Chapter 26

Chapter 26

Becoming an actress was not my choice, but the stage was the only place of rest I had at the time.

Because only there was I not some worthless bastard whose father was unknown, but a princess, a noblewoman, and a precious person who received someone’s one and only, radiant love. Moreover, I was a Madonna loved by every member of the audience watching the stage.

‘Let’s see just how impressive Herona’s great actors are.’

They were certainly much more talented and professional than I was, but I vowed not to disparage my own past and took the hand of Arthur, who was escorting me.

The title of the play was <Deep Blue Rapids>.

To summarize its content, it was the story of a man and woman who fell into a passionate love, grew apart because of their respective circumstances and misunderstandings, and continued to yearn for each other even afterward.

And Dolores Hamilton, who was suspected of being Ash’s mother, was apparently playing the middle-aged female protagonist, sitting on one side of the stage throughout the play and reciting the narration.

In other words, the play unfolding at the center of the stage was a flashback to her past.

‘This kind of composition is refreshing, too. Even middle-aged or elderly actors can take on leading roles.’

I was thinking that and nodding when I heard the conversation of the men sitting in the seats behind us.

“I heard this was a production made because ‘Dolly’ kicked up a fuss?”

“She insisted on taking the lead role?”

“Exactly. That old woman who has nothing left to show is trying to milk it for all it’s worth somehow.”

“Talk about greedy. Or is she not getting any more money from Count McCallen? Hahaha!”

It was someone else’s business, but hearing it made me uncomfortable.

‘What do they know that they can chatter about someone else like that?’

Would they curse like that even after coming to see a play starring an old male actor?

If she was ambitious about the stage, she had every right to make a fuss and say she wanted to do it. She was Dolores Hamilton, after all!

Her ambition would open the way for actresses of future generations. It would show that even a woman who had grown old and wrinkled could still shine on the stage.

I was fuming inwardly when, at that moment, the lights inside the theater went out and the play began.

“There are times in life when you are swept away by something unexpectedly. Even if you did not want it, you are irresistibly swept along…… and end up unable to return ever again.”

On the dark stage, Dolores Hamilton, sitting on an old chair, continued her monologue under a spotlight.

It was a theater designed so that sound would carry loudly, but even taking that into account, her vocal projection was extraordinary, and her diction was astonishingly clear.

Above all, she was so beautiful that the disparaging remarks of the men in the back seemed ridiculous.

‘If anything, that might be why it feels even more awkward. It would have been better if they had made her look a little older and applied makeup that conveyed more regret.’

I became immersed in the play, imagining what it would have been like if I were in that position.

Then, at some point, Arthur’s hand overlapped mine.

‘Huh?’

I discreetly turned my gaze away, trying not to show how surprised I was.

Arthur had been looking at the stage with an expressionless face, but perhaps he sensed my gaze, because he turned his head toward me. Then he merely gave me a slight smile.

‘It seemed like he would come around, but he’s coming around so well that all my worries feel completely pointless.’

I chuckled and turned my gaze back to the stage.

This date seemed to be a huge success.

‘I should send an invitation to Ash McCallen’s wedding, too. It seems I’m going to marry this man thanks to him, after all.’

To think I would end up indebted to someone who had always made me uncomfortable. As expected, you really never know what lies ahead in life.

***

After greeting the VIP-seat audience and returning to the dressing room, Dolores controlled the anger quietly boiling inside her while the makeup artists removed her hair ornaments.

‘How dare they make a fool of me?’

When she had given Ash the VIP invitations to distribute, what she had wanted was, at the very least, an audience from a family equal to or higher than the McCallen count’s family.

But today, several guests who fell far short of her standards were sitting in those precious seats.

It might have been the theater company that sent them, but for some reason, Dolores had a feeling that it was Ash’s doing. Her son had been becoming more and more rebellious with each passing day.

‘Just what are you dissatisfied with? I put you in a seat everyone else envies! If you had lived as a commoner, you would have been nothing, and yet you don’t even appreciate what I’ve done for you……!’

Whenever she thought of her son looking at her with cold eyes, she felt as though her insides were turning upside down.

Of course, Ash had been an accident.

Neither she nor Count McCallen had wanted a child to be born between them.

She had been terrified that the count might leave her because of it, but fortunately, his affection was strong enough for him to put his illegitimate son on his family register.

From then on, Dolores decided to actively make use of Ash.

“I don’t intend to suddenly burden a countess who is still raising young children. I’ll raise Ash until he turns eight.”

Of course, it was not something she was doing for the countess, whom she could not even stand to look at.

She intended to imprint herself as a mother on young Ash, so that even after he entered the count’s household, he would be unable to refuse her requests or orders.

For the first few years after sending the child to the mansion, everything went smoothly.

Thinking that he could see his mother and receive her praise, Ash somehow managed to do whatever she asked.

He was to obtain information about the count’s household, such as the parties Count McCallen attended, the countess’s new dresses, the businesses they had recently become involved in, conflicts within the family, and frequent visitors.

Thanks to that, she could frequently encounter Count McCallen and maintain his affection while receiving a generous allowance, and she could also sell the information about the count’s household to those who were curious about it at a high price.

It was January of the year Ash turned fifteen when the increasingly quiet and expressionless Ash made a bombshell declaration.

“Don’t make me do things like this anymore. From now on, I won’t be able to do anything for you.”

Ash, whose expression had been stiff from the moment they met, spoke firmly with a look in his eyes she had never seen before.

At that moment, rather than being flustered, she was angry.

“What? You live in luxury in a grand noble’s mansion, and you’re saying you’ll even ignore your lonely mother’s little request? I never raised you to be such a selfish child.”

“I suppose not. You never raised me in the first place.”

Ash, who had been so cold, asked with a strange expression.

“Have you…… ever loved me?”

“Of course! What mother wouldn’t love the child she carried and gave birth to!”

“Then you must remember the day you sent me into Count McCallen’s household, too, right? It was such a painful day when you had to forcibly separate yourself from your beloved son.”

Dolores could not answer.

She remembered that it had been winter, but she could not recall the exact date at all.

When she fumbled for an answer and then lectured him not to test a mother’s love over such trivial things, his face crumpled as though he were about to cry.

“It was my birthday. It was quite a good day to abandon your beloved son.”

“Ash, that was just a coincidence! Your father chose the date, so I had no choice but to……!”

“Stop lying. I’m tired of listening to you pretend you don’t know when you know everything.”

With those words, Ash turned and walked away.

After that, she heard that her son had suddenly volunteered for military service.

She was angry that he had enlisted without even consulting her, and she was anxious that he might die on the battlefield.

Then, just as suddenly as his enlistment, Ash was discharged and returned with the face of a man who had grown considerably, only to unexpectedly become a police officer.

From then on, he did not even reply to her letters, but when Dolores, unable to let go of her goose that laid golden eggs, put on a show by going directly to his workplace, the problem was resolved.

‘You young, immature brat. No matter how hard you try, you’ll never be able to escape me.’

Every noble in Herona knew whose son Ash McCallen was.

“Ouch!”

At that moment, a sharp pain brought her thoughts to a halt. The makeup artist had pulled out a few strands of her hair while removing a bobby pin.

“Oh! Did that hurt? I’m sorry.”

The makeup artist apologized, but Dolores glared at her fiercely and slapped her across the cheek.

“Can’t you do it properly?”

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”

Hearing the commotion, the director approached with a frown. Thinking that the timing was perfect, she complained in a sulky voice.

“Director! Instead of this novice, assign Cecile or Derek as my personal makeup artist!”

But his reaction was different from what she had expected.

“Dolly, enough! If that girl quits, I won’t hire you another personal makeup artist, whether it’s Cecile or anyone else!”

“What? Can’t I even make a request like that? Who do you think made this theater company famous?”

“Do you really think it’s all because of you? There’s a limit to how arrogant you can be. Tsk.”

Watching the director walk away with an unpleasant expression, Dolores clenched her teeth.

She could no longer live while enduring such humiliation.

‘No matter what happens, I’ll retire next year.’

To live as comfortably as she did now even after retirement, she needed much more money than she currently had, and to make that kind of money, she needed Ash.

She had lost a year and a half of the golden period of her life as an actress because of her pregnancy and childbirth, so wasn’t her son obligated to take responsibility for that much?