“Come to think of it, this is actually my first time watching an opera, both in my past life and my present one.”
I waited for the performance to begin with fascinated eyes.
The actress playing the female lead’s voice layered over the instrumental music that had been playing in the background.
Her voice was clear and pure, yet there was a sorrowful quality to it that stirred something deep within the listener.
When the aria she was singing reached its climax, the curtain covering the stage finally opened.
The female lead was a beautiful woman with red hair and emerald-green eyes, just like the name of her character.
In a sorrowful voice, she sang of the anguish she felt after realizing the dark intentions of her family, who were plotting a rebellion.
The scene changed, and the male lead, Ethan, appeared from one side of the stage.
It was the scene of the emperor’s coronation.
As for him, they had apparently tried to make him look different from the imperial family’s signature black hair. Instead, he had deep blue hair so dark that it looked black in dim lighting, along with blue eyes.
‘Is that magical hair dye? Red and blue hair aren’t exactly common.’
I was only briefly distracted by the actors’ hair.
The opera I was watching for the first time was far more entertaining than I had expected, and I quickly became completely immersed in the play.
Perhaps they had applied illusion magic to the stage sets, because even to someone like me, who was accustomed to modern CG technology, the stage effects were spectacular enough that I could hardly take my eyes off them.
More importantly, since an opera conveyed its overall story through songs, I had wondered if it might be difficult to follow the plot. Fortunately, because I already knew the original story, I could follow the development fairly easily.
Perhaps the rumor that the emperor and empress’s closest confidants had participated in writing the script was true, because the opera’s plot was almost identical to the original novel I remembered.
‘Though the fantastical elements, like Rosalyn’s regression, had been changed into anecdotes or coincidences meant to highlight the heroine’s extraordinary abilities.’
In fact, the opera did a better job with the details of the imperial family’s hidden affairs and the rebellion, which had been omitted because the original story was narrated primarily from Rosalyn’s perspective.
There had been three rebellion attempts during the current emperor’s reign. The first rebellion was connected to the heroine, Rosalyn’s family, so naturally, it was given a significant amount of attention in the play as well.
‘After all, the reason the two of them ended up becoming contract fiancés in the first place was this first rebellion.’
The first rebellion had occurred early in the emperor’s reign.
The crown prince had spent his entire life preparing to become emperor, but once he ascended the throne, he was still a young and inexperienced ruler compared to the seasoned nobles who had spent years entrenched in politics.
During the previous emperor’s reign, the noble factions had been suppressed by policies aimed at strengthening imperial authority. Taking advantage of the change in emperors, they began gradually expanding their influence.
None of them individually had particularly great ambitions, but there were simply too many of them.
Even a massive sandcastle could collapse beneath the assault of an army of ants.
The emperor was troubled.
Suppressing the nobles’ defiance with imperial authority, as his predecessor had done, was too risky for him.
Yet leaving them alone was also impossible. They were so greedy that even during the short period it would take them to find a plausible excuse to completely devour the empire, they could inflict enormous damage.
He needed a move that would shift the balance of power back in favor of the emperor.
He chose an imperial marriage as the means to accomplish that.
An imperial marriage was a great event for the empire.
From who would become empress to when the wedding would take place, and even how the balance of political power would shift following the empress’s arrival, everything would become the subject of public interest.
Naturally, the empire’s attention would be focused on the emperor’s every move.
At the same time, the emperor’s marriage was also a personal matter.
Choosing an empress was entirely the imperial family’s affair, leaving nobles significantly less room to interfere compared to other political matters.
The emperor intended to use this imperial marriage as an opportunity to shake up the increasingly rigid balance of power.
The timing was also perfect.
The emperor had only just passed the age considered suitable for marriage, and the position of empress had remained vacant for a long time after the previous empress, his mother, died while giving birth to the Second Prince.
At that very moment, a scene discussing the emperor’s plans for an imperial marriage was unfolding on the stage.
‘Ethan’ planned an imperial marriage to stabilize the unstable political situation.
To maintain secrecy, only his closest confidants had gathered in the emperor’s office, where lists of potential candidates for empress were being passed around busily.
Eventually, the young lady chosen as the final candidate was Selena, the elder sister of ‘Rosemary.’
The emperor wanted to finish everything before the noble factions had a chance to interfere.
So he immediately took a proposal letter and headed toward the home where ‘Rosemary’ lived.
A modest black carriage without even the emperor’s seal raced along the road leading to the Crifton estate.
Then, on the road leading toward the estate, ‘Rosemary’ suddenly blocked the emperor’s carriage.
If the emperor’s coachman had been even slightly less skilled, she could have been struck and seriously injured or killed.
This was the first official meeting between the two that the people of the empire knew about.
‘Their real first meeting was at the execution grounds during Rosalyn’s first life, though.’
“Are you hurt, Lady?”
The emperor, who had stepped down from the carriage after the sudden incident, helped ‘Rosemary’ to her feet from where she had fallen onto the road and asked worriedly.
After briefly examining her condition and confirming that ‘Rosemary’ had not suffered any serious injuries, the emperor immediately hardened his expression and sneered.
‘Our male lead isn’t the type of person with enough patience to put up with someone pretending to hurt herself unless he’s already on his deathbed.’
“If you are so unwell that you cannot even see a carriage this large, perhaps you would be better off staying quietly inside your home.”
It was essentially a harsh way of saying that if she had a problem with her brain severe enough to prevent her from understanding that jumping in front of a moving carriage could get her killed, then she should stay locked inside her house.
‘He’s milder than in the original. In the original, he practically stopped just short of outright cursing at her.’
In the original, he probably said something like, “If you want to kill yourself, find another way. How inconsiderate of you to dirty the imperial capital’s main road with your corpse.”
Ethan’s nickname in the original was the “Mouth Fighter” and “Spicy-Mouthed Tyrant.”
That said, Rosalyn after regressing wasn’t exactly the sort of kind-hearted person who would simply endure being mistreated either, so this couple was practically a gourmet feast of battle romance.
They fought like that all the time, but when they made up, they did it just as passionately in the way adults did.
‘The author really knew what they were doing.’
I forced away the inappropriate thoughts creeping into my mind and focused on the play again.
“My name is ‘Rosemary.’ I’m the younger sister of Lady Selena, whom Your Majesty is planning to propose to.”
The moment ‘Rosemary’ finished speaking, ‘Ethan’ drew his sword.
The fact that he had chosen Lady Selena as his future empress was an absolute secret known only to a select few among his closest confidants. Even the Crifton Count’s family had not been informed.
The reason he had left the imperial palace today was to personally ask the Count of Crifton for his opinion, so he assumed that the young lady who already knew this information must be a spy.
“Take back what you just said. Thanks to you refusing to stay quietly inside your home, you have actually done me a favor. You’ve informed me that there is a rat sneaking into my quarters.”
Even with a sword pointed directly at her, ‘Rosemary’ did not so much as blink before answering.
“That is correct. There are rats coming and going from Your Majesty’s quarters. However, I am here to tell you about an even greater pest that is eating away at the empire.”
‘This part seems almost exactly the same.’
Comparing the original story I knew with the play was surprisingly entertaining.
The emperor became interested in Rosalyn’s words.
“A pest?”
“My parents. The Count and Countess of Crifton. They are planning a rebellion.”
“You are accusing your own father? How am I supposed to believe the words of a young lady I have never even met before?”
When the emperor sneered coldly, Rosalyn pulled out a small note from inside her clothes as though she had been waiting for him to ask and handed it to him.
The note was a secret letter exchanged between Count Crifton and Duke Basilius.
Still keeping his sword pointed at her, the emperor snatched the note from her with his other hand and read it.
“Thanks to Your Excellency’s advice, I successfully gave my daughter the blue crystal. I would be grateful for your wisdom regarding the gift for her next birthday.”
The Blue Crystal Palace was another name for the Empress’s Palace.
Someone was reporting to another person that his daughter, Selena, had been chosen to become empress.
Anyone who knew the circumstances could easily decipher the crude code.
To make matters worse, it even bore the seal symbolizing House Crifton.
It was so poorly disguised that, ironically, it made the letter seem even more credible.
One of the reasons the emperor had chosen Lady Selena as his fiancée was that her status was sufficiently prestigious for her to become the crown prince’s mother, while her parents were foolish enough that they did not have the capability to harbor overly ambitious desires.
Though it had just been revealed that Count Crifton was even more stupid than the emperor had expected.
The emperor pocketed the note for the time being and lowered the sword he had been holding to Rosalyn’s neck.
“So that means you believe me?”
Rosalyn asked the emperor calmly.
It was difficult to believe that this was the same person who had nearly died at the emperor’s slightest gesture only moments ago.
The emperor’s fierce demeanor softened slightly.
If her accusation was true, then the emperor owed Rosalyn a debt.
“I think what you have to say is worth hearing in greater detail.”
The emperor mentally went through the list of people who knew he was going to propose to the eldest daughter of House Crifton.
Then, wanting to hear more about the situation from Rosalyn, he handed her the bottle of brandy that had been in the carriage.
“Drink some. You look pale.”
Rosalyn accepted the brandy from the emperor and downed it in one gulp.
Then she casually wiped the alcohol from the corner of her mouth and handed the empty bottle back to him.
“Thank you.”
“That is strong liquor.”
The emperor accepted the bottle obediently while scolding Rosalyn.
“I can hold my liquor.”
At Rosalyn’s proud declaration about her drinking capacity, the emperor laughed in disbelief.
‘The emperor was already falling for her at this point.’
A demure face paired with an entirely different attitude.
The contrast. The gap between the two sides.
That kind of thing was incredibly attractive.
With a little more color returning to her face than before, Rosalyn spoke.
“My father is merely a pawn. The true mastermind is someone else. The esteemed person behind that veil intends to make my sister empress and have her give birth to an imperial heir, and then assassinate Your Majesty. Their goal is to create an easily controlled puppet emperor. Unfortunately, I do not know who this person behind the curtain is.”
“Finding the leader of the rebels and rooting them out is my responsibility as emperor. It is not the responsibility of a mere noble lady.”
“But—”
“Lady, go back home. Ah, if you are worried that you may encounter trouble because of this, I can arrange a place for you to stay.”
The emperor cut off Rosalyn, who was about to propose a deal using the information she possessed from her previous life, and summoned one of the imperial guards secretly protecting the carriage with a gesture.
He intended to send her home.
“Wait. I will help Your Majesty. Please allow me to do so.”
Rosalyn shook off the imperial guard who had approached to support her and pleaded with the emperor.
“You have already done everything necessary by informing me of the rebels’ identities. I do not understand why you would willingly throw yourself into even greater danger.”
The emperor did not push Rosalyn away, but he made no attempt to hide his displeasure.
“Because my true purpose is something else.”
“Your purpose?”
The emperor’s eyes narrowed in irritation at the thought that he was being manipulated by the schemes of a young noble lady.
“Then tell me. But if your reason is not convincing, I will charge you with insulting the emperor.”
Even in the face of what sounded like a threat, Rosalyn did not back down.
Her resentment toward House Crifton ran that deep.
“Revenge.”
Rosalyn spat out the word through gritted teeth, her blue eyes burning fiercely with the will for revenge.
