Chapter 008
Why on earth did I say such nonsense?
The next morning, I woke up under my blankets feeling my eyes stingingly swollen for the first time in ages.
Though I called it “morning,” the sun was already high in the sky.
Knowing the stinging sunlight would harass me the moment I pulled back the covers, I stayed tucked away, organizing my thoughts.
‘If that is the reason, I shall consider it.’
After hesitating for a long time, the Count spoke to me while I was crying hideously.
He wanted to break it off too, yet he made me cry like a mess.
It’s absurd and humiliating.
To cry in front of a man who was nagging me for coming home late, only to start spewing nonsense because his victim mentality was triggered by the word “breakup.”
And while thinking of ‘that woman,’ no less.
Anyway, we decided to discuss the breakup again after the play is finished.
It was a decision clearly intended to monitor public opinion after the play is unveiled.
Just as I was thinking, That’s Arno Deintze for you, Arno clicked his tongue and pulled out a handkerchief, offering it to me.
‘Wipe your face. The maids are outside.’
‘…….’
He certainly cares a lot about appearances.
It seems he didn’t want people thinking he was the one who made me cry.
While I quickly wiped away the tears, Arno returned to his seat.
He put on his glasses and spoke while looking through documents.
‘And it seems there is a misunderstanding; I have never once thought that I didn’t want to be engaged to the Princess.’
‘……?’
‘I always thought marriage was something you do with a beautiful woman.’
What is he talking about?
‘Though not anymore.’
I’m not beautiful anymore?
Or did his views on marriage change?
Leaving behind only incomprehensible words, Arno buried himself back into his mountain of paperwork.
‘Well, thanks to that, I have several more reasons to make this play a success.’
I need the play to succeed to repay my debt to Arno, to reduce my infamy even slightly, to be of help to the future Emperor, and—most importantly—to save my own life.
And now, even the breakup depends on the success of this play.
‘To do that, I need to rub some ice on my eyes and get out to rehearsal somehow….’
It was just as I stepped out from under the blankets with that thought.
“……?”
The room was pitch black.
Is it still night?
For that to be the case, I feel far too refreshed.
I got out of bed and approached the curtains.
I could see warm sunlight peeking through the bottom.
I pulled the curtains.
Sunlight flooded my face.
A thick curtain fabric filled my hand.
Then, a voice came from behind.
“The Count ordered the existing luxury curtains to be removed and replaced with thick ones. If they are uncomfortable, shall I exchange them for new ones?”
I didn’t answer the maid.
“…….”
Instead, I stood there for a moment, feeling the coarse texture of the fabric.
Finally, I turned my head and replied to the maid.
“No.”
I let out a short laugh, got dressed, and headed downstairs.
I decided to skip the meal. Since I had slept so well, I wasn’t particularly hungry.
As I stood before the prepared carriage, Alfredo held out a pouch of silver coins.
“The Count gave this to me this morning. He said it’s for the material costs you mentioned.”
Last night, I had asked the Count to lend me a bit more money.
‘I’d like to borrow a bit more; I need it for stage props.’
Since the Count had nodded readily, I figured he would give me the money, but—.
“This is more than I expected?”
I looked at Alfredo with bewildered eyes.
No matter how I looked at it, this amount of money wasn’t for buying props—it was enough to build an entire stage.
“Did you bring the wrong….”
“No. The Count is not a man who makes mistakes. Neither am I.”
“…….”
“Shall we go together today?”
Alfredo stood by my side, deliberately putting strength into his eyes as he glared at Leo.
The way Alfredo kept checking the men around me was starting to get a little funny.
“Sure. Let’s the two of us go.”
Regardless of Alfredo’s posturing, I had a place to go with this money today.
At my answer, Leo spoke from the side as if he didn’t like it.
“What about rehearsal?”
“Wow, is rehearsal fun for you now?”
“It’s not that.”
Leo’s face flushed slightly before he returned to his crooked posture.
“I just like being with the Master. Under the guise of practice, we can do all sorts of dirty things.”
Leo gave a thin smile, and his lips lowered toward me.
‘What the—.’
Startled, I turned my face away. Leo naturally brushed my hair back and laughed.
Simultaneously, a groan of someone who couldn’t take it anymore drifted from behind.
It was Alfredo.
“How dare you! Within our Count’s very gates!”
“The mother-in-law’s nagging is scary.”
Leo chuckled and stepped back.
That arrogant brat.
Using me just to tease Alfredo.
“Then shall I try to sleep a bit more? I’m exhausted because I overexerted myself yesterday.”
“What did you overexert?!”
Ignoring Alfredo’s shouting, Leo headed back to his quarters in the annex.
It was I who had ordered his quarters to be moved to the annex.
Last night, seeing me come out of the Count’s office, Leo had whispered to me with that bright, smiling face:
‘Are you finally getting your engagement broken thanks to that messy behavior of yours?’
Then, seeing my heavily swollen eyes, he furrowed his brows.
‘What is this.’
‘What.’
‘You even cry over a man?’
For some reason, with a stiffened face, he tried to reach out and touch my eyes.
Of course, my quick reflexes slapped his hand away.
‘Just break the engagement. I can make sure the Master doesn’t starve to death on the streets.’
‘How would you manage that?’
Leo pondered my question for a moment, then spoke in a tone that didn’t sound much like a joke.
‘I’ve grown up this beautifully, haven’t I?’
‘Are you crazy?’
‘No.’
‘…….’
‘I’m valuable enough just by having grown up beautifully.’
With those words, Leo disappeared, telling me to think about it.
Of course, Leo is valuable enough just by having “grown up” beautifully.
His golden eyes prove it.
He is one who carries the blood of the Imperial family.
But the problem is this.
That crazy guy is going to kill me in a few years.
I immediately sought out a maid and ordered his quarters to be moved to the annex.
I couldn’t leave that nutcase next to my room.
I didn’t think I could sleep with my own death right next door.
Thinking that, I urged Alfredo on.
“Let’s go.”
“Where are we going?”
“Where else? To my ex-boyfriend’s tavern.”
“…What?! You’re going there again? And with our Count’s money?!”
Alfredo jumped.
Alfredo really has a personality that’s easy to tease. But there was no time to play with him further.
“Alfredo, if you don’t get in the carriage quickly, I’m leaving you behind.”
“You can’t go there alone!”
Anyway, there was so much to buy today.
Mercutio.
Tybalt.
And—.
Stage lighting.
There was so much to prepare, and time flowed relentlessly fast.
The first performance was only fifteen days away.
* * *
Fifteen days later.
Elysee, who had just turned nineteen, stood before the theater entrance with her father.
It was a rare outing with her father, who had served as a servant for generations in a famous knightly family.
Elysee herself worked as a maid in the same household.
‘A theater…!’
This was the first time in her life Elysee had entered a theater.
Theaters were primarily a past-time for nobles; commoners could hardly afford the admission.
While there were public theaters where one could enter for almost nothing, her father had forbidden her from going there because of the many rowdy drunks.
“So this is what Whitefriars looks like.”
She whispered to herself as she stepped inside.
Whitefriars.
Once called the heart of the Maecenas Principality where high-ranking nobles enjoyed sophisticated plays, this theater had been a private one.
The admission was expensive, and it was not a place where commoners like Elysee dared to enter.
The reason the father and daughter were able to enter was because the Princess, who had reopened the theater after the fall of the Principality, had drastically lowered the admission and turned it into a public space.
“The Princess seems like a good person, unlike the rumors. To let people like us see a play.”
Elysee whispered as she settled into a long bench with her father.
As the sun began to set, ushers inside the theater were lighting candles and helping the audience find their seats.
“I don’t know. Maybe she’s just trying to make money even if it means letting street thugs crawl into this historic theater. That Princess… no, she’s not a Princess anymore. That woman only knows money and men.”
Her father was being strange. Even though he was a commoner himself, he spoke as if he were dissatisfied with the creation of a theater for commoners.
But regardless of that, Elysee had heard plenty of rumors that Louisa Maecenas was a woman who only cared for money and men.
Most of the audience visiting this theater had come to see the lavish decorations throughout the building, the male actors Louisa had handpicked, and her own terrible acting.
Because of this, such conversations were being exchanged right next to her.
“The theater is more modest than I thought.”
“What does that matter? The actors appearing won’t be modest. They say they’re men Louisa picked herself.”
“What else could that Princess do besides a performance where she gropes men’s bodies?”
Well, to be honest, Elysee wasn’t uninterested in the faces of the men Louisa had chosen either.
However, she spoke while playing the part of a naive daughter as best she could.
“Still, it’s my first time seeing a play, so I’m looking forward to it, Father.”
At those words, her father—who was counting how many years it had been since he last went out with his daughter—smiled and nodded.
“Right. This is all thanks to Marquis Burbage giving us a holiday.”
Marquis Burbage.
He was the noble who employed her father and Elysee.
It was an honorable family that had produced imperial knights for generations, but under the current Emperor, not a single knight had been produced.
Rumors circulated publicly that the Marquis was being mistreated because he was a close associate of the previous Emperor.
There were also rumors that the Marquis still refused to swear an oath of loyalty to the current Emperor.
It wasn’t just rumors.
The Marquis truly did not think highly of the current Emperor.
It was then.
Once the seats were filled, the ushers announced in loud voices.
“The play is beginning. Everyone, please be seated and be quiet!”
And with those words, the ushers blew out the candles they were holding.
Fuu.
Because of the extinguished candles, the surroundings became pitch black in an instant.
“……?”
The sounds of everyone’s bewilderment could be heard.
There was only one reason.
It’s this dark?
The sun had almost completely set; at this rate, not even thirty minutes into the play, the faces of the actors on stage would be invisible.
“But Father… aren’t plays usually performed during the day?”
It was the moment Elysee whispered to her father.
Something appeared on the stage.
A circle of round light.
In the center of that circle stood an actor playing the role of a bard.
Exclamations erupted from the crowd.
“Whoa.”
The place where light as bright as day was pouring down from was above.
People’s heads naturally tilted upward.
That light was coming from round, elongated tubes attached to the roof.
Such a brilliant light.
While the people were marveling, the actor spoke.
“Two houses, both alike in dignity, in fair Verona, where we lay our scene, from ancient grudge break to new mutiny. From forth the fatal loins of these two foes, a pair of star-crossed lovers take their life; whose misadventured piteous overthrows do with their death bury their parents’ strife.”
As the actor with the grave and beautiful baritone began to speak, the audience briefly forgot their wonder at the lighting and fell into the actor’s voice.
He was an actor with a voice that commanded attention the moment he opened his mouth.
It was then.
“Now then….”
The actor extended his arms.
Simultaneously, the bright light illuminating the actor spread across the entire stage, brightening it.
The audience let out another exclamation at the stage, which had become as bright as high noon.
“First, let us introduce the youths of Verona.”
The bard actor grinned as if he had known the people would be surprised.
Then he exited.
At the same time, young male actors swarmed onto the stage.
Shouting playful lines like, ‘Mercutio, give that hat here!’
“Father…!”
Elysee called out to her father without realizing it.
Of course, she couldn’t say the rest.
‘Father, those men are… so handsome!’
