
Thump, thump, thump.
Rosalind's heart started beating like crazy. In a completely different direction from the excitement that had been controlling her until just now.
If she burst into a high note in this state, her vocal cords would be badly damaged. But Rosalind wanted to finish this stage perfectly.
Ariana's performance led Rosalind to the point where she became completely one with the heroine's emotions.
She didn’t want to ruin this moment, this feeling.
‘But even if I force myself to sing, the notes will go out of tune.’
Just thinking about it was a terrible nightmare.
If only she had a minute to clear her throat.
What should I do? What should I do...
It was when she was waiting for the next verse with a fearful heart.
‘....Huh?’
Rosalind suddenly realized that the interlude wasn’t ending.
It wasn’t because she was so flustered that time seemed to pass slowly.
This part of the interlude wasn’t that long. However, the interlude Ariana was playing wasn’t ending, but rather was rushing toward a new horizon.
‘Huh? ...This verse isn’t in this song?’
Rosalind blankly looked back at the piano, and her eyes met Ariana’s green eyes.
At that moment, Rosalind had a sudden realization.
‘You’re buying my time.’
Her benefactor was buying her time right now. While leisurely creating a melody that didn’t exist anywhere in the score.
'What should I do? The next verse is a high note.'
Thump, thump, thump.
Rosalind's heart started beating like crazy. In a completely different direction from the excitement that had been controlling her until just now.
If she burst into a high note in this state, her vocal cords would be badly damaged. But Rosalind wanted to finish this stage perfectly.
Ariana's performance led Rosalind to the point where she became completely one with the heroine's emotions.
She didn’t want to ruin this moment, this feeling.
‘But even if I force myself to sing, the notes will go out of tune.’
Just thinking about it was a terrible nightmare.
If only she had a minute to clear her throat.
What should I do? What should I do...
It was when she was waiting for the next verse with a fearful heart.
‘....Huh?’
Rosalind suddenly realized that the interlude wasn’t ending.
It wasn’t because she was so flustered that time seemed to pass slowly.
This part of the interlude wasn’t that long. However, the interlude Ariana was playing wasn’t ending, but rather was rushing toward a new horizon.
‘Huh? ...This verse isn’t in this song?’
Rosalind blankly looked back at the piano, and her eyes met Ariana’s green eyes.
At that moment, Rosalind had a sudden realization.
‘You’re buying my time.’
Her benefactor was buying her time right now. While leisurely creating a melody that didn’t exist anywhere in the score.
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