The Perfect Knight and the Illusionist (BL)

MARIUS

Janice’s voice filled the lodge.

It started as a whisper, quiet musings of mundane thoughts, frivolous matters of daily life.

We sat around the fireplace and listened, some with our eyes closed, and some unable to take their eyes off Janice, like Skylark.

The whispers, which had almost felt like mere spoken words, grew more melodic, as if a baby deer with cautious first steps had learned to skip and prance.

Skylark’s eyes twinkled, a smile broke out on his face, and his lips parted.

When the tune slowed down to a mellow passage, his eyes softened, and when it picked up tempo and galloped, he clenched and pumped his fists. He raised his hand in the air as the melody hit a high note, standing up, and slowly sat down again as the voice descended.

And when the song was finished, the final rhyme complete and the last note lingering in the air, Skylark closed his eyes and sank into his seat.

Dimitri erupted in cheer, Thomas whistled, and Beatrice and Isabelle clapped, but Skylark sat on his chair, unmoving.

Janice smiled, bowed to everyone, and sat down too, but Skylark remained still. We exchanged glances and nods.

We knew—we knew better than to speak as the boy kept his eyes shut and his lips sealed.

He then finally opened his eyes and said,

"Thank you, everyone."

None of us said anything, but everything felt just right.

Until Skylark broke the silence, clapping his hands and saying,

"Now, let’s hear Marius sing!"

"Wait, I—" I tried to immediately refuse, but everyone already started to cheer for me.

I had always been a bad singer. It’s not that my voice was horrible. Far from it. I had often been commended for my perfect control of tone and pacing when I gave speeches. But as soon as I tried to sing—everything fell apart. Especially going after Janice, I was going to sound unbearable to everyone.

"Please, you guys don’t understand how horrible my singing is. I think I should spare everyone from having to hear me sing!" I tried to reason.

"Try us!" Skylark said.

"Now that REALLY makes me want to hear it," Thomas said with a chuckle.

"Come on, Marius. Don’t be shy. You are a man of confidence!" Dimitri encouraged me.

I looked over at the ladies for help, but they too were keen to hear me sing.

I really had to put a stop to this now.

"Look, I—"

Then I saw Skylark’s face.

He was looking at me with such a joyous expression, his eyes full of anticipation, that I just couldn’t bear the thought of rejecting him, for denying him felt crueler than disappointing him with a bad performance.

"I can’t believe I’m doing this..."

The group erupted in cheer, sensing that I had given up refusing.

I cleared my throat, took a deep breath, cleared my throat again a few times, and started to sing a popular marching song I had learned at the junior swordsmanship training guild.

Even before I had sung three notes, Thomas let out his first burst of laughter, which he quickly stopped by covering his mouth with both hands as Isabelle poked him in the side, though she herself was also covering her mouth.

I was being laughed at, thoroughly made fun of.

I stuttered once, then saw Skylark, who was trying his best to get some sort of steady rhythm going for me by clapping. I looked over at Janice, and she was moving her hand in the air as if she were a conductor, as if that’d help me hit the notes like I could hit a flying bird with an arrow.

Of course, it didn’t quite work like that, but I decided to persevere. I continued to sing, becoming more self-conscious every time my words landed on the wrong beat, and my voice wobbled wildly, producing sounds that I wasn’t used to hearing from my own mouth.

Dimitri raised both his hands in the air and swayed from side to side, and everyone followed. Ridiculously, I thought that might help me get into the right rhythm too, so I also raised my hands and swayed my body from side to side. Beatrice, who had been quiet till now, also started to giggle. Janice was still trying to direct me, but Skylark could no longer clap because he was holding his stomach, which seemed to be hurting from laughing too hard.

Inexplicably, at this height of humiliation, my heart felt warm, and laughter escaped from my chest too between the notes. I didn’t quite feel myself, and as if something came over me, I sang louder and bolder.

It was total chaos. The complete opposite of Janice’s singing. Nothing was in tune or on beat, and it was as far from "beautiful" as it could be. But everyone was happy, cheering, clapping, Dimitri standing up and breaking into a ridiculous dance, Skylark sliding off his seat from laughing too hard, with tears in his eyes.

When I finished, finally, the applause I received—it felt more welcoming than any I had ever received in my entire life despite the countless perfect speeches I had delivered in public, the most recent one being that time at the entrance ceremony where I first noticed this boy, Skylark—

The one with shy eyes, pale skin, and messy blond hair—

The one who shivered, trembled, and broke down in the storm—

He was now on the floor, looking up at the ceiling, trying to catch his breath, his chest heaving up and down as if it was struggling to contain the growing happiness within.

Unprompted, unplanned, I walked up to him.

I bent down a little and offered him my hand to grab—to help him get up.

Skylark looked at me, smiled, and took my hand.

As I pulled him up, he jumped to his feet and threw himself into my chest, hugging me tight.

"Thank you, Marius. That was the worst singing I’ve ever heard!" he said.

I didn’t quite hug him back, but I didn’t pull away either. Instead, I just said,

"You are welcome, Leo."

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