Besides…… I’m not such a pleasant person. I’m neither eloquent nor particularly humorous. I was certain you would quickly get bored and our correspondence would fizzle out after exchanging mere formalities.

I was completely wrong.]

[Remember the candy the witch gave you? When you held a question in mind, words that seemed like a prophecy or advice appeared on the back of your hand. Though I don’t believe in fortune-telling, I couldn’t ignore the answer “too late.”

In the end, that answer was right. It really was too late.

Even as I spent Ravina Night with you, I believed we could return to being ‘like before.’ You, endlessly brilliant, and me, unilaterally watching you. Like the artist and fan commonly portrayed in novels.

But if I were truly an audience member, merely a devoted fan……

I shouldn’t have been captivated by the conventional expression ‘Dear Yuan.’ I shouldn’t have assigned meaning or calculated intentions, and I should have been able to naturally respond with ‘Dear Perry.’ But I couldn’t.

I couldn’t.]

[Perry, you need to know how shabby I am. Kind as you are, you might blindly cover for me and defend me, but I’m such an unremarkable and ordinary person. Unlike you, who always shines. I have too little…… decency to fully receive your feelings.

I’m sorry I’m not a prince.]

[You asked what you are to me.

……It wasn’t pure agape.]

[To Perry

Though I’ve changed the stationery many times, the sentences won’t come together. My answer is late.

I’ll come to see you on Isobel’s feast day. That day, I won’t avoid anything and will confess everything, everything. You might end up hating me more, but,]

Perry slowly looked away from the crumpled paper. Her bloodshot eyes blinked slowly. The hand that had been pressing her eyelids for a long time immediately pulled out a pen from nearby.

There was plenty of paper and ink. Perry’s task was clear.

[To Yuan

May I leave just one piece of advice for a confused friend?

You like me.

You like me, you idiot!]

SCENE 15. Perry Humble

Between acts. While the audience stood up to loosen their stiff shoulders and necks, the actors were busy changing clothes and fixing their makeup.

“Since it’s the last performance, I’ll make you even prettier than usual.”

“You always make me pretty.”

At this straightforward response, the makeup artist groaned and accelerated her hand movements. Various makeup brushes crossed over the skin that had been wiped clean of sweat. Her eyes had a subtle shimmer, and her lips bore a distinct rose color. Perry, who had leaned her face close to the mirror until her forehead nearly touched it, smiled brightly.

“You really did make me prettier.”

The veil flowing down her brown hair was magnificent. The woman getting her makeup touched up next to her quietly spoke up.

“The auditorium is completely full.”

“Tickets have been sold out for weeks, haven’t they?”

“Still, usually there are one or two empty seats.”

It’s rare for it to be this packed, added the actor who had been frequenting major theaters since her debut.

“Perry’s fans came too.”

“How do you know?”

“Who else would be dressed in matching lavender clothes? It looks like they bought tickets as a fan club group.”

“Where are they sitting?”

“They’re all clustered at the very back of the center section on the first floor…… and scattered throughout the second and third floors too.”

“Bria, can you see everything?”

“What?”

“The audience’s faces.”

“I can see well. Quite far, actually.”

Perry recalled the outpouring of energy. Though she couldn’t distinguish individual features, she felt the gazes and concentration from the moment she stepped on stage.

Her long, manicured nails pressed gently into her palm.

“Did you send an invitation again today?”

At the unexpected question, her round shoulders twitched. Her habitually straight head drooped dejectedly.

“……No.”

After the play resumed, Perry had reserved one invitation seat each time. The recipient was always the same.

“It’s such a good seat, it seems a waste to keep it empty. If there’s someone you want to see it, it would be better to have one more person seated.”

Her mumbling lips forced themselves upward. In truth, sending something to someone who might not return anytime soon was closer to a wish.

“It’s not just today’s performance.”

If he returns in recovered condition, she can showcase a good performance then. Perry’s ardent fan would surely return to the audience.

Gazing at the profile that might have been resignation or expectation, a faint different color swirled in her purple eyes. Raising her right eyebrow, Bria Sol asked casually.

“Are you going to enter through the right door again this time?”

Act 2 begins with Perry crossing the audience aisle. It’s a scene where ‘Desire,’ initially just a minor part of the protagonist, gradually gains strength and reveals its presence. The scene where she appears by opening the theater door rather than from backstage was especially well-received by first-time viewers.

As the light brown head nodded slightly, Bria made an unexpected suggestion.

“Why not go left?”

“Any particular reason?”

“It’s the last time. For the sake of unpredictability. Audiences who’ve seen it before will only look to the right as soon as the lights go out.”

“Hmm, that’s true.”

“I’ll tell the lighting team. Let’s try something different.”

Because it’s the last time—with that addition, Perry calmly agreed, checked her appearance, and stepped outside. Soon, the bell announcing Act 2 rang.

The last time.

Perry passed through the door opened by staff and welcomed the high-intensity light with her whole body.

“Oh my, look at these people!”

The intense blue-white lighting fell across the translucent veil. The unsettled air tightened in an instant. With the line, Perry Humble became Lilith. Eve’s desire, Lilith.

Lilith is free-spirited, bold, and curious. The woman who instantly captivated the audience raised her voice resonantly.

“All these people came to see me!”

Her steps on the ramp were like a dance. The layered dress unfolded like a fully bloomed flower with each turn, then settled. Her gentle eyes deepened.

‘Lilith,’ who was cheerfully heading toward the stage, suddenly thr*st her face at an audience member sitting in the aisle.

“I’m right, aren’t I? You too, lady?”

“What? Yes, yes……”

The cheeks of the girl who unexpectedly made eye contact with the lead role turned red. ‘Lilith’ patted the girl’s back as if satisfied and turned to her next target. Singling out one more person would make the timing perfect.

Looking around, ‘Lilith’ leisurely approached an audience member sitting near the stage.

“Here’s another of my followers. You there, handsome gentleman?”

Clear lighting fell on the two of them. ‘Lilith,’ with her head tilted slightly, immediately recognized the other person’s face. Because the distance between actor and audience member was close enough for their shoes to touch—

Because she could smell the clean soap and familiar perfume, because the eyes she met were deep blue, because the silver tie pin happened to catch her eye.

Her lips, frozen mid-smile, trembled faintly.

“You came…… to see me?”

Perry Humble turned her back without hearing the answer. The experienced lead actor once again stood on stage as ‘Lilith.’ As ‘Lilith,’ she teased the protagonist, nagged, seduced—

But each time her gaze went to where the man sat, she became Perry Humble. Not any character from a play, but Perry Humble.

It was a momentary crack that neither the audience nor her fellow actors on stage would notice, but Perry herself was keenly aware.

She kept becoming Perry Humble.

In a space where she could become anything but herself, Perry kept returning to herself.

“I see you now, Eve! Are we really so different?”

“No! I, I am different from you.”

“Oh, lovely Eve. Don’t be so afraid…… The more you push me away, the bigger I’ll grow. Like this.”

The play moved toward its conclusion. ‘Lilith,’ with arms wide open, gradually approaches ‘Eve’ who denies her. ‘Eve’ fears ‘Lilith’ and locks her in the attic, but it is ‘Eve’ who opens her eyes in the darkness. In the end—

“Whew……”

Roaring cheers and applause. When the lights went out and came back on, ‘Lilith’ became actor Perry Humble. The lead, wiping away the beads of sweat, held hands with her fellow actor and bowed to the audience. Once while looking around the first floor, once while looking up at the second and third floors.

Long blonde hair tickled Perry’s forearm.

“You worked hard.”

“You too, Bria.”

The curtain call was longer than before. Perry, who had clasped hands with each cast member, turned her head again. The audience continued to clap and cheer.

The next sequence was predictably obvious. The red curtain would slowly close, and the actors, hidden from the audience, would finally exhale their held breath and return to the dressing rooms in small groups. When the same performance is repeated dozens of times, patterns inevitably form.