102 Silvia’s Father (2/2)
”The princess and lady Camil are in the living room,” said Silvia, who was wearing a long white dress, with her beautiful long hair hanging down her shoulders. Silvia would be like the dream girl for most men.
Lucien handed a small gift to Silvia and said ”Happy Birthday” to her, then greeted Silvia’s father, Mr. Deroni.
Mr. Deroni was wearing a black suit. Although his black moustache made him look a bit old and gloomy, Lucien still could tell that Mr. Deroni should be pretty good-looking when he was young. However, Lucien felt a bit weird when he saw Silvia’s father for the first time, and he did not know why.
”Good evening, Lucien.” Deroni greeted him slightly lowering his head. ”Although we both live in Gesu, we’ve never seen each other before. You’re even younger than I thought,” said Deroni as he led Lucien to the living room.
Before having dinner, the five of them chatted casually. Mr. Deroni started to ask Lucien about the serenade in D. ”We’re really looking forward to the complete version of it”, said Deroni.
”Actually, I already finished it,” answered Lucien. ”It’s a piece of string quartet.”
”Awesome.” Natasha winked to Lucien, ”I hope you can play both the quartet and For Silvia on the new year ball. So I can… you know, that.”
Lucien knew what she was talking about. Natasha was still waiting for a chance to reward him with a manor. Unfortunately, Lucien preferred the knight sword than a manor.
”Since For Silvia is a piece of personal music work, I don’t think I should play it on the new year ball, though,” Lucien stated.
”Why not?” said Silvia in a gentle voice, ”It’s your music work anyway, and it’s very beautiful. People should have a chance to appreciate it. The only thing that you may want to change is the name of the serenade, or people would think that you’re pursuing me.”
”I don’t mind.” Natasha shrugged her shoulders and smiled, ”After all, most of the musicians in the association who are still single are pursuing you. By the way, Lucien, before you came we were talking about poems and tales from different places in the duchy. I know you’re an expert, and maybe you can help us here.”
”Expert?” Mr. Deroni looked surprised.
”The princess’s just joking.” Lucien waved his hands, ”I’ve indeed read a few related books recently, but I’m nowhere close to being an expert.”
”Don’t be too humble, Lucien.” Natasha laughed, ”Mr. Deroni’s a very successful businessman and also the director of the Association of Accessories. He’s been traveling a lot on the continent, and we were discussing about one of the folk poems that he heard before.”
”What’s this one about?” asked Lucien with a bit of curiosity.
”Well… not many people know this poem.” Deroni rested his chin on his hand, ”But the scene the poem described was very unique. I wonder where and when the poem originated and what happened at that time.”
Then Deroni started to slowly recite the poem:
”When the sun entered Thanos’s Palace,
Huge fire balls fell down from the sky.
The earth was crumbling,
And in no time, the city, as well as the magnificent tower, turned into ashes.
...
The ashes covered everything,
From the earth to the sky.
In the dark pit lived the devil.
...
Look, look! The red water was now up to the lips.
......”
”As you can see, Lucien,” Natasha commented, ”the poem’s not rhetorical, but what it described is very weird. As far as I know, Thanos’ Palace is the name of a specific position of the sun, where it shows a unique scene.”
Besides Natasha’s interpretation, Lucien remembered that, according to the literature he read, Thanos was also the name of a previous chief magistrate of the magic empire, who was known as ”the King of the Sun”.