A Bad Morning

Perhaps due to the energy she unleashed on stage, the meal she tried to indulge in after, or the serene nighttime moment by herself, Ui managed to wake up early without anyone else being involved.

She made her way, with her clothes wrinkled and eyes half closed, to the dining table and somehow sat herself on a chair.

“Ui, our star.” Her mother seemed happy to see her. “Finally getting up in the morning like we all do.” Her words felt warm, but Ui couldn’t receive them that day. Looking around, sensing the silence, she kept encouraging her. “Not only did you stand among two singers, you outshone them.”

Ui mumbled unintelligible words to herself as she bit on some bread.

“Now you know why protecting those people leaves such a bad taste sometimes.” Cro was quick to bring the conversation back to reality.

“Cro, don’t be like that.” Their mother’s tone ensured Cro would be silent for the rest of the meal.

“I messed it up, didn’t I?” Ui looked down towards her plate, her nonexistent appetite making eating pointless.

“I wouldn’t say that…” Ui’s mother tried to reassure her, but Cro glared at their mother immediately, making Ui realize something was wrong. “There is the small matter of being summoned to the Duke’s office today, right before lunch time.”

Ui sat there, with a piece of bread in her hands. She nodded with her face devoid of energy.

Her mom didn’t stop trying to be encouraging, even when it wasn’t working. “I’m terribly sorry, Ui. It hurts me to see you like this.” There was no reaction on Ui’s face. “When I asked you to audition, I wasn’t asking you to stop being yourself…”

Despite everything else going well the night before, Ui couldn’t forget the scene she had caused. “Oh yeah? And what if I get you… all of us, in trouble for it?”

“You’re too young to say things you don’t believe in or mean to say, Ui.” Her mother, despite smiling, was extremely serious in her tone and words. “Let the older folks do that, and apologize for you.”

Deflated and uncertain, Ui began her day and prepared to face the Duke.

◆

Ui took the longest path possible to the Royal Mansion. The monochrome, uniform fashion of the citizens of Novestr felt especially draining to her that day. She walked through the shades of the buildings in the smaller, more unevenly paved side streets, with tree roots lifting and cracking the unmaintained pavement. The sun was also too bright that day.

Once she got to the Duke’s mansion, Miront was expecting her.

“My Princess,” he said. He bowed with a slightly twisted smile.

Ui glared at him. She wasn’t in the mood.

Miront understood. Instead of words, he invited her to walk with him instead. They both walked towards the Duke’s office in silence, and to Ui, the walk felt a lot shorter than before. Miront opened the door and let her inside.

“Ui,” said the Duke. For once, he ignored the documents he always appeared to have in front of him and only focused on Ui.

She was frightened by the Duke’s sheer elegance and presence, even if he was just calmly sitting down on his chair.

“That scene was unacceptable,” he said after a few moments. He looked her in the eyes, and despite only displaying mild fury, Ui had never seen such expression in his face.

“You’re right, I totally—” Ui’s words were quiet and broken. The weight of the feeling that she had ruined the chance given to her, and maybe even her family’s reputation, was too much to bear.

“You shouldn’t have to… interact… with the rabble like that in your special moment. For that I apologize.”

“What?” Ui’s confusion took over.

“I’ll make sure you are treated in a way befitting of your talents and contribution next time.” The Duke was back to focusing on his documents. “We’ll be punishing—”

“P-punish?!”

“That kind of vulgarity is not fitting for my land. There will be no encouragement of violence in my presence.”

At that point, Ui’s reality was completely opposite to what she was expecting, and she froze in front of the Duke, unable to act.

“Also Ui, you were fantastic. I immediately arranged for the musicians to make the last concert of the fall season entirely about your music.” The Duke smiled and looked directly at Ui. “I expect great things.”

At that point Ui had lost all sense of her own emotions, and was unable to summon her own voice.

“Miront, make sure she has everything she needs.”

“Your Grace.” Miront bowed.

Ui stood there dumbfounded, the scene being the complete opposite of what she had imagined. After all, he was a Uman Duke, why would he…

Miront once again wrestled Ui into a curtsy, bringing her back to reality. “Y-your Grace,” she finally managed to say.

The Duke smiled and waved at both of them before continuing his work. Miront dragged Ui outside, whose legs refused to move in a coordinated way.

Once they were in the hallway, with the trees of the garden and the warm sunlight hitting both of them, she finally had time to process what happened.

She started growing increasingly furious at Miront, who had made her feel punishment was coming for her the night before. Just as she was about to put her anger into words, Miront playfully pointed at the Duke’s office door, reminding her he was right there, which made Ui hold back.

She pointed angrily at him, and marched her way out of the Royal Mansion.

Miront caught up with her before she could leave.

“You…” She pointed angrily at Miront. “You knew this was going to happen?”

“I couldn’t have known for sure...” Miront started laughing.

“I suffered for no reason!”

“Well.” Miront smiled in a way that felt genuine to Ui. “Now you know you care about this, don’t you?”

“What’s going to happen to that noble?” Feelings of guilt blended into her voice.

“He’ll be made an example, of course.”

No matter what she felt about that one noble, Ui didn’t want to be the cause for someone's punishment. “Nothing too bad, I hope…”

“Oh, it will be. But that’s because he’s a noble used to having everything go his way. I don’t think you should worry about that. Keep being you.” Miront reached for Ui’s shoulder but Ui quickly refused him. “I’m amazed he addressed this so quickly.” Miront smiled as he turned around and walked away. “Maybe you really are special, Ui.”

The unpredictable assistant aside, that unadorned mansion and hard-working Duke were slowly starting to change the way Ui felt. She really started believing there was a way forward, together. She began to see proof that things might finally be different under Duke Bourin. Maybe the island didn’t need Lullaby anymore, and she could sing for something better, and brighter…