Only Those Who Know Loneliness

Alpheril, the serf singer of Grand Duke Heron.

Her excessive beauty becomes a poison and strangles her thin throat.

Her unwanted talent weighed down her limbs like a sharp trap.

She thought that all her life, she would be chained to the Grand Duke’s fingertips and live like a puppet.

Unexpectedly, after his death, freedom comes to her.

A man appears before her in the secluded mansion.

Terenzio Heron, known as the unfortunate genius, the Duke’s illegitimate child, and a pianist.

“Sit down. Since you’re the one I finished the piece for, it seems only fitting that you should be the first to hear it.”

“Sure. Have… have we… met before?”

Is it merely kindness born from simple loneliness?

Their relationship, initially driven by simple loneliness, deepens and lengthens with strange whims,

Shakes Alpheril’s once quiet life like a violent storm.

***

“Everything you need to remember remains because I remember it all.”

“What do I need to remember?”

“Me.”

As Alpheril stared intently, Terenzio smiled faintly.

“I remember you, Alpheril.”

She couldn’t really understand it.

Even if she were to eternally capture only his smile in her eyes, she couldn’t seem to grasp the meaning behind it.