The Male Lead Knelt Before Me

Contrary to my worries about how long the headache would last, I woke up the next day with no difficulty, feeling so clean and light.

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It was a relief to me.
Since if I had a headache, it would have been really hard to perform.

As soon as I left the room for breakfast feeling refreshed unlike yesterday, I ran into Veloca who was coming out from the other side.

“Hi, Lena.
You look better than yesterday.
Are you alright now?”

“Yes, I’m fine now that I’ve had a good rest.”

“Thank God.
I was worried if I had to go to the market alone if you were sick again today.”

“The marketplace?”

“Don’t you remember? There’s a market at the plaza every two weeks.”

“Uh…….”

As nothing immediately came to mind, Veloca kindly added.

“Your favourite perfume dealer also appears there.
Didn’t you say you should buy one since you’re almost out of perfume last time?”

“Ah, I remember.”

I nodded.

I’m sure I talked to Veloca about that.
I mean, it wasn’t me, it was really Lena’s conversation.

 

“What do you want to do? Do you want to come with me?”

Well, what should I do?

I’m in trouble.

Since I became Lena, I’ve only been to and from the stage and room, and I’ve never been out before, so I’ve been worried.

Of course, I know what the outside looks like and how the traffic goes because of the memories that came through headaches and dreams, but having to do it personally is different.
It’s kind of scary.

But I can’t stay here forever…….

Ugh, I don’t know! Let’s just get out of here.
I’m not going alone anyway!

“I’m coming with you!”

“Okay, then let’s have breakfast and get ready and go out.
Are you okay?

“Oh, aren’t we going to dinner later? What about the performance? Today is a weekday, right?”

“It’s a weekday, but it’s our regular holiday.”

Regular holidays were set by the theatre itself in consideration of actors performing every day except Sunday.

Once every 30 days, we have a day off on weekdays like today and we take a day of break regardless of the day of the week.

“So that day was today…….”

“You must have forgotten.
Anyway, we’re going together later?”

 

“Yes.”

I nodded.

I think it wouldn’t be a bad idea to buy perfume for Rael and show him a little sincerity.

***

“All right, I’m ready.”

I pulled the bonnet strap under my chin, tied the ribbon beautifully and looked in the mirror.

Unlike the revealing stage dress, neat clothes were awkward for this body, but I was comfortable enough.

In fact, I felt burdened but I had no choice but to wear it because of the performance.

Should I go out now!

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As I was going out, I realized I didn’t pack my wallet.

“That’s right, Money!”

Veloca said that I was planning to buy perfume, so how could I do that if I don’t bring money?

I opened the drawer and took out a small pocket.

In this world, except for checks guaranteed by the imperial court, all the money used is coins, so people spend pockets like wallets.

Just in case, I checked my pocket and found quite a few coins.

“She got enough money……huh?”

A piece of paper was seen between small copper and silver coins.

What is it?

When I took it out with my index finger and my thumb, it was a play ticket.
Why did she bring this around when she can watch play whenever she wants?

‘Why was she carrying this stuff around?’

As I tilted my head, I soon realized that this ticket played a similar role as a business card.

I don’t think I need it, but let’s keep it for now.
It wouldn’t hurt to carry this around.

Back in my pocket, I picked up the parasols and headed to the market with Veloca.

***

“Wow…”

I let out a small ‘awe’ so Veloca couldn’t hear me.

I knew roughly how the marketplace looked from Lena’s memory, but it was amazing to see it in person.

I thought it would be a little messy because it was a marketplace, but it wasn’t at all.
The streets and shops that have western vibes were very clean and neat.

‘I can’t believe that this is the world in a book.’

When I enjoyed the atmosphere that I couldn’t see when I was Ji Seo Eun, Velocca suddenly called me “Lena”.

“I’ll go to the clothing store for a while, so why don’t you buy what you need?”

“Are we not going together?”

Veloca looked at me with a slightly surprised look at my question.

“What are you doing? Normally, you’d get really annoyed if I asked you to hang out with me and tell me to just do my own business.”

Oh, yeah, that’s right.

Veloca’s words belatedly reminded me how the real ‘Lena’ was.

In fact, I really wanted to go around with Veloca.

However, it was obvious that doing something different than usual ‘Lena’ would gain her suspicion.

Maybe she’ll notice that I’m not the real ‘Lena’.

And, when it happened, she wouldn’t treat me well anymore.

‘I don’t like that.’

It wouldn’t matter if my task just became Lena, but I’ve been quite attached to Veloca for the past week.

Now I didn’t want to get away from Veloca.

Even if it’s a job to fool everyone.

I forced myself to open my mouth with a smile.

“I thought I’d hang out with you just for today.
Come to think of it, I think we should go separately.
When should we meet again?”

“You’re so capricious, anyway, how about meeting in two hours in front of the square clock tower?”

“Okay.
I’ll see you later, Veloca.”

“Yeah, see you later.”

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Fortunately, Veloca said bye to me without any suspicion.

After that, I began to search the way in the memory, hard.

I was able to walk with confidence for a while.

“…….I think this is the right place.”

I looked at a strange street and recited.

According to the memory, the perfume dealer was supposed to be here.

But all I could see was streets and shops that were completely different from the memory.

‘Did I take the wrong route?’

This is a place I do not know although I looked around.

Really, how come I lost? I came here, with the route as I remembered.

No, this isn’t important right now, I need to find a way first!

Wouldn’t it be better to ask a passerby or a merchant to find a way, right?

I was looking for people to ask for directions while the mouthwatering smell of delicious food crossed the tip of my nose.

Naturally, my eyes followed the smell, and I saw a merchant selling skewers not far away.

The skewer, which was golden brown on charcoal, looked delicious from afar.

‘Let’s just buy one and eat it.’

No matter what, I need strength to get around more.

Fascinated by the smell of skewers, I approach the merchant.

“One skewer, please.”

“What sauce do you want me to put on? There’s a sweet sauce and spicy sauce.”

“Sweet sauce, please.”

In my words, the merchant picked up the skewer he was grilling, applied the sauce, and even wrapped it with paper skillfully.

It seemed to be trying to prevent the sauce from dripping.

Still, the skewer’s dignity remained intact.

The brown skewers, which smell like teriyaki sauce on top of the tender-looking meat, looked really appetizing.

“Thank you.
Here’s the money.”

When I handed over the money, the merchant said to me, “Thank you for buying.”

“If you don’t have anything urgent, please eat here.
It’s a big deal if you get sauce on your clothes while moving.”

That makes sense.

I willingly decided to follow the merchant’s words.

I was sitting on a snack chair in front of the store and eating skewers for a long time when the merchant talked to me.

“By the way, lady, you’re so pretty.”

“Oh, thank you.”

I laughed my head off while eating skewers.

It didn’t even occur to me to be modest.
To be honest, even to me, Lena is really pretty.

“I’ve been here a long time, but I’ve never seen a pretty girl like you.
Chloé’s troupe’s yobu must be jealous of you, too.”

If it’s a Chloe troupe, it’s the one I’m working for.
But what’s with the yobu?

“What do you mean yobu?”

I knew that the term “yobu” usually refers to a wicked woman who is good at attracting and seducing men.

But there’s such a person in our theatre company?

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“Oh, it’s just a rumour though.
You know the Chloe’s Theater Company in front of this street, right?”

“Yes.”

I nodded.

There’s no way I couldn’t know when I’m from the troupe.

“The female lead in the upcoming performance is a yobu.
I hear she’s very seductive.”

“The female lead?”

“I heard so.”

Is there another actress who is the female lead in this work besides me….…?

“Well, I heard that the men will kneel on their own when they look at her once.
And even if she makes a little gesture with her fingers, everyone falls down and calls her name.”

“Wow, is there anyone in the world who can do that?”

“That’s why she’s a yobu.
Starting with Viscount Casaro, who lives in the next estate, everyone has said that that girl is really crazy that they couldn’t do anything.”

If it’s Viscount Casaro, then the one who was the one who was beaten up by me.

‘Don’t tell me, that Chloe’s troupe’s yobu….….’

Anxiety crept up, but I tried to deny the feeling.

Eiy, there’s no way.

“I also heard that a knight who works in the Imperial Palace carries flowers every day and begs the woman to beckon him just once.
I heard there weren’t only one or two people who saw it.”

“Kuck!”

I didn’t even eat the skewer, but something felt stuck in my throat.

Suddenly I grabbed my neck and snuck, and the surprised merchant offered me a glass of water.

“Miss, are you okay? Drink water.”

“Tha, thank you.”

I drank the water from the merchant.

Thanks to this, I no longer showed ugly sloppiness, but I couldn’t stop my heart from constantly beating.

Because I was the one the merchant was talking about!

I don’t know how such a strange rumour came about, but I couldn’t let it spread.

It wouldn’t do me any good if everyone knew that the main character of the rumour is me, would it?

First, let’s pretend not to be and lead the conversation naturally and find the person who started the rumour.

“But isn’t that too weak to be called a yobu? It’s not as if someone has given her all their wealth.……”

“I haven’t heard that there’s a man who’s given up his entire fortune to her yet, but wouldn’t there be something if she was rumoured to be a yobu?”

“Is, is that so?”

What do I have? No matter how hard I think about it, there’s nothing.

“More than anything else, it seems that there’s something more bigger, more than what happened to Viscount Casaro, that contributed to the rumour.”

“Contributed more than the Viscount? And what is that?”

“You must haven’t known about that, Miss, but Viscount Casaro used to visit the theatre every day.
These days, he hasn’t come, so people have been curious about what had happened.”

“And what is that?”

“I heard this from the Viscount himself, that the Viscount was very freaked out because of that yobu called woman.
The Viscount said it was really hard to get out of her, it was so hard to get his act together, and he even advised us to be careful of her.”

The merchant added, flipping the skewer he was grilling.

“When such words come out, doesn’t it make sense that there’s something with this woman?”

So, the source of the rumour is Viscount Casaro himself.

However, questions have only grown, rather than being resolved.

Viscount Casaro was a man who was beaten out of me.

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And such a man said that I’m a yobu?

I couldn’t understand why he had made such a rumour, as if he had rather run wild to get revenge on me.

‘Wait, so Viscount Casaro was the one who started the rumour?’

Suddenly, when I was worried about the Viscount’s revenge, I remembered what Veloca had said.

The one Veloca said that Viscount Casaro couldn’t tell anyone what happened since he’ll be so embarrassed.

‘Is this how he wraps it up to protect his pride because if he reports me or gets back at me, he has to tell everyone the truth?’

It seemed quite possible.

‘No, that really makes sense, but to be doing this……haha…’

It was a time when I was dumbfounded and laughed.

“It turns out that the haircolour of the yobu is dark purple.
I used to hear that purple is a bitch colour, but it sounds perfect, oh my, sorry.
Now that I see it, your hair is dark purple.”

“Tha, thank you for the meal!”

I hurriedly got up from my seat with a bonnet and a parasol next to me, which I had let go for a while to eat the skewers.

I heard a merchant calling me in a bewildered voice from behind, but I ran away.

“Sigh, sigh…….”

I’ve run this much, so it’s okay, right?

I caught my breath.
My feet hurt quite a bit when I ran with my shoes on.

Only then did I think of other thoughts.

For example, pretending not to know what kind of coincidences exist in the world………

Anyway, there are ways to solve it without running away.

But, if I go back to the situation.
I felt like I would have run away again even if I tried.

The merchant’s attitude was so sudden and it was embarrassing to hear the rumour that I was a yobu.

Then what should I do now…….

“Oh, I should have asked where the perfume dealer is!”

Originally, I wanted to eat skewers because I wanted to eat them, but if I asked for directions too, I felt like a fool.

No, should I just grab a passerby and ask for directions?

As soon as I raised my head, I lost all motivation.

“Where the hell am I?”

This time there was no one even passing by.
The scenery didn’t look very good either.
The road was cramped and shaded, so it didn’t seem strange even if I met a bully.

It was the result of running my feet without knowing where I was going, because of the words of a merchant who pretended to know me.

‘First, let’s get out of here for now.’

It looks like there’s more trouble that would find me in this place.

I should look for a brighter place.

It was when I just moved on.

“Hey, lady over there.”

Startled–

My body trembled at the loud voice coming from behind.

Don’t tell me, he’s calling me?

Let’s ignore it and get out of here.

It was a time when I kept moving because I thought there was nothing good about being entangled with it.

Soon after, someone grabbed me by my left arm and dragged me back.