Tylene was feeling very nervous.
The moment she opened her eyes this morning, she saw a group of people surrounding her. She felt like she was a seriously ill person lying on the bed and about to die that was being seen off by her friends and family.
But, after Tylene fully woke up, she started to remember that her close relatives had all died. Furthermore, she only had one friend in Madam Schroder’s mansion, the forest elf Flay.
However, Flay was clearly not among the group of people around her bed. Instead, they were a bunch of female servants from the mansion.
Tylene immediately got up from her bed. She was about to ask them if she committed some sort of mishap when they dragged her to the neighboring fitting room without telling her anything.
After being dragged to a new place, Tylene began to receive the female servants’ meticulous care. They began to busy themselves in the fitting room and started dressing up this elven girl who had just woken up and was still slightly dizzy into the most dazzling star in the Black Swan Theatrical Troupe.
Tylene was frightened completely awake by the female servants. The last moment, she was still sitting in the fitting room. Yet, the next moment, she found herself in a bath sprinkled with flower petals.
After the female servants nimbly washed up Tylene’s body, they took out a dress so gorgeous that Tylene believed she wouldn’t be able to wear it in her entire life. Furthermore, they took out a pile of makeup products and began to put on makeup for the elven girl.
Roughly thirty minutes later, the frost elf that has just woken up and had a dejected and tired look on her face was transformed into a beautiful young lady with beauty capable of matching the legendary Flower of Farucci. If she was on earth, she could become a cover model for Time Magazine.
Tylene was completely... overwhelmed... by the female servants’ actions.
Ever since she joined the Black Swan Theatrical Troupe, she has always been someone that cannot even play minor roles. Moreover, as she did not possess a surname or family background, she has been pushed aside and isolated by some of the Black Swan Theatrical Troupe’s female performers...
Her status within the Black Swan Theatrical Troupe was akin to that of an ugly duckling. No, an ugly duckling wouldn’t be that fitting. Instead, she should be a dodo bird.[1]
Even though she was the sole survivor of her race, even though her race would go extinct with her death, no one cared about her.[2]
The sudden ceremonious treatment caused Tylene to feel like she would be presented as an offering to a giant dragon.
There was such a legend among the elven epics. Hundreds of years ago, the frost elves woke up a giant dragon sleeping in the snowy mountains. Because of that, they would have to offer a young elven girl to the dragon every once in a while to quiet down the dragon’s anger.
Tylene wanted to know exactly what happened today. But, the female servants did not give her the opportunity to even ask that question. They pushed her past countless corridors and brought her to the Black Swan Theatrical Troupe’s rehearsal area.
At this moment, Tylene discovered that the majority of the members from the Black Swan Theatrical Troupe were present. They began to whisper when they saw Tylene.
Tylene wasn’t able to clearly hear what they were whispering about. She didn’t bother trying to determine what they were saying either. Just like that, she was brought along by the female servants that pushed open the rehearsal area’s main hall.
This place was the largest room within Madam Schroder’s mansion. Its size was no smaller than a small performance stage in a theater.
On the stage, Tylene could see the orchestra in charge of the background music for the Black Swan Theatrical Troupe performing music she had never heard before... When Tylene stepped foot into this performance area, the orchestra suddenly stopped.
Soon, Tylene was brought to the center of the room. She saw the owner of this mansion, Madam Schroder, and the Chaos Demon Joshua.
At this moment, Tylene came to a sudden realization of what was going on. She was not going to become a dragon’s offering. Instead, she was going to become a demon’s offering.
The frost elf was pushed before Madam Schroder and Joshua. Madam Schroder was examining Tylene...
Truth be told, when the Blackwood Elves first brought this frost elf to her, Madam Schroder possessed great hope for Tylene. After all, the elves’ beauty was obvious. If this frost elf had a little bit of talent, she would definitely be able to make a career for herself in the Black Swan Theatrical Troupe.
But, the truth revealed that this young elven girl who cannot even lie was not an actress material. Trying to turn her into an actress would be as difficult as trying to turn a dwarf into a tailor.
Taking into consideration the Blackwood Elves, Madam Schroder did not put too strict of a demand on this frost elf. But, no matter how a dodo bird followed after the black swan, it will never be able to fly. Right now, Madam Schroder found a suitable opportunity to have this elf leave the theatrical troupe.
“Tylene, I know that you long for fame like everyone else. But, the Black Swan Theatrical Troupe is not suited for you... Mister Joshua here thinks that you are worthy of being nurtured. Because of that, there are two choices presented before you. You can either continue to stay in the Black Swan Theatrical Troupe or accept Mister Joshua’s invitation.”
“Madam Schroder!”
Before Tylene could say anything, the Blackwood Elf Flay undone her stealth rune and stopped before Tylene.
She hurriedly bowed to Madam Schroder and lowered her head to speak with a begging tone, “Please do not be led astray by that demon... Tylene is extremely important to us elves.”
When Flay spoke the word ‘demon,’ many of the people from the Black Swan Theatrical Troupe revealed expressions of disbelief.
Even though Madam Schroder was already aware of Joshua’s true identity, she did not make it public. Because of that, the people from the Black Swan Theatrical Troupe have been guessing the identity of this young director the entire time.
While filming, many of the young actresses tried to strike up a conversation with Joshua. Unfortunately, Joshua’s personal assistant Miss Ciri was simply too outstanding. She was so outstanding that those young actresses all easily gave up the thought of courting Joshua.
Joshua did not feel any anger from the exposure of his true identity. Instead, he gracefully smiled at the surrounding crowd.
Joshua’s identition in coming to this world was to publicize demons to not be as wicked and evil as the Holy Church described them to be.
If even Joshua himself felt being a demon to be a humiliating thing, he would be beyond redemption and his purpose couldn’t possibly come to fruition.
The surrounding performers only made a small uproar at the news. They did not start panicking. After all, many of them were fans of ‘Beauty and the Demon.’
Even though the Holy Church’s pawns were all over Farucci, Madam Schroder belonged to the faction that detested the Holy Church’s behavior. As such, many of the members in her theatrical troupe were against the Holy Church too.
Besides, before fame, status and being able to enjoy the pleasures of life, what could the belief in god possibly amount to?
“Clam yourself Flay. I’m not forcing your friend to leave the theatrical troupe. I am merely giving her the opportunity to make a choice,” said Madam Schroder.
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[1] [Dodo are an extinct flightless bird.]
[2] [Dodos went extinct in the last century due to human activity. No one noticed until they’re all dead.]