The Villainess Lives Twice: Butterfly's Dream (IF Story) - Chapter 40
Artizea decided to learn the piano. It was because Garnet’s piano performance had been a bit of a shock to her.
Sitting in front of the beautiful white piano, Garnet looked incredibly graceful, and the music flowing from her fingertips brought joy to those who listened. Artizea realized that even if she didn’t have the skill of a professional musician, there was value in it.
She hadn’t known that many noble young ladies learned music as part of their education. Neither Milaira nor Lawrence had ever shown any interest in it.
Thinking back, she recalled that there was a music room at Marquis Rosan’s residence. She remembered the large harp covered with white cloth in that room.
“That’s a good idea. Music is something you can learn in a fun way, and it’s good for your emotional well-being too.”
Ansgar said, offering to find a piano teacher for her, then kindly added,
“Would you also like to learn dance?”
“Dance?”
“They say learning ballet helps develop graceful movements. If you plan on debuting in society, you’ll eventually need to learn court dances. Either way, it will help with building stamina as well.”
The mention of stamina made Artizea flinch. She had a feeling it was the kind of thing she wouldn’t enjoy. However, she nodded obediently.
Milaira was good at court dancing. In fact, it wasn’t so much that she had exceptional rhythm, but rather that she knew exactly how to make herself stand out. Artizea had often watched her at home during small gatherings, marveling at how beautiful she looked on the dance floor.
Thinking about it made her lose all confidence. She couldn’t imagine herself being good at it.
‘But Lady Luden said it’s something every lady should know.’
She wanted to be a fine lady. She truly wanted to be Cedric’s fiance ten years later.
Knowing her worry, Ansgar smiled and reassured her.
“I’ll teach you the basics. It would be nice if Lady Lysia could join you too.”
Artizea nodded, feeling relieved.
* * *
Grand Duchy Evron had the privilege of keeping an armed knight order within the capital. Even now, dozens of knights from Evron were stationed in the capital for Cedric and the residence’s security. But Cedric thought that wasn’t enough.
‘I need to fill up to the full capacity. More people to protect now.’
Although the world was peaceful compared to the past, Cedric still didn’t feel invincible. He knew he wasn’t beyond needing protection, and since Milaira could unpredictably cause trouble, there was always the possibility of something happening. For that reason, he needed to establish a guard detail for Artizea as well.
While he was in Evron, he had already discussed this matter with his vassals, and they had selected additional personnel, who had now arrived.
“Weylon Carter and 15 others are officially assigned to the Lord’s personal guard as of today.”
Cedric smiled as he scanned the line of knights. He recognized every face. Some were people he had lost, and some had stayed by his side to the end. This time, he believed there would be no parting like in the past.
“Good to see you, Sir Carter. I hope you had a safe journey in the winter.”
He extended his hand toward Carter, who gripped it with both hands, deeply moved. After shaking hands with the senior knight, Cedric went down the line, offering a handshake to each of the knights.
“Looking forward to working with you, Sir Audrey.”
“It’s an honor to meet you, Lord!”
“Good to see you, Sir Cole.”
“I pledge my loyalty!”
The knights were elated to hear that the Lord remembered their names on their first meeting, and they responded with enthusiastic shouts.
Cedric then smiled at the young knight standing at the end of the line, who seemed to be on the border between adolescence and adulthood.
“You must be only eighteen, and yet you’ve been assigned to the personal guard. That’s quite surprising, Sir Ruen.”
“Oh, I turned nineteen this fall, and I’ve been officially knighted!”
Alphonse Ruen, still tense, shouted out without even realizing how the Lordknew his age. Cedric smiled. Though still a novice, his skill was unquestionable. That was likely why he was selected for the personal guard.
“You must have great talent. I’m looking forward to it.”
“Thank you!”
Alphonse shouted. Cedric once again surveyed the knights before him.
“Being a guard can be a tedious job, and especially since both myself and Lady Rosan are still young, there may be times when you feel it’s all meaningless. But I trust in you all, so please do your best.”
“Of course!”
The loud response echoed through the office.
Cedric smiled once more and dismissed them. The assignment of duties would be handled by the captain of the guard. He wasn’t planning on micromanaging every detail.
That day, Cedric only had this greeting to handle. Now, he had to go and work on the assignment given by the tutor.
The idea of having to recite classical poetry and learn math again at his age made him sigh. He couldn’t exactly slack off, either. He heard that even Pavel doesn’t do that anymore. At least, he didn’t have to re-memorize ancient languages or history or geography, so that was a relief.
He was on his way to the study on the second floor, but as he passed through the lobby, he briefly heard the sound of a piano. Wasn’t it Artizea’s lesson time? He changed his direction toward the music room, intending to take a quick look to see how she was doing.
Opening the door quietly, the sound of a simple minuet being played on the piano reached his ears. Ansgar, tapping his cane on the floor, glanced up at him. Cedric gestured for him to continue.
Artizea, who was holding hands with Lysia, was clumsily stepping through the moves, her feet quickly becoming tangled.
“Ahh.”
She cried. Lysia paused for a moment to wait for her, but Artizea couldn’t get back into the proper steps and continued to fumble.
Then, she noticed Cedric standing by the door, smiling, and jumped in surprise.
“Lord Ced!”
“Don’t mind me, keep going.”
Cedric wiped his mouth with his hand to suppress his laughter, but ultimately, he couldn’t help but grin.
Artizea’s face flushed bright red with embarrassment. The sound of Ansgar’s cane tapping in time and the piano accompaniment stopped at the same moment.
Artizea cried out.
“Don’t watch! I’m not doing it well.”
“You’re practicing to get better, aren’t you?”
But Artizea felt ashamed because she thought she was the only one struggling. Lysia had already memorized the steps and hadn’t made a single mistake.
She had memorized it too, but without focusing carefully, her left foot would go out when it was supposed to be the right one, and the right foot would go out when it was supposed to be the left.
If she tried to focus hard enough to avoid mistakes, she couldn’t keep the rhythm at all. By the time she realized, the music was already far ahead of her.
She hadn’t imagined it would be this difficult. And with Lysia as her partner, she couldn’t stop in the middle, which made it even more frustrating.