Chapter 289: Meeting the Playwright

[A/N: 2 more golden tickets for another milestone!]

Even if you did nothing, the days went by. Then word came from the Duchess to come, and I visited her with Lily. Rudolf wondered why Lily, but when I said it was about that play, he accepted it. He said Lily was more suited to it than he was. It was obvious he was relieved he did not have to go himself, Rudolf.

When we went to the ducal residence, the Duke was out as expected. Her Majesty, the Duchess, the maids, and a woman I had never seen were there. She looked about thirty. Her clothes were clearly not those of a noble. You could tell she was a commoner. She had dressed as finely as she could, but there was none of that sense of expensive clothing you saw on high nobles. I thought she was a commoner, but were nobles and commoners distinguished by what they wore? Still, she was a beautiful person. Her back was straight, her eyes large, and she looked at me with extremely strong eyes. A predator’s eyes, I thought. As if she meant to eat me no matter what? I would not have minded being eaten?

That did not matter. When I entered the room Her Majesty stood first, and the Duchess stood as well to receive me. The unknown woman stood too. She had pale skin and red hair, but for some reason her face was bright red, and she was gripping her hands with all her strength. Even from the side you could see she was tense, moving stiffly like a puppet.

"Lord Robin, welcome. Today the outline of the play is done, so I called the person who will write the script. Now, introduce yourself to Lord Robin."

Prompted by Her Majesty, the woman said,

"I-I am, at St-Stein Theater, I h-handle the sc-script and, um, direction. My n-name is L-Linoa. P-p-please, t-t-treat me, w-w-w-well!"

She stammered even worse from nerves and somehow finished the introduction. They were supposed to be incognito, but Her Majesty and the Duchess were sitting with her, so being tense was only natural. I found it a little funny and smiled as I greeted her.

"A pleasure. I am Robin Marie. I serve as Ambassador of Marie Kingdom. This is my maid, Lily Page. I was told there would be a meeting about the play today. Please ask anything. I look forward to working with you."

Linoa seemed to settle a little, but her face stayed bright red.

"Oh, my, no, um, you are even more than I had heard. No, what should I do!? No, this will not do!"

She was saying things I could not make sense of. The Duchess said to Linoa,

"Well? Just as I told you, is it not? Perfect for Linoa’s tastes, is it not? Your urge to create is rising, is it not? Ufufufu."

"Y-yes, th-that is right. Material beyond anything more, ah, excuse me, the finest model, I would almost like to take him to the stage as he is... aaaah, no! I cannot hold myself back!?"

Linoa was growing stranger and stranger. Her hands reached toward me and wavered in the air.

Her Majesty laughed at Linoa’s reaction as well.

"Linoa, it was just as I thought, was it not? You are not like this when you meet with us. And no matter how much we explained, you would not believe us. That is why I told you. You would be shocked when you met Lord Robin. Ufufufu."

Then the Duchess said,

"That is right, Linoa. What happened to your usual manner? However much Lord Robin matches your preferences, there is no need to freeze up like that. Fufufu.

Lord Robin, Linoa was in fact the daughter of a viscount’s house. Her Majesty has known Linoa well since she was small. As a child Linoa was taken to the theater by her parents, became enchanted, and threw herself into plays. She refused every match her parents recommended, hated hearing of marriage talks so much she could not stand it, and ran from home to throw herself on the head of a commoner troupe. A daughter who had done that once was treated as damaged goods, so her parents gave her up and let her do as she liked. Even so, they loved their daughter, bought a small theater for her, and gave it to her in exchange for cutting ties with the house. So the daughter now heads a troupe and runs it. That is Stein Theater. As you will have understood, Lord Robin, Viscount Stein’s money is in it, so it is called that. She left the noble register, so we call her Linoa, but until a little while ago she was the young lady of House Stein. Parents with a free-spirited daughter truly have a hard time!"

She told it laughing, as if she could not stop. These three were old acquaintances. I had thought Linoa first looked tense because she was sitting with Her Majesty, but it had been because she met me.

Meeting Linoa made me think. So this world also had women sunk in a swamp, or rather women of a fair age. You could not dismiss her in one word as a painful person. I knew people like this did not waver no matter what outsiders said. They dove in. They had the strong nerves not to feel the sting of surrounding gazes.

Linoa laughed, fufufu, turned toward Her Majesty, and said,

"Your Majesty, Duchess, Lord Marie, may I hear from the maid as well?"

May I? she asked, but she already thought the only answer was yes. Of course Her Majesty’s reply was,

"That is fine. Do as you like."

Linoa turned to me, smirked, and said,

"You heard that, Lord Marie. That is fine, yes? You will answer? Please."

and bowed her head.

From there Linoa asked questions, and Lily and I answered. Lily was already in high spirits, reenacting with gestures. There were scenes Her Majesty and the Duchess had not seen, and most of the maids had not seen them either, so they were absorbed in Lily’s telling. Linoa was also a skilled listener and drew Lily’s story out well. I only agreed now and then, and the talk raced on. I did not think Linoa had been drinking, but her eyes were already gone. She nodded along to Lily’s story, and the pen in her hand never stopped writing something on the paper.

At the end, when Lily finished telling the scene of the contest with Division Head Hütter, applause rose from everyone in the room for some reason.

Linoa shook a clenched fist.

"This! This is what I was waiting for! I was born to write this!!"

she shouted, saying things I could not quite follow. Everyone’s faces were red and excited. I thought I had seen this scenery before. I alone was sober, and all the other women were in a hypnotic state... I glanced quietly at the person who seemed to be the source, and sure enough she was excited, her eyes gone. I could feel a tingling wavelength. She was holding Her Majesty’s hand, so Her Majesty was infected too. What was I supposed to do with this? Then Linoa said,

"Lord Marie, last of all we have to make the costumes. The actors are decided, but we must match the build to yours as much as possible. So may I take your measurements?"

"You may do that on your side as you like..."

As far as I was concerned I had thrown it all to Linoa, so she could do as she pleased, but,

"No, that will not do! In fact I am thinking of an actress. An actress who fits Lord Marie’s image. But the difference in build between men and women, the difference in the length of arms and legs, that will tell later. So please! I very much want to take your measurements. I beg you!"