“Quickly! Quickly bring over that case of dye! No, not the golden white! I need pure white!”
In the Weissenasche Theater’s dressing room. Since early morning, Sir Weissenasche has been acting very busy with his servants.
During these few hours, Sir Weissenasche had wasted countless dyes. His face was covered in so much makeup it could be used to paint an entire painting. Never has he been more dignified than today.[1]
Even in his youth when he took tests in Farucci’s Institute of Art, he would not be this dignified.
The reason for that was because today was his ‘audition’ day. Joshua’s next movie will begin filming in Squirrel Street’s hotel Black Dove. As a pre-selected actor, he was invited to take the audition by Joshua.
The location for the audition would be the residence of the Grand Duchess of Blackwood. Sir Weissenasche heard that the audition’s location was decided by the Grand Duchess of Blackwood herself. In other words, the Grand Duchess will also participate in the audition herself.
Ever since ‘Beauty and the Demon’ began screening, Sir Weissenasche has been looking forward to the day where he would become an actor in a movie. Finally, his dream would be realized today.
“Quickly! We don’t have any more time! Get on the carriage! We’re going to the Grand Duchess of Blackwood’s residence!”
After putting on a face of makeup that satisfied him, Sir Weissenasche immediately ran out of his theater and yelled at his servant who was in charge of driving the horse carriage.
Joshua had scheduled the audition to be at exactly noon. But, Sir Weissenasche hoped to be able to arrive there ahead of time. After all, his opponents in the audition were the people of the legendary Black Swan Theater Troupe!
Because of that, Sir Weissenasche was extremely uneasy. In Farucci, the Black Swan Theatrical Troupe had reached the apex of stage plays, They were the most outstanding theatrical troupe of all. Their members were equally the most outstanding performers. They were not people that he, a second-rate actor, could match against.
Because of that, he must proceed over there before the arrival of the performers of the Black Swan Theatrical Troupe. He wanted to see if he could win a role or two in the movie ahead of time. He wasn’t hoping to win an important role like the leading male character. He wanted anything, even if it was a minor supporting character that showed up only twice in the entire movie.
Urged by Sir Weissenasche, the coachman hastened his horses to quickly drive Sir Weissenasche to the Grand Duchess of Blackwood’s residence. After roughly half an hour, the horse carriage slowly stopped. They had reached their destination.
Sir Weissenasche immediately got out of the horse carriage. He wiped the sweat from his forehead with his handkerchief. His ailment of sweating whenever he’s nervous was something that he has been dealing with for a long time now.
But, by wiping away his sweat, he ruined his makeup. It was impossible for Sir Weissenasche to put on a whole new face of makeup. Because of that, he could only summon up his courage to step foot through the entrance of the mansion.
“Sir Weissenasche? Our apologies, Madam Schroder is not receiving any guests today.”
The guards stationed at the entrance recognized Sir Weissenasche. No matter what, Sir Weissenasche was a minor nobility from Farucci. Furthermore, he was someone with a slight amount of fame.
“I was invited here by Mister Joshua. I have proof over here.”
Sir Weissenasche took out the letter he received from Joshua last night as well as a special Blackwood emblem. That was the proof of identity Madam Schroder gave Joshua. Since Joshua was already very ‘familiar’ with the people in this mansion, he decided to give the emblem to Sir Weissenasche.
The guards immediately received the letter and skimmed it over. There was a small section written by Joshua recommending Sir Weissenasche.
Joshua currently enjoyed a high status in the mansion. None of the guards dares to offend him. Besides, they all knew of Sir Weissenasche as it was not his first time coming to Madam Schroder’s residence.
Because of that, the guards gave way and allowed Sir Weissenasche to enter the mansion.
A servant arrived to receive Sir Weissenasche. Guided by the servant, Sir Weissenasche came to the Black Swan Theatrical Troupe’s practice ground.
This place was close to the mansion’s indoor garden. Following the servant, Sir Weissenasche walked around the garden and arrived at a wide open room.
The instant he stepped foot into this place, his emotions ran wild.
There were simply too many familiar faces here. Sir Weissenasche was a fan of the Black Swan Theatrical Troupe. But, he managed to suppress his emotions. He looked to the center of the room.
The room was originally the place for Black Swan Theatrical Troupe to practice and rehearse. There were two desks placed at the corner of the room. Madam Schroder was sitting behind one of the desks whereas Joshua and Ciri were sitting behind the other desk.
In the center of the room was a humanoid puppet...
“Mister Baroque, I’ve written your lines on this paper. Please begin,” said Joshua.
Following Joshua’s words, Sir Weissenasche turned his eyes to the center of the room. Standing there was a man with a similar build to him. Sir Weissenasche recognized that actor!
Besides Gallolei, he was the other ‘pillar’ of the Black Swan Theatrical Troupe. He was the person who had played many of the main male leads in Black Swan Theatrical Troupe’s stage plays.
Following the script, Baroque pretended the humanoid puppet to be the person he was performing with and began his first round of audition.
“Stop.”
But, before Baroque could finish her performance, Joshua called out for him to stop. Baroque was slightly angered to be interrupted by Joshua. He was already dissatisfied with Joshua, a young man, being the person auditing his acting skills. If Madam Schroder wasn’t here, he would never act so obediently toward this young man.
“Your acting is too artificial. This is not a stage play. Act more real!”
Artificial? In all the years Baroque performed on the stage, this was the first time he received such an evaluation. Baroque turned his eyes to Madam Schroder.
The Grand Duchess did not say anything. This meant that he must continue on with his performance.
Thus, Baroque suppressed the anger in his heart and began his second round of audition. But, he was soon stopped by Joshua again.
“I believe that I’ve indicated in the script that I gave you that your character is Stansfield[2], a law enforcer that is unhinged, unpredictable, deranged yet artistic... lunatic. You must act with that character’s image in mind! You must be intimate like you’re with your lover! In simpler terms, act homosexual.”
Joshua’s words only only stunned the auditioning Baroque, it also stunned the other performers from the Black Swan Theatrical Troupe.
They were able to somewhat accept an artistic lunatic. But, what the heck was the thing he said afterwards?
The humanoid puppet was supposed to represent a man in his forties. He wanted Baroque to act intimately toward a middle-aged man in his forties?
“Please excuse me, I am unable to perform that character!”
Baroque was finally at his limits. After hearing Joshua’s excessive demand, he chose to refuse.
“Is that so? Next person then. Oh, Sir Weissenasche, you come give it a try.”
Joshua was not expecting to find a suitable candidate for the character at once. The Black Swan Theatrical Troupe possess their own sense of arrogance. If Madam Schroder wasn’t here, they would not act so obediently and accept his audition.
Age represented experience. To them, Joshua was simply too young. That being said, Joshua had another suitable candidate for the role.
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Translator YangWenli:
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[1] [He beat the hell out of his face.]
[2] [Stansfield is the main villain.]