‘Ah, this is crazy. I shouldn’t laugh.’
The one I thought was a little child turned out to be Isidor.
“Pfft!”
I tried to hold it in somehow because I didn’t want to disturb him, but he looked so serious from behind that I ended up making a loud noise.
It was beyond my power.
“What?”
Isidor, who looked back with a slight frown, as if he had been offended, looked surprised when he saw me burst into laughter.
“Since when have you been there?”
“Just now, but Sir Isidor, you were so funny… I couldn’t hold it in… pfft, hahaha!”
In the end, I couldn’t hold it in anymore and burst out laughing.
“…”
His emerald pupils shook as his eyelids opened wide.
Even though I could vividly feel his embarrassment, I couldn’t stop laughing since it had been a long time since something had been so funny.
Isidor is perfect in many ways, so his five-year-old-like sloppy piano skills were truly surprising.
‘No, is it an insult to five-year-old children?’
Trying to calm down, I breathed in and moved my lips slightly.
“I’m not laughing at your performance… I just didn’t know Sir Isidor was a tone-deaf person.”
“It’s been a long time since I played. I’m still not familiar with the musical score and the keyboard! We danced together at the ball, so you know, right?”
He pouted his lips slightly and spoke curtly.
“However, I don’t think you’ll play well even if you get familiar with the keyboard.”
“How well does Princess Deborah play, seeing that you’re so confident?”
He provoked me as I couldn’t stop smiling.
“I’m ten times better than Sir Isidor.”
I thought that anyone who came would be better at playing than this man.
Also, I mastered Bayer and Czerny in kindergarten.
“Can you prove it?”
“Yeah.”
I confidently sat next to him, raised my hands on the keyboard, and realized the harmful consequences of early education.
There was only one song I could remember.
“Does Princess Deborah play the piano with two fingers?”
Isidor’s lips trembled, as if he was holding back his laughter.
“Just listen. Don’t make fun of me.”
I started playing “The Celebrated Chop Waltz”, the only one I could play without the musical score.
Isidor thought I wasn’t so good at first, when I pressed the keyboard with two fingers, but later he was amazed.
“That’s how good music comes out. It’s cheerful and nice.”
Soon after, he smiled, acknowledging the excellent musicality of The Celebrated Chop Waltz.
“Where did you learn this song? It’s fun.”
When he asked where I learned it, I felt a prick of conscience and changed the topic.
“It’s fun, isn’t it? Sir Isidor should try it too. As you can see, it’s much easier than the song on your musical score, and this song is originally played by two people.”
“Who taught you how to play it with two people?”
“Me.”
“You are… a good teacher.”
After a moment’s hesitation, Isidor clumsily imitated me as I pressed the keys.
Since it was a very easy song, he immediately followed along.
His white-gloved hands were so elegant that he looked quite good. Should I say that he looked like a pianist?
‘It’s even funnier because only his hands look elegant.’
I soon accompanied his march.
A close friend of mine at school liked to play the song during the break, so I was confident in the accompaniment.
“Ah, I made a mistake.”
Isidor made a mistake in a similar section as that friend, and it felt familiar.
I thought he was cool-headed, but that was the moment my prejudices and ideas about him faltered.
“This song is a song that gets faster and faster.”
I got mischievous for some reason, like a child.
As I tapped the keyboard more quickly, Isidor moved his fingers a little inconsistently.
Then, his firm arm touched mine, and the hands on the piano bumped into each other.
“…!”
Isidor’s hand that touched mine suddenly bounced off, and he pressed the wrong key.
“Why don’t you play the next one?”
Having stopped his hand, he suddenly flinched and jumped out of his seat.
“Huh, we didn’t bump that hard into each other.”
“… It was strong enough. Though it may not be so for Princess Deborah.”
What was he talking about? This vague guy.
“Are you feigning pain right now? Play the song all the way through. It must be the only song you can play with your current skills, Sir Isidor.”
I suddenly said as he was about to leave the music room, slightly embarrassed.
He sighed briefly with his back turned to me, then he turned his head back and glared at me with sharp eyes.
He looked gentle and kind just a moment ago, but now, he looked rebellious like a teenager.
After adjusting his gloves, he reached for the Knights’ uniform coat on the hanger.
“It’s fun and thrilling, but the student wants to say that the teacher’s pace is too fast.”
“Hm, the student followed along well so I progressed quickly. It’s a shame.”
“Please teach me slowly next time.”
Isidor glanced down at his pocket watch, making even his appearance from behind, wearing his coat, look like a scene from a photo shoot.
“I must go to the barracks now. I came to practice for a while during the break.”
Ah, so it was time to go back to the Knights.
“You seem to be busy, being the leader of Epsilon and the Vice-Captain of the Knights. Why are you learning how to play the piano? Is it perhaps a new hobby?”
“You can put it that way.”
“Then that’s it. Why are you saying to put it that way?”
“I heard that the Princess listens to the piano as a hobby. Playing it may be a hobby for me.”
“Who… Ah, Sir Thierry must have said that.”
He managed to make up something without bringing up the racetrack. His tricks were really amazing.
“Don’t get too close to Thierry. He is a delinquent.”
He spoke in a despondent voice, like a child.
“If you’re talking about who’s more of a ruffian, isn’t my reputation much higher?”
“The Princess… No, never mind.”
“Why did you stop talking? I will give you 10 gold.”
As if what happened with the Master left an impression, a joke that ruined the mood came out.
He looked at me as if it was ridiculous and then gave a brief smile.
“It’s disappointing to compare yourself to Thierry.”
“It must be rude to Sir Thierry.”
“It’s unworthy. The Princess looks sincere. More than anyone I’ve ever seen… to the point where I think it’s too much.”
He was mumbling the last part so I could only hear the beginning.
‘Sincere?’
The Master and Isidor. Having the assumption that they might know each other, it sounded somewhat meaningful.
Walking side by side, we walked towards the entrance of the main building.
Isidor stood on the sidewalk, full of the atmosphere that marked the beginning of autumn, and waved his hand lightly.
“I’ll see you often. There are a lot of club activities in the fall. See you later.”
He took a leaf that had fallen prematurely off my shoulder and quickly disappeared towards the side of the building.
When he disappeared, a thought suddenly came to my mind.
‘Wait, he isn’t practicing the piano because of me, right?’
Why is my narcissism gradually becoming so severe?
Even if I tried to deny it, the hand that had bumped into his seemed to burn.
I stood there, touching my shoulder, and then walked slowly towards the club room.
***
“I learned it when I was a child, so I can play it well with a little practice.”
While practicing the piano with unfounded confidence and pride, Isidor realized that his skills were more grave than he thought and decided to increase his practice time.
Fortunately, the frat house and the Knights’ barracks were close, so he secretly came out during the training sessions and tapped on the keyboard in the music room.
‘It’s hopeless.’
Thinking about it now, it wasn’t something that he could do after practicing for a couple of days. His hands played separately from the musical score.
‘It would be faster to abolish the piano club.’
Thierry made it to enjoy his hobbies, so that was enough justification even for a one-person club.
While embracing the wicked intention of trying to make others unable to play the piano just because his own skills were bad, he heard a sneer from somewhere.
‘Who is it?’
Looking back, feeling annoyed, Isidor felt his heart drop steeply down and then bounce up.
“Pfft!”
It was the first time he realized that Princess Deborah was someone who could laugh loudly like that.
Though he was caught despite not wanting to be seen, he didn’t feel embarrassed, perhaps because of her laughing face.
‘Why am I not getting angry?’
Her appearance, putting everything down and grabbing her belly while laughing, got deeply engraved in his mind.
Just like when they were at the Spring Flower Festival, when Princess Deborah opened her eyes wide like a child and watched the fireworks.
Strangely enough, Isidor could not take his eyes away from her back then, just like now.
No, he was much more surprised now, seeing her laughing while even shedding tears.
To the point he thought she was good at playing the piano.
She, who was usually wary and opened her eyes sharply like a sensitive cat, approached him first and sat next to him.
“I’m ten times better than Sir Isidor.”
She placed two fingers on top of the keyboard.
He was dumbfounded at first to see her try to play the piano with two fingers, but soon after, a cheerful song he was hearing for the first time in his life rang out.
Her lips curled and she smiled confidently.
