Chapter 97: The Crimson Bride

I looked out at the hall from behind the edge of the curtain.

The crowd I had watched on my phone looked much larger from here. People were talking to those beside them, some were pointing their phones at the stage, and those in the front rows were listening to Mira.

My gaze moved from one row to another.

Are all these people going to be looking at me?

I let go of the curtain.

I had thought my nerves were at their worst in front of Eris. Now, just thinking about the stage a few steps away made it difficult to breathe properly.

My heart was pounding as though it would tear through my chest.

I placed my good hand over it. I could feel the pounding against my palm through the fabric Umbrella had formed.

Calm down, Noctis. Calm down.

I tried to take a deep breath. When it caught halfway, I parted my lips and tried again.

Sounds continued reaching me from the hall. Someone laughing, the faint hum of the microphone, conversations blending together…

Then I heard my name.

“Noctis Evernight!”

Applause rose on the other side of the curtain.

“Portraying… Evelyn, the Crimson Bride!”

The staff member beside me gestured toward the stage.

A few seconds earlier, I had wanted this moment to come a little later. Now I felt as though I wouldn’t be able to go out if I waited.

I raised my chin slightly.

‘I promised Eris.’

I slowly released the breath filling my lungs and stepped out from behind the curtain.

The lights dazzled me with my first step.

As I turned my head, applause and cheers washed over me. I saw faces all the way to the back of the hall, phones held in the air, and a camera pointed straight at me.

For a moment, I felt dizzy.

I tried to feel the floor beneath my feet. Keeping my knees from locking, I held my posture and lifted my chin a little higher to keep my expression from changing.

Despite the panic inside me, I knew how I looked from the outside.

White hair fell over my shoulders, and the black crown formed a sharp silhouette beneath the lights. The raven on my shoulder had turned its head toward the audience.

Evelyn couldn’t stand there looking like someone who didn’t know how to handle her own fear.

I looked at the empty stage in front of me.

Then I took another step.

Umbrella spread beneath my feet.

A thin black liquid separated from the hem of the wedding dress and flowed onto the floor. First, it covered the area around my feet. Then it spread to either side, moving toward the edges of the stage.

As it caught the light, the blackness became glossy. Reflections of the ceiling lights trembled in the darkness stretching beneath my feet.

A voice rose from the front rows.

I didn’t look toward it. No matter what happened, I couldn’t let myself get distracted.

If I stopped after my first step, I would start thinking about what to do again. So I kept walking.

A thin stem rose where I lifted my heel.

Leaves emerged from the black floor and unfolded. A white rose took shape right after them. Crimson appeared at the tips of its petals and slowly spread downward, as though a few drops of blood had fallen onto the flower and seeped into its white petals.

Two more roses rose with my next step.

As the skirt of the wedding dress passed behind them, the flowers bent slightly. With each step, new roses bloomed along both sides of the path ahead, crimson stains appearing on their white petals.

The conversations in the hall began to fade.

I was following the image forming in my mind. I didn’t need words to think about where the roses should grow or how much the skirt should ripple. Whenever I imagined how I wanted something to look, Umbrella took that shape.

At the far end of the stage, the black surface rose.

First, a long rectangle formed. Its edges lifted, and its corners became clear. Fine lines spread across the lid as a dark coffin took shape before me.

I slowed my steps.

The lower layers of the wedding dress trailed behind me, and the raven on my shoulder moved less and less. When it turned its head toward the coffin, I lowered my eyes there too.

At the back of the stage, black liquid stretched upward.

A dark surface formed, and a large crimson moon appeared at its center. Pale light spread from its edges, falling across the coffin lid and the tips of my white hair.

The performances I had watched on my phone had faded from my mind.

Now I was thinking about the coffin ahead, the roses on either side, and my steps.

I stopped in front of the coffin.

Slowly, I placed my good hand on the lid. I bowed my head slightly as I ran my fingers across the dark surface. I let my shoulders relax. The cold expression on the face Umbrella had created softened, and sadness settled in my eyes.

My fingers stopped at the edge of the lid.

I stayed that way for a while.

I could even hear the sound of a nearby phone taking a picture.

Then I lifted the lid.

A crow burst out.

Its black wings passed in front of my face, but I didn’t draw my head back. A second followed it, then another, and another…

The wings rising from the coffin overlapped. I heard surprised voices from the audience. The raven on my shoulder had spread its wings too, watching the flock rise.

Once the crows were a few meters in the air, they began losing their shapes.

First, the tips of their wings scattered. Black feathers turned into tiny droplets. As their bodies dissolved, the pieces in the air took on a crimson color.

Then they rained down on me.

Tiny crimson fragments, as light as snowflakes…

They fell onto my white hair, my shoulders, and the folds of my wedding dress. Some settled on the roses, while others touched the black floor and merged into its surface.

I slowly raised my head.

I watched the last few flakes drift in front of the crimson moon. One fell into my outstretched palm. When I closed my fingers, it melted and disappeared.

My breathing was steadier now.

At some point, without even noticing, I had stopped thinking about the audience.

A black chair formed behind me. Gathering the skirt in front of my knees, I sat down gracefully.

I reached toward the coffin again.

The moment my fingers touched its surface, the lid changed shape. The long body began to widen. Sharp corners curved, and slender legs extended beneath it. As one side of the lid lifted, white and black keys appeared before me.

The coffin had become a glossy black piano.

I placed my hands over the keys.

An ache ran through my broken arm. Umbrella’s support immediately changed shape and settled beneath my forearm. I could hold it there without resting its weight on the keys, though I had to keep my wrist as still as possible while moving my fingers.

I took a breath.

Moonlight Sonata…

At that moment, no piece suited the scene better.

I pressed the first key.

A deep note spread through the hall.

Then the other notes followed.

The repeating notes above the slow opening followed one another as my fingers moved. For the first few notes, I watched my hands, waiting for the music in my memory to match the sounds I was actually producing.

Then I relaxed my shoulders.

I knew how.

I still knew how to play this piece.

I had never been so grateful for the piano lessons I had taken in my previous life. I remembered the hours spent repeating the same passage, trying to make both hands work together.

Those days when my mother had forced me to attend music lessons…

I could never have imagined that a piece I learned back then would help me in another world, on a stage like this.

‘Thank you… Mom.’

My fingers moved across the keys.

Deep notes from the lower keys supported the calm, repeating notes above them. I played without rushing, paying attention to the brief space after each note and how the next one fit into it.

I no longer needed to strike the keys harder to make myself heard in the hall.

The audience was quiet.

When I raised my head slightly, I saw the people in the front row watching me. Someone still held a phone in the air, while the person beside them had their hands folded on their knees.

I lowered my eyes to the keys again.

The crimson reflection on the piano’s glossy surface began to change.

A thin blue line had appeared along the edge of the moon behind me. As the music continued, the color spread inward. The crimson slowly gathered at the center, and for a few moments, the two colors blended together.

The crimson flakes resting on the wedding dress were still visible.

But the light falling on my white hair was blue now.

When the last patch of crimson at the center faded, a large blue moon hung at the back of the stage. Its light brought out the white petals of the roses and cast a soft reflection on the black piano’s lid.

I kept playing.

My fingers moved with the same slowness as when I had placed my hand on the coffin. The raven rested silently on my shoulder, and the skirt of the wedding dress rippled gently with the flow of the music.

I looked at the blue moon behind me once more.

Then I kept my eyes on the keys until the end of the piece.

When I played the final note, I didn’t lift my finger immediately.

The sound lingered in the hall. It grew fainter, then faded beyond hearing.

My hands remained over the keys.

For a moment, everything was silent.

Then the applause began.

After a few voices rose from the front, the entire hall filled with noise. When I raised my head, I saw people standing. One after another, they rose from their seats, lifting their hands higher as they clapped.

I heard my name.

Someone else called out Evelyn’s.

As I stood from the chair, I didn’t know where to look for several seconds. The raven on my shoulder raised its head. The roses around the piano and the blue moon behind me were still there.

The lights turned toward my face.

This time, I didn’t look away.

I looked at the people in the hall. I saw smiling faces, someone lowering their phone to clap, and another person touching their neighbor’s arm while excitedly pointing at the stage.

My eyes lit up.

A warm feeling grew inside my chest. My heart was still racing, just as it had when breathing felt difficult a few minutes earlier, but I was no longer trying to slow it down.

‘What is this warm feeling in my chest?’

The corners of my lips lifted.

‘It feels amazing…’

No one was making fun of my dress. No one was trying to force me offstage or telling me I was disgracing my family’s name.

People had watched what I did.

And they had liked it.

I tried to bow my head in thanks. But when I straightened again, the applause continued. I stayed where I was, wanting to hear it a little longer.

The original Noctis came to mind.

The room I had found when I first opened my eyes in this world, his figures, his streaming account… All those things I hadn’t understood at first.

Could this… be the feeling the real Noctis had wanted to experience?

Someone noticing him.

Liking something he had done.

Staying a little longer to listen to him.

My throat tightened. As I looked out at the hall, I tried to keep smiling, but I couldn’t stop the burning in my eyes.

On my real face beneath Umbrella, a single tear slid down my cheek.