Chapter 93
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 93
Chapter Title: Play (3)
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[Act 1]
Elise on stage spoke.
—Did you wait long?
It was a soft tone. A smooth enunciation that flowed effortlessly into the ears.
—I'm a bard. Sometimes I cross lines at the docks...
She'd barely said a few words, but the audience was already hooked. There was even a celebrity in the front row with a sullen, jealous expression. Jade silently pressed a finger to his temple.
—Would you like to hear my story? But a bard's tale should go in one ear and out the other. You shouldn't dwell on the details too much.
She recited her playful words to them like song lyrics, chatting with the audience as if in conversation. She approached the front row directly, asking questions, and even locked eyes with Jade.
Jade let out a hollow chuckle at her boldness.
—Stop right there!
But a man interrupted her, bursting onto the scene. The bard startled and turned toward him.
—Are you that famous bard?
—...F-Famous, you say? Well, I'm the only bard around here with a reputation.
—I am Baron Jolrang. His Majesty has expressed a desire to see your performance. This is a great honor for you, so prepare to depart...
The stage then shifted to the royal palace, where a white-haired king welcomed the bard.
—Welcome to the palace, bard. I summoned you because your melodies are said to reach even the kingdom's outskirts. Might you grace us with an entertaining show here as well?
Gathered beside the king were the other characters: the head maid, the interior minister, Baron Jolrang, the prince, and the queen.
The bard gazed at each of them in turn, reciting softly.
—I have seven bundles of tales, sire. But if you grant me permission to unfold just one story per day, I shall complete all my songs here before departing.
—Very well. Stay as long as you need.
Jade watched the play quietly.
He had no particular thoughts on it.
Sure, the quality was decent for a mana academy production, but the story itself was ordinary, and it would likely remain so. After all, the original Latynel play it was based on, The Bard, had been that way from the start.
Jade checked his wristwatch again.
Four minutes in.
He'd told the press he'd stay for thirty, but leaving earlier wouldn't hurt.
—Then, I shall begin the first song...
The bard sang a ballad. It had a musical-like rhythm. Jade's interest piqued for a moment, but as if it were just a teaser, the curtain fell, and the stage changed.
A dark corridor.
This time, the head maid appeared, clutching a note in her hand.
—Who in the world...
The head maid walked the corridor with an anxious expression.
—...Who could be spreading word of that day? I must inform Her Majesty at once.
There was a faint trace of Rae's speech pattern in the final inflection, but she pressed on with the serious dramatic performance.
───Thud thud thud!
Suddenly, footsteps echoed from the back of the audience, sweeping through the theater like surround sound.
The audience flinched in surprise, and the head maid turned to look.
Her eyes widened in horror.
Kyaaaaaaaah──!
A vivid scream shook the stage. It was a chilling wail that made the nape of one's neck prickle, but what followed was even more direct.
Squish-! Someone lunged out of nowhere and stabbed the head maid through the heart. A dagger protruded from her chest.
—Guh... gurk...
The assailant yanked out the dagger. The head maid, foaming blood at the mouth, staggered and collapsed. He gripped the dagger in reverse and slashed down hard at her neck.
Kwazzzzk—! The sound of her neck being severed.
Drip drip drip... The sound of blood pouring out.
That graphic murder scene and the blood flooding the stage were more than enough to flip the play's atmosphere on its head. Overkill, even.
"......"
Silence blanketed the theater. Jade and the other audience members were momentarily stunned.
After a brief pause, the entire stage plunged into darkness.
Was it a real murder? As the too-realistic sequence sparked worries among the crowd,
Rumble crash───!
Thunder roared, and the lights returned.
This time, a fierce rain pounded against a dark window outside.
It was a palace corridor. The head maid's head was on display, and blood scrawled words across the floor.
—...Tch.
The interior minister investigating the murder was joined by the prince, Baron Jolrang, the bard, and the others.
—What in the world... What does that writing from the killer say?
Baron Jolrang asked.
—Hm... Who knows.
The minister hemmed and hawed, tilting his head, when the bard stepped forward.
—Cardious. In Latynel, it means 'revenge.'
—Revenge? How do you know that, bard?
—I studied Latynel once.
—Hmph. Quite learned for a clown. If it's revenge, does that mean an outsider's work?
Jolrang glared. The minister nodded.
—...That seems likely.
—No.
The bard spoke up again. The others shot her dissatisfied glances.
—A storm is raging outside right now. If an intruder had come, there'd be some trace of water.
—Then what, the killer's inside the palace?! One of us?! No, wait. The murders started after you arrived, so you're the prime suspect!
Jolrang pointed dramatically. The prince's expression soured too.
—I'm just a humble bard. What reason would I have for revenge?
—...True enough.
Jolrang smacked his lips.
The minister spoke.
—...It's late. I'll have soldiers guard the scene. Wait until dawn. His Majesty is asleep.
Meaning they'd resume deductions come morning.
Everyone nodded.
As they left the stage one by one, the minister alone lingered, gazing at the slain head maid.
—Revenge...
He murmured softly, staring at the Latynel word etched in blood on the floor. Then,
Plop— something fell.
The minister turned.
Rain seeped through a suspiciously open window, and a wet note lay on the floor as if dropped through the gap.
—What...
Suspicious but approaching slowly, the minister picked up the note and unfolded it carefully.
—Isabelle... Isabelle?!
A name was written on it. As the minister's cheek twitched and he peered out the window,
Twaaaaaang──!
A crossbow bolt shattered the glass and flew in.
—...Gah!
A thick arrow embedded in his chest. Clutching it, he barely breathed—then, zing-! Another struck between his eyes.
—Cough, cough, guh...
He collapsed face-first. Blood flowed from his chest and head. Wind and rain poured through the broken window, even sprinkling the audience realistically.
...The head maid and interior minister. Both dead within ten minutes.
Twenty minutes later, another fell.
The third victim was Baron Jolrang—whom Jade had pegged as a key role, no, the outright culprit.
—B-Baron Jolrang!
Beneath the raging storm.
He lay in a gruesome, blood-soaked heap on the palace lawn.
The audience watched wide-eyed. Mouths agape like goldfish, dead silent.
It had been like this for twenty minutes. Everyone was fully immersed in the play.
"If not Jolrang, then who..."
Even Jade muttered to himself.
For someone who'd seen The Bard before, it was all the more shocking. This was 180 degrees from the version in his memory.
"...Um, Lord Jade."
But as Jade pondered the culprit and predicted the plot in his own way,
His driver approached and whispered.
"Thirty minutes..."
The promised time was up. Already?
Jade shot him an annoyed glance.
"I know."
"...Yes. What should we do?"
Of course, he'd said he'd stay thirty minutes. And he had to.
Lingering longer would spawn headlines like 'Idle Jade Wastes Time.'
This wasn't paranoia. Zahan or Jedric—knowing his temperament all too well—would spin such petty public opinion to grate on his nerves.
So he couldn't sit through the entire play.
"Not yet. Leaving now would be rude."
But rudeness was why he stayed seated.
Standing up mid-act would disrupt not just the play, but the engrossed audience too.
That violated a noble's decorum.
"After Act 1."
Luckily, plays had intermissions. A breather after Act 1, before Act 2.
"I'll leave then."
"Understood. We'll be ready for your immediate departure."
The driver quietly exited the theater.
—B-Baron Jolrang!
Behind the curtain. While other actors performed, Elise caught her breath, awaiting her cue.
"Elise, you've been killing it so far."
A staff member approached, brushing dust from her face and lint from her costume.
"Duke's up soon."
Duke.
The key character entering in the final five minutes of Act 1.
The most precarious moment for the flawless stage.
"Don't panic. Just think of him as Miller and keep going. If you lead well, Sion can manage somewhat. We made his visuals pretty convincing."
Elise nodded at the staff's words, relaxing her tense body as much as possible.
"On soon. Get ready."
—The baron's dead too. I can't stand it anymore. Drag everyone out except Father and Mother. Right now. That's an order from the prince!
Right on cue, the prince delivered his line.
"Now. Bard, go!"
With the staff's signal, Elise returned to the stage.
One step, and she was in the rainy lawn, facing the 2,300-seat audience opposite.
"Here comes the bard."
Beneath the downpour, the prince narrowed his eyes at her. Elise, back in character, approached him.
"You called for me, Your Highness?"
"Yes. Can you see?"
The prince pointed at Baron Jolrang's corpse. The bard clasped trembling hands to her chest. The prince's lips curled smugly.
"...The baron's dead too. Now, tell us one of your beloved deduction tales."
The prince sneered.
"Your Highness!"
Suddenly, his servant rushed up and whispered—loud enough for the audience to hear.
"Duke has arrived."
"...The Duke?"
With that line, an eerie background score swelled through the theater.
Thud—!
An ominous shadow settled at the stage's edge, drawing all eyes.
Slowly emerging from the dim distance, the noble made his debut.
"Yes, that bastard Duke was here too..."
The prince's words froze as he looked. Elise turned and widened her eyes.
It was Sion Askal. But different from before.
His shaggy blond hair was neatly styled up, trimmed brows softening his features. His golden eyes gleamed sharper—contacts, perhaps—and the tailored dark noble uniform exuded a strange aura.
He didn't look like Sion Askal.
Instead, he perfectly matched the 'dangerous image' of the duke Elise had unconsciously pictured while reading the script.
"D-Duke... Duke. You were here too. No, where the hell have you been until now?"
The prince flubbed several lines in shock, but it passed as ad-lib.
The duke was a character even the prince feared, after all.
"......"
Silent, he scanned the bard, the prince, and the extras on stage before striding to center.
Gazing at the gruesomely slain Baron Jolrang, he twisted his lips.
A sneer.