Episode 30
Play Within Play
At the beginning of Act 4, several aristocrats sat around a table, talking with drinks in their hands.
“It is a matter of great concern that the prince is ascetic, unduly upright, and shows such a strong will to strengthen his royal authority.”
“Now that he is still a prince, we hold on to the line, but the thought of him as king will make our future darker than the dark clouds in the night sky!”
“What do you mean?”
“If we can’t get him on our side, we have to kill him.”
Everyone was shocked when the count spoke with a bleak expression.
“Kill him! Send an assassin!?”
“Tsk tsk, so dull. If we use our hands, it will be considered treason! It is the king himself who has to destroy his son so that there will be no consequences to us.”
“Everyone, please be quiet. It seems that our Count has a secret plan.”
When the commotion subsided and everyone’s eyes turned to him, the count shrugged and continued.
“They are usually interested in saving the poor, so they are offering money and buying people to help reach the poor, saying they need them to save the people. We switch the funds to hiring a secret military personnel for overthrowing the king and they will be charged for treason!”
“That’s right!”
“The King is a heartless man, and no matter how much he loves the Prince, if he’s after his life, the prince will be cut into pieces.”
“Let’s get rid of all the loyalists we don’t want to see!”
“Let’s do it!”
The laughter of the nobles and the clinking of the glasses made a loud noise.
Act 5 begins. Unlike the previous setting, the new atmosphere is peaceful and soft. The king, queen, and prince are gathered in one place.
“It is a bright and sunny day.”
“It has been awhile since we have seen a day so grand. It seems to bless our harmonious meal.”
“Since it’s a good day here, we can’t leave out the good news.”
“What on earth is it that makes you so happy?”
“Would you like to guess? Son, give your answer as
well.”
The king and the prince contemplate for a long time.
“Forgive me for being at a loss, my Queen.”
“I have no idea.”
How can one lead a country so well if one doesn’t have patience for things like this? Things don’t get solved at once, you have to wait and see how things go….
The king and prince, smile bashfully. While looking at the shape of the queen, she smiles shyly and touches her belly.
“The prince’s brother is in it?”
“Oh, come here. My love, my rain! Underneath your thick clothes, there was something prettier than the moon in the sky! Let me hug the child and see. Can hear the child’s heartbeat if I put my ear to it? Don’t you have a cloud on your feet! Even though you are pregnant, the doctors fooled me like crazy!”
“It was because I wanted to tell you in person, so I asked him to keep it a secret. I can’t tell you how much my mouth was itching to say it right away. Son, come to me too. Shouldn’t you put your hand on your mother’s belly and say hello to your new sibling!”
The king and the prince put their ears on the queen’s belly side by side. Both are smiling happily.
“When this child is born, he can hold the Prince’s hand, who was always alone and lonely, it’s only now that they’re a match. There are many people who live, their whole lives without a child, but now that I have two, it’s truly an unprecedented blessing. To the sun in the sky, you are sending us a warm light as if to
bless us! Let’s all swear by the sun that we will not let go of our hand holding each other like this and we will live together trusting each other. It’s a beautiful day. Oh, what a dazzling day!”
The king, queen, and prince all hug each other and smile while looking at the sky.
Curtains fall.
It was a really tragic story. As the story unfolds in an unusually reversed order, the three family members end up embracing each other and smiling without even knowing the future.
It was a tragedy that only us outside the play knew all the truth.
Iglanced at Anakin next to me, but he didn’t seem to care because he didn’t have a family. So I asked him something I was curious about.
“If the world you live in was one big play, how would you feel?”
“You mean a play?”
“Yeah. Everything is fixed, and you have to act according to your role. You may not be the main character. It may be a supporting role, or maybe it’s a passer-by role close to the background.”
Iglanced at him softly. Usually most people don’t want to believe that their world is not true. It’s because you’re being denied the life you’ve lived for the rest of your life.
If I had heard such a thing in Korea, I would have denied it, thinking it was a new type of pseudonym. Aside from that, everyone often despairs at the fact that they are not important.
But Anakin, as always, gracefully defies my expectations. He answered in his usual calm tone,
“I can’t help it.”
“Why? Aren’t you mad?”
“Well. I’m living my life to the best of my ability right now. That’s enough… I think.”
“Even if you’re not the main character? Even if you’re deprived of your rightful attention or likes for just one reason?”
“A knight is not someone who gets anyone’s attention anyway. If I wanted that, I would have chosen another profession.”
No wonder it seemed so sour. I pouted out of disgust at Anakin, who would never give me the answer wanted.
“You really have no ambition, no goal.”
“Does it look that way? I thought I was trying to live my life. Everyone is making the same effort, so I don’t think it needs to stand out.”
That made me a little bit regretful of my remarks. One shouldn’t judge others’ efforts recklessly…… In fact, how ridiculous would my efforts to die be seen by others.
“…I’m sorry, you’re right. Because everyone here is living. Just as the shadows get darker when the light approaches I guess those kinds of efforts can only be seen when death is near.”
At the same time, a band in charge of the play’s music came out to the square and started playing. It was an upbeat song made for dancing.
At first the people were only clapping to the rhythm once they noticed, they started dancing in pairs around the band one by one. As I was looking at him, in the cheerful atmosphere, Anakin quietly added.
“Actually, not everyone needs to know that I’m trying.”
“Only you, my master, should know. Isn’t it so?”
Eyes staring straight back at each other, a heartbeat thudding, crashing. I wanted to think of what to say but my mind is blank with embarrassment. I should have answered.
‘You’re wonderful’, ‘I’m thankful’, or something like that…
But I was always clumsy with people who were good to me rather than people who hated me.
From lovers, friends… even to family.
Maybe it’s because I am suspicious and eccentric by nature. If it was a favor, I first thought about why. If you came to me because you wanted something, you would hand it over as if you were making a deal.
I was suddenly afraid for no reason. Why are you so good to me? I had nothing to give to such a person, so I had no choice but to pour him affection. I was scared. I’m afraid I’ll pour out more affection than thought I could. Melted objects cannot be picked up and restored again.
Maybe it was because I was afraid that the person who showed me a favor would come to hate me. If have this person in my heart and suddenly he goes out on his own or leaves me. I wouldn’t be able to stand, the emptiness. Because I am such a selfish person.
So I pushed them away one more time. Those feelings that can’t be undone once you spit them out.
I decided to sit down at a noisy restaurant that was preparing breakfast and opened the newspaper. Fortunately, the languages of this world have many similarities to English. To be precise, it must be said that English, French, Spanish, and Latin are mixed. It seems that the author could not create a new language due to the limitations of knowledge,
The innkeeper who was putting the food down looks at my face.
“Goodness, lady. Don’t you resemble Lady Misérian, the talk of the town?”
I opened the newspaper and responded slyly.
“I hear that a lot. A country bumpkin has moved up.”
At my dismissive tone, the innkeeper, saying it was a compliment, soon disappeared, still suspicious. I skimmed through the newspaper, and on page 2 was the article I wanted to read.
Lady Misérian’s disappearance! Magic train, is it
really safe?
Wow, nice article title! There was no picture, but Eris was a face everyone in the capital knew anyway. I stumbled through reading the article.
The conventional means of transportation was based on horses as the driving force. However, since horses are living creatures, they have the disadvantage of needing to give them a rest if they run over a certain distance.
In addition, no matter how luxurious it was, the limitation of the carriage was that they were narrow and inconvenient.
The ‘Magic Train’ is a masterpiece created by the mage engineers belonging to the state saying they have greatly improved the means of transportation. Although it is slower than the maximum speed of a horse, the ‘Magic Train’s great technological advancement was in that it does not need to rest.
However, no matter how safe the magic engineers claimed the ‘Magic Train’ to be, the magic technology itself was unstable, and the speed of the train was slow compared to the astronomical initial cost to create the technology. So there were concerns that street robbers could access the train at any time.
In order to dispel such concerns, the Marquis Misérian, one of the biggest investors in the Magic Train, has come up with a trump card. He tried to prove the train’s safety by sending his daughter on a magic train, it backfired as she went missing on the train.
Not only that, the fact that the number of passengers on the train can hold is smaller than expected which is a big problem to match one’s concept of a luxury train. No matter how expensive the train ticket is, considering the investment cost and maintenance cost, it is not worth the money.
…..With many questions entangled in her disappearance, will the magic train make its way back safely?
The article was very good. As I watched the big picture of the royal family and the marquis looking ruined, my taste buds began to crave sustenance. In an instant, ate the food on the plate and finished my drink. What am I going to do now….. Even if I go to the capital, there are only rotten things, so I want to stretch my time out here as much as possible. Shall we take a boat ride as recommended by the kid at the inn?