——While Julien was performing. Before the final act.
Backstage.
Clank—!
Sparks flew as a sword met against another. Swiftly twirling his sword against another’s, Leon twisted it down and brought his fist forward, hitting his opponent right in the face.
Bang!
“Ukh!”
He followed up his attack with another.
With a swift and decisive blow, his opponent fell down face flat against the ground.
Thump!
“Huuu.”
Taking a deep breath, Leon looked around. There were a total of four people lying down on the ground unconscious.
Wearing knight uniforms, they were part of the actors that were supposed to show up on stage. He had been waiting for them at the back, in an area where the staff couldn’t see.
At the same time, he made sure to use as little mana as possible when fighting against his opponents.
Given the powerful individuals sitting in the theater, he knew that his actions would alert them.
For that reason, he held himself back to a certain degree. Thankfully, he was a knight and he could fight without mana.
It was for that reason that he was able to suppress them.
“Where are they?”
“Where did they go?”
In the distance, he could hear the frantic voices of the staff as they looked for the remaining members of the knight groups.
“Weren’t they just here? What happened?”
“Agh…!”
In the end, they ended up sending the remaining knights to the stage where Julien was.
“…..You should be able to take care of the rest.”
They weren’t particularly strong.
At least, they shouldn’t prove to be much of a struggle for Julien.
And he was proven right.
“…..”
Coming out of the room after he made sure that they had all been properly taken care of, Leon headed backstage to stare at Julien’s performance.
It was hard to describe.
The brutality and madness of his gaze carved itself in his mind and the minds of all spectators.
It was a chilling sight.
One that closely reminded him of a certain past.
Staring at the scene, a figure overlapped Julien’s and his lips pursed as he mumbled something inaudible.
Cli Clank—
The stage turned dark, and the scene ended.
In the brief interlude, the background started to fade as the relic used to project the background shifted towards the next scene.
Glancing around, Leon headed towards where the bodies lay and placed a small salt over their nose, jolting them awake.
“Uh!? Ah, what’s going…”
As expected, the moment they were jolted awake, they acted as if they didn’t understand what was going on.
“Akh, this…!”
“Ah!”
Their faces twisted as the pain from the stabs sunk in, and as Leon glanced around to see the staff quickly clean the ‘fake’ blood, he covered their mouths and beckoned them to follow him.
“Follow me.”
Thankfully, because of Julien’s performance, none of the staff thought weirdly of their actions.
They were all too busy setting up the next scene and attending Julien.
In the meantime, they treated their ‘shock’ as something that came with Julien’s overwhelming performance.
Plus…
Given the unapproachable aura that Leon was giving off, none dared to go near him.
It was for this list of reasons that Leon was able to get them to follow him without anyone suspecting a thing. But even if they did, Leon didn’t particularly care.
The higher-ups were most probably already aware of the fact that something had happened.
It was for that reason that he didn’t put much effort into hiding the fact that something had gone wrong.
The only reason he helped them out was because he needed to closely monitor them.
In case they lost their minds again, he’d be ready to act before they’d be able to do anything.
Looking back, and seeing that they were still confused, he nudged them with his chin.
“Follow me, I’ll bring you to treat your wounds.”
***
Following Azarias’s death, the play continued.
It turned out that Emily, the baker’s daughter was actually an illegitimate member of the royal family, and her death had caused several chains of events to start.
It was a fact that Joseph came to learn too late as he was suddenly entangled in a large set of conspiracies.
The story was filled with intricate twists and turns that would normally capture the audience’s attention.
However…
[You may persecute me as guilty, but here I stand, in all my glory, declaring my innocence!]
Nobody could truly focus on the play.
In the back of their mind, the previous performance continued to replay within their mind. From his gaze to the last scene. All their minds could think of was about Azarias’s last act.
To the point where the colors before them started to feel uncomfortable.
They just… Seemed out of place.
This continued until the end of the play where it took several seconds for the audience to notice. What followed was a modest round of applause.
Clap. Clap. Clap—
As the claps went on and people snapped out from the performance, only then did the genuine claps burst forth and discussions began.
“Wow…”
“That was insane.”
Several of the audience members found themselves hugging their arms as they talked about the performance.
It was thrilling and mesmerizing.
From the plot twists to the storyline. Everything was perfect. But even then, a certain performance took it to the next level.
“Chills. I still feel chills.”
It was Julien’s performance.
He had taken over the minds of all the spectators.
[Let’s welcome our lead actor, Darius Johns who plays the role of Joseph.]
Within the claps, a crisp voice echoed through. It was the voice of the organizer who started to introduce the actors.
Clap. Clap. Clap—
Stepping up onto the stage, Darius was welcomed by a warm wave of applause.
“Amazing!”
“Well done—!”
[Next up, let’s welcome our lead actress, Odette Ripley who plays the role of Amelia Wilnie.]
Clap. Clap. Clap—
“You were amazing!”
“I love you, Odette!”
“Your acting was phenomenal. I’ll continue to follow you until the end!”
The claps continued as one actor after another entered the stage. One by one they entered the stage and bowed with smiles on their face.
To the actors, such a scene was something that they had grown used to. However, to the cadets who had played the ‘extra’ roles, the scene felt overwhelming.
Especially for Aoife who stepped up on stage and heard the thunderous applause that was directed towards her.
“Amazing!”
“You were great!”
“You killed it!”
Taking in the praise, Aoife found herself struggling to keep herself from showing any emotion. Clenching her fists, she felt her heart prick with a certain emotion.
All of a sudden, she thought back to all her efforts over the past week.
How she had reduced her sleep, and the constant headaches she had to ignore just to perfect her role.
Seeing the looks of the audience, Aoife felt that it was all worth it.
That her efforts had been worth it.
And then…
[Next up, let’s welcome our next actor. Playing the role of Azarias, let’s welcome Julien Evenus.]
“….”
The moment his name was called out, the claps stopped and the stage fell silent.
Tok—
Shattering the silence was his calm step as Julien’s figure emerged from behind the stage.
At that moment, all eyes fell on him.
He was different from the man from before.
The madness that he contained before was long gone, and what replaced it was a stoic and detached look that seemed fitting to that of a high-ranking noble.
The difference was to the point where the audience was starting to question whether they saw the same person.
Within the silence, whispers started to spread.
“Are they really the same person…?”
“Why does he seem so different?”
Such stark contrast in demenour threw a lot of the audience members off. All but a certain few who knew him.
“….”
Staring at him from her seat, Delilah didn’t say anything.
Gradually, her eyes closed and her lips pulled up.
“Not bad.”
Truly.
Not a bad performance.
And in that moment, the claps returned.
Clap! Clap! Clap—!
The audience erupted in applause as they centered their attention on the calm man at the heart of the theater who took the applause for granted.
Almost as if he knew they belonged to him.
“You were amazing!”
“I can’t believe I’ve got to witness something like this!”
One by one, the members of the audience stood up and the applause intensified. At the center of it all, Julien looked around and lowered his head as if to express his gratitude.
“Amazing!”
“Great…!”
The applause was overwhelming, surpassing that which any other actor had received.
“….Wow.”
Standing in the middle of the stage, Aoife looked at the audience. She could tell that the applause was directed towards Julien.
That all of this was because of him…
And in that moment, staring at the man who was standing beside her, she raised her hand and followed the audience.
Clap. Clap—
Because she too had been captured by his acting as the audience had.
Even in her jealousy, Aoife had to admit.
He was great.
***
“Huuu.”
Coming back to my dressing room, I sat down exhausted and took a deep breath. Recalling the claps from the audience, I felt like smiling.
It felt gratifying to see that so many people had appreciated my performance.
It was unfortunate that I couldn’t quite enjoy the feeling for too long.
“Ah….”
I clenched my chest as I took another deep breath.
It wasn’t as if I was exhausted, but the emotional toll that the skill had taken over my mind wasn’t something that I could get rid of quite easily.
“Huh… Huh…”
Even now, my chest trembled as I tried to rid myself of the ecstasy that I was feeling.
It was hard, but I was still in control.
Most of it was because I was able to run rampant on the stage.
If not for that, my struggle would’ve been worse.
In the midst of my recovery, my mind couldn’t help but wonder about the feelings that I was currently experiencing.
“Joy… Joy… Ecstasy. Excitement.”
I found myself repeating the same words over and over again.
“Joy… Ecstasy… Excitement.”
It felt as if I was on the verge of grasping something important about my powers. A breakthrough.
“When I think about it, even though what I felt were ecstasy and excitement, my experience increased for ‘joy’.”
What did that mean?
What was joy? It wasn’t simply happiness. There was more to it, and it became apparent to me after reading Alexander’s mind.
‘The same must be true for the other emotions.’
There were six basic human emotions.
Love, fear, anger, joy, sadness, surprise.
However, when thinking carefully, there existed a further classification.
More fundamental ones that branched from the six main ones.
“Anger, wrath, fury…”
I found myself immersed in my thoughts as I suddenly felt a more concrete direction to head with my emotive magic.
An idea suddenly entered my mind.
“What if instead of making someone just sad, I can target something more concrete? Maybe like…”
I paused before muttering,
“….Guilt?”
I opened my eyes wide at the realization.
“Wait, this can work.”
If I were to delve more deeply into this, then I was sure I could further deepen the power of my Emotive Magic.
“Yes, this can—”
To Tok—
Halting all thoughts, I turned to look at the door with a frown.
Who could it be?
I wasn’t expecting any guests.
‘Perhaps, it’s Leon?’
I had still not heard from him yet. The last time I had seen him was just before the last act, right as he led the ‘knights’ away from the stage.
“Haaa.”
Either way, I stood up and opened the door, expecting a familiar set of gray eyes to greet me.
“….”
But contrary to my expectations, what greeted my sight was an unfamiliar pair of yellow eyes.
My heart dropped.
Looking up slightly, a calm voice echoed out.
“….It’s nice to see that you’re doing fine, Phecda.”