episode_0440

The play Leon and Julia, which was scheduled to be canceled, was restarted with me playing the role of Julia.

To summarize the content of the play, it is more than 80% similar to Romeo and Juliet. However, considering that most of the audience were nobles and students of the academy, some things, including the ending, were changed.

If it had been as it was, it would have been just a play by extras who had nothing to do with me, so I could have just ignored it, but Penelope’s pure love for a man touched my heart.

It stimulated my heart even more because it was an extra’s pure love that I had never seen before in the original game.

‘Other than that… Princess Raini caught my eye a little bit.’

First of all, since Bow’s injury was an accident that did not occur in the original game, it was likely an incident that occurred because Lydia or Princess Raini were present.

In other words, Princess Raini must have felt some guilt in this situation. It was certain that just because her expression didn’t change and she didn’t speak, it didn’t mean she didn’t feel emotions.

As I said before, it wouldn’t hurt to be friends with Princess Raini. After her unique ability was released, she would only attend the academy for about a year at most, but that was enough time to use Princess Raini’s good luck.

‘Perhaps the way to gain wealth that Lizzie mentioned was to become friends with Princess Raini.’

I don’t 100% trust Lizzie’s horoscope, but she’s the one who can handle the witch’s astrology, so she can’t be completely off.

Anyway, for those various reasons, I ended up taking on the role of Penelope’s Julia. Of course, since I was taking on the role of Julia, my counterpart had to be Ethan.

… Just like Penelope, I didn’t think I could possibly whisper sweet nothings to a man other than Ethan.

“So the woman I just met is the eldest daughter of the McCoy family?”

“Yes, Master Leon.”

“Huh, I see. Fate really is a tricky thing.”

Even though he was cast in the role of Leon in a hurry because of me, Ethan reads his lines along with the other actors without showing any sign of displeasure.

Even though he looked like that, he was pretty smart, so I wasn’t particularly worried. To begin with, being ranked 2nd in the swordsmanship club wasn’t really an achievement that could be achieved just by swinging a sword well.

… If we really have to be picky, I guess it’s more of a crisis for me.

“Fire-legged horse, hurry and run fast before the night ends. Don’t let the groom or anyone else notice that I’ve disappeared from McCoy’s mansion before the night is over. The night is the stage of love, so if I can meet Leon even for a moment under the moonlight, I… .”

“… … .”

“I, I… so… .”

“’You can be saved by offering your pure heart on the altar.’ Yes, Miss Lilith.”

“… Sorry.”

As the main female protagonist of the piece, I had to somehow cram all of Julia’s long and dirty lines into my head, even just for one monologue.

Although Penelope gave up the role of Julia, she didn’t give up on the play itself, so I memorized the lines carefully and they came to my mind quickly, but it was still difficult.

When I first showed the play to the members of the theater troupe that I would replace Julia, it was only because it was Julia’s most famous line that I remembered it, but it was virtually impossible to memorize all the lines of the entire play within an hour.

“Julia’s lines are a bit long, right? You don’t have to copy them exactly, so take your time, Miss Lilith.”

“… Yes, Miss Penelope.”

“I also made a lot of mistakes when I first learned the play. It took me a month to memorize all the lines for this play, Leon and Julia. Don’t worry, I and the rest of the theater troupe know that it’s impossible for Lilith to memorize all the lines in an hour.”

“… … .”

… I feel a little sorry.

Although I had volunteered to play Julia for Penelope, I was beginning to feel that I might be causing her trouble.

The Leon and Julia play doesn’t end today, but continues tomorrow and the day after, so if I messed up today’s play, it might affect the plays on other dates as well.

However, Penelope comforted me, saying that I didn’t need to worry about that at all, and that I kept getting my lines wrong.

“Acting is confidence, Miss Lilith. Even if you say the wrong line, it doesn’t matter. If you can appeal to the emotion of the moment, it doesn’t matter if the line changes.”

“Yes… .”

“Anyway, everyone other than Lilith Yang and Ethan has been preparing for this play for a long time, so they can easily fix some mistakes. Saying the wrong line, or not exiting at the right time. Those kinds of things can all be naturally corrected by other people on set.

The most dangerous thing is to just stand there blankly without saying a line or acting. Just be careful about that, Miss Lilith. ”

“… Thank you, Miss Penelope.”

… Yeah, it’ll work out somehow.

I just did my best as much as I said I would do. I was more confident than anyone else in being able to drive things forward from the start.

Ethan and I continued reading the script until the end with that mindset firmly engraved in our hearts.

“Leon, will you grant me my last request?”

“Yes, Julia. Anything you ask.”

“The petticoat of my dress, the second pocket from the left of that petticoat, inside that pocket, in a small pocket, there is a glass bottle smaller than a fingernail, but larger than a finger… .”

“No, Miss Release. It’s a ‘glass bottle smaller than a finger, larger than a nail.’”

“… … Sorry.”

Sigh, really. All I can do is pray that I can somehow get through this safely without any mistakes.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

After an hour of script reading, the audience began to slowly enter the auditorium.

My heart began to pound a little in that strangely tense atmosphere.

“… hoo, hoo, hoo… .”

Calm down, calm down. Just do what you normally do.

I had almost all of the lines memorized, so as long as I didn’t make any mistakes, no, even if I did, I just had to push through with all my might like Penelope had said.

Since the other members of the theater troupe said they would be able to take care of any minor mistakes anyway, let’s just think about it as somehow getting into the mood.

“The unscrupulous things that pollute the peace of the city. Do you really need to dye your swords with blood on a day like today, Hatfield?”

“You’re worse than beasts. If you hadn’t been harassing Bolsario at the banquet, would we have drawn our swords like this? How long are you going to hold the old man’s stale grudge buried in the grave, McCoy?”

“Grudge! I think there’s some misunderstanding, Hatfield. Was his name Bolsario? I just told him because the poor guy kept nagging at our Julia. McCoy is a flower on the cliff that doesn’t fit in with him.”

“That vulgar girl must have been tempting men with her lewd clothes again. She should have been guarded well. These days, even prostitutes rank themselves among themselves, and they always include her. I heard she works so hard that she never misses first place!”

“You fucking Hatfield guys! How dare you mock Julia like that?! Yes, today I will wipe out your family and put Hatfield’s head on every street corner instead of a pole!”

-Chaeng! Chaeng! Chaeng!

The acting and fighting between supporting actors on stage.

It wasn’t a scene where they were just pretending to exchange swords like in a play, but a scene where they were actually practicing swordsmanship. Of course, since it was a play, it wasn’t a serious fight, but rather a scene where they were exchanging swords according to a script that had been written in advance.

Since all of the supporting actors in the play are students of the Luminor Academy, they were seen using the knowledge they learned at the academy even in the battle scenes during the play.

‘I guess it’s fortunate that there aren’t any battle scenes that I can relate to.’

If I had to match the sum of the combat drills within a short period of time, it would have been virtually impossible to memorize the script in time.

Now that the swords had been exchanged and the fighting between the two sides had reached a lull, it was Ethan’s turn to appear.

“I’ll go first, … Julia.”

“… Yes, Leon.”

Ethan and I greet each other by calling each other by our roles just in case we get our names wrong.

Ethan, who had said hello and gone out onto the stage, began to mediate the fight between the Hatfield and McCoy families.

“Stop! What kind of disgrace is this in broad daylight!”

“Leon! I told you not to come out!”

“Did you drag all the adults out in broad daylight to fight this meaningless fight, Uncle Beast! How long are we going to shed blood like this for no reason!”

“Get out of Hatfield! If you don’t get away from him right now, I’ll hang your head at the entrance to town!”

-Chaeng, chaeng, chaeng!

Ethan exchanges several sword fights with a man who runs at him with a sword while giving a theatrical tone dialogue, and Ethan drops his sword to mediate the fight without showing any blood.

Even though he knew it was acting, he still acted under the spotlight and it was pretty cool. And seeing him match the combat sparring rhythm in that short amount of time made me think that talent is indeed talent.

“Release Yang, isn’t now the time to just sit back and watch?”

“… Sorry.”

I came to my senses at Penelope’s words from behind me and listened to the script again, reciting the first line in my head.

Since we couldn’t stop the play that had already started, we had no choice but to do our best.