Chapter 96
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 96
Chapter Title: Play (6)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Elise Petra stepped off the stage. The play script she had read ended there.
The remaining scene was the ending, showing Bard—who had completed her revenge—living on as Bard once more.
─…Old memories come flooding back.
However, Duke was still on stage.
“?”
Elise looked up at him from below the stage.
A voice from the past flowed from the silver screen.
─May I ask one favor of you?
Bard’s mother, Isabel.
Her words to Duke.
─If I stay alive, my daughter will always be hunted. She’ll be caught and killed at any moment.
Isabel already knew.
That as long as she lived, her illegitimate daughter by the king would forever be pursued by the kingdom. That her life would be threatened her entire life.
That someday, she would be put to death.
That was why she pleaded with Duke.
─I offer you my neck, Your Grace. I don’t know how much value a lowly commoner’s life holds… but if it satisfies your desires, please spare my daughter.
Duke recalled that past and answered.
─I kept my promise.
The monologue that Sion Askal had hidden away, calling it a “spoiler.”
Elise watched the final scene he hadn’t told her about.
─You probably don’t know the efforts I made, Isabel.
Countless scenes flashed by on the silver screen like a montage.
The gloved hand of Duke personally offering a silver coin to young Bard begging on the street.
─At first, it was because of the promise. If that boy I spared willingly died, I’d have broken it.
Watching over Bard when he was in danger from thugs, then dispatching knights to save him.
─Next, it was just pity and sympathy.
When Bard was freezing to death on the street, Duke personally carrying her to the hospital.
─But as the days passed…
Duke had always watched over Bard.
At first for the promise, then out of pity and sympathy, but ten years changed Duke’s heart in strange ways.
─The reasons grew vague.
In the end, it was no longer pity. No longer sympathy. No longer the promise.
Duke simply watched her from afar.
Without knowing the nature of the tangled emotions in his heart.
Until the 13-year-old child became 24, and his 23-year-old self became 34.
─But… when I met that child again as a woman.
In the palace gardens, facing Bard.
─I understood. The moment our eyes met for the first time.
Duke became certain of his feelings.
─…The human heart is truly mysterious. I never knew it until now, Isabel.
Duke, who had grown up ignorant of human hearts, found himself—for reasons still unknown—
─In love with your daughter… the one I killed.
He had fallen in love.
Duke smirked self-mockingly and lit a flame in his hand. He transferred it to the corpses in the palace.
Roar──!
The bodies burned like firewood.
Now his flames would consume the palace and destroy all evidence.
─I must become a traitor.
Amid those flames, Duke’s monologue marched toward its conclusion.
─A traitor who dared to kill the king… the princes… the queen… everyone in the palace and seize it.
He didn’t want Bard to die.
He hoped Bard wouldn’t kill herself.
He prayed she would live on as Bard again.
─That is my role.
It had been his intention from beginning to end.
─Your revenge is fulfilled through me…
Duke looked at the sword embedded in his chest. A pale smile crossed his lips.
The weapon that had nearly killed Bard.
With it in him now, she couldn’t kill herself.
─…You must live.
Amid the soaring inferno and crumbling palace, Duke closed his eyes in the center. He leaned against the throne and met his death.
With that, the stage went dark.
His curtain fell, and the theater fell silent.
“Elise. Get ready. Scene change coming up!”
The main staffer playing the director pushed Elise with a delighted face.
Perhaps this staffer had been tipped off about Duke’s secret in advance.
She took a deep breath. She felt a bit burdened.
Duke had just turned the play into a one-man show.
“Go on up!”
Elise returned to the stage.
She faced the audience, every single one captivated.
For those immersed in sorrow or lingering emotion, she now had to end the play.
“My story… ends here.”
Acting as Bard, Elise shed a single tear as she thought.
The original 「Minstrel」 that Sion had chosen was a bland romance.
She had thought he stripped out the romance and added mystery and murder.
She was wrong.
“Are you crying for me?”
His 「Minstrel」 was a mystery play and a romance.
“Why would Bard cry? Even if Bard cries, it’s not crying. Don’t be fooled.”
That romance was singular: Duke’s love for Bard.
“…Everyone, please leave. My story ends here.”
After the play ended. Alone in the dressing room. Elise stared into the mirror.
The reflection of herself was beautiful.
Her skin was flawless—no blemishes, acne, blackheads, or even a single wrinkle. Smooth and porcelain-like. Her perfectly straight nose was neither too prominent nor too subtle, and her eyes—which have the greatest impact on one’s impression—needed no mention.
But above all, what Elise prided herself on was her platinum hair. Normally white-yellow, like the flesh of a lemon at a glance, it shone vividly like canary yellow in the sunlight.
The reason she often heard she was “elegant” was largely due to this hair enhancing her beautiful features.
“…”
Elise closed her eyes gently.
A moment ago, on the play stage, she had thought of Sion Askal. When she had slightly leaned into his embrace—no, draped herself over him.
That texture, that warmth, that scent were exactly the same as the “someone” who had saved her on the fourth floor of the Nightmare Hotel.
Even if her emotions resisted, her reason insisted.
Her senses backed that claim.
The one who saved her there was undoubtedly—Sion Askal.
In this quiet dressing room, the puzzle pieces slowly fell into place in Elise’s mind.
A conversation she once overheard between Yael and Sion Askal. Sion’s words about being unhappy because he didn’t match his ideal type.
His attitude as if he knew about her claustrophobia. Saving her on the fourth floor yet pretending not to know.
She opened her eyes again. The mirror was before her.
Putting all those circumstances together and looking at her own appearance, she couldn’t deny it.
He, Sion Askal…
The dressing room door burst open. “He” appeared in the corner of the mirror. Elise let out a small sigh.
“You’re still here.”
Sion spoke as if it were nothing, flatly. Elise bit her lip slightly.
“…Damn. What’s with these lenses.”
He fiddled with his eyes in the mirror. Couldn’t even remove the lenses. Was he stupid, or just nervous?
“Ow. My eyes hurt.”
Elise shook her head watching him finally remove them.
At this point, after coming this far, there was no way she didn’t know.
No way she hadn’t noticed.
“Hey. I’ve got something serious to say.”
Sion broached the topic perfectly. Elise slowly closed her eyes.
“…”
“Last time I said there was a group trying to kidnap you. That’s real. It might sound like bullshit—”
“You.”
She cut off his trivial chatter. He tilted his head at her, puzzled. His golden eyes, wet with moisture, shook quietly.
Elise jerked her chin and asked.
“Do you like me?”
“…Huh?”
His mouth half-opened. He stretched his neck forward. Tilted his head slightly. As if unsure what he’d heard.
“Wha… what?”
Elise sighed.
“Sigh. Manage your expressions a bit. You look dumb.”
“…This crazy—”
Knock knock.
Someone knocked just then. The awkward atmosphere was perfect timing. Elise quickly said.
“Come in.”
The welcome guest was Professor Beache.
“You two! I watched the entire play.”
She placed a hand on her chest, deeply moved.
“…It was so, so wonderful.”
Elise glanced at Sion. He was still dazed.
Probably because she’d struck right at the heart.
His deepest secrets, emotions he never wanted exposed, had been discovered by her—the person involved.
“At first, I was taken aback. The murder being so graphic… But it fit the theme of popularizing Latynel perfectly. The final monologue and twist from Duke were utterly beautiful.”
Professor Beache wiped tears with her finger.
“The audience lingered in the afterglow, seated for a while. As they finally made their way out, I must’ve seen hundreds muttering, ‘Maybe I should learn Latynel too?’”
Rave reviews all around.
It sounded good, but it made Elise uncomfortable. Her fingers fidgeted restlessly.
The reward for their hard work in the play could only go to one of them.
“So. I don’t think I can choose just one.”
Professor Beache pulled out two gold-embossed invitations.
“I’ll give them to both of you. Sermones Aeterini invitations require 15 years of affiliation for one, but I’m at 30 this year.”
“Ah!”
Elise’s body straightened involuntarily. As if someone had grabbed her by the hair. Her hair actually stood on end.
“Take them. Elise, Sion—you both more than deserve it.”
Elise reached out carefully, like handling treasure. Her fingertips touched the invitations. Professor Beache handed them over gladly, and Elise received them slowly, placing them against her chest.
Sion just took his.
“You worked so hard. It’s truly an honor to teach you both…”
Professor Beache suddenly cupped her face.
“Oh. Sorry. I’ll head out first.”
The emotional professor couldn’t hold back tears. Elise pretended to follow her out.
As she did, without looking back, she muttered.
“…I think I’ve made my intentions clear. Act accordingly.”
Elise hurried out of the dressing room.