Varesa glanced down at the microphone.
He looked up again and glanced at the audience.
Then, she paused for a moment.
--This pause was so brief, so brief, that no one in the audience noticed it.
But Bai You could see it clearly from behind the curtain.
She saw Varesa's eyelashes flutter. She saw her hand hover over the microphone, not immediately grasping it.
I saw her gaze sweep across the first row—all the way to the last row.
Finally, it landed on the slit in the side curtain.
It landed on Bai You's face.
Their eyes met across half the square.
Bai You's heart leaped into her throat.
She mouthed two words silently. "Down."
She was only thinking about Varesa now. She'd rather the surprise had gone to waste.
She'd rather be chased by Pantalone for Mora tomorrow, or be berated by Sandrone and the others—she couldn't let Varesa be embarrassed here.
She was ready to rush out.
But just then--
Varesa looked at her and shook her head very slightly.
That movement was so small it was almost invisible.
Bai You was stunned.
She saw Varesa's lips slowly, slowly curve upwards.
It wasn't her usual faint smile.
It's a smile that's a mix of "you know" and a helpless, indulgent, and slightly pitying smile.
Then, Varesa looked away, lowered her head, and grasped the microphone.
Her hands were very steady.
Bai You took a step forward, then froze in place.
She saw Varesa close her eyes for a moment.
When I opened my eyes again, all the hesitation in them was gone.
She held the microphone to her lips.
--
Then she sang.
--No intro.
Sandrone was holding a small flag in the wings, waiting for the musicians to start.
But Varesa didn't give her that chance. She just stood there under the lamp, her light blue skirt gently lifted by the wind, and sang the first line a cappella.
When the first sound came out, Bai You thought she had misheard.
It's not something that can be fully described with just the word "pleasant to hear".
Yes—the moment that voice came out, all other sounds disappeared from her ears.
The sounds of the wind, the chirping of insects in the distance, and even the barely suppressed coughs of someone in the crowd all vanished.
The world suddenly fell silent, leaving only her voice.
The sound was not loud at first.
You could even say it's very light.
But it has a strange feeling—like a warm piece of jade, quietly resting in your palm.
Bai You's nose suddenly felt sore.
She recognized the voice.
I heard Varesa humming to herself at the theater before.
But at this moment, the same voice, transmitted through that small microphone, was heard simultaneously by hundreds of people under the lights.
It's different now.
It's no longer that tiny humming that's afraid of waking anyone.
It is a sound of stretching, of opening up, of fully opening up.
After the first line was sung, no one in the square uttered a sound.
Bai You saw the little baby with pigtails in the front row, who had been squirming in her mother's arms, but had stopped squirming at some point.
She stared at the stage, mouth agape, eyes unblinking.
Margaret at the Cat's Tail Tavern, who had been chatting and laughing with the waiter while holding a glass of juice, suddenly froze, the glass hovering near her lips.
Under the shade of the tree, the boy wearing the green hat was lazily strumming his strings.
His fingers stopped when the first note was uttered. He didn't move them again.
He simply held his violin, tilted his head slightly, and listened.
He thought that songs carried by the wind for thousands and thousands of years had long since left him unmoved by anything he heard.
But this shout came out--
He silently hissed in his heart.
The tall, hooded man in the corner had long since stopped muttering about being an Harbinger; he just stood there, looking up at the stands.
Just then, a small commotion arose from the far end of the square entrance.
"Make way! Make way!"
A small, white thing hovered in mid-air, flapping its wings and struggling to squeeze into the crowd.
It's Paimon.
Behind her followed a Traveler carrying a sword, who kept pushing his way through the crowd while quietly apologizing to those she stepped on.
" Paimon, slow down!"
"What's with the slowness!" Paimon didn't even turn his head.
"Haven't you heard? Amber said there's a singer here who doesn't accept Mora! By the time we circled back from Starsnatch Cliff, he'd already finished singing!"
As she spoke, she took advantage of her small size and darted between the two people.
Ying was a little helpless, so she had no choice but to follow behind, saying "Excuse me" and "Sorry" all the way. She finally managed to squeeze to the last row, and just as she stood still...
At that moment, Paimon's words caught in his throat.
Paimon hung in mid-air, his mouth agape, unable to close it for a long time.
The Traveler looked up.
That line, its melody seemed to rise slowly, one note at a time, from a very distant and deep place.
Paimon hung in mid-air, his mouth agape, unable to close it for a long time.
Ying raised her head.
She had never heard such a beautiful singing voice before.
But it lands so smoothly and steadily in your ear, and you can't take your feet off it.
"... The Traveler... "Paimon's voice was low, as if afraid of startling someone.
"Hmm."
"This person—" Paimon paused for a moment, "Who is she?"
Ying did not answer.
She didn't know either.
She simply stood there, carrying her ancestral, Dull Blade.
Head tilted back, like everyone else in the square, I listened quietly.
Paimon, standing beside him, had intended to ask him a few questions. But then she glanced at Ying's profile, and then at the figure on the stage, shrouded in a light blue dress by the lampshade—
She shut her mouth.
She gently landed on Ying's shoulder, squatted down, rested her chin on her hand, and listened.
From that moment on, the little white thing in the last row remained quiet and never made a sound again.
Varesa finished singing the first verse.
She didn't rush into the second section.
She gently moved the microphone away from her lips a little and waited.
In the square, countless people, as if just pulled out of the water, all took a deep, gentle breath.
Some people wanted to applaud.
The hand was raised halfway before he hesitated and lowered it again—everyone was afraid that the clapping would shatter the next segment.
Varesa saw all of this.
The corners of her mouth curved slightly.
Then, Odette played another piece of piano music from the side of the curtain.
Varesa followed the piano music into the second section.
This section has a deeper tone than the first.
Bai You has also heard this song.
This is the song she sang the most during the Snezhnaya.
Bai You didn't know exactly how Varesa got through those years in Snezhnaya.
All she knew was that Varesa would sometimes stare out the window in a daze, sometimes for hours on end.
At this moment, she stood in the lamplight beneath the statue of the wind god, singing this song she had sung for a long time.
Bai You suddenly understood.
Those years really did have weight.
It turns out that Varesa carried all that weight and walked such a long way alone to become such an outstanding singer.
She stood in the wings, tears silently streaming down her face.
She recalled the past few days—recalling Sandrone's grumbling and the way he changed the wiring overnight.
I remember Odette pretending to be nonchalant, as she spun the melody word by word into Varesa's head.
I'm reminded of how Columbina scratched her head.
Thinking of herself, she's been running around all day these past few days, and goes back to her room at night afterward.
Varesa didn't ask anything, she just pulled her into her arms and wiped her sweat.
--She knew everything back then, didn't she?
She simply didn't say anything.
Thinking of this, Bai You's tears flowed even more fiercely.