Only Those Who Know Loneliness

Alperil, the Serf Songstress of the Heron Grand Duchy.
Her excessive beauty became poison, tightening around her delicate throat.
The talent she never asked for crushed her limbs like a sharpened snare.

She had resigned herself to a life bound to the Duke’s whims, no more than a puppet dancing at the end of his strings.
until his sudden, unexpected death granted her a freedom no one foresaw.

Then, before her, abandoned in a remote manor, appeared a man.
The illegitimate son of the late Duke, and a pianist whispered of as a tragic genius– Terenzio Heron.

“Sit. You were the reason I completed this piece, so you should be the first to hear it.”
“Have we… met before?”

Could this simply be kindness born of loneliness?

Yet the strange, impulsive bond they shared deepened and lengthened with time,
The still waters of Alperil’s life began to stir,
swept up in a storm she could never have imagined.
***
“It’s alright. Everything that should be remembered still remains.”
“And what exactly should be remembered?”
“You.”

As Alperil stared into him, Terenzio gave a faint smile.
“I remember you, Alperil.”

She simply couldn’t understand it.
Even if she spent eternity memorizing that smile.
She felt she would never grasp the meaning behind it.