Chapter 76 - The Story About The Origin

Yvonne's eyes were focused on the folder that her tutor had placed on the table and she reached forward to pick it up.

Just as her hand was about to touch the folder, it was snatched away by the man sitting opposite her.

The little girl looked up and glared at the man who was behaving like he was the child here.

Marquess Samed was amused yet curious with her urgency to know who the composer of the musical piece was.

"Answer my questions and I will answer yours." He propositioned to which Yvonne first gave an exasperated sigh before nodding her head in agreement.

'Judging by his gossipy nature I doubt that he would give me the answers if I don't answer him first.' She assumed and she was right to think so as that was what Sullivan had planned.

Getting her approval brought a victorious smile to his face after which he tightly held the folder containing the information about the piece in his hands.

Yvonne rolled her eyes when she noticed his excessively cautious behavior.

'It's not like I can pounce on you and wrestle it out of your hands, now can I?' She mocked her prominent tutor's childish behavior.

Marquess Samed could guess what she was thinking yet he did not relax his hold over the folder.

"Why are you so keen about knowing more about the composer?" He began his interrogation.

Yvonne decided not to hide what had happened and retold him the story of how she had been brought to tears by the said musical piece.

"Hmm…" He hummed while rubbing his hand over his chin.

'That hag, Beatrice will love this child for she too felt the same way.' He surmised while calling his older sister, Beatrice Tanner a hag.

"You have an affinity with this kind of music?" He questioned and weirdly glanced at her.

"But you are so young and… have not even had your first love yet." He muttered to himself but Yvonne, who had been paying complete and total attention to him had caught those words.

"What is the connection between these two things?" She retorted with a question of her own.

Sullivan rolled his eyes at him and then pointed at the folder that was still safely in his hand.

"Because this man made the tune in memory of his dead wife." He pointed out the most known fact about the musical piece.

Hearing him repeat the same words that she had heard from Governess Lester made Yvonne's temples throb.

'I already know that now tell me something that I do not know!' She grumbled in her heart but gave him a knowing smile.

"I'm aware of that part, Marquess. Do you mind telling me something I have yet to hear?" She remarked which made Sullivan's brows furrow.

"I was getting to it but my dear pupil seems to have no patience whatsoever." He complained while shaking his head in disappointment.

Yvonne said nothing so that he may not wander off on another tangent and sat in silence for him to continue.

Looking at her obedient appearance, Sullivan chose not to delay her any further and got straight to the point.

"Theodore Peone." He announced and was met with Yvonne's confused face.

Her head that was tilted to the side made it clear to her tutor that she had not understood what he was trying to say.

"Theodore Peone, that is the name of the musical composer." He disclosed the information he had gathered from his older sister.

Beatrice Samed, now known as Duchess Beatrice Tanner was an avid follower and supporter of the fine arts.

She did not bother with the status of a person as long as they were competent in what they did.

Hence the Duchess of the Tanner family was famous among the masses as a lover of music and paintings.

Once Sullivan arrived at the Tanner estate and mentioned his request of gathering information about the piece called 'Tears of our Love', he was instantly rejected.

'You always snubbed me when I would praise them in your presence and hence you are not worthy of gaining knowledge about them.' She proclaimed righteously while refusing his plea.

However, she did a complete reversal when he offhandedly mentioned that this information was something that Yvonne St. Claire had requested in order to learn more about it.

Beatrice did not hesitate to bring out the folders she maintained that encompassed information about her favorite artists and Theodore was one of them.

She then asked her family's butler to make a copy of the information she had and then handed over the new copy to Sullivan.

Marquess Samed opened the folder and skimmed over the contents before handing them over to the little girl sitting before him.

Yvonne accepted the papers with trembling fingers but before she could read them, Sullivan began narrating the episode about the origin of the famously tragic love song.

Tears of our Love.

The song that Theodore Peone had written for his wife, Damona Peone who had died in the plague that had terrorized the Kingdom of Rosenhyde roughly eight years ago.

Theodore was a singer at a local pub on the outskirts of the capital city of Amarthea.

When the plague had just begun, not many of the citizens were aware of its existence in the small town that the Peones resided in.

The people of the town were struck by panic when people started dying by the dozens in just a matter of hours.

One such person was the young wife of a commoner named Theodore Peone.

When the elder women of the town helped with her final rites, that was the time that Theodore was informed that he had not lost one but two family members in a single day.

His wife, Damona had been pregnant and along with her died her unborn baby, whose very existence was unknown to both the husband and the now dead wife.

Overwhelmed by grief at this sudden yet devastating news, he drowned himself in liquor in the same pub that he worked in.

Every day he prayed that the plague would take him away as well so that he might be with his wife and child once again in the afterlife.

However, that was not what fate had planned for him.

The owner of the pub was generous enough to let him stay in the spare room above the establishment as long as Theodore continued working there.

Though Theodore had accepted this goodwill from the owner, there were multiple occasions where he tried to take his own life to speed up his reunion with his family.

But the precious face of his wife which would be sad due to his actions made him unable to go through with it.

Thus, he began focusing his energy and time on creating music through which he could keep the memories of his time together with his wife.

Over the years, he had composed multiple pieces but the one that shot to fame was his masterpiece called 'Tears of our Love'.

This piece relayed the story of how he had so much love to give for his wife but the person who was the object of his love was gone so far away with no hopes of ever returning.

Sullivan frowned when he came to the end of his narration and glanced at the child who had been silently listening to him speaking.

"That is the story of the origin of the musical piece which is renowned as a tale of despair and hopelessness a man felt for the loss of his loved one." He ended what he had to say and kept his sights fixed on his student.

"Now tell me, why did you have such an attachment to this tale of tragedy? So much so that it caused you to weep in such a bitter manner?" He interrogated and watched as Yvonne's head, which was lowered until now, rise slowly.

The red-rimmed watery eyes that he observed made him frown and a complicated expression appeared on his face.

'I have lived so many years and yet that song did not resonate with me so why is it affecting her in such a deep and painful way?' He wondered as she rubbed her eyes with the back of her hands in an unladylike manner.

Sullivan pulled out a handkerchief from his pocket and handed it over to her.

Yvonne gratefully accepted it and wiped her eyes after which she even generously wiped her runny nose.

"I'll return this in our next class." She whispered and stuffed the silk handkerchief by her side.

Sullivan was not bothered about the measly piece of cloth but the overall wellbeing of his prized pupil.

'so he won't let it go until I give him a proper answer?' Yvonne sighed and then sat up straight.

She could feel his intense and unwavering gaze which made it hard for her to move away or distract him from this topic.

She sighed once again and then uttered a single sentence.

"That song speaks to me and I have a feeling that I have heard that song before… in a dream." She declared resolutely.

Marquess Samed's eyes which had widened at the beginning were now rolling without restraint after he heard her entire sentence.