Ch.167Side Story) Dream of China (1)

When Evan returned to the Duke’s mansion after the outing, there wasn’t much for him to do.

Occasionally, he would oversee Arthur’s training, converse with Lobelia, and lie down next to Irene to sleep.

Now that everything had fallen into place, there simply wasn’t much that required Evan’s direct involvement.

It was a lazy afternoon. With autumn in full swing,

Evan sat quietly on the grass, rubbing his sleepy eyes in the unusually warm weather.

Watching Arthur swinging his sword in the distance, he leaned his head against the tree behind him and gently closed his eyes.

It was a strangely tiring day. He had lived as usual, with nothing different about his routine… yet why was he so exhausted?

Giving up on watching Arthur any longer, Evan let out a deep sigh and cleared his mind.

Surely a brief nap would be fine. Under the cool breeze and warm sunlight, he surrendered to the drowsiness that gradually enveloped him.

#

[Ding ding ding~ Good morning~ ding ding~]

Beep-

His hand moved with familiar motions to touch his phone.

Though he had set alarms at 10-minute intervals to avoid being late, he was grateful to have woken up at the first one.

In the early dawn before sunrise, his gaze shifted from the window to his fidgeting hands.

“…Something feels off.”

He wondered why he was lying in bed.

Surely one normally sleeps in bed, but he couldn’t understand why he felt such a sense of incongruity.

His reflection in the mirror was a mess. Disheveled hair and dark circles under his eyes. Wasn’t the professor calling him today, saying he had something to discuss?

“Oppa! Come out and eat breakfast!”

While fiddling with his black hair, he nodded at the voice and got up.

It was a small room. Yet strangely, it wasn’t messy at all but rather neat, which made him tilt his head in confusion.

To begin with, did he even have someone who would call him “oppa”? Though he had many questions, somehow he was accepting all this as natural.

When he opened the door, he saw a woman. More precisely, his younger sister, Soo-jin.

He stared blankly at her as she stirred a stew wearing an apron, then frowned and asked:

“Aren’t you dead?”

It was a strange question even to himself. Why would he ask such a thing to someone clearly alive?

Finding it absurd, he scratched his head briefly before dodging a spoon flying toward his head.

“What nonsense are you saying in the morning? Why would you suddenly kill off a perfectly healthy person?”

“…I don’t know either. I thought you were dead.”

“I might have died if you hadn’t gotten me treatment, right? Come and eat. Don’t you have something important today?”

His thoughts turned to a professor he was close with.

A famous professor renowned in the music world and a world-class maestro.

Recalling Chris’s stern face, he narrowed his eyes.

Come to think of it, wasn’t he supposed to introduce someone today? He needed to meet them, so it seemed he should get ready a bit faster.

“He said he’s introducing someone to me.”

“Is it a woman? It’s about time you got a girlfriend, oppa.”

“What are you talking about? I’m married and have a child… wait, what am I saying?”

“…That’s strange. Did you have a weird dream?”

His shoulders flinched momentarily at the mention of a dream, but he shook his head and placed his spoon in the stew.

He couldn’t understand why he was acting this way.

He had never been married nor had a child… so why was this strange emotion welling up in his chest?

It was also strange how his eyes stung whenever he made eye contact with his sister.

It was a face he saw every day, and she had fully recovered from her illness.

Yet his chest tightened every time he looked at her, making him bow his head and quietly eat his food.

In fact, his mind was so confused that he wasn’t even sure if the food was actually going into his mouth.

“So you’ll be home late today. I’ll order some chicken.”

“Don’t just eat that kind of food. Try to eat something healthier.”

“No matter how much money we have, I still prefer these simple foods.”

With her brother being a world-class pianist, it was fine for the sister to be a bit more down-to-earth.

Soo-jin smiled as she cleared the empty bowl and looked at her brother’s face.

Though he seemed particularly dazed today, he occasionally had that look.

The fact that she was still alive was entirely thanks to her brother.

She had been able to receive treatment in time, which led to her complete recovery.

Soo-jin’s gaze turned to the large trophy hanging in the center of the room.

A statue gleaming with sparkling light, standing proudly alone,

and the name attached to its center. It was her brother’s name, which she always took pride in.

[Chopin International Piano Competition Winner <Lee Soo-hyun>]

#

-Why are you so late? I didn’t know you had a talent for keeping people waiting.

“I’m sorry, Professor. I’ll be there right away.”

-I understand you’re tired from preparing for various performances, but didn’t I emphasize multiple times how important today’s meeting is? You’re dressed neatly, I assume?

“Of course. I’ll be there in 10 minutes.”

He hung up and checked his appearance. Driving with practiced ease, his reflection in the window showed his usual neat self.

After all, wasn’t he more famous for his looks than his piano skills?

Though he never particularly wanted that, it had brought him quite a bit of excessive popularity.

Just today, he had spent 30 minutes removing letters stuck to his car.

[Turn left in 200 meters.]

He had been taking a break since winning the competition.

Between taking care of his sister and losing interest in music for a while, he had stepped back.

Now he wanted to play music again and, as his sister suggested… meet new people.

A girlfriend? He wasn’t particularly interested in that. He doubted whether there was even someone who would be compatible with him.

He lived day by day thinking he might meet someone eventually.

He didn’t believe in fateful encounters, and lately he had realized that the world rarely goes as planned.

If such a connection existed for him, wouldn’t it have appeared already?

A woman who would make him gape in awe the moment their eyes met, as people describe love at first sight.

Despite meeting countless people, he had never experienced such a feeling.

‘…Well, I’m not a robot.’

Perhaps that’s why he was somewhat looking forward to today’s meeting with the professor.

Whether the person being introduced was a man or a woman, he hoped to find some enjoyment in the encounter.

Screech-

As the car stopped and he stepped out, numerous gazes turned toward him.

Some blushed, while others trembled and hurriedly went somewhere else.

Though it had been burdensome at first, he was now accustomed to it and naturally made his way inside.

“Wow, no way. Is that Lee Soo-hyun? Why is Lee Soo-hyun here?”

“I heard he’s close with our professor. They say they’re actually teacher and student.”

His tremendous fame had become like a natural bodyguard.

As he reached a door, pushing through students who couldn’t easily approach him,

he opened it to find a white-haired professor glaring at him.

“5 minutes and 21 seconds late.”

“You’re not using a metronome this time? You’re not telling me how many beats I’m late – you’ve gotten softer.”

“One day I’ll sew that smart mouth of yours shut. Unfortunately, I can’t do that today because we have a guest.”

When he smiled faintly, Chris frowned deeply in displeasure.

His wrinkled face contorted comically.

Speaking of guests, what could make this temperamental man hold back his anger like this?

As he tilted his head in confusion, Chris slowly began to speak.

“As you know, I am a conductor. What abilities does a conductor need exactly?”

“Well… I’m not sure what answer you’re looking for, but first, mastery of all instruments. You need to know them precisely to coordinate the performance.”

“Poprawny (bingo). You know very well that I was the one who taught you about the piano.”

“…Wasn’t it purely my talent? You said there was nothing to fix when you first saw me.”

After dodging the baton flying toward his head, he shrugged his shoulders, and Chris wiped the sweat from his forehead with a small sigh.

When they first met, his pale face had lacked any masculinity, but now he had become so glib.

Though he felt a bit anxious thinking about today’s guest, he still needed to make the introduction.

“Lately, you seem to have lost interest in music, so I brought a violinist I’m very close with. Well, I think you might have heard the name at least once. This person recently won a competition with flying colors.”

“A violinist… could it be a woman?”

“Hmm, perhaps you’d prefer a man? If that’s the case, you’d better leave my room right now.”

“Of course not, I’m just a bit surprised.”

He had naturally assumed the introduction would be to a man,

but a woman? Startled, he stared at the slightly open door, and when a woman peeked her head through, his mouth fell open.

She had long silver hair. Her blue eyes were sending gazes toward him filled with light,

and she effortlessly carried a dark-colored dress, seeming to emit sound with her entire body in this silence.

An exceptionally cold atmosphere in this warm room,

yet it wasn’t out of place but rather well-harmonized… like viewing a painting by an impressionist artist.

“This is the violinist I brought. Hmm, what do you think?”

“…Well… I’m not sure.”

As he mumbled with his lips, the woman in front of him smiled and extended her hand.

When he took her hand in greeting, the woman slowly spoke.

German? Italian? Yet strangely, the woman whose nationality was American told him her name.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Irene Yuris. Have you heard much about me?”

At the name Irene Yuris, he once again felt that sense of incongruity.