She became stuck in a weird state of bargaining and depression, and one day while rotting away in bed as usual, thinking of meticulous but impossible ideas on how to reverse Rosanna's death, Marvis stepped into her room, followed by a couple of maids.
Evelyn said nothing; her dead gaze fell on him, and Marvis couldn't stop the chill that ran down his spine. Something about such a profound gaze—one that should only be seen in an adult—appearing in a child's eyes had a morbidness he couldn't quite describe.
Marvis sighed. He had always known this child wasn't quite simple, but never would he have guessed she would freak out the Duke enough to bring him over. Apparently, the books she was digging her hands into were quite disturbing.
His tall frame arrived by her bedside, and he respectfully maintained a distance. Having to wait until a chair was brought in from outside before he could sit was really awkward, and only then did he realize how simple this child's room was.
He frowned, wasn't it a bit too simple?
"Verity," he began as soon as he sat down. The child hadn't looked at him since that first glance.
She stared listlessly at the ceiling, almost as if in silent meditation with some invisible being.
Marvis shivered. He hoped there really wasn't. He never believed in such things, but this child truly had a way of freaking people out.
He shook his thoughts off, then continued, "I have something for you."
He was soundly ignored until the next statement: "...from the young miss."
Evelyn stood up with a start, the gloom in her eyes fading into surprise and eagerness.
"Where?" she spoke, her voice shrill, with a bit of a timbre-like quality to it.
Marvis smiled, then reached into his bag and took out a medium-sized crystal.
"Can you bring out the recorder?"
Evelyn swiftly crawled to a box on her table and, unlocking it with her palm, brought out the light green and peach-colored cassette-like object.
Reflecting on how the player had evolved from its earlier dark-colored concept to this, Marvis came to a deeper understanding of how much Verity cherished Rosanna.
A crystal battery was placed in, and then the recording crystal was placed into the medium slot as Verity clicked play.
Evelyn flinched as soon as the adorable child's voice rang out.
"Verity, did you really get this message? You dummy!"
Her eyes soured before she could stop them.
"I told you, even if I'm dead, I'll always remain with you right inside your heart."
She chuckled as large teardrops freely rolled down her cheeks. Those damn stupid statements that never really did anything—but if it was from the cute little Rosa, what else could she do but believe?
"Verity, you know you always asked me about my favourite songs, and I would always shy away from saying them. It's... because they were quite silly."
Her nervousness could be heard as her voice fell into a whisper, as if reluctant to part with such great secrets.
"I actually liked children's rhymes the most. They're so silly and childish, but I liked the songs about flowers, roses, the sun, grasses, and all the beautiful things about nature.
"I also liked those goofy ones that never really made any sense but were just funny. My personal favourites are all the catchy rhymes.
"You probably didn't notice it, but the first books I brought to you when I found out you could read were filled with my favourite rhymes. I felt a bit sad when you skipped all of them...."
Evelyn cringed. She hadn't really ignored them, just brushed through them—if only she had known.
"But!" Rosanna's cheery voice continued, "My favourite song made a recent change because of you. Yes, yes, now I really like phonk. There's just something about the beat that makes me feel so alive~."
"From the making to the singing and dancing, you were right—it's addictive. I liked it so much, I'm just sad I never got to fully enjoy it."
A soft sigh escaped the young girl. "Well, you can do that for me."
Evelyn's eyes widened as her lips parted, speechless.
"Just imagine that I never left, and keep dancing and singing. You were so bright, so beautiful, so full of life. I liked you all over again. You'll only ever get this message if you were being bad and not keeping your promise. Remember?"
Rosanna's bright voice boomed louder. "You promised, Ver!"
Her voice faded as the message ended, and a heavy silence followed.
Marvis chuckled awkwardly. "Yeah, you weren't around when we recorded that. I'm not sure where you were—"
"Haha!" Evelyn's sudden laughter startled Marvis, who stared in confusion.
Why was she laughing?
No one knew why, and it didn't stop for a couple of seconds until it finally came to a halt with a wheeze.
Verity's bangs covered her eyes as a crazy smile broke through her pale face, scaring Marvis. He wasn't sure what adjective could describe how she looked at that moment—just that it was really frightening.
Evelyn burst out of bed the next moment, doing a little twirl before the steadily retreating Marvis and a group of maids who had pretty much concluded that this little street girl was a bit cuckoo.
She finally faced Marvis with a polite smile as she spoke, "I understand. May I have that as a keepsake?"
Marvis scratched his head, a bit abashed. "I'm afraid not, miss. The Duke—"
"Then," she cut him off with an even brighter smile, "can you replay it so that I can record it?"
"Ah," Marvis nodded, "of course."
The soft voice drifted into her ears once again as she began recording.
Phonk, was it? The young miss better be ready. She would do so much of it that even she, Rosa, wherever she was, couldn't help but get sick of it.
Of all the changes that happened that day, the most critical was Evelyn finally reaching the state of grief she never could in her past life—for both her parents and for the young miss simultaneously—acceptance.
And that day, as she danced all night under the moonlight with her flowing, silky nightgown, she came to a symphony of the new beginning she wanted to adopt.
From now on, she wanted to become Verity.