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Waiting until the applause for Renat had died down, Ekaterina hurried over to the seat where Olga was sitting.

“Lady Olga.”
“Ah… Lady Ekaterina.”

Taking Olga’s hand as she tried to force a stiff smile, Ekaterina thought, “I knew it.”

Olga-chan, your hands are ice-cold! You’re so nervous!

Enveloping her hands in both of her own, Ekaterina smiled encouragingly.
As a woman in her late twenties, when a girl of fifteen or so is trembling with nerves, there’s no other option but to encourage her with all her might.

“Lady Olga, Lord Selezar’s performance was indeed magnificent. However, today’s event is just a casual class gathering. As long as we can all enjoy ourselves and grow closer, that is all that matters. Please don’t push yourself—just sing as if you were in front of your own family. I would be perfectly happy just to hear your voice, Lady Olga.”

This isn’t an audition, after all. It might not even be an arts festival—it’s more like a school play. You know, like those three.
Smile, smile. Have fun.

“Lady Ekaterina…”

With her light green eyes brimming with tears, Olga looks up at Ekaterina.

Ah, she’s so cute. Olga-chan isn’t the “classic beauty” type like Flora-chan, but she’s petite and seems so gentle—she has that small-animal kind of cuteness. Like a rabbit or a Chihuahua.

Ekaterina gently wrapped her arm around Olga’s body and patted her back soothingly. Sitting there, Olga had her face buried in Ekaterina’s chest.

As many girls watched with concern and many boys looked on enviously, Olga let out a sigh of relief and smiled.

“Thank you. I… suddenly couldn’t remember the song I was going to sing.”
“That happens when you get nervous, doesn’t it?”

Around my first year on the job, there was a time when the content of a presentation I was about to give just flew right out of my head, and no matter what I did, I couldn’t remember it… Yeah, it’s scary.

“So… would it be all right if I sang an old song passed down in my family? It’s a song my grandmother taught me, and one we used to sing often as a family. I’m sorry it’s such an old-fashioned country song, but I’m sure I won’t forget it.”
“That’s lovely. I do like such traditional things.”

Ekaterina smiled brightly, and Olga’s expression shifted to one of relief and release.

.

“I’m sorry to do this following such an innovative piece, but I’d like to sing an old song. It’s a song about the Moonlight Flower and the Warrior Butterfly.”

Warm applause rang out for Olga, who bowed her head deeply beside the piano.

The Moonlight Flower and the Warrior Butterfly are a type of magical beast. Whether they should be called magical beasts, magical insects, or magical plants is somewhat of a conundrum, as they are famous for their peculiar ecology.
The males and females look completely different; the males are black butterflies. However, their wings are made of thin steel, and if you touch them carelessly, you will be sliced open. Hence, the name “Warrior Butterfly.”
The females usually dwell at the bottom of the lake, and their true form is unknown. However, on the night of the full moon during the breeding season, they extend long stems from the lake bed and bloom a giant, white, glowing flower on the surface of the lake. Hence the Moonlight Flower.
It is said that the sweet fragrance of that flower envelops the entire surrounding area. Drawn by that scent, the Warrior Butterflies are lured to the flower. Countless males vie for a single flower, fighting with their steel wings. Only the strongest victor reaches the flower and leaves behind offspring.

Olga sat down at the piano.

If she can play the piano, then there must be one in Olga’s house. Ekaterina hadn’t realized it until now, but she suddenly noticed when they were recruiting performers for the musical evening.
In this world, pianos are very expensive.
Come to think of it, they weren’t exactly cheap in her past life either. Not many households owned a real piano—at least not electric ones. So, of course, in this world, they’re even more expensive and precious.
If Olga’s family, who by aristocratic standards surely aren’t wealthy, has a piano, then her family must be very fond of music.

Placing her hands on the keys, Olga took a deep breath and tilted her face upward.

*Full moon blooms like flower in the night, lake full of blossom for a night full of plight.
Now is the time of death, the time of love.*
*Steel wings tremblings,*
*the warriors take flight————……*

(!?)

When Olga began to sing, Ekaterina couldn’t help but widen her eyes in surprise.

Olga-chan! You have such a beautiful voice!”

She started right off in the high register. Despite the difficulty, she was singing beautifully with steady pitch. It was what we’d call a falsetto in a past life—a sweet, delicate, and melancholic head voice. It was beautiful.
Especially at the end, that long, sustained note—her crystal-clear voice, as if soaring toward the heavens, fading away—it was irresistible. It felt as though my very soul was being drawn out.

A huge, brilliantly shining full moon floated in Ekaterina’s mind’s eye.

This was the moon she saw in Jurnova. When she encountered Selene, the Maiden of Death, the silhouette of the rider and her horse stood against the backdrop of this full moon.
Now, against that same moon, the silhouette of a black butterfly is clearly visible.

A sudden chill sent shivers down her spine.

Accompanied by her own piano playing, Olga sings.

Beneath the full moon, the butterflies vie for the flowers. They tear at one another, scattering their young lives as they fall into the lake. Even as they feel a sense of emptiness, they cannot resist the sweet scent of the flowers. Even though they know deep down they cannot have it, they cannot abandon their hopes and head to the battlefield.

It’s not just Olga’s beautiful voice; the unique tempo of the song is also wonderful. “This feeling reminds me of something,” Ekaterina thinks, and then she remembers.
It’s the feeling she had in a past life when she heard a song that incorporated the folk music style of Okinawa and the Amami region. It’s a bit exotic, yet nostalgic; cheerful, yet with a melancholy that pierces the heart.
The song itself isn’t specifically Okinawan, but the reason it brings that to mind is likely because the piano scales have been applied to a piece originally played on ethnic instruments with distinctive sounds. In Okinawa and Amami, folk songs are certainly played on the *Sanshin*, an instrument similar to a *Shamisen*.

And then, these lyrics, this melancholy. Perhaps the “Plight of Warrior Butterflies” is merely a metaphor or a cover—perhaps it’s actually a song about human warfare. Rebellions reportedly broke out frequently in the Seleznyov domain. Could this be a song mourning the young people who lost their lives in those uprisings? Hiding its true meaning so as not to draw the lord’s ire?

The last butterfly, though wounded, makes its way to the flower. The flower opens its white arms and embraces the wounded warrior.

*Now is the time of death, the time of love—*

The piece ended with that refrain, repeated over and over.

Olga took her hands off the keyboard and let out a sigh of relief.
The music room was eerily silent.
Despite the unresponsive audience, Olga stood up, shoulders slumped, and bowed her head.

Then, a roar of applause erupted.
Startled, Olga instinctively stepped back, bumped into the piano bench, and plopped right down onto it. The applause didn’t stop, mingling with cheers.
The audience was rising to their feet one after another. It was the third standing ovation of the day.

Ekaterina, of course, stood up as well, clapping her hands with all her might.

Wow… I knew Olga-chan had a beautiful voice from the choir classes, but I never expected it to be this amazing!

It’s like “Got Talent” all over again.
Actually, come to think of it…
This sense of wonder, including the element of surprise.
It might be similar to how I felt when I watched the video of that singer who became a star on “Got Talent” making their debut.

Olga-chan, you are the Susan Boyle of the Empire.
…This is huge.