Chapter 609: Kyoonkai (4)
Editor: Tseirp
“Your Highness, that was splendid.”
Rising from the throne, Emperor Tsuin praised her.
“It is most humbling, Your Majesty.”
Princess Shio Fen bowed her head.
Seeing that, the Emperor nodded deeply, as if satisfied.
“Indeed, this year’s Kyoonkai was also a fine affair.”
But at that moment, a young voice cut in from the side.
“Your Majesty, there is something I wish to report.”
It was Fourth Prince Bin.At that instant, Ryo and Abel exchanged sour looks.
They had both had a vague feeling this might happen.
They had seen Prince Bin alone, without applause, wearing an expression like he had swallowed a bitter pill while everyone else praised Princess Shio Fen’s performance.
It was understandable that he wouldn’t be happy to see the camp of Sixth Prince Ryun, his nearest and greatest rival, being praised…
“Surely he doesn’t intend to criticize the recent performance.”
“That’d be impossible. It was excellent, and the Emperor just praised it.”
Ryo and Abel spoke in fairly low voices.
“What is it, Bin?”
Emperor Tsuin addressed Prince Bin.
“The custom of the Kyoonkai is for the heads of noble houses to perform. With respect, there is still someone here who has not performed.”
“Hm? I thought everyone had performed?”
Prince Bin extended his right arm and pointed at a certain person.
“Duke Rondo.”
“Eh?”
Ryo was startled by the sudden accusation.
Of course, he had not been told anything about this in advance.
“Unseemly—desist, Bin.”
It was not the Emperor but Third Prince Churei, seated beside him, who rebuked Prince Bin.
He frowned openly as he looked at Prince Bin.
“No, I will not desist. Duke Rondo’s seat is the crown prince’s seat that oversees the six ministries and two divisions. As long as he sits in that seat, it is only natural that he should perform at the Kyoonkai.”
Prince Bin’s reproach continued.
Neither Ryo nor Abel knew whether Prince Bin’s claim was correct.
Nor did they know what the right course of action was.
So Ryo looked at Emperor Tsuin standing before the throne.
At that moment, the Emperor gave a faint smile.
It was the smile of a mischievous boy.
“Duke Rondo, since Prince Bin speaks thus, I had thought your performance unnecessary… but what say you? Might Albert-dono the guard’s violin be allowed to be heard here? I confess I am curious.”
Yes—that mischievous-boy smile was one borne on Prince Bin’s action, a smile that meant the Emperor would like to hear Abel’s violin.
Ryo glanced at Abel at his side.
He saw Abel shrug his shoulders.
“If it is His Majesty’s request, I will perform with all due humility.”
When Ryo said that, Abel went to the front of the stage and bowed to the Emperor.
It was a bow of the utmost elegance.
“To bow like Duke Helb here? As expected of Abel.”
Ryo’s tiny, whispering remark was heard by no one.
Yet by that single bow, Abel had succeeded in shifting the audience’s perception from ‘just a guard’ to ‘truly Duke Rondo’s guard’.
Then he accepted the violin from Mifa, who was still on stage.
“I look forward to it, Master.”
“That last performance was marvelous.”
Mifa handed over the violin, and Abel accepted it with a smile, praising Princess Shio Fen’s playing.
When Mifa stepped back to the edge of the stage, Abel straightened and scraped the violin bow across the strings.
The piece was the usual one.
“As I thought… Paganini, 24 Caprices, No.24…”
Offstage, Workshop Chief Ron Shen muttered.
Ron Shen had heard Abel perform before at the Chouonkaku.
He had been moved.
He had admired him.
Those feelings now rose again.
“To play such a difficult piece… so lightly.”
Ron Shen murmured.
Among those present, only Ron Shen, Mifa, and Ryo knew Paganini.
For the others, it was their first time hearing it.
Yet everyone was captivated.
Tricky yet beautiful.
Unfamiliar connections of sound, yet entrancing.
Such is Paganini’s music.
On Earth, Paganini influenced many musicians who became pillars of musical history:
Liszt, Schubert, Brahms, Schumann, Berlioz…
Among them, Liszt’s influence was immeasurable.
Shocked by Paganini’s playing, Liszt resolved to become ‘the Paganini of the piano’, pursuing virtuosity on the instrument.
One of the world’s most famous piano pieces, Liszt’s ‘La Campanella’, is an arrangement of the theme ‘La Campanella’ from Paganini’s Violin Concerto No.2’s Rondo third movement.
So strictly speaking, it’s ‘Grande etude de Paganini No.3 in G-sharp minor—La Campanella’.
Even though Caprice No.24 is a violin solo, it displays an astonishingly wide range of tone.
Packed with many ‘unconventional’ techniques and pushing virtuosity to its limits, the piece is known as difficult even to play.
To make it one’s own and perform it perfectly is…
“Perhaps the reason Abel admired Crown Prince Cain’s violin was because of this Caprice No.24.”
Ryo murmured that as mere speculation.
Abel had once said,
That Crown Prince Cain’s violin playing was genius.
He had admired him.
But knowing he could not reach that level, he had despaired.
Ryo thought the piece the Crown Prince had played then might have been this one.
And Abel had practiced,
until he immersed himself completely.
Yet he knew he could not reach it…
Even so, to Ryo’s eyes and ears, Abel’s playing sounded perfect.
Ryo had heard many violinists play this piece on Earth.
Famous professional violinists.
Compared to them, Abel’s performance was by no means inferior.
On the contrary…
“I prefer Abel’s playing.”
Ryo thought clearly.
He nodded slightly and said,
“If Crown Prince Cain were to hear Abel’s violin now, I’m certain he would praise it.”
Such a marvelous performance.
The four-and-a-half-minute piece ended in the blink of an eye.
“Amazing…”
“What is this…”
“This is nothing like the violins we know…”
“This is Duke Rondo’s guard…”
Those murmurs could be heard.
Clap-clap-clap…
Ryo started the applause.
Clap-clap-clap…
Then Workshop Chief Ron Shen.
Clap-clap-clap-clap-clap-clap…
Then Mifa and Princess Shio Fen.
The applause spread… and the entire Zhenglin Hall was wrapped in clapping.
Abel bowed his head to Emperor Tsuin from the stage, violin in hand.
“No—marvelous! Albert-dono’s astonishing performance! I did not expect such a thing. Truly, Duke Rondo’s guard!”
“Thank you, Your Majesty.”
The Emperor praised him, and Ryo answered on Abel’s behalf.
All’s well that ends well…
“Wait!”
Prince Bin’s voice rang out again.
Even Emperor Tsuin’s brow creased slightly at that.
“At the Kyoonkai, it is customary for the head of the house, the consort, or the heir to perform. Albert-dono is none of those.”
“Cease, Bin.”
Even Emperor Tsuin reprimanded Prince Bin’s outcry.
The Emperor did not raise his voice.
But many felt his displeasure.
It was surely related to Abel’s astonishing performance that had so impressed everyone.
To end the Kyoonkai with such a performance would make this year’s gathering remembered for a long time.
Those present would boast of having been there…
But Prince Bin’s protest sought to ruin that.
“No, I will not stop. What I say is not incorrect.”
Prince Bin continued his accusation.
But that was a poor move.
Everyone here understood that.
Everyone except Prince Bin himself.
“Is it a rule that the head of the house must perform at this Kyoonkai?”
Ryo asked in a deliberately mild tone.
He directed the question not to Prince Bin but to Emperor Tsuin.
“Not a rule so much as a custom, I suppose. But Duke Rondo is invited here as my honored guest. Albert-dono’s performance is sufficient.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty.”
Emperor Tsuin replied, and Ryo bowed his head.
Did anyone notice the faint smile that crossed Ryo’s face at that moment?
Perhaps only Abel, who was on the stage, noticed.
“I beg Your Majesty’s indulgence. I am inept—I cannot play the violin like Albert, nor the flute like Prince Bin, nor the guzheng like Princess Shio Fen.”
When Ryo said that, the Emperor nodded once.
“However… since I was invited to the unveiling of the piano ‘Shen-Lon’, perhaps I might play lightly on the piano? Of course, after such performances, it is hardly fitting to match them… but many Shitaifu-class houses will likely acquire pianos soon. If I can help even a little, I would like to…”
“Ho… I see—the piano, is it? That is interesting.”
Emperor Tsuin, surprised by Ryo’s suggestion, warmed to it.
He remembered that Ron Shen had arranged for the first ‘Shen-Lon’ Grand Piano to be installed at Rondo Manor.
Everyone except those two reacted with surprise and began to whisper among themselves.
The atmosphere grew restless.
“Very well! Prepare the stage.”
At the Emperor’s command, the piano was once again placed at the center stage.
While that was happening, Abel returned and spoke to Ryo.
“Hey—you okay?”
“Not as much as Abel… but my fingers have started moving somewhat like before. I play for Andalusia and Feiwan every day, so it should be fine.”
At Rondo Manor, it had become commonplace to find Andalusia and Feiwan sleeping contentedly on the lawn while Ryo’s piano flowed from the house.
Ryo sat before the prepared piano.
It had been a long time since he last played at a concert.
“Well, even if I make a few mistakes, no one will tell.”
He murmured with a slight laugh.
The piece he was about to play was one he had played back on Earth.
Thus, it was a piece unfamiliar to these ‘Phi’ people here.
So a few mistakes wouldn’t matter.
Perhaps for that reason, he felt surprisingly little nervousness.
If it had been a recital on Earth, not making mistakes would be expected.
What was demanded went beyond that.
So he had been tense all the way up to the morning of performance day…
Compared to that, this stage felt light in pressure.
Still, the image in Ryo’s head was the finals stage of the Chopin Competition.
Because the piece he loved was Chopin.
He exhaled.
He took a short breath and began with a weighty four-note chord.
It was a prelude that evoked the winter era of Chopin’s homeland Poland, under another nation’s rule.
But it was not merely dark… the spirit of a people who would not bow under oppression swelled.
They measured the timing to surge forth—toward the main first theme.
“What? This is…”
Workshop Chief Ron Shen, offstage, was astonished.
It was that famous prelude… of course Ron knew it.
After those sixteen-bar prelude came the resplendent… first theme!
“Of course. Chopin’s Polonaise No.6 in A-flat major… ‘Heroic’.”
The first theme of the Heroic Polonaise, as rendered by Ryo’s hands, was brilliant and dazzling… and yet powerful.
A theme that spoke of a people liberated from tyranny and reclaiming their country—bright, filled with hope.
Land bathed in spring sunlight.
Smiling people dancing in peace.
Everyone there thought of the long-hoped-for, beloved homeland.
In the country’s spring, all live in smiles.
…Yet the bright future did not last.
A neighboring country sought to re-subjugate the freed Polish people.
Poland’s army stood to fight.
Fearless Polish cavalry at the forefront.
The two armies clashed head-on!
They felled and were felled, over and over.
An endless battle…
After such all-out collisions came a tragic end.
Poland’s land ravaged, despair blanketing the nation.
But!
The Polish people rose again.
No matter how oppressed, they refused to give up and stood up again and again!
Then the first theme returns.
Dressed in splendor yet stronger than before… stronger, and stronger still!
A concentrated will—a people’s resolve that never surrenders hope for the future.
It paralleled the history of the Heroic King who rallied his people and led them to liberate occupied lands—much like the history of the liberated Knightley Kingdom.
The power of will.
The power of the people’s resolve.
That power burst forth… and the finale arrived.
Silence followed.
“Magnificent!”
At Emperor Tsuin’s single exclamation, the silence abruptly ended.
“Woooaaah!”
“What is this!”
“This is the piano!”
“This is Duke Rondo!”
“Is this some sort of magic?”
“No—it’s the pinnacle of artistry, not magic!”
Voices flew about.
A thunder of applause.
“Ryo-sama… I did not expect this of you.”
“Yes…”
Princess Shio Fen said with a faint smile, and Mifa, standing behind her, nodded.
“You are a reincarnator as well, Duke Rondo, aren’t you?”
Workshop Chief Ron Shen spoke, certain.
He did not believe Ryo had composed the piece himself.
No matter how genius, that would be impossible.
Chopin’s piano works are unique.
But Ron noticed a serious problem had emerged.
“No one else can play such a piano like that.”
The piano that had just been officially unveiled… and there, suddenly, a peak-level piece had been played—that was an unexpected development.
What effect would this have on the piano’s future diffusion?
No one could say…
“Duke Rondo, what is the name of that piece?”
As the applause subsided, Emperor Tsuin asked from the throne.
“Yes, Your Majesty. The piece is called ‘Heroic’.”
“Ho.”
“I performed it for King Abel, whom I revere and to whom I pledge all my loyalty.”
Ryo said that and bowed with great respect.
Was that bow directed to Emperor Tsuin?
Or was it… perhaps—for King Abel, who sat at the table with his face flushed?
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