Chapter 09
When she focused all her senses, the sound of living things breathing filled every direction.
Chirp, chirp!
Birds reacted to the siren’s aura and began to sing.
Chirr—rrr.
Insects in the grass announced their existence with steady, soothing cries.
Aria raised her hand into the air and gently swept it through space.
The wind brushed her fingertips. Unknown grasses and branches rubbed against one another with a rustling sound.
As if playing along with her song.
“This is amazing.”
She had always sung while accompanied by an orchestra’s performance.
Come to think of it, was this the first time she had ever sung outside?
“I was always gagged whenever I went out.”
Count Cortez had feared she might escape, so he constantly kept her under strict surveillance.
He even carried a crossbow and killed any animal that came near Aria.
Under the Count’s control, the only places she was allowed to sing were enclosed rooms with no escape, underground gatherings of the powerful, and the Emperor’s cage.
“I love you, soft and beautiful leaves of the plane tree.”
Aria sang freely.
Listening to the songs of birds and insects.
To the melody played by the wind through grass and trees.
“Fate shines upon you.”
Dawn was breaking.
The dark sky slowly began to fill with light.
“The thunder, lightning, and storm shall never disturb your peace.”
The light rain that had been falling ceased.
“Nor shall the greedy southern wind defile you, my lovely tree.”
Aria carefully approached and pressed her ear against the trunk of the tree.
She thought she could hear a faint, steady heartbeat.
A gentle smile spread across her lips.
A soft glow began to envelop the tree.
The light grew stronger, like sunlight pouring down, golden rays passing through the leaves.
It was radiant.
“Fate shines upon you.”
At the same time, the sun rose and morning arrived.
Brilliant white light so bright it stung the eyes.
The light surrounding the cherry tree gradually faded, and from each branch, golden particles dripped from the buds.
Before long, they became flower blossoms.
“Ugh!”
She nearly collapsed for a moment.
Aria steadied herself against the tree as dizziness washed over her.
Her body was freezing, likely because she had stayed in wet clothes all night.
‘I overdid it.’
She had deliberately left her wounds untreated and stayed out in the rain all night.
When the body weakens and consciousness blurs, the power of her song became stronger.
It was similar to how humans, when pushed into danger, sometimes transcend their physical limits.
But it seemed her body could not withstand it as expected.
‘I’m more exhausted than I thought.’
She felt like she might collapse at any moment.
Aria had experienced fainting many times before, so she recognized her condition quickly.
Just as she decided it would be best to leave immediately—
Rustle.
Someone stepped on the grass.
She turned toward the sound precisely and met a man’s gaze.
The man looked dazed, then quickly put on a troubled expression.
“Y-you… you can speak? No… wait…”
A servant?
Aria examined his clothing.
As he regained his senses, he let out a sly smile and approached.
“I really am lucky.”
“….”
“Hey, say something. Do you think keeping your mouth shut will fool anyone?”
He spoke as if he had caught a weakness.
After a few rounds of intimidation, when Aria continued to stare silently, he gave up and began rambling.
“It’s suspicious, isn’t it? A supposed duchess consort from an unknown background being kept completely secret.”
Aria’s origins were top secret.
Only the head butler, head maid, and department heads knew.
Because Aria herself had asked them to keep it secret.
‘Better safe than sorry.’
But because of that, the servant seemed to assume she was not of noble birth.
“I could report you to the head butler right now. But listen.”
He looked her up and down and swallowed hard, then leaned in and whispered.
“Sing a little more, huh?”
“….”
“If I call you, you come sing. Then I’ll pretend I know nothing.”
Aria looked at the servant’s leering smile calmly, as if she were used to it.
“100 million char.”
“…What?”
“Payment for one song.”
The absurd price left him speechless.
‘What kind of song costs 100 million?’
At that rate, three songs would buy a mansion in the capital.
“Hey, are you out of your mind? Do you understand your situation—”
The servant began boasting about how he had once framed an innocent maid and driven her out.
Servant Tobi.
His survival method was digging into others’ weaknesses and framing them for profit.
Aria listened without reaction.
“The one who cannot even afford the price of a song has no right to bear its weight.”
She replied calmly.
At that moment, lightning flashed behind her, carving a blade of white light across the sky.
Thunder shook the ground.
KRAAANG—!
Tobi flinched as Aria’s pink eyes suddenly glowed with light.
‘What the—just thunder?’
But the situation reversed instantly.
Aria walked slowly toward him, and he instinctively backed away.
Then he tripped over a stone and fell backward.
“W-wait!”
Tobi couldn’t understand why he felt fear toward a girl so much younger than him.
Aria extended a hand toward the man sitting in the mud.
“But you still need to take responsibility for what you’ve done.”
She then sang the song he had so desperately demanded.
Tobi’s mind stopped.
He stopped breathing.
‘Ah…’
Was this what it felt like for a starving nomad who finally finds an oasis?
Or a fanatic witnessing a god?
While he was lost in ecstasy, Aria leaned close to his ear and whispered softly:
“You will not be able to tell anyone what you saw today. Go confess your sins and pay for them.”
At that moment, Tobi’s senses returned.
‘Confess?’
Ridiculous!
Just a little girl wearing something like a rabbit mask acting like a judge—
He tried to laugh out loud.
But no sound came out.
His throat felt completely blocked.
‘W-what… what is this?’
He tried to move his hand.
He intended to grab the girl’s hair—but his body wouldn’t respond.
He couldn’t move at all until Aria walked past him as if he were just a stone on the roadside.
His body moved on its own. He couldn’t stop it.
‘Stop! Stop it!’
Tobi’s face turned pale.
He was like a puppet with invisible strings.
His body walked toward the Third Knights Order office of the Grand Duke’s security division.
He knocked naturally.
He entered at the command.
“What is it?”
The knight commander and a notorious inquisitor sat inside.
‘No… no…!’
Tobi had another secret he had never told anyone.
He had leaked information from within Valentina several times to information brokers.
Valentina’s secrets were extremely valuable on the black market.
‘I was sure I’d never get caught!’
The timing was disastrous.
With the Grand Duchess currently in critical condition, the Grand Duke and his son were already mobilizing.
Traitors would be thrown into the beasts’ den without hesitation.
‘Please! Duchess consort, I was wrong! I’m sorry!’
But it was already too late.
Like a pig being dragged to slaughter, Tobi’s mouth opened on its own.
“I have come to confess all my sins.”
“My face is hot… my ears feel muffled…”
It sounded like people were calling her name, voices buzzing around her.
‘So noisy.’
The scene flickered in and out.
Aria slowly blinked.
Her own breathing sounded loud—because it was her own.
‘Where am I?’
She didn’t know. Her vision swayed.
She leaned against a wall and sat down.
“…It hurts.”
She whispered faintly.
It felt like she might lose consciousness.
If she was going to collapse, she should at least make it back to her room first…
“Gone missing all of a sudden?”
At that moment, Lloyd’s voice cut through her fading awareness.
“It wasn’t sudden. We don’t know exactly when she left her room…”
That was Betty, the head maid.
Aria heard Betty panicking.
“Then I suppose I was the last one to see her.”
“Pardon?”
“I told her to get lost. I originally intended to kill her.”
“W-what?!”
Betty fell silent at the blunt confession.
After a long pause, she spoke hesitantly.
“Th-then it wouldn’t be strange if the young lady, frightened, hid somewhere…”
“Yes.”
Betty added nervously.
“The Grand Duke’s estate is far too dangerous for a young lady to wander alone. She came from beyond the border.”
“….”
After a brief silence, Lloyd began walking again.
“I’ll find the rabbit.”
His footsteps faded.
‘Idiot. Not that way.’
Aria thought, listening to the boy walking in the opposite direction.
She considered making a sound, but she had no strength left.
Then she heard a cooing sound.
Looking up, she saw a pure white pigeon perched on the window frame.
‘Come to think of it… carrier pigeons exist.’
Trained birds used for communication.
Aria thought with a hazy mind.
“Hey, bird.”
“Coo!”
“I need a favor.”
She spoke to the animal that could not understand language, unaware of her own fevered state.
“The farthest room at the top of the main palace.”
“Coo!”
“Send a small message.”
A message asking them to hold on just a little longer, to believe in miracles, because everyone was desperately hoping.
But the pigeon spread its wings as if it understood her and flew out the window.
‘It… listened?’
No way.
She watched the bird disappear with unfocused eyes.
Then her knees gave out.
Her body collapsed, crashing to the ground.
“Miss!”
A voice rushed toward her from afar.
“Call a physician immediately!”
Her vision blurred completely, and with those words, her consciousness faded away.
Song reference: George Frideric Handel’s opera Serse — “Ombra mai fu” (Grateful shade of the beloved tree)
