Chapter 109: Marcus
Seeing Lucien, Lilith was both excited and shy, "Your performance in that restaurant was awesome!"
Lucien somehow asked subconsciously, "Why are you two still in Aalto?"
"We still have time until..." Before Lilith finished her phrase, Sala cut her off directly, since he realized that his younger sister might spill the beans inadvertently.
"Mr. Evans, why did you think we wouldn’t stay here for the music festival?" As soon as he asked, Sala regretted that he asked the question in such a harsh defensive way, which could make he and Lilith even more suspicious.
Lucien got a bit nervous too. He did not want Lilith and Sala to realize that he actually knew more about the ruins of a magic site than they thought.
"You two were in quite a hurry when you visited me," Lucien’s mind was working fast, "and I thought you had something urgent. That’s why."
"Oh... I see." Sala relaxed a bit and switched to a safer topic, "Like Lilith said, your playing was very impressive."
After chatting a bit more, Sala left with his younger sister, although the latter was a bit reluctant to stop the conversation with Lucien.
Watching Sara and Lilith leaving, Lucien slightly frowned his brows, feeling a bit concerned. He was not sure whether today’s meeting with the brother and sister was just a coincidence or something else.
However, Lucien would not let his concern ruin his beautiful day. He still spent a very pleasant afternoon with Iven hanging around and enjoying the festive atmosphere.
...
In the evening, Lucien took Iven to Joel and Alisa and had dinner with them. Then, they walked toward the central square. Tonight, the square was way busier than usual, and the whole place was literally packed. People gathered here to enjoy tonight’s concert in the Psalm Hall through the divine power circle.
The divine power circle was actually visible, which seemed to be more like a transparent crystal dome floating in the air than a commonly-imaged mysterious magic circle. Through this huge dome screen, people on the square could watch the spectacular performance and enjoy the wonderful music simultaneously.
"Wow..." Iven drawled with surprise.
"It looks like we cannot go anywhere closer," said Joel. "Let’s just stay here."
"We’re not staying here!" refused Alisa, "What can we see from here?"
As she was talking, Alisa was about to take advantage of her weight to open a path for them.
"Auntie Alisa," Lucien smiled and stopped her, "I actually know a better place than the square."
...
The town hall of Aalto was a five-storey building, sitting on the other side of the central square.
"Felicia’s father, Mr. Urbain, is the chief clerk here," Lucien explained. "He invited us to enjoy the concert on the top floor."
When they got closer, Lucien saw that Felicia was already waiting there at the back gate of the town hall.
Due to the limited amount of seat that the Psalm Hall could provide and the large number of distinguished guests coming from other countries, even Mr. Urbain was not invited for tonight’s concert. As for the musicians’ association, only the most well-known musicians would be invited, like Mr. Victor, whose concert just achieved a great success in the Psalm Hall.
Actually, Lucien, as the princess’s personal music consultant, got invited as well, but he didn’t dare to go, since a great number of grand cardinals and bishops would be there that night. Lucien did not want to take any unnecessary risk.
...
The concert started at eight o’clock sharp.
Sacred light appeared above the central square, covering everyone present.
All of the people present lowered their heads, praying and praising. This was the love of God, the power of God.
Lucien also lowered his head, but he was thinking about something else. As the power of magic originated from nature, Lucien wondered where did divine power come from.
The light became brighter and brighter, then it gradually covered the crystal dome. The spectacular main stage of the Psalm Hall slowly appeared in the sky.
The Golden Cathedral Choir was ready.
"Pious followers..."
The hymn was so wonderful, as if it was being sung by angels.
All the choristers were men, and all of them got castrated before they entered their adolescence. Thus, their voices were even purer and beautiful than that of women.
"Lucien... are you all right?" Felicia asked him with concern.
"Yes? I’m fine, Felicia," Lucien said to her. "Why do you ask?"
"Sorry, I was just thinking that the first concert’s grand beginning might have put lots of pressure on you." Felicia slightly shook her head, "It looks like I’m even more nervous than you are."
Lucien grinned, "Thanks, Felicia. I’m fine."
...
At the adamant demand of Mr. Victor, Lucien attended the second concert in the Psalm Hall, held by Christopher, the president of the association.
"You can’t miss it," Victor said to Lucien. "It might be Mr. Christopher’s last concert. You have to cherish this opportunity."
"Oh yeah... can’t miss the opportunity to attend a music master’s concert in order to make myself anxious." Lucien joked.
"If you were really that stressed, you wouldn’t say something like that." Victor knew Lucien’s personality pretty well, "And I trust you, Lucien. I read the music sheet of Pathetique. Challenging as it is, I believe this piece of sonata can lead to a revolution in the history of music."
"Thank you, Mr. Victor." Lucien smiled. "Your support means a lot to me."
At this time, a young man in his early twenties with black hair and brown eyes approached them.
"Mr. Victor, good evening," greeted the young man. "Is this Lucien Evans?"
Victor stood up and introduced with a big smile on his face, "This is my previous student, Marcus. He is now the music consultant of the Kingdom of Shaq. He came back several days ago, just because of the music festival."