Since the day I’ve arrived, the crown princess looked healthier than the first time I’ve met her. Although she could immediately tell that I’m not the “real” Sophie, her cheeks had surely blossomed which was a good thing since that’s the main reason why I am temporarily here at the Chateaux.
A least a month ago, I had rashly signed a contract to become Genova’s Princess’s stand in, to in order to save my parent’s family business and travelled a great distance away from my beloved family and friends that I can no longer call them that. But what can it seriously go wrong? With such generous deal when the taste of luxury is part of the package? Nothing, well that’s what I thought.
It felt good stationed in front of the fireplace trying to stop my toes freezing off. It was the first month of the wet season and the temperature had already fallen to fifteen degrees Celsius which was really nothing to me. Back at home, fifteen degrees Celsius was the average and those who were born there had inherited some sort of resistance to the weather and tourists who weren’t used to the weather would think the teenagers are crazy wearing such few clothing. This was Genova, located somewhere in Europe, which meant that snow might be involved sometimes in the wet seasons and I wonder how long my resistance will hold.
After observing the life in Genova, I noticed that, the summer in Hamilton was like the end of the world for them and while the winters are long, grey and somehow lonesome here, but when the snow melts, the sleeping city will burst to life at the wake of the springtime morning. The seagulls will once again spread out their wings and circle the bright blue sky, children and their sound of their pure laughter as the ties lick their toes.
I was on my belly, legs kicked frantically in the air. I shuffled further away from the fireplace trying to avoid the hot burning ashes that leaped at me hungrily. I was on my laptop checking for notifications that would never appear on my profile page. To be frank, I don’t have many friends on Facebook and most of them were just relatives and friends I grew up with around in the neighborhood.
A sigh was let out into the air as I closed the tab and opened another and this time was to check my emails. Mum and dad had replied back my most recent email. Dad was ever so busy since they got the company back again and without me being a hindrance any more mum was eager to get back working again as dad’s financial manager, since she was a business accountant graduate before she’d married dad and had me.
There wasn’t anything romantic about my parents love story and mum was always the serious type who puts her career before her and her love interest and somehow dad managed to win her heart. Dad often told me that I inherited his intelligence but with my mother’s disinterest in love life. He is constantly worried if there would be a day that I will be married and right now, the answer seems negative because I could never understand what goes through a guy’s mind and I think don’t even want to. They either disgust me or are too full of themselves like some aristocrats that I know.
“My lady, tea is served and your next music lesson will begin shortly,” Lucie entered the room with a silver trolley laid out with finger-sized desserts and dainty floral painted tea set on top.
I let out a groan and pushed myself off the carpet then slumped into a chair in front of the fire place. Lucie swiftly loaded the table with everything out from the trolley and kept her swan like posture as she did so. I envied her, even she was born to work she succeeded me in everything that I was taught by Amelie.
When I was about to reach out for the cup of tea, a ruler slammed pass beside my hand and everything on the table and I hit the roof. As I finally came back down to earth, that instant I knew what I did wrong. So quickly I bolted straight up in my chair and smoothed every part of me down.
“A proper lady should never slouch. A proper lady should never show sign of distress-”my least favourite person, Amelie droned on and on as she walked in a circle with the ruler slapping against her hand.
I couldn’t help myself and rolled my eyes and mocked behind her back while she recited her humongous book of rules and etiquette. It was my turn to be worried if she would ever be able to be married with that bossy and fussy personality of hers and not to forget to mention that she might need to watch out for those nasty permanent frown marks.
“-phie,Sophie, what did I just say?”
I snapped out of my hilarious daydream of Amelie getting flunked at her own wedding and said, “Amelie, you should be very careful with your frown or it’ll become permanent one day,”
Lucie burst out giggling behind us and that’s when I noticed I just said something very wrong. Amelie’s eyes flared from me to Lucie. I could tell Lucie was cupping her hand over her mouth by the sound of uncontrollable muffling she made.
Next minute I found myself sitting in front of a shiny black grand piano and a long wooden board strapped to my back to support my posture and a book balanced on my head. It felt bulky and uncomfortable each time I tried to move freely. As for the book, my head was stiff from trying to keep it on from falling.
What I found amsuing was that the piano teacher fidgeted as he saw me when he entered in one of the dozens parlor in the mansion that was designed for music practices. He’s eyes betrayed his shock with a tiny hint of sympathy, which made me feel a little more uneasy. He wasn’t old like the portraits of famous pianist nor had shaggy hair that reached the base of his neck like many classical musicians but he certainly did have long delicate fingers.
Erwin Haugwitz, the instructor, spent several hours trying to teach me all the basics on reading music, from time signatures to rests to measures. Foreign terms were also thrown in almost every sentence he spoke which caused me even more confused. He told me that music was just like math with fractions and formula.
“It is clear that the semibreve represents four beats as for a semibreve rest, so the dark coloured rectangle that hangs off the second line of the top of the staff symbolizes no notes are playing for four beats. As for the crochet, it only worth one-fourth of the semibreve which gives us a result of one beat,”
Who ever said that music was related to math? Flats and sharps both sounded the same to me not that I am tone deaf or anything but I discovered a long ago that I did not have the ear for music and I found math was easier than music. Instead of treble clefs, accidentals and slurs, I do calculus, equations and surds.
Not long, Haugwitz was drove away by my vagueness, which displeased the Crown Prince very badly.
One night, we gathered around the table. The crown princess sat across me, her chestnut hair was tightly coiled on top of her head, and her cheeks were back into its original colour. As for the prince, he sat at the very end of the long exquisite dining table and wore a pair of disregarded knitted brows. Behind him, stood Mr Chevalier, the one who talked me into this whole role playing as the fake princess.
Today Mr Chevalier was fulfilling his job as the butler of the house and looked different in his special suit that stood out from the rest of the valets. Usually when he was dealing with the prince’s guests he would wear a business suit to look less out of place.
The crown prince raised his empty glass and gently hit his dessert spoon against it. It was a sign that mealtime was about to begin.
All three of us sat silently as Mr Chevalier and the highest ranked servants slowly revealing the dishes from under the silver plated dome covers.
I placed in my best effort from what I learnt from one of Amelie’s detailed crash course that I was forced to take on the first few days of my arrival and remembered some of the tips were given.
First of all I spread the golden embroidered napkin across my lap as soon as I sat down then waited for the prince to do the honor of taking the first sip of his entrée. Then the princess and I followed his movements. I stared at the several different spoons in varies of sizes laid out in front of me. There was a little mental debate in my head whether if I should start from the inside out or the reverse. When the princess looked up to me to see why I wasn’t drinking, I made a quick gambled and started with the outside spoon. She gave me a nod and smile at the choice I made then continued on with her creamy potato with bacon soup.
In this house, there was no need to reach out for more food. The waiters hovered around taking plates from the right and sliding a new plate on the left with whatever that was requested and when I decided to stop I remembered to place my used cutlery on the plate at a five o’clock position. The waiters then instantly received the sign and drifted to my right to remove the plate.
As we waited for the dessert to come, the prince dabbed his mouth with his napkin then rested his elbow on the table, with his mouth hidden behind his knotted fingers. He stared forward with his cold gaze not meeting the princess’ eyes or mine.
When he finally spoke, I was shaken by his thunderous but sophisticated voice.
“I beg you, mademoiselle, I do wish you did cherish your music lesson more. It was difficult to invite monsieur Haugwitz to come from Austria to Genovia to give you lessons on music. Now you have driven him away, it had wasted my efforts.” He paused.
Instantly I felt guilty, if I knew that spineless old man was someone so important and took a great amount of effort to bring him from Austria all the way to here, I would’ve tried harder but even if I had, it can never be drilled into my head.
“To give you a month early notice, there will be a ball up coming in a month time and you will be preforming a piece to the audience. Royalties from across of the world will be attending to this ball and I would not want you to let the country down. Do you comprehend?”
I gulped and nodded obediently and shrink back to the seat. That moment I prayed to any god that would help me tear up a sink hole so I could be swollen away without having to do something that might catch a lot of attention but the main problem is I still couldn’t play the piano. I wonder how I was supposed to pull this off.
“Sophie was a gifted child…”
My eyes swiftly focused on the princess who kept her head low, her hands vigorously wringing the gold threaded napkin in her hands. The colour in her cheeks that I saw before disappeared and paled.
“She was very good with her instruments but in the end she chose the drums instead of the classical instruments. I really miss her constant drumming in the afternoons,” she continued.
The prince reached out for his wife’s hand and gently brushed her fingers with his thumb. Then after a few moments hoping his wife’s mood have gotten better he decided to cancel the dessert and took his wife back to her room. I watched them. The prince never let go of his wife’s boney frame and cupped her shoulder as he guided her out of the dinning.
The next day came, with the usual routine at dawn with Lucie working her magic again to transform me into a proper lady to be fit for a prestigious school for the rich and then strapped in an ear ringing helicopter ride to school. Soon without further notice, I finally able to get used to this life and all the fuss people made over me with unnecessary offers.
“Miss Moreau, would you like one of my servants to carry your bag?” A daughter of a sports company offered.
“No thank you, I’m fine carrying it myself,” I forced a smile and quickly dashed out of the room before more people come to hassle me.
Lately, I’ve wonder why I have captured a lot of attentions, maybe it was Lucie who has probably used too much of her magic today or the incident of the Patisserie club have spread across the entire student body. Whatever it is I’m certainly not the type who enjoys being in the spot light.
When I finally found peace and quiet I headed off to where I could study without any disturbance. It was a Tuesday afternoon, a time when I get two periods off to do some self-study by myself. I made up my mind to study in the library but on my way something made my mind change.
The prince’s words from last night echoed in my head. You will be preforming a piece to the audience.
So I found myself peeping into a practice room through a small opening enough to fit my head through without touching the sides. A grand piano sat at the very centre on a slightly raised podium. A beam light was installed above it casting brightly down to the piano. The room was well light even without the beam light and there were few pieces of furniture placed inside the bare room.
A gust of wind made itself home causing the heavy fabric of the curtains sway but not strong enough to lift it up. Sheets of music were blown off the table to at the other end of music room. White bits of paper fell from the air like magnified snow and scattered all over the podium and the floor.
“Hello?” There were no response but my own voice pounded the walls and back at me.
I pushed opened the carved white vanished door and stepped in. The wind continued to invite itself in and sent papers to travel more distance across the room. I hurried to close the window that was carelessly left opened and turned to face the room. It was a decent size room that I came across so far, only about 25 feet wide and 30 feet long, but it still feels a little too spacy for one piano, a round table and a couple of chairs with beast like claws at each end of the front legs.
Music scores were scattered and spoiled the plain but expensive display, so one by one I picked up the pieces and skimmed swiftly through them trying to work out the notes on the staff then converted into alphabets.
Unable to do so, I shrugged and shuffled them back into to their complete sets. There were three scores that had no numbers to indicate which order they went in and nor was there a title of the piece. Frustrated to put them back together, I examined the unknown sheets carefully, and then ran my fingers on the back of each sheet. They were unlike the others which were photocopied and this one was actually handwritten with perfect round dots sitting in or on the staffs and unbelievably straight stem and flags.
That moment I tried reading the measures again but this time with more effort in trying to figure out what each note stood for in alphabetical terms. I pulled out a pen and paper out of my duffle bag and began writing the letters; A G A B G A C C C D G A…
After finishing the first two staffs, I tried it on the piano, while the metronome ticked away. I was so engrossed with my new discovery, I almost didn’t hear any foots step behind me. The jagged music died down, I flew to my feet and met his blue-grey bemused eyes.
“It’s all wrong,” he said in a moderate tone louder than his usual low and dreamy voice. “There’s no octave in it, always the same without any flats and sharps. It’s all wrong,”
Andrew pushed me aside and elegantly glided himself onto the bench. He closed his eyes with the piece already barrowed deep inside his heart. His hand lingered over the keys before he settled into their starting position.
As the first note stroke the air a strange pleasant vibe circled around us. I watched him as he leaned back and forth as he played the piano without fluttering his eyelids once. It made me wonder what he is dreaming behind those long thick eyelashes of his. Could he be dreaming in music instead of dreaming in colour? Perhaps he could see music as something else that people who don’t appreciate music like me.
When the music stopped, disappointment washed over me and the atmosphere immediately dropped back to its original state. Splitting images of silvery white butterfly flies, pink, purple and green mists soon faded without a trace but only remained in the mind. I rubbed my eyes making sure that I wasn’t hallucinating but everything was still, no butterflies or multicoloured mist swirling around us.
My eyes reverted back to Andrew whose eyes seemed to look through me as If I was made of glass. He had that spacey look again and I had to wave my hand at him to send him back to earth.
“You’re always off with the fairies,” I commented.
“Perhaps,” he snorted as he scooted out of the stool.
He stared at me for a moment and said nothing at all. I cocked my head little bit to the side and wondered if he wanted me to say something or was he expecting me to read his mind. After few minutes he sighed softly to himself and gestured me to take the piano stool. Stunned at the invitation I eventually took the invitation with my eyes pinned on to him as I sat down wondering what he have in mind.
“Go on,” he encouraged.
My brows furrowed as I looked at him and back at the music sheets with my note book placed beside it. Even with the translation from music to letter I still wasn’t sure which pitch to begin with. My inner voice told me to start with the right hand side where the pitches were deeper than the ones on the left. It was another gamble something that I have taken a habit of since I adjusted my new life as a “royalty”.
Without a few seconds notice, Andrew swatted my left hand causing it turn in a darker shade of pink. He shifted his place and stood behind me, his body leaned over my right shoulder his soft ruffled hair ticked the side of my neck. He was about to reach for my hand when I bolted straight up and knocked his jaw in result.
“Sorry!” I hollered and bowed at least three or more times.
He glared at me as he rubbed his jawline with the back of his wrist then ordered me to sit back down and so I sat without putting a fight.
This time Andrew tried to not to approach me again as he finally understood my personal space policy and kept at least five inches away. He calmly told me not to touch the keys first and placed his hands on the keys to demonstrate where the starting position was then beckoned me to place my hand to where his hands just laid. Next he marked my fingers from one to ten so when he called out a number I have to quickly respond to it by pressing down the keys.
Unlike Erwin Haugwitz, Andrew didn’t waste his time explaining to me how to read music but straight on to the piano. He knew I was hopeless at reading scores and reassured me by saying that the piano is one of the most easiest instruments to play and to play an instrument it doesn’t really matter if you can read the music or not. I was made to play the music that he played before and in fact he was the one who composed it at the first place.
“No! What is this? It’s not good enough! Again!” the softness of his voice disappeared and the evil Andrew have finally awoken.
He was the same person but his personality and eyes were from a different person. He wasn’t the Andrew I knew from club activities and his lazy grey-blue eyes no longer gave off the dreamy gaze but full of seriousness and burning flames covered his pupils.
I shrunk back, my hands refused to touch the keys and with one false move I’ll be burned to crisps before I could have the chance to say my prayers.
The nice Andrew returned back to me, the evilness suddenly left his eyes. He was frozen on the spot, mouth gaped open, his pupils dilated with shock and realization mixed together. He fell into a foetal position; one of his index fingers circled the polished wooden floor board. My eyes played tricks again, a dark purple vibes wiggled it way out of him and at that moment I swear I thought he was growing mushrooms beside the foot of the piano.
“I’m…sorry,” he uttered an apology.
It was my turn to crouch down low. I hugged my knees as I tried to hold Andrew’s gaze. He was somehow afraid, weak and near tears.
“Do I disgust you?” he asked.
I shook my head in response.
“You are lying. You are disgusted by my other side. Forget it. Just go away like everyone does. It does not really matter to me anymore whether I have friends or not. I even scared away my first love with this geeky obsession of mine,”
“Shut up,” I shouted and I was back onto my feet in no time. “Do yourself a favour and accept both of your positive and negative side because that’s just you. And yes, I am afraid of you at first because usually you’re the quiet and sleepy one but now I gotten to know you more I can adapt to it. It’s not wrong to like something and you are a genius at it. Most people would die for your beautiful talent of yours. Raise your head and look at me: I am not disgusted with you.”
I stood firm on my spot unwilling to let anything to knock me off. I waited till my patience finally wore off. Tired of watching him sulk, I slumped onto the stool and banged the keys carelessly causing the whole room shake and the ringing killed my ears.
“ENOUGH!”
Andrew’s demon recover made me smirk. He shot up instantly and shoved me off the seat then demanded me to watch him play his song all over again but this time he begged me to remember his sequence and open my ears for each beat the tone has landed.
Soon I was playing the song in no time with Andrew’s approving nod in the background and when the clock stroke three, I realized that this was the only decent song I could play other than the childish twinkle twinkle little stars and hot cross buns.
“Shoot!”
Andrew was about to leave with the score sheets gathered neatly in his hand. He glanced back at me with his normal laid back eyes.
“Hmm?” he managed to mumble.
“I have to perform a piece at the upcoming ball!” I filled him in. “But I don’t know how to play Chopping and Beefoven and I need to find an accompanist before the ball!”
I was already tearing out my perfectly straightened auburn hair.
“It is Chopin and Beethoven,” He corrected with a hint of annoyance for messing up his deities’ names.
“Alright my bad, Chopin and Beethoven it is,” I said bashfully. “As I was saying before I can’t do this alone!”
“What?” He was now completely facing towards me. “Are you insisting that I should be your accompanist?”
I thought for a second. Andrew was a music nerd, a genius. He has the ability to cause illusion in people’s minds by playing an instrument. So if he was to accompany me then I guess my performance won’t turn out as bad as it would be in my head. Besides Leo is the prince of Demark and he is Andrew’s cousin therefore he would be coming along anyways.
“That sounds like a plan,” I gave him a dazzling smile.
Instead of his usual drowsy expression, his browns narrowed and looked daggers at me. Despite of his defenseless, unraveled outer shell that made him small from a long distance, he didn’t need to use his eyes to stare down at me, he was a second year and his height was already tall enough to loom over me.
Putting on my best goggling eyes and clutched my hands closed to my chest, I attacked him with it. It was a new trick I never so used it before and had stolen it from some shoujo anime that I watched but then again asking guys for a favour were never one of my priorities.
“Fine,” He looked away. “Just never pull that face again. Somehow I have a weakness for cute things and let us keep that a secret away from cousin and Yume, alright?”
His compliment had glued me to the spot. No guy has ever given me such compliments before only if stupid dares from back in primary school counts.
A strange feeling that I have never felt before rose up from my body causing my heart to beat faster and a burning sensation on my cheeks. My hands flew up feeling the hotness of my cheeks that burned through my skin. I didn’t know what it was perhaps I was running a high fever, a fever that could feel so pleasant, so heartwarming.
By the time I retrieved myself, Andrew was already gone. I quickly snatched my duffle bag of the side of the podium and dashed after him.
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Sorry for taking so long to update, been busy with other things. This chapter isn't as good as I imagined it and I had to type it a couple of times until I'm satisfied so I hope you are too!