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Chapter 20
Aria only then realized that a boy was standing there.
The blond boy looked unusually radiant, perhaps because he was standing with the blazing sunlight at his back.
“I’ve heard much about you. This is our first time greeting properly.”
The wives of House Valentine rarely had a second child. Most died after giving birth to just one.
And since the Grand Duke neither kept concubines nor had illegitimate children, only one possibility remained.
‘That relative of the Valentine Grand Duke who was acknowledged as a prodigy and adopted…’
Aria stared intently at Vincent.
Sensing the meaning behind her gaze, he smiled softly and introduced himself.
“His Highness the Grand Duke recognized my talent and adopted me. A blessing, truly.”
A genius of the century, and a tragic one.
Vincent Valentine.
He was the symbol of a miraculous rise in life—the boy adopted by the most powerful man in the empire, whom even the emperor could not treat lightly. Once, anyway.
But in the end, just before the Valentine incident occurred, he was completely cast out from the territory.
“‘They raised a poor orphan out of pity only to discover he was a double agent for the filth of the gutters,’ or so they say.”
The nobles, who loved to gossip, often used Vincent’s story as a perfect appetizer during their social gatherings.
Valentine was always at the center of every rumor.
Everyone cursed him as a monster, pretended to hush the topic—yet still wanted to know more.
Everything about the mysterious, secretive Valentine family was hidden behind a veil, and in truth, people were fascinated by it.
‘So Vincent’s story must’ve always made for a captivating topic.’
She had heard it so much she could recite it.
‘In the end, he supposedly fell into drinking and drugs, wandered through the gutters, and died miserably.’
A double agent. But was that really true?
Aria felt doubt.
‘To act as a double agent inside Valentine, you’d need nerves of steel and training like a sewer rat… but he doesn’t seem resistant to corruption at all.’
Aria looked into Vincent’s clear blue eyes.
They sparkled transparently like a summer lake.
It was the gaze of a scholar, seeking truth.
“You seem quite interested in epistemology, sister-in-law.”
Vincent pointed to the book in Aria’s hands. Only then did she check the title.
“What Is Knowledge?”
‘…a philosophy book?’
Her knowledge was heavily skewed to one side.
If it wasn’t music or the arts, she knew almost nothing.
‘I was never taught. I never had the chance, locked away as I was.’
It wasn’t that she lacked the desire to learn. If she could, she would.
But philosophy?
She had absolutely no interest.
“People say humans can only know what exists. What we know must have existence. In that sense, ontology and epistemology are two sides of the same coin.”
“?”
“Are you, by any chance, interested in phenomenology? Simply put, it’s a concept combining epistemology and ontology. It’s the attempt to perceive phenomena as they appear—reconstructed by the intentionality of perception.”
“???”
What was this—another language?
“To think my sister-in-law has such profound academic interests. I’m delighted.”
“……”
“Shall I recommend the book I’m reading?”
Aria looked up at the boy, who was smiling with a bright, pure joy as if he meant it.
His gentle expression, so unlike the Grand Duke’s, curved warmly.
“Ah.”
Vincent let out a soft sound of realization.
A faint disappointment flickered in the lake-like eyes, folding as if he’d expected this outcome.
Aria began to feel increasingly irritated.
“Haha, perhaps because I survived all this time thanks to being a genius…”
He spoke with an innocent smile.
“I can’t stand stupidity.”
“……”
“Why do stupid people even live? Such a waste of oxygen.”
Vincent muttered seriously, “If I had to live with a low IQ, I’d rather die.”
Aria gazed up at the smiling boy and thought:
‘Ah. This is why he got kicked out.’
Indeed.
* * *
“…….”
“Meeting you again, sister-in-law.”
From that day on, Aria encountered Vincent in the library every single day.
Since she had to practice singing in the reading room, it was extremely distracting.
‘It was peaceful before he started coming.’
The space had been built solely for the Valentine bloodline.
Aside from the rare librarian coming by to organize books, no one ever visited.
But Vincent always arrived before Aria and left after she did.
‘At least it means he isn’t following me.’
As a scholar from the Academy and a lover of learning above all else, it felt unreasonable to tell him not to stay in the library.
‘The room is soundproof, but there’s still a chance sound could leak.’
She couldn’t completely dismiss the possibility.
Aria kept her guard up, shooting glances at Vincent.
Of all places, he was sitting on the couch near the reading room she used.
“Aren’t you picking a book?”
“……”
Aria glared at him with a sullen expression.
Whatever book she picked, he would spout expert commentary and pick a fight.
You don’t know this?
Surely you must know at least this.
What, you don’t know even that?
Why do stupid people live?
Conversations with Vincent were always like this.
Even if she ignored him, he persistently kept talking.
Why he was so interested in her, she had no idea.
Even Aria—usually unbothered by insults—was growing tired.
He seemed extremely proud of being a genius, and if he treated everyone like this, she could only imagine how many enemies he’d made.
[Fine. Recommend me a book.]
She decided to respond half-heartedly.
He was annoying, after all.
After a moment of consideration, Vincent handed her a book.
“Basic Mental Arithmetic Even an Idiot Can Do”
“……”
Aria skimmed the page that read “1 + 1 = 2,” then looked up at Vincent.
The brilliant boy, radiant like summer sunlight, was smiling brightly.
To make someone want to spit on a smiling face—that was truly a talent.
* * *
“…My lady, has something bad happened recently?”
Dana couldn’t help asking.
Aria was wearing an expression Dana had never seen—rotten, sour, exhausted.
And Dana’s concern was correct. Lately, Aria was on the verge of exploding.
She didn’t mind being called ignorant. She was uneducated, after all.
‘I admit I’m ignorant.’
But the library was the only place she could practice singing in secret.
‘I absolutely cannot tolerate anything that interferes with that.’
She had to master the Song of Healing as soon as possible to treat the Grand Duchess.
If Vincent delayed her and caused her to miss the treatment window…
‘Didn’t the ancestors say: endure three times, and you avoid murder?’
But what happens after the third time?
‘Does that mean I’m allowed to kill?’
She had been restraining herself only because he was Lloyd’s younger brother.
But each passing day scraped away another layer of her patience.
And finally, the incident happened.
Vincent was waiting inside the reading room itself.
“You’re a bit late today.”
Aria immediately turned around to leave and use another reading room.
This room, where Vincent stood, was the one she always used.
It was the largest, most ornate, and perfectly soundproof.
But the other rooms were still soundproof too—just not as perfect.
‘He must want to read here.’
She tried to let it go.
She would have, if Vincent hadn’t slammed the door shut as if to block her escape.
The boy leaned casually against the doorframe, arms crossed, looking down at her.
He met her icy glare with a bright, innocent smile.
“Since you’re from House Cortez, you must know everything about music.”
“……”
“Maestro Cortez—your grandfather. A genius musician and mathematician without equal. He composed using a perfect system of 24 tones.”
“……”
“You do know the music of your own family, don’t you?”
“……”
Really? You don’t know this either?
Vincent muttered openly in disappointment.
“Oh, my apologies. I’ve gone and talked about things only I know again.”
As if he had just given up the last remaining shred of expectation.
At that moment, Aria’s patience finally snapped.
She tossed the book in her hand straight into Vincent’s chest.
“Ugh!”
The thick corner struck him square in the solar plexus, making him grunt.
Aria didn’t care.
She strode straight toward the organ in the corner of the room—
And placed her hands on the untouched, immaculate white keys.
