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Looking at Lucien bowing to the audience, Christopher seemed to be a bit emotional, "When Victor and Rhine first introduced piano to me, although I could sort of see the potential of this new musical instrument, I never tried to compose anything specially for piano, not to mention to adapt any harpsichord or violin piece for it. The skills Lucian applied just now during his playing were very challenging. What he was trying to do was to learn from the playing skills for string instruments, which is remarkable."

"Practice makes perfect." Although Verdi was very impressed as well, he did not want to make a too favorable comment about Lucien, "Especially after awakening his Blessing, the practice can’t take long for him."

"Fingering is not everything." Natasha took a glance at Verdi, "For other musicians, what is hard is to really get to know piano... I mean... like Lucien, who has this profound understanding of the unique features of this musical instrument. Without the knowledge, there’s no way that one can produce such a fabulous piano piece."

"Well, maybe I’m too old... Although Lucien’s playing is very impressive, I did not get as excited as you young people with his fancy fingerings." The grand duke smiled, "I’m more looking forward to Pathetique."

On the other side, Lucien’s friends were a bit more relieved now seeing that Lucien’s concert was going great so far. That made the last piece of the concert, a sonata, even more significant.

...

Pierre was also on the square. Gawking at the crystal dome, hearing the thunder-like applause, he felt shame of himself because, when Lucien was playing, his heart was completely seized by Lucien’s bold and unrestrained fingerings, which he once condemned as a horrible betrayal of legitimate playing skills founded by his father.

"No... It’s not right." Pierre murmured to himself, "His playing was merely fancy fingerings piling up! That’s unacceptable! That’s... not right."

Pierre got too distracted to notice that Lucien had come back to the stage again.

Everyone was waiting for the last piece of piano solo of the night, Pathetique.

...

Sitting in front of the piano, Lucien did not start playing immediately. He knew that although the playing skills required for this solo were not challenging for him at all, if he could not devote all he had to the playing, Pathetique could never show its breathtaking charm.

Lucien closed his eyes. All those painful moments came back to him:

The great nostalgia that tortured him in those sleepless nights when he was missing the smile of his parents;

The fear he suffered when he was forced to go into the sewers by the pastor, Benjamin;

The feeling of helplessness when he was beaten by the gangsters;

The horrible feeling of guilt he bore when Joel and his family got kidnapped;

The great anger that was burning his guts when he saw the three fingers sent by the heretics...

All those emotions gathered together and infused Lucien’s heart.

What made Lucien feel the most depressive was the fact that he was trapped in this city, the City of Psalm!

He was hiding like a filthy rat in the sewers to do his magic experiments;

He was like a spy who could not fully trust anyone;

He was worried all the time that he might bring doom to uncle Joel and his family;

Every time he saw gallows, he couldn’t stop imagining that he would be burnt to death one day.

Fear, grief, helplessness, anger, cowardliness...Lucien did not even realized that to what extent the negative emotion was piling up deep in his mind.

Stamping down on the piano pedal, Lucien pounded the keyboard with both of his arms using the great strength coming from his strong mixed feelings.

Even the heavy piano trembled from the pounding!

Then deep and gloomy melody came out, with a strong sense of grief and loss.

Orvarit, the grand duke, immediately felt the tragic atmosphere brought by the music. The melody was like the dark clouds threatening to develop into a big storm, pressuring heavily on his mind.

The grand duke was not the only one with that impression. All the listeners, no matter old or young, male of female, rich or poor, as long as they had experienced the bitter side of life, felt the deep emotion conveyed by the song.

Natasha’s mind went back to that winter, when the sky of Aalto was shaded with heavy dark clouds, as if something horrible was about to come...

Christopher was missing his deceased wife who accompanied him for almost fifty years, and his son who would rather spend all his life on the road as a businessman than as a musician because of the great pressure brought by the reputation of his father.

Victor closed his eyes and murmured, "Life is tough, Winnie, but I still remember your smile."

Everyone’s heart was seized by their own sorrow.

Among them all, Lilith and Sala’s feeling might be the closest to that of Lucien, since they were also tasting the great bitter frustration of having to hide, of knowing that everyday was a struggle between life and death.

The introduction part ended with a smooth run of notes, then Lucien’s playing became quicker and with much vigor. The music style became exciting, as if the music was encouraging people to bravely face all the difficulties and sufferings in life and to believe that life would always turn better.

However, with the repetition of the introductory part, the solemnity lingered on the listeners’ mind. The mixed feelings of hope and desperation almost drove them nuts.

The grand duke was almost out of breath. The great pain came back to him, reminding him of when he heard his eldest son died on the battlefield in the far north, and when he was looking into his wife’s beautiful eyes in her final days.

Natasha’s eyes were darker than usual. She remembered what she promised her mother in front of her bed, "I’ll become a knight, mom, to protect House Violet." She remembered how soft and weak her mom’s hand was.

Verdi’s face looked rather gloomy. Obviously, he had his own suffering.

On the square, the shock of the music numbed Pierre, and after a while, he burst into crying. He finally realized that Lucien’s piano fingering would replace the playing skill created by his father. He blamed himself for being so useless that he was not able to carry on his father’s achievement.

Marcus, Silvia, Felicia... their hearts were all occupied with their own thoughts.

By the end of the first movement, the audience noticed that the tone of the music became a bit more rousing, as if the young man who was playing piano right now was trying to show them his great faith in life, to encourage them to face the pain and move on.

Because light was in front of them, victory was in front of them, as long as they could hang on one more second.

The Continental Congress of Magic, the wonderland for sorcerers and sorceresses... that was what Lucien was thinking about. He believed that after tonight, after he found where the congress was, there would be no need for him to hide anymore!

The higher pitch was very uplifting. Many of the listeners took a deep breath and then released a long sigh as if they were driving all the negative emotion away.

The second movement was of a singing style. The gentle melody was like warm sunlight lighting up people’s mind. Then the chorus joined in, curing people’s hearts.

Then, there came the finishing rondo. Lucien quickly pressed down a run of keys in a stunning speed, as if rain drops were falling down onto the ground. The speed showed Lucien’s renewed spirit and lit up people’s great passion.

Lucien’s movement was so fast that the audience’s eyes even could not follow. Everyone got excited again, people started to applaud amidst Lucien’s playing.

They were enjoying the music, and they were enjoying more than just music. The audience’s mood was completely led by Lucien, the young man who was showing his astonishing skills on the stage. At this moment, it did not matter whether they were nobles or commoners. They were cheering for this young music genius, cheering for Lucien’s never-ending fight against fate, cheering for their shared emotions as human beings.

Lucien’s playing reached the perfection with the cut time movement in C minor. After another full run of notes, he heavily pressed down the last key and finished the sonata in great enthusiasm.

All of the audience in the Psalm Hall, including the grand duke, stood up from their seats and applauded for Lucien. The crowd on the square just went wild, and they were shouting and cheering.

The whole city was conquered by Lucien’s concert!