(MC POV)
"Remember, no rushing," I warned.
The other actors nodded at me.
That was my caution for them to not speak their lines too fast and to maintain the flow of the play.
Kiyomi strutted out onto the stage as the lights in the theatre dimmed and a spotlight focused on her from the rafters above.
She did the introductory speech as the troupe's leader and organiser, introducing our troupe and the title of our play to the audience and setting the mood for our play.
With her role as the leader, she was dressed in a very elegant black dress that complemented her white hair and tails.
She had even worn earrings for the occasion and done makeup as well, truly making her current visage breathtakingly beautiful, something that was different from her usual cool beauty visage.
I had to spend a good few minutes patting her after she heard me compliment her dress and she got so happy she just cuddled against me and wouldn't let go.
I have no doubt that right now, a number of people in the crowd were completely distracted by Kiyomi's beauty and did not hear a single word that she had said.
With her speech delivered, she exited the stage from the other side of the stage and the lights dimmed once again, signifying the start of the play.
On the other side of the stage, Kiyomi spun around once and her dress and jewellery all disintegrated away to transform into her character's costume.
The music started to play and the lights came back on which was our cue to begin our performance and the actors swarmed onto the stage, setting the scene proper.
For myself in particular, I would not appear until the next scene so all I had to do was watch them from backstage.
The first scene has Kiyomi establishing her role as one of the main leads of the play, which surprised everyone in the audience since not five seconds ago they had seen her wearing the elegant black dress and done up like a celebrity walking the red carpet. Yet now, she was in her stage clothes as one of the actors like nothing happened before this.
High up in one of the private alcoves was the Empress who looked like she was really enjoying herself with the popcorn she was munching on enthusiastically.
My first thought was wondering if food was allowed in here, then I remembered she's the Empress.
Kiyomi delivered her lines perfectly and showed off her experience by completely personifying the character and bringing her to life.
I know Kiyomi as the stoic and calm white fox, but the person on stage right now was very clearly a scheming and self-centred swindler.
In this scene, we got to see Kiyomi's character move around on stage while interacting with the other characters, doing her usual routine of swindling naive characters of their money.
If it wasn't because of the fact that I had already gone through several rehearsals with her, it would have been a surprise for me to see such a drastic change in her character too.
By the end of the scene, she had already managed to gain the enmity of the audience with her character, another proof of just how great of an actor she was.
The next scene was my introductory scene where I would set the stage for the Royal Ball.
When I appeared on the stage, I could see Guiying flinging the box of popcorn in the air in her excitement as she leapt out of her seat to lean closer to the edge of the alcove.
I pity the poor maid behind her that would need to clean up that mess she had just made.
Just as I had rehearsed, I delivered my lines and also played my part perfectly, letting the audience know of my character's status and the existence of an upcoming Royal Ball.
I left the stage for the scene to change again, allowing Kiyomi to appear once more. This scene served the purpose of letting her find out about the Royal Ball and also to reveal her pitiable circumstances which made her the way she is.
They saw her suffer through her daily life as an orphan in the slums who only did what she had to do to survive.
Once again, the audience was treated to the sight of her perfect performance and the people that once hated her character now sympathised with her in just a single scene.
Everything was proceeding perfectly and we managed to reach the scene of the Royal Ball, specifically the scene where Kiyomi's character would meet mine for the first time.
Kiyomi was dressed up in a light blue gown that her character had sewn herself while I wore a military uniform, both of us obviously standing out from the other actors who wore generic suits and dresses.
Just as we were walking towards each other in order to play out the scene of our first meeting, an unexpected disaster struck.
For this scene in particular, we were using a chandelier as a prop for the scene. The light was powered by several Monster Crystals which made it shine quite beautifully.
The rope holding the chandelier up in the space between us suddenly snapped, causing the entire thing to come crashing down onto the stage.
The light in the chandelier went out and the broken Monster Crystal's also sent out a blast of energy that caused the stage lights to shut off as well, plunging the stage into darkness.
There were a few surprised screams from our actors, all of them obviously stunned by the disaster.
Undoubtedly, this was a major crisis as none of this was in the script.
The only good thing was that the chandelier was not made of actual glass so it didn't shatter and the stage suffered no damage so we could still continue if the lights came back on and we removed the broken chandelier.
Naturally, that would look especially bad to the audience even if it was an accident since their immersion would have been completely broken.
But before the audience could catch on that this was not part of the script, I saw Kiyomi run up to me in the darkness and snatched a few of my character's medals off my chest.
She then made sure to move a few steps past me before creating a small, icy blue flame to illuminate her face.
"Kukuku~ How could I resist such treasures, whence I set my eyes on these glittering shinies? Why should I simply settle myself to be tied down to a man, when I can simply steal from them and remain free? This all calls for a change of plans!"
She spun in a dramatic circle and thrusted the hand that was holding my medals out towards the audience while her other hand that was holding the fire was lifted up above her head.
I quickly realised it was her way of trying to illuminate the stage enough that the other actors could see the broken chandelier and work on bringing it backstage, while also keeping it dark enough that the audience would focus solely on her and not notice the shadows moving on the other side of the stage.
"Now I wonder~ With such little pretties in my possession, how else shall I make myself wealthy beyond comparison? Such an occasion filled with easy pickings, this thief, this swindler, shall steal all that gleams in the night!"
Ahaha! She really is the best! To be able to ad lib so perfectly while also manipulating the crowd... You really are a great actor, Kiyomi!
Well, that just means I have to step up my own game too~
