Chapter 150: The Letters
Lucien's chuckle did not attract anyone's attention, because they had begun to eagerly discuss the famous musician Lucien Evans' new sonata.
"Mr. Wise, it looks like you are very fond of the first movement of Moonlight, and I suggest that we go to the piano room to try to play it. After all, we've been standing in the hall for quite a long time." Caspar invited Wise to go upstairs.
Wise nodded and laughed, "That's very considerate."
Following Wise and Caspar, the musicians and instrumentalists immediately left for the piano room on the second floor.
Betty said to Lucien, "This is a rare opportunity! Mr. Evans, let's go upstairs together!"
"Yes, Mr. Evans, let's go." Holding hands, both Joanna and Simon were quite excited.
Lucien shook his head and smiled, "For me, writing my letters is more important."
"All right then..." said Betty with a bit disappointment, but soon she cheered up and said to Joanna and Simon, "Hurry up!"
They were guessing that Mr. Evans, as a princess' knight, must have met too many good musicians in Aalto, to the point he wouldn't get easily excited like them.
Seeing Betty, Simon and Joanna going upstairs hurriedly, Mars also apologized to Lucien, "Mr. Evans, excuse me, I don't want to miss this precious opportunity as well. Please just feel yourself at home in the association. When you finish your letters, just give them to Christie, and I'll take care of the rest of the procedure."
"Thank you, Mr. Mars. I will." Lucien slightly nodded and watched Mars leaving. As the hall did not have tables, Lucien just stood next to the counter and began to write.
Looking at the second floor, Christie sighed, "Why do I have to stay here... I'm gonna miss Mr. Wise's playing." Then, she started to walk restlessly behind the counter.
Lucien just ignored Christie and wrote down his two-month traveling experience in detail, mainly about the beautiful scenery along the way, the unique national customs, and the monsters and robbers he had met. Lucien did not stop until he realized that his words had already filled up more than seven pages.
Putting the first letter in the envelop, Lucien carefully wrote down Joel's address on it, and then started to write his second letter.
The second one was for Natasha. On the basis of the first letter, Lucien added lots of knowledge of folk music in different nations that he encounter during his trip. The second letter had more than twenty pages.
Christie slightly frowned her brows and thought to herself, "What a wordy man..."
At the end of the letter, Lucien wrote down the last paragraph with a big smile on his face, "Your birthday is coming, Your Grace. May I send my Happy Birthday to you in advance from afar?"
After the second envelop was loaded, Lucien got himself some more papers to work on the third letter for Christopher, the previous president of the Musicians' Association in Aalto.
Seeing that Lucien was still writing, Christie, who was feeling very bored, started to get curious. She wondered how many more letters this young man was still going to write and where would the letters be sent to.
Taking a glance at the envelops beside him, Christie noticed an eye-catching name:
"Natasha Orvarit."
"Wait... Is this THE Natasha Orvarit? The princess in Aalto?" thinking about it, Christie almost burst out an exclamation.
Natasha's name often appeared on Music Criticism and Symphony News, so this name was actually very familiar to people from other countries. And, also, Orvarit was a very unique surname, unlike Evans, and that was why Christie directly linked the name to the princess in Aalto.
"What is the relationship between this guy and the princess in Aalto, the countess from the Violet family?" Christie wondered with great curiosity and surprise, "Hold on... just now Mr. Mars called him Mr. Evans... Is he THE Evans? The famous and talented musician, Lucien Evans?!"
Evans, even in Korsor, was not a rare surname. Actually, Christie also had a friend whose surname was Evans. However, there was only one Mr. Evans who she could link to the princess in the Duchy of Orvarit.
She almost released a scream out of excitement!
Christie's careful tiny movements were all caught by Lucien's eyes. He was a bit amused but did not say anything.
At this time, Caspar's voice came from upstairs as they were walking out of the piano room.
"Very impressive!" Caspar praised, "Mr. Wise, you're genuinely a music talent. It only took you a couple of times of practicing to present the complete first movement of Moonlight Sonata to us."
"Moonlight Sonata is definitely beautiful." Wise smiled, "I feel the emotional connection in the movement. Honestly speaking, I did not put too much skills in the playing. The music itself is gorgeous enough, isn't it?"
"What about you trying to compose the following two movements of Moonlight Sonata, Mr. Wise? I bet many big men in Korsor would love to read your work," Caspar suggested. Caspar's family declined many years ago, and with his relatively limited talent in music, regaining the name of his family on his own was a hopeless dream. So, Caspar was working on seizing every opportunity to build connections with major noble families to possibly get his title back, and music was definitely a good way.
"Thank you for your encouragement, Mr. Caspar." Wise smiled and shook his head gently, "But I'm not even close to Mr. Lucien Evans. I would rather not ruin the masterpiece."
"I see. You're just being too humble," said Caspar, and the other people agreed. When they walked downstairs and came to the hall, Caspar said to Wise, "I've found a nice villa for you to take a rest and prepare for the concert."
"Thanks a lot, Mr. Caspar." Wise and the rest of the people walked toward the gate together.
"Lucien Evans! You're Mr. Lucien Evans!" At this time, Christie's high-pitched voice came into their ears.
Christie knew for sure that the young man standing in front of her was the top musician, Lucien Evans, when she saw that he was actually writing a music score in his third letter.
In the quiet hall, Christie's voice was penetrating.
The people walking toward the gate stopped out of surprise. Among them, Mars looked back and asked, "What are you talking about, Christie?"
Christie almost jumped up from the floor. She pointed at the young man standing beside the counter and said to Mars carefully, "He... he is THE Lucien Evans, from Aalto."
She was trying to keep her voice down but her words still sounded very clear.
"What? The Lucien Evans...?" Betty was confused.
"Lucien Evans, the great musician. He's writing a piece of music score right now." Christie tried hard to explain.
"Ahhh...!" Betty first released a scream out of great surprise and then ran toward Lucien. When she saw what Lucien was writing, Betty almost could not speak properly, "Evans... You're Lucien?"
"Yes, I am. And I told you before that I serve the princess." Lucien just smiled while his right hand continued writing.
Hearing Lucien's answer, the two young girls, Betty and Christie, almost passed out due to their great excitement, while Joanna and Simon felt like in a dream—they just could not imagine that the powerful knight and the great musician were actually the same person.
Wise's face flushed. He felt embarrassed that he even played Mr. Evans' music in front of him.
Walking past Wise, Caspar hurriedly rushed to Lucien, "Mr. Evans! If you need any help here in Korsor, just tell me!"
"Well..." Lucien nodded to Caspar for greeting and said to him, "Can I register this in the association before I send it?" He handed the third letter to Caspar.
"Sure! Hold on... this is..." A big smile appeared on Caspar's face, "Is this the second and the third movement of Moonlight Sonata?" Caspar recognized the music style immediately.
"Yes." Lucien added another piece of paper there in the third letter and said to Caspar, "After the registration, I need to send the letter to Mr. Christopher as soon as possible."
The final piece of paper was a note from Lucien to Mr. Christopher:
"Please make sure that the rest of the sonata will be published on the seventh issue of Music Criticism on July 30th. Many thanks, sir."
"We'll take care of the registration immediately." Caspar tried his very best to please Lucien, "Mr. Evans, is it possible that we can invite you to hold a concert in Korsor?"
"Sorry, I got another appointment already, and I'm leaving tomorrow," answered Lucien.
Only Lucien himself knew what the appointment was—the Feast of Death.