What did I just hear?
"Right here."
Dante continued slowly. He was urging me to sing, but his voice was as captivating as a sea devil's.
"Sing. For me."
"What is that...?"
I couldn't think of anything at the unimaginable story. Asking me to sing. Why?
Suddenly, a memory from long ago came to my mind.
"Your voice is really beautiful."
"Of course, you are the granddaughter of Eduardo Lopez. Of course, you have great musical skills, right?"
"I am really looking forward to today's performance."
I bit my lip and shook my head.
"Your Grace. I can't sing."
"Lies."
My eyes widened slightly at the firm denial. Dante's voice was filled with conviction. As I thought about why, the answer came to me.
"Ah."
"Now that I think about it, I remember. The scene where Eduardo entered the palace holding his granddaughter's hand. A girl who sang beautifully like a lark."
Yes. This man was also there when the Emperor said that. I shook my head again.
"If you are saying this because of what His Majesty said, I indeed did that when I was young, but I was acting foolishly without knowing what was right. However, I am now grown up and have no shame. I cannot disturb the Duke's ears with my poor skills."
I spoke carefully and suggested an alternative.
"If you want to hear someone sing, I will take Lady Rosalind..."
"I don't need any other woman."
Dante said, narrowing his brows.
"I asked for you."
"..."
Why was he being so firm? I didn't know why, but I nodded slowly.
"... I understand."
It was true that I had not sung for a very long time. A prickly feeling of rejection tickled my throat, but that was just my feeling. I could not refuse Dante's request. It wasn't that difficult of a request to begin with. Considering the price for these numerous instruments, it was rather cheap.
'So, let's get started.'
I slowly opened my mouth.
"..."
Hundreds of arias came to mind. Whether they had lyrics or were just humming, I just had to say them out loud.
...And yet.
"Ugh..."
The moment I opened my lips and strained my throat, the moment I moved my tongue to pronounce the lyrics, it felt like a fireball was lodged in my throat.
"...Ariana?"
The voice calling me sounded a little distant. I gasped shallowly.
"Ariana."
Dante grabbed my shoulder tightly. I slowly looked up. Dante's face was blurred and distorted.
"You're shaking, aren't you?"
Dante looked back at me with a blank expression. Only then did I realize that my body was shaking so badly? I bit my lower lip and shook my head.
"I'm sorry. I'll try again."
"Fuck. Ariana."
Dante roughly ran his hand through his hair.
"If you don't want to do it, just say you don't want to."
"I can do it."
"I didn't ask if you could, I asked how you felt. Can't you tell?"
I looked up at Dante blankly. Dante spoke strongly as if engraving it into my ear.
"Don't do it. Do what you don't want to do."
"..."
"No one can force you to do that."
Those were completely unfamiliar words. Everyone had told me to do something.
Do what you have to do for your family, for your business.
I bit my lip once and then spoke up.
"It's not that I... don't hate singing."
After a moment of silence, I continued in a small voice.
"I think I liked it. I used to."
"I know."
I stared blankly at Dante. How could that man know about my 'before'? Could it be related to the memory I was supposed to recall?
Dante urged me on as I was momentarily speechless.
"What happened?"
I hesitated slightly. This man must have been through countless battlefields, suffering, and death. It felt like such a trivial story to tell in front of someone like that.
"It's nothing special."
I muttered, suddenly losing my confidence, and Dante firmly said.
"I never asked you to value your story."
"..."
When he said that, I couldn't keep my mouth shut any longer.
"When I was fifteen, I was supposed to sing at my debut ball...um, that."
Perhaps because it was a story I had never told anyone before, it was somewhat disjointed. Dante didn't stop me from continuing awkwardly and just stared at me.
The stage that day... How should I put it, yes. It was a complete mess. From the moment the pianist played the first note, I knew something was wrong. The note was much higher than the score.
'Not only that, but the beats of the instruments were off.'
As if he was deliberately playing a malicious prank. The sound was ridiculously high, and the beat was so random that I didn't know where to go, but everyone was looking at me. That was fine. Until my windpipe started to swell up and itch.
"Ah, ugh, I can't breathe..."
I have a slight allergy to oysters, and I suddenly got the symptoms that would only go away if I ate a lot. I sat down, clutching my throat. My whole body was itchy and swollen. My skin, which I had carefully taken care of for today, was red and ugly even to me...
"Gyaaaah! Why, why is she like that? She's so swelled up!"
"Someone do something about her!"
"Does she have a disease? Damn it, I can't catch it!!"
I collapsed ugly on the stage that I had come up on to show myself off. The one who dragged me down was Edward. After calling a doctor and barely surviving the brink of death, Edward yelled at me.
"What the hell, Ariana! What on earth did you eat to get yourself like that?!"
"No. The only food I'm allergic to is oysters, and I didn't even touch them today...!"
"Then why did you make such a fuss earlier! Do you know how ugly you looked?"
"..."
"I didn't expect to captivate the crowd with your amazing singing skills. You just had to be normal, and you screwed that up! What would people say about us? They'd say we were once a musical powerhouse, but now we're so rusty that you can't sing a single song at a debutante ball!"
Did people really say that? I don't know. But it was true that my family's fortunes were rapidly declining around that time. Edward would always tease me about that incident until he forgot about it. That the ugly incident had tarnished our reputation as a musical powerhouse. That the Lopez family's name had become a joke in society because of me.
For a while, I had the same nightmare every night. The laughter and the out-of-sync sounds of the instruments mocked me, and I became an ugly, puffed-up red balloon and floated among them. I never sang again after that day. Until today, I had never brought up that trauma.
'Now that I think about it, I think I know the truth.'
I suddenly remembered Elena handing me fruit juice before going on stage, saying it was good for my throat. Suddenly, I thought that I had an allergic reaction because Elena had touched the juice. It was something simple enough for a child to do, and also so evil that I couldn't believe it was a child. That's when I let out a hollow laugh without realizing it.
"It's just a bunch of ghost stories. The story of your family."
I was startled as I unconsciously raised my head at the cold voice. Dante's face was frozen coldly. It was enough to make me feel chills just looking at it.
Dante was getting angry. On my behalf. When I realized that, a strange sensation tickled my heart. Unable to hold back my embarrassment, I opened my mouth.
"I'm sorry, I acted so weak. Because of something that happened so long ago. I usually forget about it completely, but today, somehow, I didn't know..."
I couldn't continue. Strong arms hugged my shoulders.
"You should only pretend to be strong in front of other people."
A low voice came from above my head. I slowly blinked, burying my face in his strong embrace.
"It doesn't work on me anyway."
I realized only then that my body was still shaking slightly. Warm body heat and a strong scent flowed in through the body I was holding. There was no other word, but I could tell. This was his way of comforting me.
How long had I been holding him? Suddenly, I heard Dante's voice from above my head.
"Open your lips."
Dante lifted my chin and whispered, tilting his head down.
"I won't ask you to sing."
I let out a shallow breath. Once, twice, three times. After hesitating, I opened my lips as If I were possessed. No one was watching us, so there was no need to act like a happy couple. But the kiss continued. Long and deep.
At that moment, I didn't feel uncomfortable with that fact. I was just overwhelmed by the sensation and body heat rushing into me.
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