Unable to Uphold a Single Conviction

Elliot's father was an extremely strict man, the sort who would slap him across the face without a second thought if he ever talked back. But his younger brother, Elliot's uncle, was gentle and kind.

Elliot had never once seen his uncle get angry.

So Elliot was more attached to his uncle than to his father, and he often went to visit him at home.

His uncle was good at chess and loved music. He was the one who taught Elliot how to play chess. His uncle was always kind, but he never went easy on Elliot at chess.

When Elliot had only just started learning the violin, he would play for his uncle the pieces he'd been taught before playing them for his father.

If Elliot stumbled over even one note, his father would scold him and make him start over from the beginning. But his uncle would listen to the very end with a smile, then applaud and praise him lavishly when he finished.

'Elliot, there’ll be a grand festival in Lanfield the year you turn ten. Let’s go together. I’ll buy you a new violin while we’re there.'

Elliot eagerly practiced the violin in anticipation of that promise, but it was never kept.

One day, Elliot went to his uncle’s house with his violin case in hand. There he found his uncle’s lifeless body, hanging by the neck from the ceiling.

His uncle had killed himself because his wife and a man he had trusted as his right-hand man had betrayed him...