Akuyaku Tensei Dakedo Doushite Kou Natta. - Chapter 247

I Reincarnated As A Noble Girl Villainess But Why Did It Turn Out This Way? – 247

Part 4 “Appropriation” – Introduction

Chapter 1

Episode 25  The Heroine’s Melody

Regarding the costumes, which would be the thing that would take the longest to prepare, in a display of the mentality of making one that Elise could wear, Rachel and Julia were asked for their assistance.

It seemed that Rachel had been expecting this, since her reply was a frank “I’ve been planning to do help from the beginning.”

In Julia’s case, there was a transaction of sorts. She ultimately accepted, saying “Sure, but you’ll owe me one” with the same expression on her face one would see from a child making some kind of offensive joke. …But why would I “owe her one” if this is for Emilia?

Now, Emilia, who had become a glorious priestess candidate, was experiencing all sorts of mental agony.

Originally, she had to take the lead by herself after becoming a candidate, but due to her position, she didn’t have any personnel to lead. That was one of the things that made her suffer the most.

I could understand the feeling of being at wits’ end due to a shortage of human resources. After all, I had been suffering from the same thing for almost ten years.

On top of that, as a duchess, Emilia couldn’t afford to show weakness to anyone. She couldn’t carelessly ask anyone for help, or she would show others that something was beyond her ability.

It was as if she was completely cornered.

Though, for now, she seemed to be eager to try her best to do as much as she could…

“Lady Kaldia, can I ask you to listen to this for a moment?”

Emilia placed her fingers over the keyboard and looked at me over her shoulder.

As I nodded back at her, she took a deep breath and then started humming a melody.

It was a slow melody that evoked a feeling of melancholy. Emilia’s voice was a little too soft, but at the same time resounded loud and clear across the room.

It wasn’t bad at all. The melody itself sounded pretty nice.

It felt very natural, and the influence from cultural differences was small.

…But when she started playing the piano’s keys along with her voiced melody, its melody was a bit too dark and gloomy.

There were no lyrics yet, but it sounded nothing short of a mourning song.

“Isn’t it a bit too sad? It seems that up until now, contestants had avoided going with grim melodies for their tasks. The advent is supposed to be a celebration, after all.”

“Well, yeah. But this is how my song came out…”

With a despondent sigh, Emilia turned back to the keyboard and resumed her endeavor of putting notes together.

We were really feeling the lack of a master musician.

Having a skilled musician around, we would have been able to immediately understand what kind of pace we should give the melody in order to change the impression it gave.

But there was no point pining for what we didn’t have.

Standing next to Emilia and looking into the keyboard, hearing that melody she was making, I couldn’t help but think “How about…?”

I was no song composer, but I did think I knew enough to come up with some ideas using the sounds of the songs I had learned so far as reference.

I didn’t know if they were Mrs. Marshan’s top choices, but I remembered that many of the songs I learned were in C minor.

I played a chord that gave off a slight feeling of relief, changing the rather gloomy tone of Emilia’s melody a bit. She stopped for a moment.

I pressed the same keys a second time as if to make sure of what I was doing. Then a third time.

What should the next note be?

Thinking about that, I played another note. Hearing it, Emilia turned it into a simple three-notes chord.

It sounded nice. Even though it still sounded a bit melancholic, it was a beautiful melody.

What would the next note be?

When I played another note, Emilia followed it with another triplet, onto a melody, onto another chord.

I felt oddly satisfied with the sound we were producing, and it was very interesting to hear the chord progressions Emilia was coming up with.

Before I realized, we were both absorbed in toying with the keys.

“…Um, are you doing a four-hands performance?”

How long has she been there?

Ratoka’s soft voice came through the slightly open door where Ratoka had been peeking through.

Thanks to that, I finally came back to my senses.

Then I saw Emilia come to a sudden stop as well.

Her cheeks were flushing red, and her delight was made evident by her broad smile.

Then, her face quickly withered into a more troubled expression as she turned towards me.

“I’m very sorry. I got carried away improvising with Lady Emilia and ended up derailing from preparing the musical composition.”

The words started to pour from my mouth quicker than I thought. I was very surprised to find myself saying them, but Emilia was even more surprised than me.

“…Huh?”

She was staring at me in puzzlement, blinking her eyes repeatedly.

Then she realized her face was as red as an apple, and turned as shy as a small child in front of a stranger.

She’s so pure. So innocent.

Her reaction nearly took my breath away.

“I’m sorry for interrupting. I’ve brought some tea.”

As if nothing had happened, Ratoka the maid came into the room holding a tray, and my stiffness was finally relieved.

Emilia quickly covered her face with her hands as soon as she noticed that she  had taken her eyes from me and switched her attention to Ratoka. She might have had a feeling that she had to quickly change her expression, or she would be leaving a poor impression of herself.

And the face she was making now…

…Was a face that could steal anyone’s heart.

No wonder she’s the heroine.

I was suddenly struck by the fact that Emilia’s purity was like a magnet that naturally drew people to her.