Chapter – 11
I was a bit flustered by a more sincere-than-usual attempt at seduction.
‘Won’t you please like me?’
Anyone hearing that would think he was genuinely yearning for affection.
But this seduction had only one goal.
To make me let my guard down, ensure his own safety, watch for an opportunity to return to the imperial capital, and get revenge for his father.
Watching Romeo’s face, set on revenge against Tybalt, I became certain.
‘That’s the face of the protagonist I knew.’
The eyes filled with vengeance I saw on the cover.
I had almost forgotten.
The fact that the slave I bought was a ruthless monarch who, upon ascending the throne, purged all of his uncles, aunts, and cousins.
And that wasn’t all.
The people who sold him to the slave traders when he was cast out of the imperial capital, the people who bought him as a slave, like Rudy, Louisa, and so on.
He burned them all alive, leaving not a single bone to be recovered.
Of course, after finishing his revenge, he did experience a bit of emptiness, but his hollow heart is healed by the female protagonist.
With her beautiful looks and kind words.
‘Was the heroine’s name Elena Burbage?’
She is the adopted daughter of the Burbage Marquis family, who tirelessly searched for the protagonist during the ten years he was missing, and possesses an innocent, frail beauty.
Of course, according to the original story, he won’t meet the Burbage family until about a year and a half from now, so it’s not yet time to worry about it.
But the two will eventually end up together.
Whether in the original story, or in the now ‘adapted’ present because of me.
Because it’s advantageous for Leo Fear.
The Burbage Marquis family becomes the Emperor’s solid backing, and Elena is the good person who protects the protagonist from mental collapse.
At first, the protagonist rejects Elena’s love.
‘A suitable match for the young lady must be out there. Someone younger and prettier than me. I will look for one myself.’
Having been worn down from meeting dirty, ugly people for ten years, Leo pushes her away forcefully.
Of course, Elena, with her candy-like, spirited personality, isn’t hurt by Leo’s rejection but rather lingers around him even more, and Leo eventually falls for her.
So, this transparent attempt at seduction is false.
“If you’re going for the curtain call, you should leave now.”
I irritably retorted and got up from the crate. Then, Leo grinned.
As if he knew I would.
This bastard, he’s figured me out.
He’s realized I dislike ‘contact’.
No wonder his seduction attempts are getting bolder.
He’s discerned that the reason I don’t lay a finger on the slaves I buy is because I dislike skin contact.
My dislike for skin contact was largely due to Shin Sung-hyun.
That bastard laid his hands on me multiple times.
For me—no, for Shin Grim—’contact’ was always violence.
It was an experience where contact always left red marks, dirty wounds, and humiliation and shame were carved into my body as scars.
But now, I’m not Shin Grim, I’m Louisa Messena.
Louisa Messena.
The empire’s greatest villainess.
I no longer have any reason to be tormented by a half-brother who tried so hard to bring me down out of jealousy.
I can do any play I want, perform in musicals, become famous, and do even dirtier things.
Right.
I am free.
“Juliet! We want to see your face!”
“Mercutio, look this way and smile for us!”
I could hear the crowd cheering outside.
The people who laughed and cried as I wanted them to.
The people who all wept in unison when Juliet died.
That was the reason I overacted.
Because the audience completely liberated me.
I stopped walking towards the stage, feeling a tingling sensation in my fingertips.
“You asked me before why I didn’t really kiss him, right?”
He had asked me that before.
As if he was dissatisfied with using various directorial tricks to avoid the kiss.
I turned around.
And looked straight at Leo from behind the curtain.
His golden eyes were twinkling.
“Yeah. If we had really kissed, we surely could have immersed ourselves more. Even now, it’s sufficiently…”
Leo hesitated uncharacteristically.
“…immersive, but.”
It was the moment he unconsciously looked down at his own hand.
I grabbed Leo’s chin.
Leo looked up at me, seemingly surprised.
The first contact in this world.
‘You dirty illegitimate bitch.’
Shin Sung-hyun’s voice echoed vividly in my ears.
Although it was always Shin Sung-hyun who grabbed my chin like that, there was one time I also touched that bastard’s Adam’s apple.
I had secretly been attending a boxing gym near my house.
I deliberately threw a few fake punches to gauge the distance, and when I felt he had let his guard down, I landed a straight punch.
Thwack!
“……!”
I brought my lips to Leo’s as if crashing into them.
His hot lips were squished messily against mine.
As I pulled away the curtain I was holding, I could hear the people’s cheers.
“Waaaah~!”
“They’re kissing!”
An intense sense of elation filled my body.
The audience’s joy was transmitted to me.
The day I first laid a hand on Shin Sung-hyun’s body.
The day I cleaned his clock.
I was scolded severely by the madam and couldn’t sleep all night.
It wasn’t because it hurt.
It was because I was happy.
Because I was so delighted.
I pulled my lips away. I saw Leo’s face, stained with shame and humiliation.
Looking at his furrowed brows, contorted in displeasure, I laughed.
“This is why I said we couldn’t do the kiss, slave. Because you’re such a greenhorn who can’t even hide a single emotion.”
I didn’t care how ugly and villainous my smiling face looked right now.
At least in this moment, I was perfect on stage.
I smiled even more brightly.
Countless people were applauding me.
Not a single person left; everyone was enjoying the curtain call.
Leo Fear’s face, which I thought would contort even more unpleasantly upon seeing my bright smile, had somehow stiffened.
As if he was flustered.
As if he was overwhelmed by seeing something incredibly beautiful.
Then, Leo wrapped his arm around my waist. He pressed his lower body firmly against mine as he approached.
Our faces drew closer.
The pupils in Leo’s golden eyes, seen from extremely up close, had narrowed like a snake’s.
“Foolish Master. This isn’t a kiss.”
Leo whispered briefly, then pressed his mouth to mine.
He parted my lips and his tongue entered.
I almost struggled reflexively, but instead of doing that, I closed my eyes.
‘You crazy bastard.’
Well, honestly, I don’t know myself either.
Arnaud Diencée was sitting in the second-floor balcony seat.
Below on the first floor, about 200 audience members were cheering.
‘Ah, but don’t worry. The play will definitely be a success. So, we will absolutely get our annulment, Count.’
That’s right.
This play was unconditionally a success.
Lady Louisa’s words were never a lie.
From the second-floor balcony, he periodically observed the reactions of the audience below.
The numerous people who sniffled during the sad parts of the two main characters’ story, and who unconsciously craned their necks during the battle scenes.
The response was enthusiastic.
The people who came out of curiosity about the antics of the notorious villainess had all fallen into the love story.
When he read the script, he honestly just thought the lady was unexpectedly good at writing.
Some of the expressions were surprising, and he found it impressive how she crafted a more plausible story than expected.
But frankly, he thought the content was closer to a noble young lady’s romance fantasy.
After all, noble young ladies always fall for sad love stories and want to play the tragic heroine.
Of course, when he heard that Louisa also dreamed of such love, he felt strange.
‘I wished for Paris Count to be as happy as Juliet.’
When he heard those words, his heart beat strangely fast.
Just like the day he, foolishly, felt his heart race upon seeing the lady for the first time.
The day ten-year-old Arnaud Diencée, a young boy mocked in social circles as a street urchin upstart, dared to covet the lady who shone like a star in the sky.
But now, over a decade had passed since then, and during that time, Arnaud had believed that this wicked lady possessed not a single ounce of genuine emotion.
She was a person filled only with desire.
She wanted expensive jewels, flashy shoes, handsome men!
It seemed absurd that she, who seemed filled only with such thoughts, would dream of love.
How ridiculous.
But that wasn’t so bad either.
After all, the Count had paid a high price to buy the theater.
Even if the notorious villainess spouted nonsense about how she too dreamed of love, people would surely come to see it.
Perhaps… he could even understand her a little bit.
At least regarding love, she too was just a child.
After all, even Arnaud Diencée had started to think that way a little.
The Count also knew well that despite toying with so many men, Louisa had never properly laid a hand on any of them.
Louisa merely kept those men by her side as decorations, like jewels or shoes.
And perhaps… nine-year-old Louisa Messena.
He came to understand, through Louisa’s tears, that the Messena lady, called the star of social circles, might have been a little lonely too.
So, if she were to make that much of an excuse for herself, it wouldn’t be so bad.
It wouldn’t negatively impact Diencée’s business either.
That’s what he thought—but.
‘This wasn’t a love story.’
He saw things that weren’t apparent in the script at all.
Romeo and Juliet, who seemed like just innocent young boy and girl, became rebellious new generation figures defying the established older generation.
The family feud wasn’t just a device to create star-crossed lovers, but was depicted as a wall that the new era’s protagonists had to break down.
Among them, Juliet was especially remarkably sharp-tongued and remarkably pure.
There were moments when resentment towards her parents and hatred towards the world burst forth like a torrent.
He felt pathetic for having wondered how the worn-down Louisa could possibly portray a 14-year-old girl suffering from first love’s fever.
Watching that performance, the Count realized.
The reason Juliet loved Romeo.
She wanted to love the man who could most thoroughly spite the damned Capulets.
If it hadn’t been Romeo, but anyone from the Montague family, she could have loved them.
No matter how wonderful Count Paris was, she could never have loved him.
The moment Arnaud realized that, he felt an inexplicable thrill.
I could never love you.
In front of a performance that was tantamount to such a declaration, he felt a thrilling sensation for some reason.
It wasn’t just because he expected this play to turn the theater purchase profitable.
To think that Louisa Messena was that kind of woman.
To think that she was my first love.
For the first time, that love, which had always been nothing but shameful, felt like a shining moment.
You were right.
‘You’ve made a profitable deal, pretty one.’
“This engagement was a profitable deal for me.”
Though not anymore.
Now that she had made the play this successful, there was no reason for him to refuse the annulment she so desperately wanted.
This profitable deal was over.
Thinking that, Arnaud placed his monocle into his jacket pocket and stood up. Or rather, he tried to stand up.
Until Juliet appeared amidst the cheers.
Until the two people who came out for the curtain call performed a kiss they never did in the play.
“Wooaah!”
The stage heated up, and Arnaud’s face stiffened.
Arnaud bolted up from his seat and went to the railing.
The two faces that had briefly parted met again. Watching the passionate kiss, Arnaud gripped the railing tightly.
As if he would crush it any moment.
That’s right. He had momentarily forgotten.
This crazy woman is Louisa Messena.
This empire’s greatest villainess.
Annulment? What annulment?
He had to tie this woman to his side by any means necessary and make her pay back all the money she had spent so lavishly.
He spoke to Alfredo, who was waiting behind him.
“Collect all the money Lady Louisa has spent so far. Prepare a debt repayment statement immediately.”
“Yes?”
“And…”
Arnaud looked down at the flustered lady and the slave with eyes brimming with desire below the railing, and continued.
“Increase the investment in theater facilities. Double, no, triple the current amount. Shouldn’t we prepare a way for her to repay her debts?”
