Chapter 26
She said something to me.
The interpreter, who had rushed over hurriedly beside her, translated her words for me.
“…Uh, Actress Kishian says that as an apology for the rudeness just now, she’d like to grant one wish for Miss Yudi, whatever you desire.”
At the interpreter’s words, my mouth fell open.
Whoa, no way. What kind of day is this?
If anything, I felt grateful to the host who had tried to remove my robe earlier.
“R-Really?”
“Yes. Please tell us.”
Th-Then…!
Actually, ever since right after the performance ended, there had been one desire surging up inside me.
I mustered the courage to voice the dark desire I’d been hiding deep down.
“Th-That final scene from the performance earlier…! Could you reenact the confession to the male lead just once…?”
When I saw Kishian confessing to the male lead on the ferry, I had wished desperately. That the male lead could be me.
I watched the interpreter with my hands clasped together as if in prayer. He nodded and began relaying something to Kishian.
Please…!
Finally, he turned back to me with a smile.
“She says it’s possible.”
Jackpot, really? No, for luck like this to come to me…!
I suppressed the urge to let out a cheer, calming my excited breathing as much as I could.
The unni approached me closely and, without any warning, grabbed my hand and led me toward the ferry.
“Uh, uh…?”
Soon, all the lights on the stage went out.
I looked around with a bewildered expression, but everyone who had been on stage had already gone down.
The host’s voice rang out.
“Actress Kishian will reenact the final scene once more. Everyone, please welcome her with enthusiastic applause!”
I had only expected her to perform roughly on stage, so I couldn’t help but be flustered.
‘Ah, no. It’s this elaborate?’
It was while I was blankly staring at Kishian across from me, having unwittingly climbed onto the ferry.
The surroundings fell silent in an instant, and spotlights illuminated me and Kishian.
And so, the stage began once again.
Kishian extended her hand toward me, her blue eyes filled entirely with me, and started singing.
Before I could even think of anything else, I was once again entranced by the beautiful melody and voice.
Gradually, the background blurred except for her.
“Wow…”
Under the intense lights shining down, Kishian sparkled brilliantly. Her softly curving eyes and lips filled my vision completely.
As the song slowly approached its end, with only the final line remaining.
Originally, it was the scene where Kishian would take my hand and kiss the back of it.
However, she stepped one foot closer to me.
Kishian’s eyes met mine up close as she lowered her head. Her pupils shone clear like beautiful sapphires.
Unni, this seems way too close…!
Kishian’s face began drawing nearer to mine.
Her lips lightly brushed my cheek and pulled away.
At that soft, supple sensation, my eyes widened hugely.
‘…Uh, uh. Huh? J-Just now…!’
While my eyes shook back and forth in confusion, cheers laced with envy erupted from the audience.
Only when all the lights came on over the stage, which had been shrouded in darkness, did I realize what had happened to me. I covered my cheek with my hand and stared at her.
‘Oh my god…’
To receive fan service like this. I felt like I could die today with no regrets.
“That concludes it! Once again, a big round of applause and cheers for Actress Kishian, who showed us a wonderful performance!”
Kishian approached me from the front, removing her microphone device with one hand. Then, she whispered in my ear.
“You’re more oblivious than I thought. You’re really cute. That’s why I like you.”
C-Cute…? What did I just hear?
No, more than that, unni, you can speak the imperial language…?
“Your cheeks are so soft and warm, just like our Becky. I want to keep you…”
“Euuung. U-Unni…?”
My pronunciation was completely mangled as my cheeks were stretched long like sticky rice cakes on both sides. Kishian let out a short laugh at the sight and turned her head away from me, gazing intently somewhere.
“But I guess not right now.”
“Huh?”
Finally, the unni who had been touching my cheeks fully let go. I felt a pang of regret without even realizing it.
Kishian straightened up and smiled with her eyes curving.
“Then, see you later. Don’t forget what you said. Yudi.”
Waving her fingers lightly in farewell, unni left the stage just like that.
I stared blankly at her retreating figure, as if it were a mirage vanishing.
Only after the stage fully ended, the curtain came down, and people started leaving one by one did I belatedly snap back to reality.
Wondering if it was a dream, I slapped my cheeks with both hands, but a stinging pain confirmed it.
That means it was all real…!
“…Wh-What is this.”
Uh, unni called me cute…!
And she definitely said she wanted to keep me.
I clutched my bright red cheeks with both hands and shook my head vigorously.
Uwaah. What is all this!
For a moment, I pounded my legs with my fists in excitement, but then the puzzling parts came to mind.
“…But what is Becky? And why not right now?”
Kishian’s pronunciation was perfect, but there were awkward parts in her sentences. Because of that, I couldn’t fully understand what she meant…
“Eh, what’s the big deal!”
It’s natural for a foreigner not to be fluent in the imperial language, right? I quickly shook my head and brushed it off as I thought about it.
The important thing is that unni called me Yudi.
I was thrilled at the fact that I had one more person to fangirl over.
I’ll have a lot to do starting tomorrow.
First, starting with finding out which team Kishian unni is in, I planned to look up all her performances and schedules.
If I have time left, I should learn Pakian too. It was such a shame not to understand unni’s words directly.
Or, taking a trip to the Pakian Kingdom would be great too!
My mind was filled with nothing but happy days ahead.
Yes, yes, fangirling is supposed to be this happy. With two people I like, the fangirling and the happiness are both doubled.
The world looks so beautiful. Right now, even if someone picked a fight with me, I feel like I could forgive them all.
Having made all my plans, I began exploring the rest of the festival I hadn’t seen yet, with a face full of satisfaction.
“Wait, that’s…!”
Spotting something in the distance, I dashed over there.
“Enjoy your meal!”
“Thank you.”
The first thing I bought was none other than chicken skewers. I’d always wanted to try these chicken skewers that appear in rofan novels.
As I bit into one, the sweet barbecue sauce and tender chicken spread throughout my mouth. My eyes widened.
‘Mmm, this is way too delicious…!’
The combination was one that couldn’t possibly be bad, but it tasted even better than expected.
Starting with the chicken skewers, I began ticking off the things I’d wanted to try for a while. Sausages, cotton candy, bananas covered in heaps of chocolate, and so on. Just as my stomach was starting to fill up, I spotted a shooting gallery. The numerous dolls on display as prizes caught my eye.
‘Shooting, huh… It’s been a while; should I give it a try?’
As I lingered in front of the shooting gallery, the owner uncle approached me first and spoke.
“Miss, you wanna try? Tsk, it’s pretty hard. You’ll need time to get the hang of it. How about buying ten rounds at once? I’ll give you a discount.”
The uncle started persuading me in a tone like he was being especially generous. It was obvious he saw me as an easy mark who couldn’t do it.
