Chapter 002
People kept calling me by this name: Luisa Mecenat.
I had definitely heard that name before.
‘In the novel.’
In the fantasy novel I was offered to adapt, there were countless villains who plagued the male protagonist. Among them, the most infamous was Luisa Mecenat.
She was the sole legitimate heir of Mecenat, the empire’s most illustrious ducal family. In modern terms, she would be a spoiled heiress. Exposed to endless art and luxury from a young age, even after her family’s bankruptcy, she refused to moderate her lifestyle, instead indulging in gambling, drinking, and extravagant spending.
Her deepest obsession was men—specifically, handsome men. She was utterly infatuated with and hunted for beautiful things, just as she collected designer clothes and high-end jewelry. This obsession led her to fixate on the handsome male protagonist, eventually sinking to the point of kidnapping and imprisoning him. She was ultimately executed in the streets by the protagonist, who later rose to become the Emperor.
‘All beautiful things are mine!’
Wasn’t that her last line?
In essence, she was a terrifyingly possessive psychopath.
Consequently, her fiancé was selected as Count Arnaud Dience, a man quite famous in the Empire for his sharp, striking good looks.
Arnaud Dience. Pure white hair and purple eyes. An illustration of mild arrogance.
“Louisa.”
Now, the illustration was speaking directly before my eyes, looking straight at me.
“Did you truly claim you wanted to buy the theatre to preserve the former Duke’s legacy? Or did you—”
This man.
He is the head of the empire’s wealthiest merchant family, a cold-blooded businessman who only invests in profitable ventures. This pragmatism led him to accept the engagement to the notoriously unpleasant Luisa, believing it would be a beneficial family project. Although rich, the Dience family’s reputation was poor (with rumors that they even bought their title). Marrying into a Dukedom with long history and tradition would have been advantageous.
However, since the Mecenat family was now bankrupt, his investment had failed. In short, he was her fiancé, and since the Dukedom’s collapse, he had been grudgingly forced to protect the infamous Luisa.
To a man like this… what should I say now?
This man had even covered the cost for me when I impulsively bought the theatre by raising the sign earlier.
“Did you simply act on impulse? Louisa. A theatre is not something you purchase on a whim, like buying a dress or a hat.”
It was perfectly understandable that he spoke with such a weary expression.
I had grasped the current situation within an hour of realizing I had transmigrated into a novel.
The Auction of the Ducal Heritage.
This was one of Princess Luisa’s brief, infamous wicked deeds detailed in the novel. With the ruin of the Mecenat Dukedom, Princess Luisa, desperate for luxury money, gathered the bondholders and sold off the entirety of the Dukedom’s inheritance at auction. This included centuries-old historical relics and even her grandfather’s personal diary entrusted to her.
In short, this madwoman sold off her family’s belongings at a public auction, as if she had been waiting for the family to collapse. The creditors, also seemingly waiting, greedily snapped up the cheaply sold relics. Following this incident, Luisa’s reputation plummeted. Previously, her wickedness was dismissed as youthful immaturity, but now she was viewed as a genuine villain who had deliberately fragmented cultural heritage for foreign buyers.
‘Of course, I don’t entirely fault her motivation.’
Honestly, if I needed instant cash, I’d want to sell unnecessary items too. A centuries-old sword or a grandfather’s diary wouldn’t pay the bills.
But there is a time and a place for everything. She shouldn’t have chosen the worst possible method—a public auction—to liquidate the Dukedom’s inheritance immediately after the death of her grandfather, the former Duke.
Due to this vile act, she was abandoned by the Count who was looking after her. The Count, who had been her last defense, did nothing when she was later executed in the street.
‘Such a dreadful end is unacceptable.’
I’m furious that the picturesque life I knew—filled with high-end phones, air purifiers, designer clothes, and bags—has been replaced by this antiquated fantasy world. Now I’m expected to be executed on the streets?
Absolutely not.
Time to use your head, Shingeum. No, Luisa Mecenat.
‘From now on, I will play Luisa.’
It is no exaggeration to say that if film is the art of editing, theatre is the art of the actor. Therefore, directing a play naturally required extensive knowledge of acting. I realized this early on, taking more than the required acting classes while studying theatre in New York. Thanks to this, I even received a casting offer for a small role after filming a movie as a supporting actor just for the fun of it.
‘Because I was skilled not only at acting but at wearing a mask.’
I had objectively assessed my face then. Thanks to my actress mother’s genes, my face was aesthetically pleasing, but it lacked the distinctive character required for an actor to portray a wide range of images.
My biological mother once told me this when I was very young:
‘You’re pretty like me, but there are times when it’s impossible to tell what’s going on inside. Actors can’t be like that. You should look mysterious, but your inner self must still be visible. You’re like an emotionless doll.’
A doll. That’s ironic. I became a doll thanks to someone else.
In truth, even if my face had been suitable, Shin Seong-hyeon would have tried to ruin me had I become an actress.
But Luisa Mecenat is different.
This woman… ‘is uniquely beautiful.’
The setting established her as both the most wicked and the most beautiful woman in the Empire. Moreover, judging by the face reflected in the carriage window, her mask is excellent. A perfect mask that fits the image of a ‘bad girl’—she looks haughty and arrogant even when expressionless, and if she showed anger, she would look like a lunatic ready to start a fire.
This is an actor’s face.
I decided to use this actor’s image to be arrogant.
“Will you believe anything I say?” I delivered my line, staring out the carriage window with a resigned expression.
“……”
Arnaud Dience was speechless. I didn’t need to look to know. He must have looked like he thought I was spouting nonsense again.
“When I was young, I used to go to the theatre, holding my grandfather’s hand.”
That never happened.
Hmm… I did go with my mother once. It was a play performed by her college classmates. We sat side-by-side in an old theatre, incomparable to the blockbuster movie sets my mother usually filmed. My mother, always conscious of the public gaze, removed her sunglasses and hat and sat next to me. As the lights dimmed, my mother whispered softly in my ear:
‘Scared?’
‘Yes.’
‘I’ll hold your hand. You’ll forget the fear soon enough. Because you’ll fall in love with the play.’
With those words, my mother held my hand, and the stage lights came up. In that moment, I forgot what fear was.
“It was a memory that’s hard to forget.” I spoke, my voice steeped in reminiscence, recalling those warm hands.
In reality, this was merely the acting technique called emotional memory—the goal is to induce immersion by recalling similar, authentic emotions. I was definitely not missing her. I am Shingeum, the one who feels no such emotion.
“If I told you that, even after selling everything my family owned, I still have something precious, would you believe me?”
With those words, I turned my head and looked at Arnaud. The moment I looked at him with the calmest gaze possible,
“……!”
I could sense my fiancé’s emotions, just as I could sense the audience’s feelings in a theatre.
Should I believe this? Or not? That must be his internal struggle.
Good actors intuitively sense how they are perceived by those around them. That’s why the actor controls everything from their fingertips to their toes. Even if the empire’s worst villain suddenly changed her mind and started acting like a good person, it wouldn’t be convincing.
In short, the original script has already been released. From now on, I have to compensate with directing. To live as a villain, but not to die as one.
Anyway, I cannot change the fact that I died and entered this cursed web novel, nor the fact that Louisa ran the auction. But a small adaptation would be fine.
“I will repay the money somehow.”
“……” Arnaud’s face tightened slightly.
“I don’t want to assign a monetary value to my memories.”
It worked. My acting paid off.
Just then, the carriage stopped. I got out without looking at Arnaud as much as possible. The moment my feet touched the ground, I thought:
‘The problem is figuring out how to repay the money.’
Damn it.
“Do you really intend to refurbish the theatre?”
The auction that caused an uproar across the empire was over. Louisa, the unparalleled wicked woman, sold off all her family’s possessions like a cheap merchant even before her grandfather’s body was cold. Everyone cursed Luisa, and among them were naturally the Count’s servants.
‘Our poor Count. How did he end up stuck with a woman who had a vile personality and whose family is completely ruined!’
‘Now that the Mecenat Dukedom is ruined, he will naturally break off the engagement, won’t he, Alfredo? After all, the Count is very thorough about these matters.’
‘Everyone, be discreet. If you dare to criticize the Count’s actions, you will be instantly dismissed.’
He said this in front of the maids, of course, but Butler Alfredo harbored similar thoughts.
‘The Count will break off the engagement.’
Due to the auction incident, the Princess had betrayed the honour of the Mecenat Dukedom. Now, even if the Count abandoned the Princess, no one could fault the Dience family for betraying loyalty to the Mecenat Dukedom. The Princess was the first to betray Mecenat. The Count, who was utterly cool-headed and calculating, had no reason to tolerate Luisa any longer. If Alfredo knew his Master, he would have kicked her out into the street immediately.
However—
“Very well. We will respect the Princess’s wishes as much as possible, redecorating the auditorium, rebuilding the stage, and finding actors.”
Not only did he not break off the engagement, but he was having the concert hall—which the Princess impulsively repurchased at the auction where she sold her own items—refurbished? Alfredo couldn’t readily understand his master’s intentions.
No way… did the Count have feelings for Luisa?
Luisa, who started every morning by slapping her maid’s face?
‘Could he possibly have that kind of taste?!’
While Alfredo was reeling in shock, the Count placed his teacup down. Rattling.
The black tea in the teacup was a product the Count had recently imported from another continent, which was proving to be a huge success. While the Count lacked cultural insight, he possessed a sharp business acumen. He inherited the Dience bloodline.
A cold-blooded businessman.
Ruthless and uncultured. He was well aware of the modifiers attached to the name Dience. In truth, he didn’t care whether those terms followed him as long as he made money, but sometimes, such qualifiers got in the way of his business.
‘I need to clean up my image, then.’
Thinking this, he began to plot his next venture in his mind.
