Hello, Readers! I am celebrating my birthday with extra chapter updates, so please enjoy this special chapter release of 4 bonus chapters! 🥳

(Lurelia’s Birthday Bonus – Update 3/4 🎉)

♡ To all readers who purchased these chapters before my Birthday: I can’t express this enough – Thank you for your support. (*ˊᗜˋ*)/ᵗᑋᵃᐢᵏ ᵞᵒᵘ*

Backstage is always noisy. Especially when it’s the backstage of the most successful theater troupe in the city.

“Where’s the costume team? Where on earth is the bridal dress for Act 2?!”

“I told you the lead actors’ waiting room is on the right, and the makeup room is on the left! Don’t get confused! Do you want to die at the troupe leader’s hands?!”

“O’Neil! O’Neil, where the h*ll are you? Get over here and coordinate your entrance movements!”

The rookie actor, a young boy, watched those rushing about with eyes full of admiration.

Of course, he kept himself pressed against the wall so as not to interfere with their busy steps.

As a boy who only appeared in group scenes to fill numbers, everything happening backstage was simply fascinating and impressive to him.

Naturally, what caught his eye most was the knight covered in fake blood who strode into the backstage area.

The protagonist of this play and the actor who had become a new star in the industry since debuting last year, ‘Ren Borba.’

“Ren, you were amazing in Act 1!”

When the boy called out without thinking, Ren turned to look at him and nodded.

“You too.”

It was truly magnificent beyond compare.

Ren’s critics complained that Ren only got lead roles and became successful because of being the theater troupe leader’s sibling, but that was nonsense.

Ren was an actor who would have become the protagonist on stage the next day, even if found as a beggar on the street.

“I’ll clean off the blood, Ren.”

A woman who had suddenly emerged from the makeup room quickly attached herself to Ren and wiped away the fake blood on Ren’s hair and cheeks.

Then the unrealistically beautiful blonde smiled.

“I could have cleaned it off in the makeup room, Ally.”

“It’s better for me to move than for you to waste time going back and forth. Rest a bit until Act 2.”

“Thank you.”

The boy practically licked Ren with his eyes. So cool.

That enchanting face, humble attitude, gentle manner of speaking, excellent acting skills, truly without a single flaw that could be found…

“Did you hear? About Ren’s waiting room?”

The boy frowned.

He could hear the voice of an actor who couldn’t hide his feelings of inferiority toward Ren.

“I heard that Ren’s great patron didn’t send flowers to the waiting room for this performance. So Ren’s waiting room is completely empty.”

That was nonsense.

Even if one patron didn’t send flowers, it was obvious that Ren’s waiting room would be filled with flowers sent from everywhere else.

The boy couldn’t dare speak up against a senior actor and just kept his mouth shut.

Soon, that actor began spreading rumors about how Ren had been abandoned by “that patron.”

The only scandal attached to the otherwise perfect Ren was about a certain patron who promised massive investments for each of Ren’s performances. Supposedly, the patron did this because of an intimate relationship with Ren.

The boy believed that Ren would shine with or without that patron, so he rather wished that this so-called patron would just leave Ren alone.

Of course, contrary to the boy’s modest wish, “that patron” was some devil-like entity who would cling to Ren even if cast into h*ll.

***

Backstage after the curtain fell.

Leticia, lying on the sofa in the spacious waiting room prepared for ‘Ren,’ opened her eyes at the sound of the door opening.

Luka was entering the waiting room with a bouquet of flowers.

Leticia momentarily showed a disappointed expression before quickly smiling warmly.

“Brother!”

“I watched your performance today, too. You’re becoming an immortal handsome man, Leti.”

“You mean a pretty boy. I find it surprisingly difficult to play handsome men roles. Maybe because I lack the build…”

Leticia shrugged as she received the bouquet.

“I can’t play boy roles forever. In a few years, I might have to switch from male roles to female roles.”

“If that happens, some madman might suddenly destroy this troupe after seeing you perform love scenes with other men on stage…”

At Luka’s muttering without a subject, Leticia raised her eyebrows.

By now, Leticia had enough experience not to dismiss those words as nonsense.

“Are you talking about Chamuka again? I keep telling you, Chamuka isn’t that kind of person. Stop making him sound like someone who solves everything with force, brother.”

“That guy is exactly that kind of person.”

“Stop calling him ‘that guy.’ You’ll get arrested for that.”

“No, why didn’t he come to see you in this performance? That guy who diligently attends all your performances every day with nothing better to do!”

“That’s…”

Leticia was at a loss for words. That was something that had been bothering her, too.

Since her first stage performance last year, Chamuka had always occupied the best seat and cheered for Leticia. While sending flower baskets every day.

Luka denounced this as not a sign of supportive applause but a kidnapping notice from a madman driven by jealousy, but Leticia would let such comments go in one ear and out the other.

“There’s romance in this performance! A jealous person watching you couldn’t bear to see you loving someone else on stage, so he didn’t come!”

“What?”

“His patience has reached its limit. He knows it too. Soon he’ll kidnap you, lock you in his castle, and there will be blood and screams…”

“No, wait. Stop talking nonsense, brother. Where was there any romance in my performance today? Wasn’t this about a murderer? A mad knight who kills everyone, men and women alike.”

“The murderer does look lovingly at his victims, though.”

“If that’s romance, then you must be in love with the steak you ate today! Why are you calling a psychopath’s mental illness love?”

Luka looked Leticia up and down in complete disbelief.

She was dressed in an elaborate costume with makeup on her already radiant face to portray a beautiful knight on stage.

“Look at your face, Leti. How can it not be romance when you look at someone lovingly with that face?”

“My role is a murderer!”

“Your role doesn’t matter! Look at your face!”

“No, you should look at what I’m doing! The ugly inner self!”

“You’re the one not looking at the inner self! Speaking of which, you should look at inner selves too! Find someone other than that man with the ugly inner self! Even if there’s no one who looks as good as him, your face is more handsome anyway, Leti! If you need a handsome man, look in the mirror!”

Luka pounded his chest in frustration.

Leticia stared at Luka, who was red-faced and breathing heavily, then quietly blurted out something she hadn’t even told Chamuka yet.

“I actually like Chamuka’s inner self.”

“What? Just say you like his exterior. How could that ugly…”

Leticia shook her head.

Was there really a need to talk like that?

Of course, Leticia knew that Chamuka’s inner self wasn’t exactly beautiful either.

“Chamuka does think somewhat, um, very slightly differently from others. There was also that curse, though it’s lifted now. I know that.”

“You know and still feel that way?”

“But he tries to think like a normal person because of me.”

Despite having the power to force many things around Leticia with his strength, Chamuka didn’t do so.

Because Leticia didn’t want that.

At least regarding Leticia’s affairs, Chamuka prioritized her thoughts over his own desires.

“I like that about him, brother. Because to me, something polished through effort is more impressive than innate talent.”

Leticia left the waiting room quickly after finishing packing her things, leaving behind Luka who stood with his mouth open, visibly shocked by her words.

“Anyway, if he misunderstood it as romance and didn’t come, that’s good. I should go find him later and talk to him.”

“I didn’t raise you like this…”

Luka’s gloomy muttering could be heard from behind, but Leticia coldly replied as she said goodbye.

“As I keep saying, you didn’t raise me. Master did. Anyway, thanks for the bouquet, brother.”