Devil’s Music

Geon looked at Amdusias with a shocked expression.

"You loved your sister?"

Amdusias nodded with a smirk.

"It was when he was twenty-six years old. Van Gogh, who originally had a rugged appearance, always got rejected by the women he loved. He even got turned down by the daughter of the gallery owner he worked for. At one point, he confessed his feelings to his female cousin, who was eight years older and a widow."

Geon watched Amdusias with interest as he continued with a smile.

"Since it was incest, he naturally faced opposition from his family, and his cousin flatly refused him, but he kept going to her house to woo her. Eventually, unable to stand it any longer, his cousin's father refused to let him into the house, so he put his hand into a burning candle and said, 'Allow me to see her for as long as my hand can withstand this heat.'"

Geon asked with a sympathetic look, "So, did he get to meet her for that long?"

"No, he held on until his fingers were about to melt together, but her father never allowed them to meet. And this self-portrait was painted shortly after that."

"Ah, what a sad story."

"Whoa, whoa, instead of empathizing with others, you should focus on solving your own problems first."

Amdusias walked up to Geon and crossed his arms in front of him.

"Here's a quiz for you. What emotion do you think was on Van Gogh's face at that time?"

Geon thought for a moment and then stared intently at a mural.

"Probably anger, lethargy, irritability?"

Amdusias snapped his fingers and said, "Right! As I said, Van Gogh was turned down by many women because of his harsh appearance. He had to save the boarding money his brother Theo sent him to afford cheap prostitutes. So, anger, lethargy, and irritability are infused in his paintings. Do you know the color that often appears in his paintings?"

Geon thought for a while and then said, "The first thing that comes to mind is yellow."

Amdusias nodded vigorously.

"Good, you understand well. But the yellow he often used wasn't just any yellow; it was a mix of orange and red."

Geon visualized it in his mind and then nodded.

"I'm not exactly sure, but I remember it being a yellowish-brown rather than just yellow."

Amdusias chuckled and raised his index finger.

"Now, the next question. Anger, lethargy, irritability. What are the colors of these emotions?"

"Um... red, yellow, orange."

Amdusias laughed and looked at Geon. Geon, realizing there was something off with his answer, suddenly opened his mouth wide.

"Ah, red, yellow, orange mixed into a yellow... That's the emotion of Van Gogh..."

Amdusias snapped his fingers again and clapped.

"Yes! Ha-ha, you're smarter than I thought; it's fun to teach you."

Amdusias then sat on an empty canvas and picked up a brush.

"Do you know how to mix colors?"

Geon nodded and said, "There are several ways. You can mix the paint directly, or you can brush it out on the canvas after applying the colors."

"Oh? You know quite a bit for someone who can't paint."

Geon frowned and said, "Just because I can't paint doesn't mean I hate looking at paintings."

Amdusias laughed as if amused.

"Ha-ha-ha, to make such a face in front of me. How amusing."

Geon glared at him as Amdusias laughed again and then picked up a brush and dabbed it in red paint.

"Look, the sheet music for 'Fury' has this red color with a purple border, right?"

As Amdusias drew a long red line on the canvas, Geon nodded, and Amdusias then dipped the brush in purple paint and drew another line under the red one.

"These two emotions are anger and love. Combined, they create 'ambivalence,' a complex emotion of loving yet hating. Understand?"

Geon was about to nod but then rested his chin on his hand and asked, "But red represents not only anger but also passion, temptation, vitality, revolution, assertiveness, courage, strength."

Amdusias whistled with his mouth round.

"Whew~ You've done quite a bit of research on your own. Good, very good!"

Amdusias pointed at the purple line and said, "Just like you said, red carries all these emotions. So, what about purple?"

"Love, affection, glamor, beauty, sadness, excitement."

"That's right! Very good!"

Amdusias clapped, watching Geon thoughtfully.

"So... how should I

mix these many colors of emotion to express what I want?"

Amdusias was about to clap again but turned to look at Geon.

"Pfft, even if you're smart, a human is still a human."

"What? Aren't you human?"

"No, I'm not."

"Then what are you?"

"Heh, you don't need to know."

"Ah, what is that?"

"Ha-ha-ha, anyway, let me ask you something."

"Yes, what is it?"

Amdusias approached Geon with a playful expression and asked, "Do you use colorful pencils to draw the notes when you write music scores?"

Geon slightly leaned back and frowned, "I'm not a child who scribbles. Why would I do that?"

Amdusias laughed, giggling, "Just with a black pen, right? But how come the notes in the score have colors? Why is that?"

"That’s…," Geon stammered, unable to think of an answer.

"It's different from drawing. This is just an example to help understand. The 'paint' you use when drawing a music score isn’t real paint. It’s the emotions you imagine in your mind when you draw the notes," Amdusias explained.

Geon's eyes fluttered as he bowed his head in thought. Seeing this, Amdusias nodded and smiled, then stood up and opened the door. Outside, two men standing with their arms crossed saw Amdusias. He nodded at them quietly and closed the door softly.

"I've roughly explained it, Lord Gamagin," Amdusias said.

Leaning against the wall beside the door, Gamagin crossed his arms and replied, "Hmm, I heard. One must imagine emotions as paint and draw the notes with them?"

Amdusias nodded and looked at the closed door. "The key is to focus and imagine dozens of emotions even while drawing a single note. It might be difficult to mix just two emotions at first, but with a lifetime of effort, expressing several emotions in one note could become possible."

A shorter blonde boy next to them asked, "So? How long will it take for the child to realize that?"

"I suppose not too long, considering the child's mind is better than expected, but at least a few days, right, Lord Pyemon?" Amdusias responded.

Pyemon pouted his lips and looked back at Gamagin. "Even if we adjust the time, one hour in the human world can be equivalent to a day here. As much time as it would not seem odd to others, about 8 days at most."

Gamagin nodded and straightened up against the wall. "Good. We'll stay here for 8 days. Take care of it, Amdusias."

"Yes, Lord Gamagin. It's an honor," Amdusias replied, patting him on the shoulder before walking ahead. He glanced at Niccolò Paganini playing the violin outside the window and commented, "Your tastes are quite cruel too. To have someone whose eyes are gouged out and weeping blood tears perform in the garden, I worry the child might see."

Amdusias glanced out the window and bared his teeth, "It was part of the contract."

Pyemon kicked Amdusias's buttock lightly, saying, "Why would you make such a perverted contract?"

Brushing off dust from his pants, Amdusias explained, "That fellow was desperately sought after, but he had nothing I wanted. I thought it would be nice to always have music in the garden, so I made that contract."

"So that guy has to live like that forever?"

"Hehe, until I release him, yes. But as per the contract, he must stand there forever."

"Tch, perverted demon."

"Ha, show me a demon that isn't perverted. Shall we have some tea?"

As Amdusias led them towards the kitchen, he saw Natalie bowing deeply and patted her head, "Do you want to talk to the child?"

Natalie bowed a bit more silently. Seeing Gamagin nod slowly, Amdusias spoke with a slightly brighter expression, "The child will stay here for about 8 days. Natalie, please take care of the child."

Natalie lifted her head, her face blooming with a bright smile. As Amdusias nodded and they disappeared into the dark hallway, an excited Natalie hurried to the kitchen to grab cookies and coffee, then rushed to the room where Geon was.

Catching her breath outside the room with the paintings, Natalie peeked inside. Geon was still sitting in front of the canvas, deep in thought. She quietly approached and placed the coffee and cookies beside him, waiting without disturbing his intense focus. It was three hours later when Geon finally opened his eyes. After sitting for so long, he stretched and exclaimed.

"Ugh, oh? Miss Natalie?"

Noticing Natalie standing beside him, Geon froze mid-stretch as Natalie covered her mouth and laughed, offering the still steaming coffee and cookies.

"Please have some."

"Ah, thank you! I was getting hungry, just in time. Ha-ha."

"Since you buy ice cream for me every day, this is nothing."

"Ha-ha, every day ice cre... huh?"

"Hehe, please enjoy."

As Geon tilted his head and s

ipped the coffee, Natalie pulled up a chair and sat down, asking in a soft tone, "Is Kiska doing well?"

"Yes.. um.. huh? Do you know Kiska?"

Natalie's beautiful face beamed with a bright smile.

>

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