FMV 06

Chapter 6

“It’s fine. Shouldn’t you see for yourself how excellent the instruments from our workshop are?”

In the end, unable to resist David’s urging, Aurelia let out a small sigh. She took out the violin displayed in the best position and handed it to Leonard.

“Please handle it carefully. It may not be precious to you, Mr. Deimus, but it is a precious violin to us.”

Her tone was clearly sharp.

However, Leonard did not seem to care about Aurelia’s mood at all.

He looked at her with an expression full of contempt, as if he were saying, What could someone like you possibly know?

‘He’s making exactly the same expression as Professor Schneider. Do they all go to some kind of academy that teaches them how to make that face?’

His arrogance was filled with useless vanity. He was the kind of person who would rather die than admit that someone was better than him.

‘Of course, Leonard Deimus is different from other people.’

At least, he really was a genius born with incredible natural talent.

But that was not enough to change Aurelia’s opinion of him.

Even so, it did not mean he had the right to be this arrogant and unpleasant.

Leonard accepted the violin without paying any attention to Aurelia’s sulky expression, but his attention was somewhere else.

There was a small violin behind Aurelia.

“I want to try playing that violin over there.”

Aurelia’s face turned pale when she saw the violin Leonard was looking at.

“No.”

Before she even had time to think, she gave a sharp answer.

Leonard raised one eyebrow and looked at her as if he could not believe she dared to say no. Then he spoke to David in a commanding tone.

“Take it out.”

“That is…”

David tried to mediate, but Aurelia cut him off with a firm voice.

“Absolutely not.”

“Since you say I absolutely cannot have it, I want to play that violin even more.”

Seeing the unpleasant smile forming at the corner of Leonard’s mouth, Aurelia bit her lip.

Compared to Leonard, her body was much smaller, but she still rose onto her toes to hide the violin and block his view of it.

‘Professor was wrong. He’s not the devil’s talent. He’s just the devil himself!’

His body was so thin that it would not have been strange to think he barely ate anything.

Even so, his handsome appearance could not be hidden. Leonard was popular not only in the music world but also in the social circles that were now slowly falling apart.

‘A devil wearing a handsome face. A bad devil who will surely curse you if you get caught by him.’

After all, devils were supposed to deliberately wear handsome faces.

That way, people would easily fall for their temptations.

Just as her professor had said, Aurelia was convinced that Leonard had either made a deal with a devil or was simply the devil himself.

‘Otherwise, how could a person possibly be this arrogant and self-centered?’

When he had first entered the workshop, she had almost fallen for him once because of his appearance, and once because she had the chance to hear the performance of someone so famous that people called him a genius.

But not anymore.

She felt as if she could now completely stop herself from liking the merely handsome face of that arrogant man, or even the music created by his hands.

At least, the perfect music Aurelia knew did not come from the hands of someone like a devil.

It came from truly loving music and cherishing the instrument in one’s hands.

David noticed the sharp looks exchanged between the two and carefully began to mediate again.

“That violin wasn’t made by an experienced craftsman, so I am a little embarrassed to show it. Why don’t you look at another one?”

“If it wasn’t made by a master craftsman, there must be a reason you kept it in a safe.”

Leonard took a large step forward, his stride matching his tall body.

A delicate wood scent suddenly reached Aurelia, making her squeeze her eyes shut in surprise.

It was a scent that did not suit a person like a devil at all.

“You used good materials. Spruce for the front and back plates, and almond wood for the sides?”

“As expected, you recognized them right away. Yes, that’s correct. It was made with good materials, but there are many rough parts, so it cannot really be called a well-made instrument.”

Just as David said, the violin itself felt rough compared to the quality of its materials. Its clumsy workmanship was obvious, like something made by someone who had only just begun learning under a master craftsman.

“It certainly is rough.”

Even while saying that, Leonard could not take his eyes off the violin for a long time.

For some strange reason, he could not stop looking at it.

“Then you can look at another instrument. I don’t think this one suits you, Mr. Deimus.”

Aurelia knew that it was an immature and unimpressive violin.

But no matter how insignificant it was, it was precious to her.

Because she had made that violin herself.

Before she seriously began learning the piano, Aurelia often made violins.

Every sound made while cutting the wood and smoothing its grain with sandpaper had a different charm from the music of the piano.

That was why she could not help cherishing the violin that had first awakened that feeling in her.

‘At least, I was truly happy when I made this violin.’

David did not entrust his wood to just anyone.

“It’s not something a child like you should be doing. Do you know how dangerous and physically demanding this work is? What will you do if you get hurt?”

Aurelia did not give up.

Because she had been drawn to beautiful sounds.

Especially because everything sounded good once it passed through her father’s hands, she found it even harder to give up. The sound of the wood being shaped was not beautiful at all.

But the fact that it became a string instrument that produced an elegant sound after it was completed felt almost like magic.

If the sound of the piano keys she casually pressed while visiting Aiden’s house had not stolen her heart, she was sure that instead of attending a conservatory, she would have continued learning the workshop’s craft.

‘I don’t even want to put it into the hands of a devil who looks down on even my father. And I’m not going to sell it!’

She had no intention of selling it to anyone else either, but if the person who wanted to buy her violin was that man, she hated the idea even more.

‘After looking down on me like that, you want to buy an instrument I made?’

She did not even need to imagine what kind of judgment her violin would receive once it was in his hands.

She did not want to let someone arrogant, self-centered, and concerned only with himself judge an instrument she had made.

‘Of course, if I sell the instrument to Mr. Deimus, I could get a piano much faster.’

But her pride would not allow it.

Being a promising musician was never a reason to look down on or insult other people.

‘That man thinks he can insult and look down on others just because he’s a musician.’

He was someone who did not deserve to hold the violin that had been the stepping stone and beginning of her dream.

Meanwhile, Leonard still could not take his eyes off the rough violin despite David and Aurelia telling him to look at another instrument.

“Whether it suits me is for me to decide. More importantly, I feel like that violin wants to show me how beautiful a sound it can make.”

To understand the story created by an instrument and deliver that story to people through music together with it—that was what music meant to Leonard.

He had no interest in why that young girl was making him waste so much of his time.

His only interest was in the violin that was hidden away without receiving anyone’s affection.

“I don’t know why, but if a customer wants to buy something, isn’t it the duty of an employee at a workshop to sell it?”

“I think Mr. Deimus is right, too. Aurelia.”

Aurelia was now even clenching her fists.