LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 61: The Play (V).
Chapter 61: The Play (V).
The second day of the school festival.
Official School Poster of the detailed events!
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Day 2
9:00 am | Academy Opening Ceremony
10:00 am | Official Opening of Booths and Events
12:00 pm | Lunch
4:00 pm | Closing
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First Year Events
Higher Section: The Princess and The Frog Play
Lower Section: Maid Café
Second Year Events
Higher Section: Magic Shooting Range
Lower Section: Haunted House
Third Year Events
Higher Section: High Class Tea Party
Lower Section: Potion Stall
Fourth Year Events
Higher Section: Broomstick Racing/Le Sport de Voliant
Lower Section: Wedding Booth
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You can contact the student council for any problems regarding the booths and tickets! The school map is posted on the entrance! Hope you have a fun time at the Royal Academy!
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"It's only been the second day of the festival... but I feel so tired after trying out every single booth with Lady Evelyn yesterday." (Analissa) was preparing to wear her tree costume for the second day preparation of the play.
'But that wedding booth was the most tiring one out of all of them. Lord Ein was pranking us- reserving us the whole wedding booth! He's enjoying tormenting me by having such awkward moments with villainess!' She remembers how he was peeking out through the window of the wedding booth, giving an encouraging thumbs up and it filled her with annoyance.
"I swear it's his new type of torture. Don't give me false hopes! I got the whole experience as a friend!" (Analissa) yells out unexpectedly that it gained the attention of a few bystanders that were near her.
Including the lackey who jolted slightly out of fear when it came to someone yelling, she was holding a few pins that she was using to fix the costumes and rolled her eyes.
"What's gotten into you, commoner? I suggest you don't shout, your voice is already annoying as it is."
"Ah Lady Serene, my apologies for my sudden outburst, it's just..." (Analissa) stares at the ring in her middle finger before her face becomes red in color. She hides it quickly before she was to be interrogated more about it. "It's nothing."
Lady Serene remembers that the commoner was with her best friend after the play, she wonders if she's... okay after their talk. "Is... Evelyn alright?"
"Pardon?"
"I saw you leaving with her to go to the booths. I... barely talk to her and I just want to know if she's alright."
"She's alright, Lady Sinclair. Er... I was not aware that you two were not talking as much as before."
"...I know and it's my fault."
"I'm... sorry to hear that."
"It is not your problem to worry about our relationship. I suggest you get ready and wear your tree outfit." Their other classmates started pouring in, it was clear that almost everyone was inside backstage getting ready for the opening but- "Honestly, everything has been so hectic."
Analissa quickly got into her tree costume, hearing the lackey's worried tone she couldn't help but ask. "Why what's wrong?"
"That Einsel has the nerve to be late. It's nearing the time to start the plan and he's not even here yet."
Analissa's heart dropped hearing of this news, she thought that Lord Ein wouldn't do her harm but this-
"Lord Ein is not here yet?"
...
The first year high section gathered together to talk about the current problem they are facing.
Missing one of the play's main characters is no joke. Lord Einsel Loucrat is nowhere to be found.
The villainess was at the center of it all, without their class president and their frog prince, there was no one to lead them on what to do- their morale slightly went down seeing the reliable Lady Evelyn Alarie looking unsure of herself as well.
"We have a problem, Lord Ein still hasn't arrived and there has been no news of his whereabouts." (Lady Evelyn) starts, feeling worried about him and the state of the play.
If there is no prince then... how will they save their face towards the crowds of their noble guests?
"We already checked the noble dormitory and found his room empty." Some of the noble boys nod as they also went to the dorms to help try to find Lord Ein. "We checked everywhere and even in the nurse's office. No one has seen him all morning."
"Where could he be?" (Analissa) mutters quietly to herself, preparing to pull her hair off because she was supposed to talk to him about what happened yesterday.
And how dare he prank her with a reserved wedding appointment!
"Who was the last person he was with? Does anybody know?" (Lady Evelyn) asks the crowd.
"I-I was the last person he was with." A girl raises her hands, and continues. "We parted ways about five in the evening. There was nothing wrong or unusual with Lord Loucrat when I was with him."
Lady Harriot Yates, proclaimed the number two supporter of the Evelissa ship, speaks out.
The villainess takes in that information and was thankful for her contribution. "Thank you, Lady Harriot. Then something must've happened this morning."
The other students could tear their hair apart with all the suspense, Lord Ein wouldn't abandon them right?!
"There's only twenty more minutes till the play starts- everyone is wearing their costume but this show won't be complete without our frog prince!"
"The play is ruined..."
"My parents are going to be watching, the play can't be cancelled..."
Everyone suddenly became so glum, even the boys who adore the heroine- even with her presence everyone was in the slumps because they have worked hard on this only for it to be ruined.
"We must trust Lord Ein that he will return to whatever he is facing right now. I'm sure that he plans on returning." The villainess places his full trust on the knight, looking at the crowd of people finding their respective seats inside the theater.
...
"This show will be so good."
The said person was standing in line with his disguise. Thankfully, he didn't give his free tickets that the class received to be given to their parents and got in early without being detected by his classmates.
Buying a fake mustache and wig he was able to become another person. He took his own tickets that they were supposed to give to their parents and used it for his own fun plans.
"Excuse me, pardon me, that's my seat." He excuses himself, sitting down comfortably and waiting for the show to start, popcorn in hand. He looked at the other parents sitting with him and proudly stated, "My daughter is in the play."
The parent beside him raises an eyebrow, staring at this gentleman that was making small talk- Lord Ein at the moment didn't look too much like a noble with high ranking so they just dismissed and ignored him.
Meanwhile...
Just in time someone else was trying to find her own seat, but it proves a little too hard because the theater was full of nobles- she had to be careful of not offending anyone important.
"H-Hello... um... is this A27?"
Lord Ein looks up to see a very tall and muscular woman holding a ticket with the ticket number A26.
"Yes, it is. This is the seat number."
"A-Ah! I am supposed to sit beside you. I'm in A26."
"Please do sit, I am in need of a good company." The Knight was getting bored of his other seatmate that wasn't being too friendly anyways.
The muscular girl sits down gently with a soft happy smile on her face. "Are you a parent here, milord?"
"Oh yes, my daughter is helping out backstage and she's one of the characters of the play." (Lord Ein) was technically talking about the heroine who was panicking and breaking down trying to find out where he could be and he knows that.
His classmates should be panicking and spreading out to find him outside.
Little do they know he's already inside, sitting in a theater chair, eating popcorn and conversing with his... exceptionally buff seatmate.
'She looks familiar... Where have I seen her before?' (Lord Ein) stares at her figure, brunette hair, caramel golden eyes and seems to have some military experience with how her body is shaped.
"That's wonderful, I-I'm actually not a parent but a guest that's been invited. My name is Farrah Whitlock, milord. Apologies if my introductions are late I hope it's okay."
Lord Ein had everything clicked hearing that name. This woman must've been from the restaurant that they visited together with the crown prince. "Now I'm sure you have your reasons that don't matter as long as you support them, that's enough."
"T-Thank you milord."
"If we're exchanging names- you may just call me Lord Sel. You should enjoy and watch the show. It'll be a fun one that's for sure. Popcorn?" He tries to offer it to Farrah who shakes her head politely, and takes something from her inventory that smells so divine that it turned several heads of a few guests in the theater.
It was fresh croissants, or what they called komalpa bread. "N-No it is alright I brought some fresh bread with me." (Farrah) shows him a few more food that was with her leaving the boy stunned and hungry.
"No wonder it smells so good in this theater."
"I baked them myself, would you like one?"
"Don't mind if I do."
...
The clock was ticking.
"What are we going to do?! We're on in fifteen minutes?! We need a replacement! We should've had a backup prince but I thought too lightly that nothing would happen to our Lord Ein?" The play was in shambles.
Lady Serene bites her lip knowing that stupid arranged fiancé of hers is planning something for his own entertainment yet again. She says that in her mind, but half of her is worried that something bad actually happened.
"Ugh imbeciles all of you stop panicking and let's think of the alternatives we could do. There are other guys here that have read the script, surely one of them has at least memorized half of the lines for the prince?" The lackey turns to her male classmates who couldn't look her in the eye.
They all lowered their heads and admitted to slacking off not reading the script, not unless it was their part.
"N-No I mean we only relied on Lord Ein to take care of his part."
"I only memorized my part."
"I... was relaxing because I only had three lines."
Lady Serene covered her annoyed face, she clicked her tongue and sighed for expecting even that much from her classmates. "I should have not expected much from all of these boys in our class."
"Then we're screwed." (Lady Harriot) sat down in the corner looking so lost and so did the others.
"Lord Ein what are you doing..."
Lady Evelyn sighs, who was already itching on her princess dress to take it all off. The problem is settled, without a proper prince they won't have a play to continue.
"In fifteen minutes he is still not here. We should announce that we won't be continuing the play. Wasting so many people's time is shameful, we would not have that." The villainess declared, everyone had no choice but to follow because she was right.
Analissa could see the tiredness in her face... she wanted to talk to her so badly and told her that.. It was all of her fault why this is happening. "Lady Evelyn..."
"I will go ahead and see if we can arrange a few more minutes. I'll talk with the theater head and tell him of our problem, I will also inform a teacher that one of our students is missing."
Lady Serene nods, "And we'll keep watch here while you're gone. I'll have someone fetch you if Ein comes back."
Lady Evelyn is at least relieved that someone will be helping her run everything while she's away. "Thank you, I'll be back in a bit. I cannot promise that everything will be alright but I will do my best to fix all of this and see if we can arrange something else."
The villainess lowers her head, before leaving to find a teacher that could be able to help them find Lord Ein. Being burdened to fix all of it considering that their class president is missing she's the next person in power who has to deal with all of this.
The high section of the first years were already thinking of the worst case scenario if Lord Ein doesn't come back soon.
"What should we do..."
"If Lord Ein doesn't show up and the play is canceled that means we have to refund every ticket that we took. I can't handle doing that, it'll be so awkward apologizing."
"I hope he shows up soon."
Lady Serene crosses her arms, and finds someone that idiot fiancé has last been seen with.
"Hey, you."
"M-Me?"
Lady Harriot seemed a little afraid of the lackey calling her, and the red haired girl noticed this so she eased up the tone in her voice.
"Yes, we rarely talk but I'm just curious Lady Yates if my fiancé said anything weird or might've slipped something that would be useful to know where he could be." (Lady Serene) was worried for the girl, after all... this is her fiancé that they're talking about.
"Lady Serene Sinclair, my apologies but I truly don't know. We just bumped into each other yesterday and- I treated him to a meal that's all for helping me with something." It was the truth.
They really just ate and did nothing else.
"I see." The lackey felt another headache coming in and apologized towards Lady Harriot for taking some of her time. "Ugh... sorry for bothering you then, Lady Yates. Everything is stressing me out."
Analissa overheard their conversation and I think she knows the real reason why Lord Ein bounced off to go somewhere else. The blonde girl could recall the times he used the excuse of 'torturing' her for memorizing the whole script, especially polishing his part as a prince.
She did have a gut feeling something like this would happen, but only ignored it because he played his part on the first day of the festival.
"Lord Ein you idiot."
She knew it! She called it and was a fool to trust him so easily.
Just because he showed up to do his duties on the first day doesn't mean he won't dip on the second one!
"What happens if the play gets cancelled?" She mutters to herself but someone else was there as well.
Lady Serene looked distant, as she peeks through the tall red curtain seeing the packed theater guests outside. "We'll become the laughingstock of the whole school year, Miss Blanchet that's what will happen."
"Oh..."
That's not good.
"And knowing Evelyn she'll blame herself for what happened today. Even if it's not her fault, she would think it is because she should've known better." (Lady Serene) was barely holding out, and now it doesn't help her family... could also be watching.
"I can see it now, the class of the future queen has its play canceled- parents and students devastated by the refund."
Analissa thought of that... but it's not the only thing that's unfortunate if the play doesn't continue. "No... actually perhaps the public's opinions are not that important but our classmates who worked on this play... their efforts would've been in vain."
"And the costumes that you've made-"
"What about them?" The lackey crossed her arms, looking offended already without hearing what Analissa was going to say next.
"I know you've also worked hard on them, Lady Sinclair. The designs you've made were beautiful, the role of the princess and the prince shined because of the care and effort you made into them. You're one of the people who looked forward to this festival the most."
"I-I did not look forward to it that much!" She did not realize that this commoner was paying attention to her this much! Has she really let her guard down?
Lady Serene clears her throat with a slight reddened color of her cheek. "In any case thank you for your praise, commoner. However, if we don't have an extra prince to take on the role- then... everyone's efforts will indeed all be for naught. I truly hope Ein will show up soon."
Another pang of guilt hits Analissa like a brick, she knew that Lord Ein wouldn't come back. "Hmm..."
There is another way that they could salvage some things... but it will require her to actually follow whatever Lord Ein is planning.
'Ugh... I don't want to do this but it looks like I have no other choice-' The heroine takes a deep breath before turning to lackey to offer her suggestion.
"Lady Sinclair, I know this may sound crazy but I think... I have an idea."
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