kscans

Chapter 17 - Epilogue

The Ebalt Royal Music School stands right on the border between the capital's noble district and the area where wealthy commoners reside. As its name suggests, the late Wise King Ebalt devoted great effort to its establishment, and it is famous for admitting commoners. Since music is a field that requires a great deal of money, it would normally be a school beyond the reach of commoners. However, due to the Wise King Ebalt's strong wishes, admission since its founding has been based solely on the results of an examination. If they pass the entrance exam, children from families below a certain income level have their tuition waived and are loaned an instrument. Initially, this was limited to commoners, but now even children of the nobility can receive the benefit of a tuition waiver if they face financial hardship.

The school's operating funds are covered by student tuition, a portion of the profits from the Angelica Theater—also established by King Ebalt—and donations. Those who graduate with excellent grades have a path opened to them as court musicians or members of the theater's orchestra.

However, to say its doors are wide open to the common people is not entirely true. The entrance exam includes a performance on the instrument one wishes to study.

A harp, a representative instrument for a lady's accomplishments, costs about the same as a commoner's monthly income, even for a practice model. There are also regular expenses for maintenance and restringing. On top of that, lessons with a teacher further increase the cost, so in reality, more than ninety percent of the applicants are children of nobles or the wealthy commoner class.

Wise King Ebalt once told his grandson, Leon, that his ideal was a country so prosperous that even a child from the poorest class could adequately prepare for the entrance exam. And that, he said, was his goal. Leon didn't understand it well as a child, but now that he was Crown Prince and involved in the affairs of state, he had come to understand what a terrifyingly grand goal that was.

His grandfather had lamented that he could not achieve it in his lifetime, but if you asked Leon, if such a thing had been realized, his grandfather would have been worshipped not as a Wise King, but as a god.

The young prince who used to cry about the painting of the woman being scary had long since passed into adulthood, married, and already had children of his own. A third was expected this autumn.

"Your Highness the Crown Prince, welcome."

Leon responded with a smile to the headmaster who greeted him. Having inherited the position of honorary president from his grandfather, Leon had been invited as a guest of honor to the entrance ceremony.

"Indeed. I have heard that this year's entering class is full of talent. I am looking forward to it."

"Yes, the student entering at the top of the class, a young woman, is a particularly wonderful talent…"

"I see. If you, who have seen so many students, say so, then there can be no doubt. Her name?"

"Angelica Solon."

Leon couldn't help but give a wry smile at the name. Angelica was an incredibly popular name for girls. Parents who wished for their daughters to learn the harp, in homage to Princess Koto, were especially fond of giving this name. Naturally, the percentage of Angelicas at this school was astonishingly high. The previous year's top performer in the harp division had also been a noble's daughter named Angelica.

"Another Angelica… I have not heard the name Solon before."

The lack of a middle name suggested the girl was a commoner. Nobles had a middle name indicating their mother's lineage. She was likely from a wealthy family, but Leon had no memory of the name. Though there were more wealthy families than noble ones, Leon, who had memorized nearly all of them, tilted his head in thought.

"She is from Etash."

Leon was surprised by the headmaster's reply. It was true that about ten percent of the students were commoners who had their talent recognized and were sponsored by nobles to enroll. But the circumstances they were placed in were harsh. To show outstanding talent among the proud children of nobles and the wealthy was tantamount to suicide. Even if they achieved good results on the entrance exam, it was customary for them to settle into the lower ranks after enrolling.

They couldn't hold back during the entrance exam and would likely give it their all, but for someone to take the top spot, it was almost always the result of elite education from a young age. It was nearly impossible for those belonging to the so-called lowest rungs of society to leap to that position. If her talent was great enough to make the impossible possible, the backlash would naturally be strong. All the more so if she was from Etash, the slum district to the west of the capital.

Concerned for the future of the girl's talent, he looked at the headmaster, who returned his gaze with an indescribable expression. Leon recognized the headmaster as a first-rate educator, but his political skills were weak. The school was meritocratic and forbade discrimination based on social status, but the sense of privilege instilled since birth was difficult to overcome, and the teachers' eyes were not all-seeing.

"Does she have a patron?"

"Not in particular. The one who taught her the harp was a commoner graduate of our school. They happened to attend the same church, which is how it began."

"I see. So whether that talent blooms or not depends on us."

"Yes. If possible, I was hoping for Your Highness's assistance…"

"I believe the daughter of the House of Cameron is in her second year. I will speak with the Earl."

"Thank you very much."

Perhaps this was a harbinger of the ideal era his grandfather spoke of. The seeds of commoner graduates were growing and unearthing the talent of the next generation. He had a feeling that such cases would increase from now on.

Glancing at the relieved headmaster, Leon thought of the painting he had inherited from his grandfather.

His grandfather hadn't truly believed Princess Angelica would be reincarnated, but he surely couldn't cast aside the thought that she might. The Wise King that Leon knew was also quite a romantic.

Though his grandfather never said it explicitly, there was no doubt he had built this school so that Princess Angelica, who had said she would be reborn as a commoner, could learn the harp. That ideal, too, was surely something he wanted to achieve for the sake of a reincarnated Princess Angelica. His grandfather never doubted that even if she were reborn, Princess Angelica would love the harp.

Among the many achievements of his grandfather, who had enriched the country with various policies, the one thing that made people tilt their heads in confusion was this Ebalt Royal Music School. People called it a rare whim of the Wise King, or a hobby, but to Leon, it seemed inevitable that his grandfather would build this school.

It was a sentiment only Leon, who knew the promise exchanged between his grandfather and Princess Angelica, could understand.

And that promise was passed down to his grandson, Leon. To make this country a peaceful and prosperous one, so that whenever the princess was reborn as a commoner, she would be all right. The promise, entrusted to him along with that portrait, would one day be passed from Leon to his son, or perhaps his grandson.

It was a promise not meant to be fulfilled, but one that would guide this country to happiness. Leon didn't know if the princess had foreseen that far, but with each passing year, his conviction that she was a wonderfully wise person grew stronger. And he felt immensely proud to inherit that promise.

---

In the developmental period of the Dindrion Royal Family era, when speaking of the leading figure in the music world, there can be no other than Angelica Solon. Entering the Ebalt Royal Music School at the age of ten, the youngest in its history, and at the top of her class, Angelica Solon, with the patronage of the House of Cameron, allowed her talent, which was hailed as that of a child prodigy, to blossom. She graduated, again at the top of her class, and joined the orchestra of the Angelica Theater. She was chosen for the role of Princess Koto in the then-popular play of the same name, which is still known today. With her magnificent harp performance, she was acclaimed as the reincarnation of Princess Angelica, who was said to be the model for the character. In fact, it seems that until her retirement, no one other than her ever played the role of Princess Koto at the Angelica Theater.

Though she came from the slums, she captured the spirit of the age as a darling of her time and was long respected as a hero and the most admired figure for the poor. The sculpture "Angel of Hope with a Harp" by the great master Larafaye is said to have her as its model. Although more than a hundred years separate the time Angelica Solon lived and Larafaye's era, for Larafaye, who came from the same slums, Angelica Solon was a particularly cherished motif. In his surviving sketchbooks, many drawings believed to be modeled after her can be seen.

Furthermore, King Leon, known as the Education King for popularizing schools for commoners and making the first two years of primary education compulsory, proposed the Music Apostles, the prototype of the Music Missionary system, during his time as Crown Prince. It is not widely known, but after his accession, he appointed three graduates of the Ebalt Royal Music School as Music Apostles and, through trial and error, devoted himself to the activity of teaching music to children in various regions for free. That activity was inherited by his son, Duc de Loire, and with the approval of the Pope of the time, the Music Missionary system was born. Music Missionaries who taught music to children for free were dispatched to churches in various regions, enabling the early discovery of talent and leading to the emergence of a second and third Angelica Solon.

It can be said that the love of music so deeply ingrained in our national character was born in this era.

"A full stomach alone does not make one happy. How bland is a life without the joy of music."

This phrase, which we often exchange like a greeting, is generally thought to have been said by Duc de Loire, who held the moniker of the Music King, but the possibility that it was King Leon cannot be ignored.

In a letter King Leon addressed to his contemporary Angelica Solon, a passage with a strikingly similar content appears. Furthermore, in the journal of his daughter, Princess Anna, the phrase "Wheat porridge fills the belly, music fills the heart. This, in other words, is happiness," is mentioned as a favorite saying of her father, King Leon.

In any case, during this period, music spread to every corner of our country, and by the time of King Harberich, King Leon's grandson, our capital had blossomed into one of the world's preeminent cities of music. It was the dawn of the golden age of the Dindrion Royal Family---.

(From History and Music of Our Country by Patrick Clemens)