Chapter 280: Intent [1]
The lights turned off, and the curtains closed.
“…..”
Aoife stood behind the stage with her eyes closed. She had poured everything she had into the performance and was mentally exhausted.
She couldn’t see the audience, but it felt as though thousands of eyes were still lingering over her body.
‘How did it go? Was my acting okay…?’
The silence that took over the theater made her nervous.
Immersed in her role, she didn’t pay attention to the audience’s reaction. All she did was act.
Act as if this was the last time she was ever going to act.
“…..”Just as her heart started to sink, she heard a small clap coming from behind the curtains.
Clap!
It was subtle, but within the silence, it echoed loudly.
Another soon followed that clap, and before Aoife knew it, the entire audience was clapping.
Clap, clap, clap—!
Soon, the claps became so loud that Aoife could hardly hear a thing, but she didn’t mind it.
Standing where she was, she basked in the sounds. Or more like, she was frozen.
‘This is for me…?’
She couldn’t believe it at all.
“Get up. The second play is going to start soon.”
It was only when she heard a familiar voice that she snapped out of it. Turning her head, she saw Julien standing next to her with his eyes fixed on her.
He didn’t seem to be at all fazed by what was happening behind the curtains.
In fact, he didn’t seem to care at all.
Staring at him, Aoife’s mouth opened for a short second before she closed it and bitterly sighed.
‘That’s right, he’s always been like this.’
Helping herself up, she looked up at him.
“You managed to do your part well.”
“…I was lucky.”
“Perhaps… but it was good. I don’t think they would’ve clapped this hard had it not been for the last act.”
“…..”
He stood in silence for a brief moment before he eventually nodded.
“Thank you.”
“Eh?”
Aoife’s mouth hung open for a brief second.
Of all the things she expected him to say, this was the last thing she expected him to say.
But as if he wasn’t done, he continued,
“I’ve always known you were great.”
With a subtle and almost imperceptible smile, he turned around,
“…Maybe at the next award ceremony, you won’t stop at just one vote.”
Following his words, he turned around and headed to the changing rooms. Aoife stood dumbly on her spot, her eyes tracing his back.
His words continued to echo in her ears, and it wasn’t long before her eyes closed.
“Haa.”
With a long and tired sigh, she rubbed her forehead.
“This guy…”
A low laugh escaped her lips.
“….Since when was he this nice?”
He was becoming softer.
***
At the same time, in a different area.
Clap, clap, clap—!
Hearing the roars of the audience, Olga stood and watched with pursed lips. Her expression was stoic, with little to no emotions displayed on her face.
It was hard to read her expression.
Despite that, everyone could feel an invisible wall surrounding her. It stopped anyone from approaching her.
Even as the minutes passed, the claps never ceased.
They continued to rage on, and the more they continued, the thicker the walls surrounding her became.
“Hooo.”
Eventually, she took a deep breath.
That seemed to be enough to calm her down.
As she calmed down, she thought back on the play.
“It was not bad.”
….It was a little different from the play that she had been shown, but the essence was the same. In all honesty, it was a tad bit better than she had expected.
“Her acting improved, and Julien pulled it well as well. Not bad. I guess I can work with them again in the future.”
With that being said, she was still sure that her play was better.
And when her thoughts paused there, she managed to relax as her head turned.
“Arjen, what did you th—eh?”
To her surprise and shock, she realized that she was standing by herself. Previously, Arjen had been with her.
But now, he was gone.
Where could he have gone…?
Olga looked everywhere she could possibly think of before contacting one of the staff.
“You, have you seen Arjen?”
“Pardon!?”
“The main actor of my script. Have you seen him?!”
“Ah!?”
In her panic, she grabbed the staff by the clothes, pulling him slightly.
“Have you seen him!?”
Her actions attracted the attention of everyone present, and in the distance, a figure sat, staring at her with a nonchalant look.
“Are you not going to participate anymore?”
Angela stood beside him.
Wearing formal clothing, her hair was tied in a ponytail. With long platinum hair, her blue eyes shone like jewels.
Dangling his legs over where he sat, Caius hopped off his seat.
“No point.”
Brushing his blonde hair back, he took one last glance in Olga’s direction before leaving,
“…I’ve seen all that I needed to see.”
***
CLAP! CLAP! CLAP!
Even as the audience stopped clapping, there was still one person who continued to clap. His claps resounded loudly within the theater, and heads turned in his direction.
Not that he cared as he continued to clap.
“Wonderful, how wonderful.”
The figure was none other than Gael who ended up rubbing the corner of his eyes.
“….Give her an award already.”
As he continued to sing praises to the play, the three other delegates from the other Empires gave him weird looks.
This was the first time that they had ever seen him like this, and it was a little hard for them to get used to the sight.
“You’ve really mellowed out since the last time I’ve seen you.”
Elysia spoke as she looked at him with an amused look.
Indeed, the current Gael was much different than the past version of himself. He seemed a lot more upbeat, and being with him didn’t feel as suffocating as it did in the past.
She wasn’t the only one who thought this.
Lucian and Theron also thought the same, but unlike her, they didn’t voice out their thoughts.
They had never been close to him in the past, and they weren’t close to him now.
Especially since he was crippled.
….Right now, they were here on official business. There was no time for them to be friendly with each other.
“But I do have to say, your sister was really quite the actress.”
Leaning back on her chair, Elysia complemented.
“You think so?”
“Yes, she was great.”
“Haha.”
Gael beamed in delight at the compliment as he started to clap again.
Neither one of the three minded his actions. Thinking back, it really was a wonderful play. Unexpected to say the least.
….The fact that this wasn’t even the main play made Elysia curious.
‘If this is good, I wonder how the main one will be?’
It was really interesting to think about.
“Oh, and the actor next to your sister. He was also quite good.”
“Uh? Oh, yeah. Not bad.”
Gael’s reaction was a little milder, but he was still complimenting him.
Most likely, he only had eyes for his sister.
But it went without saying that she wasn’t the only star. There was someone else, quietly standing in her background, allowing her to shine.
It was only toward the end that he finally took the spotlight, and when he did, Elysia felt goosebumps.
…There was something about the last moments. The raw emotions that she witnessed gave her goosebumps.
‘It’s funny.’
It really was…
This was the first time she had felt this way about a play, and she grew curious about the actor.
Who was he?
“Tsk.”
Her thoughts were broken by the subtle click of a tongue.
Turning her head, her gaze paused on Theron who was staring at a small communication device with an annoyed frown. He appeared quite annoyed by whatever he saw.
“Hm?”
As if noticing her stare, his head turned and their gazes met.
Elysia didn’t look away and simply smiled at him.
Theron’s face contorted, but he soon looked away from her and shifted his attention back to the main stage.
Propping her hand over the armrest of the chair, Elysia leaned her head against her hand as she twirled her hair.
‘How interesting…’
***
The room was quiet.
I sat alone in the changing room, slowly embracing the silence that was surrounding me.
“….”
I started to ponder over the new emotion that I had unlocked.
‘Love.’
“So, it’s like that…”
At first, I struggled to understand why I had never been able to unlock the emotion, given that I had experienced love before. Not in a romantic way, but in a familial way with my brother.
‘How is it possible that I don’t understand love with all that I did for my brother?’
I had never dwelled deeply on the thought, but it lingered in the back of my mind here and there.
But it was only now that I understood.
“It wasn’t enough.”
He was the only one that I had affection for.
Not my previous parents, any other person, or… myself.
He was my only source of love, and it became awfully clear that this was far from enough for me to unlock ‘love’.
….I didn’t understand it.
But now, I have a better idea of it.
“….”
Lowering my head, I stared at my hands and then at the mirror in front of me. I looked at my own reflection.
In the past, I used to loathe the sight that greeted me.
The unfamiliar features, the handsome looks, and even the skinny and worn-out appearance that I once had during my cancer.
…During the play, I understood what was holding me back.
‘The fact that I loathe myself.’
But this was my past self.
Looking at the mirror, I didn’t feel any hints of disgust with what I was seeing. Rather, I was okay with what I was seeing.
No longer did I feel like I needed to return to my old body.
…I was fine staying in this body, so long as I saw my brother.
“Could this count as me appreciating myself?”
The thought made me laugh a little, but this was the truth. With everything that had happened to me, I no longer loathed the sight of myself.
I was no longer disgusted with me.
…And it was that realization that made me unlock ‘Love’.
“Hoo.”
I took a deep breath and stared at the new spell that I acquired. It was merely at the beginner level, but it was there.
I could see it.
I could…
“Uh?”
As I blinked, I suddenly noticed the color slowly dissipating from the room. It shrank from the edges of my vision, gradually moving toward the center until my entire world turned gray.
“….!”
I sat in shock, unable to understand what was going on, and it was a certain voice that brought me out of the shock.
“….Intent.”
Delilah appeared out of thin air, her perfect figure materializing before my eyes.
Her expression was stoic, but I noticed a subtle trembling in her pupils as she stood before me.
As I was wondering what she meant, she spoke,
“That’s the first step to unlocking a domain.”
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