<CHAPTER 90>
“Berik Ortensa.”
Berik Ortensa, who had been peeking around the back door of the theater while breathing out white puffs of air, jumped in shock and dropped the bundle he had been holding dearly in his arms before he could even react.
The owner of the gloomy voice was, of course, Dianu Ortensa.
She quickly strode toward her younger brother, who stiffly turned his head.
It was fortunate that it was winter and she was not carrying a parasol.
If she had been holding anything in her hand, she might have rushed at Berik and beaten him soundly the moment she saw him.
“Come here right now.”
“S-Sister, why are you here…?”
“Right now. Come. Here.”
Berik looked back and forth between the theater’s back door, which had not yet opened, and his sister, whose face looked like a demon’s.
Dianu did not give Berik any time to hesitate further.
Overwhelmed by her terrifying presence as she closed the distance in an instant, Berik covered his mouth and hiccupped.
Dianu threatened him, packing her words with anger rising from deep within her core.
“Classes shouldn’t be over for a long time yet, so what are you doing in a place like this?”
“Sister, that is…”
“Don’t even think about lying.”
“I already checked at the school.”
“They said you are on the verge of failing geometry, didn’t they?”
“……”
“Do you have no thought at all for Father, who is still worrying about your tuition even now?”
As Dianu advanced step by step toward Berik, who was slowly backing away, something caught at her feet with a dull thud.
It was the very bundle Berik had dropped in surprise when he noticed her.
Is it a gift for some actress he has been chasing around?
It was obvious that he had been offering all sorts of things in addition to the cosmetics she had picked out for him before.
Otherwise, why would an actress performing in such a large theater agree to meet a fledgling like Berik?
With an irritated hand, she picked up the item at her feet.
However, the object Berik had been holding so carefully was not a bouquet, nor perfume, nor sweet candy.
The neatly stacked papers bound together with a leather string were… a script.
At first, she thought it was a book, but when she opened it, she saw neatly handwritten lines filled with dialogue and stage directions.
All of it was in Berik’s handwriting.
Before Dianu could say anything, Berik snatched the bundle of papers from her hands.
Defiance was clearly written on his still youthful face.
“Did you investigate me behind my back?”
“…What?”
“Then you already know how serious I am!”
“No matter what you say, I won’t quit!”
“……”
“Madam Nina said I have talent!”
“She said it could definitely be put on stage!”
What in the world was he talking about?
The script in her hand, full of traces of passion, the so-called Madam Nina, and her younger brother, red-faced and half shouting, were all utterly baffling.
Seeing that Berik was about to continue protesting, Dianu cut in first.
“You weren’t… meeting an actress from the troupe, were you?”
Berik frowned.
“Meeting her?”
“I thought you were in a romantic relationship with that Madam Nina person…”
Berik’s face turned pale with shock.
He glanced rapidly around, and only after confirming that no one was listening did he snap back irritably.
“Madam Nina is nearly seventy years old!”
“Huh…?”
“No, more importantly, what kind of misunderstanding is this?”
“Madam Nina is the head of this theater troupe!”
Berik seemed to gain courage from the sight of Dianu standing there in speechless astonishment.
Even with his shoulders hunched, he declared resolutely.
“I came here to sell my work.”
As she looked at her younger brother glaring while clutching the script dearly, Dianu thought blankly.
“I’m going to quit school and become a playwright.”
She would have preferred it if this had been a problem involving women instead.
* * *
When Dianu trudged back to the Oak Palace, a palace attendant from the Imperial Palace was waiting in the reception room.
He held a letter from Rision Catalos e Catalos in his hand.
My Dianu.
When you return from your outing, please come to my palace.
It has been a while since we last dined together, and I would also like to hear how matters with young Berik turned out.
I will not bring up any uncomfortable topics, so please do not worry.
– Rision Catalos e Catalos.
As Dianu stared blankly at the letter, Cora approached her carefully.
As if she had already been informed by the attendant, she was holding a more formal dress than usual in her arms.
“I’ll help you change, Lady Dianu.”
“……”
“I think this one would be nice among the new dresses you had made, what do you think?”
The tailor Elpenlira had carefully measured Dianu’s body and produced all sorts of new clothes, not just the dress she had worn when meeting Ravelan Arasas.
There were blouses similar to her everyday wear but made with far finer fabric and tailoring, dresses for walks, dresses for tea time, and even riding clothes she would never have occasion to wear.
The red dress Cora was holding was one of them.
She felt like pulling the blanket over her head and crying right then and there, but she did not want to refuse Rision’s invitation.
After all, was it not thanks to him that she had learned about what Berik was plotting?
Dianu let out a sigh and entrusted her body to Cora’s hands.
* * *
The place the attendant led Dianu to was not the Imperial Palace dining hall, but the orangery she was also familiar with.
She felt Rision’s consideration even in the choice of location, which only made her feel more uncomfortable.
The master of the orangery greeted Dianu with one hand resting on the back of the chair she would sit in.
“It has been a long time since we last dined together here.”
“Yes…”
“You look very beautiful today.”
“Your Majesty always says that.”
“What can I do when it is true?”
As they exchanged light banter, it almost felt like they had returned to the atmosphere from before the topic of marriage proposals had arisen.
However, Dianu could not bring herself to smile.
The meal had already been prepared.
Serving all the dishes in advance was not the Catalos style, but in this orangery, the two of them always dined this way.
It was to minimize the attendants coming and going.
Rision quietly watched Dianu listlessly poke at the venison roasted with generous spices and asked carefully.
“Did you have a good talk with your younger brother?”
Her appetite had long since vanished.
Looking down at the plate she had barely emptied enough to maintain propriety, Dianu replied.
“It wasn’t a woman problem.”
Rision looked puzzled.
With a sigh, Dianu explained everything she had forced out of Berik.
That after watching the charity play held on the feast day of St. Lusanna, he had begun to dream of writing stage plays himself.
That he had saved his meager allowance to frequent the theater.
And that Madam Nina, who had taken notice of him, had read his practice pieces and offered words of encouragement.
“I helped him choose something because he said he had a gift to give a woman, but it turned out he was using it as a bribe for that Madam Nina, the head of the troupe.”
“To ask her to put his script on stage.”
It felt as though she had poured out every ounce of energy she had while talking with Berik.
Dianu looked up weakly at the silent Rision.
“No matter how unremarkable our family may be, Berik is still a gentleman’s son.”
“……”
“If it becomes known that the heir did not even properly graduate from school and is wandering around the theater district, our family will become a laughingstock.”
From the start, there were only a handful of professions a gentleman of Catalos could choose, and ‘playwright’ was not one of them.
A wealthy gentleman writing poetry to read aloud in salons as a form of cultivation might be acceptable, but stage plays were considered vulgar and unsophisticated.
Her father, who had taken lifelong pride in being from a modest yet impeccable and refined household, would surely be deeply shocked.
I thought I would be the one to disappoint him…
Between his daughter becoming the Emperor’s lover and his son becoming a playwright, which would her father find more shameful?
Dianu did not know.
“This is my fault.”
“I was too busy thinking about myself and failed to properly look after Berik…”
“……”
“But I never imagined he would be doing something like this.”
“I knew he liked reading, but theater…”
The weight of her first love alone was enough to crush her, and now even her only younger brother was causing trouble.
For Dianu, who had lived a simple and peaceful life, everything was far beyond what she could bear.
“Dianu.”
At the gentle call, Dianu reluctantly lifted her head.
A kindly outstretched hand took hold of her hand, which had been lying carelessly on the table.
Rision spoke in a slow voice.
“Lira once told me this.”
“She said I try to take responsibility for everything in the world by myself.”
“She asked why I do not rely on others a little more.”
His voice, like that of someone soothing a child, was sweet.
It was enough to create the illusion that everything would be all right if she simply followed his words.
“Ask me for help, Dianu.”
“……”
“That is fine too.”
“Allow me to help.”
By the time Dianu came to her senses, she had already nodded.
Rision smiled faintly and rang the bell to have dessert brought in.
He never let go of Dianu’s hand in the end.
