<Fantasy Butterfly> is Eduardo Lopez's masterpiece, and it was left as an unfortunate last work because he died before releasing the last three parts. Dante heard before that the last three parts were actually in Edward Lopez's hands. It seems that the sheet music also flowed to Ariana along with Edward's title and wealth. Was that why she was so excited?
However, the numbers written randomly on the paper didn't explain it. Ariana whispered, pointing to the sheet music.
"Can you hear me?"
Dante could see it. The black circles and the lines are drawn in a jumble. When he showed a swordsmanship demonstration and got angry at them for not being able to even do something similar, Dante wondered if his subordinates felt this way.
Ariana looked at him with sparkling eyes as if expecting an answer. Dante confessed his incompetence for the first time in a long time, perhaps for the first time.
"No. I don't know at all."
"Ah."
Only then did Ariana realize something and her cheeks turned slightly red.
"I'm sorry. I think I got too excited. You've never studied music, so you wouldn't know just by looking at the score."
Ariana acknowledged her mistake and stretched out her arms. Because of that, their bodies came a little closer. The scent of soap vibrated the tip of Dante's nose.
"..."
He doesn't know what kind of torture this is. Dante let out a low growl. It was driving him crazy to just maintain his posture without being able to snatch the prey that was dazzling before his eyes. Ariana's white wrist moved across the piano as if it would leave a mark if he put his teeth into it. When Ariana's fingers pressed the keys, a clear sound rang out.
"Can you feel it?"
"...What?"
"This dissonance."
Ariana pressed the keys a few more times and muttered with a focused face.
"It still sounds really strange to my ears. Even dissonances can create their own kind of harmony when put together, but this is something, it seems like it was made to be jarring on purpose..."
This morning, the moment all of the Lopez family's assets that Edward had been keeping were handed over to Ariana. The reason she put everything aside and checked. the score for <Fantasy Butterfly> was simply out of curiosity and longing. However, from the moment she started looking at the score, a strange sense of discomfort lingered in her mind. This intentional dissonance mixed throughout the score. As if it was hoping someone would find it jarring and discover it.
"Surely not..".
Soon, a possibility occurred to her.
'My grandfather anticipated that the Crown Prince might try to get his hands on you. '
He even hired an escort. Of course, the tragedy occurred because he chose the Dawn Squad, but she thought that he probably didn't prepare only that as a countermeasure.
"This is a B chord, but it's one note different."
Ariana said, playing the keys. And this is an F chord, this is a C major chord... Ariana bit her lower lip as she played them one by one.
"The last note is all off."
"Those last notes."
Dante, who had been listening with his head tilted, said.
"Could it be that your grandfather planted a code on purpose?"
"Yes. That's it!"
Ariana looked down at Dante with wide eyes. Dante had come to the same conclusion. It seemed that her own reasoning wasn't so far-fetched. With a little more confidence, Ariana moved to the seat next to Dante and continued speaking.
"So I chose the notes that created dissonances and arranged them into numbers..."
Ariana looked at the paper with a serious expression. The result was a feast of numbers written there. Ten digits starting with 7. Her reasoning was blocked here for a moment. She couldn't be sure if those numbers had any meaning or if they were just randomly selected numbers.
'I think I'm almost there.'
It really felt like there was only one step left... Ariana was staring at the pitiful numbers, feeling sorry for them.
"It's a safe number."
Ariana's eyes widened at the concise certainty. She looked back at Dante in surprise.
"A safe?"
"Ten numbers starting with 7."
Dante spoke quietly and faced her. His red eyes were filled with leisurely certainty as always.
"These are the unique numbers for the special safes operated by the Imperial Bank."
***
"Your Highness, Duke Heigenberg, Duchess."
The head of the Imperial Bank came out to greet me with an urgent look. I immediately told him the vault number. As Dante had said, the head of the branch nodded without a hint of doubt.
"You're looking for a special vault. It's 7-5442-89045... Yes, I'll show you."
"That was the right answer."
I silently brushed my chest. The head of the branch slightly noticed my expression.
"But you need a password to enter the special vault."
I nodded. If it was true that my grandfather had hidden the password in the <Fantasy Butterfly> score, and if it was true that he wanted someone very close to him to find out, then the password would have been set to something that someone who could read the score could deduce.
"The password is 'Silin."
That was the name of a butterfly that my mother and I raised when we were young. It had fantastic white, transparent wings. <Fantasy Butterfly> was a song that my grandfather began composing after getting a motif from it.
The head of the branch, who had been somewhere, politely guided me.
"I'll take you here."
My heart was pounding like crazy as I followed the head of the main branch. I couldn't believe I had made it this far.
"I think only one person can enter the safe due to its size."
I nodded and looked back at Dante.
"I'll be back."
I held my breath and looked around the inside. The inside was simple. There was only a pile of documents neatly gathered together. With trembling hands, I opened the paper on the very top.
"Ah...."
It was my grandfather's handwriting. It was unmistakable. I forgot to breathe and read the paper. The paper was a letter.
[Chedef. The fact that you saw this means that my plan probably didn't go as planned.]
Chedef was the name of my grandfather's secretary. He had gone missing shortly after my grandfather passed away. My grandfather seemed to think that his secretary would be the one who cracked the code and entered the safe.
"It's me, Grandfather."
I smiled bitterly and continued reading the letter.
[You must have had a hard time because you got caught up in something unexpected. Above all, it was Zenith who worked hard. Thanks to her, I think the evidence has become somewhat clear. I think it is time to meet His Majesty the Emperor.]
After reading up to that point, I carefully looked at the documents gathered under the letter.
"This Is..."
My eyes slowly grew wide. There were various types of evidence scattered there. Evidence that the Crown Prince, then the Second Prince, had joined hands with the Dawn Squad. A list of people he had harmed to expand his position.
'When on earth did he...'
My fingertips trembled slightly. I now understood why the Crown Prince had treated my grandfather so cruelly. My grandfather had dug into his crimes to an astonishing degree.
[And Chedef.]
As I continued to read the letter while catching my breath, my eyes widened.
[Please give the enclosed letter to Ariana.]
.... There was a letter addressed to me. I let my thumping heart sink and slid my trembling eyes over the letter.
[To Ariana. I'm sorry I can't leave you the opera house.]
I felt a lump forming in my throat. The day before my grandfather left for his carriage trip, I had first confronted him. It was the day Edward had ridiculed me for visiting the Lopez Opera House like it was my home. He said that the building would belong to him anyway, not me, so why should I be obsessed with it?
Shocked by that, I asked my grandfather the truth, and he nodded with a complicated expression.
[Our country's inheritance law has some old-fashioned aspects. You're still young, so you probably won't understand everything. But Ariana, what's important isn't the building itself. It's the people who follow you. The people who love your art. I believe that the music you create has that kind of power.
P.S. And don't worry about what your father says. Don't get caught up in that boring talk about women not being able to do art or anything. I hope to see you in your school uniform next spring.]
There was a document enclosed at the end of the letter. My eyes widened when I read the very first. line of the document.
[Ende Royal Academy of Art Admission Letter]
...Ah. Before we left on our carriage trip, I remembered what my grandfather had said as he kissed me on the cheek.
"When you come back, I have a present for you, Lili. Don't cry and wait quietly."
At that time, I would fall asleep every night sobbing. The cold war between my mother and father went on every day. The occasional yelling I heard was unfamiliar and scary. One of the reasons for the fight was my admission to the art academy.
When I started to take an interest in music, my mother wanted to enroll me in the art academy like Edward, but my father was against it. He thought Edward would be discouraged. I didn't want to be added to the reason why they were fighting, so I shook my head.
"You don't have to go to an academy. I like home the best, Mom."
But my grandfather had been preparing for something like this without saying a word.
"... Ah."
Tears that had flowed out before I knew it soaked my cheeks. I felt so pathetic. that I was going crazy. I forgot the wishes of the person who had cared for me so much, and I threw myself whole to those who considered my worth to be a piece of paper. I hated myself for realizing all that only after they died. But I couldn't sit there feeling guilty. I had no intention of wasting myself like that anymore.
I wiped my cheek hard with my sleeve, and left the vault, carrying all the paperwork with me. As I stepped out of the narrow space, Dante met me and opened his eyes wide.
"... Ariana?"
His gaze fell on my still-swollen eyes.
"Ariana."
Dante approached me with his teeth clenched.
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