Chapter 53
Translator: Missme
Editor: Aru
She’s a candidate, just like me, so I was nervous.
Unlike me, the woman asked cheerfully.
“It’s a bit of a sudden question… Do you happen to know an actor named Iena?”
My body reacted first to the nickname I hadn’t heard in a long time.
When I shivered, the woman clapped her hands as if she noticed.
“As expected, you’re Iena-nim, right?”
“Do you know me?”
“Of course!”
How does she know me?
Is she someone I know?
The answer I heard was beyond my imagination, and I was embarrassed when I heard it.
“I am your fan, Iena-Nim! When you started singing, your unique vocalization was familiar, but I can’t believe it’s really you, Iena-nim. I was sad to hear that suddenly you want to take a break from acting, but I’m so happy to see you here!”
Then the woman asked me if I could give her an autograph.
For a while, I smiled and nodded willingly.
The woman returned to her original seat after receiving my autograph saying that she likes me very much.
‘I didn’t know I’d meet someone who knew me here.’
She said she is my fan, oh my goodness!
When I was working as an actor, the men who came to me were more overwhelming than women, so I never imagined meeting a female fan in a place like this.
‘If she can guess me at once by listening to my song, then she really must be my fan.’
Fan… I didn’t know I had a fan like that.
Somehow, as I felt better, the corners of my lips curled up.
In the meantime, the last candidate finished the song, and the priest told all the candidates to go up on the podium as the announcement ceremony would be held soon.
As I was walking up to the podium, a certain priest was already speaking on the podium.
He said thank you for participating in today’s competition, and that he’s happy that all the candidates are enthusiastic… Anyway, such words continued.
‘He would announce the Kitara soon, right? I hoped I could win but…’
I don’t know if I want the other benefits of Kitara, but I really wanted to get Mila’s eyes treated.
While waiting for the results, my heart was pounding with anxiety.
I listened to the speech of the priest holding both my hands tightly.
“Now, let me announce Solenia’s Kitara, which everyone has been waiting for. The Great High Priest will announce the winner himself.”
At the priest’s words, an elderly-looking old man walked out.
‘So that person is the Great High Priest.’
The Great High Priest, who has pure white hair and a good impression, looked into the paper handed over by another priest and cleared his throat.
“This time, Solenia’s Kitara…”
The Great High Priest took a breath for a while.
The time itself was short, but it felt quite long, perhaps because the results were ahead.
The Great High Priest opened his mouth again.
“Today Solenia’s Kitara is number 16th.”
Woahhhh!
Shouts and applause arose.
In it, I was busy looking for candidate number 16th.
Number 16?
Who was number 16?
“What are you doing? Come on, go ahead!”
“Oh, oh?”
The woman who received my autograph earlier grabbed my arm and shook it.
Only then did I realize I was number 16.
Right, I was that number… Huh? It’s really me?
“Candidate 16?”
“Yes, yes?
“Please come forward.”
As I hesitated, the priest pointed at me directly.
When I stepped out with a puzzled face because I couldn’t believe the whole process, The Great High Priest came to me and gave me a bouquet of flowers and put on a tiara.
“I enjoyed your performance. It was new and nice.”
“Thank you.”
“Kitara-nim, please extend your hand to the Great High Priest so he can give you his blessing and engrave a pattern.”
“Any hand doesn’t matter?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
As the priest said, I held out my left hand after much consideration.
If the pattern is engraved like henna, it is better to use the hand which is used less frequently.
The Great High Priest supported my hand with one hand and wrapped the back of my hand with his other hand.
A white light flowed from the centre of the held hand, and I felt something warm seep into it.
‘I guess this is some kind of divine power.’
The light faded while I was watching with my amazing eyes.
Unlike what I thought he’d let go of my hand soon, the Great High Priest stares at my hand.
To be exact, to the ring that the crown prince gave me on my little finger.
Later, I realized what the Great High Priest was looking at my hand for.
He must have recognized that the jewel embedded in the ring I was wearing was a holy relic.
“The Great High Priest-nim…”
The priest next to him called him with a strange voice.
Only then did the Great High Priest let go of my hand.
“I’m sorry. It’s all over. May Solenia’s blessings reach you.”
After that, I greeted the Great High Priest and came down from the podium.
‘I can’t believe I’ve really become Kitara…’
I met the Great High Priest, but I couldn’t believe it.
With a shaky face, I looked at the back of my hand that the Great High Priest blessed me earlier.
‘There’s nothing here. Didn’t he say he was going to engrave a pattern?’
As I tilted my head, the officer approached me and said.
“Kitara, if you give us the tiara, we will send it to you together with the prize money to the address you wrote in the waiting room earlier. But if you want, you can take the tiara with you now.”
“No, I think it’d be nice if you brought it together later.”
I took off the tiara I was wearing on my head and handed it over to the priest.
“Then I’ll do that. Also, if you need help, please visit the temple anytime and show the hand that you received the blessing from the Great High Priest earlier. Only those with divine power can see the pattern, so you don’t have to worry about it normally.”
Oh, that’s why I couldn’t see anything on the back of my hand.
“But you said if I need help, what kind of help are you talking about?”
“According to the policy, Kitara and Kitara can be treated free of charge by all but the great high priest for a year. Also, we will send you three bottles of high-quality holy water once a month.”
Wow!!! I didn’t expect them to send me to holy water.
But regardless of one thing or another, it wasn’t those that mattered to me.
“Then, can I get my sister’s eyes treated?”
“Then, is she the biological sister of Kitara?”
“No, she’s the younger sister of my close friend, but I want to get her treated because of her poor eyesight. As long as you treat her, I can give up other benefits.”
“I see. I don’t think that’s a problem I can answer now. Can I ask the great high priest instead and let you know if it’s possible when I deliver the tiara?”
“Oh, yes.”
When I nodded, the priest turned around, saying, “Then I’ll go.”
My steps out of the waiting room with a bouquet of flowers were quite light.
“It’d be better to tell Dame Seria and Mila, right? I’m afraid I’ll just give them false hope if I said it without waiting for the priest’s confirmation.’
As I was walking, I realized one fact.
That I didn’t promise a place to meet Mila and Natalie again.
‘If I just go outside, will they be waiting for me?’
It was when I came out of the waiting room with that thought.
“She’s out!”
“That’s her!”
“It’s Kitara!
Suddenly, people flocked around me and suddenly sent me a letter.
“Kitara-nim! Please come to my owner’s mansion and sing for us!”
“How dare a servant block me! Instead of the house who only sends their servants to you, please Come to my house and sing for me!”
“No! Rather than this poor bastard, please come to my house!”
“At my house…Argh! Hey you! Stop pushing me! There’s no space!”
It was a mess everywhere.
Several hands sticking out between people’s bodies held out envelopes, and tried to deliver the letter to me somehow.
‘What the hell is this?’
I had never heard anything about the current situation, nor had I ever experienced it, so I was at a loss as to what to do.
As I was losing my thoughts, all the people who were holding out in front of me finally collapsed.
“Oh, my. My hat!”
“Stop pushing me!”
In an instant, people got trapped and tangled.
Forgetting their original purpose, people were now busy trying not to fall down or get stepped down.
Watching that reminded me of a case where people were pushed down by other people and crushed to death while chasing a celebrity in the past.
For some reason, I feel like this is going to be like that right now…
‘Let’s run away.’
I turned around and escaped the gap while people were fighting not to push each other.
I don’t want to get crushed here!
I don’t want to die like this!
Fortunately, it was not difficult to get out of the crowd.
My neatly braided hair was messy because I squeezed through the gaps, but this much was trivial considering that I could really get crushed till death here.
All right, now I just need to sneak out and find Mila and Dame Seria, right?
“Wait! Kitara is gone!”
“What? Where did she go?”
“There! There she is!”
The people who were fighting not to push each other turned toward me as soon as they noticed my absence.
Thanks to this, I revised my plan to sneak out with my heels up.
‘Let’s squeeze out the strength and run as hard as I can.’
“Kitara!”
“Catch her!”
“Don’t miss her! Catch her”
Why did “please come to my house!” change to “catch her!” right now?
Of course, I swallowed those words inside.
Because right now, running away was the first priority.
“Stop there!”
“Anyone, please catch her! Kitara is running away!”
I ran, throwing away the bouquet I received earlier, while the people followed me screaming and chasing me.
Shouldn’t they notice already when I run like this?
That I don’t want to go to their house!
I didn’t run much, but I was out of breath.
I don’t think my stamina was this low.….
It’s probably because of the skirt and shoes, right?
But I can’t take it off on the street.
As my physical strength was getting exhausted and the people chasing me got closer, I became nervous.
What should I do?
If this goes on then I’ll get caught.
While thinking about it, I kept running.
Just as I turned around the corner, someone suddenly grabbed my arm.
At that moment, I got goosebumps all over my body.
But even before I looked back or rebelled, my body was pulled back by a strong force.
So I was quickly dragged into a narrow alley.
* * * * *
A hard wall touched my back.
I tried to jump out right away, but I couldn’t because the man looking next to me with both arms locked up in front.
I wanted to identify the man, but I couldn’t recognize his face because he was wearing a hat and a mask.
There was also a shadow between the alleys that interfered with my sight.
Rather, why did he bring me here? Maybe, to help me?
Or is he going to do something weird?
If it’s the latter, then I’ll have to make sure I’m never even approaching this alley again.
It was just when I put strength on my toes and was ready to kick my leg.
“Now that they’re all gone, you can rest assured.”
My heart sank for a moment when the voice reached my ears.
It was a very familiar voice.
“… Lord Egon? Is that you?”
“Yes, it’s me.”
The man took off his mask.
Soon, a familiar face was revealed.
‘He’s really Lord Egon.’
I gently lowered my half-lifted leg.
But I think he’s kinda different from usual…… What is it?
After looking at Caleb’s face, I was soon able to find a difference.
‘He has a different hair colour.’
His hair, which should have been silver, was now black.
As black as his eyes.
“Lord? Your hair colour has changed.”
“It’s because I drank potions.”
“Did you watch the Kitara contest?”
Caleb nodded.
Well, it definitely feels different from when he had silver hair.
I usually didn’t notice it because of his gorgeous hair colour, but now his piercing eyes clearly stood out.
He still looks handsome though.
Oh, I shouldn’t be looking at his face like this!
I grabbed Caleb’s arm and looked around his body.
He looks fine from the outside, but I don’t know. But I can’t ask to look at his naked body.
“What’s wrong?”
“You went to subjugate. So I was wondering if there were any injuries.”
“I’m fine. There are no injuries.”
“Really?”
“Yes. I made a promise, remember?”
“I’ll return without getting hurt.”
Suddenly, I stopped at the words that came to mind.
Did he keep in mind what I said before?
So he tried to keep his promise…?
As soon as I thought about it, my heart began to beat faster.
‘Oh, again.’
It’s embarrassing to have a heart that gets excited over the smallest things.
Ugh, this is all because of Caleb.
He didn’t need to be this attentive.
“I’m glad you didn’t get hurt. But you came early. I heard you’ll arrive in two days.”
“That’s the case, but the subjugation ended earlier than expected, so I came back early. I was on patrol because it was during the festival.”
Only then could I recognize Caleb’s outfit.
A broad-brimmed hat like a navy admiral which covered his face, and a black cloak outfit were mainly what he wore on patrol.
Isn’t he tired to go on patrol right after the subjugate ended?
“I think it would be better to take off your mask before you go out here.”
“My mask?”
“Yes. The guards should have dispersed the people by now, but if anyone notices your whereabouts and recognizes you, they may swarm like before.”
That makes any sense
When I took off my mask as Caleb recommended, the pressure on the bridge of my nose and around my eyes felt refreshed.
I should have taken it off immediately.
While I was tidying my hair which got messy when I was running before, the red hair caught my eye.
“I want to ask you something. How did you find out, Lord?”
“What are you talking about…?”
“I mean, me. I was wearing a mask and my hair colour was different. So I wonder how you found out it was me.”
“I knew after hearing you sing. Because it’s the same as your voice that I’ve heard before.”
“But didn’t you just listen to my song once, Lord?”
“That’s true, but.”
Caleb took a moment.
“The moment I heard you sing, I knew it was you.”
Chapter 53
Translator: Missme
Editor: Aru
She’s a candidate, just like me, so I was nervous.
Unlike me, the woman asked cheerfully.
“It’s a bit of a sudden question… Do you happen to know an actor named Iena?”
My body reacted first to the nickname I hadn’t heard in a long time.
When I shivered, the woman clapped her hands as if she noticed.
“As expected, you’re Iena-nim, right?”
“Do you know me?”
“Of course!”
How does she know me?
Is she someone I know?
The answer I heard was beyond my imagination, and I was embarrassed when I heard it.
“I am your fan, Iena-Nim! When you started singing, your unique vocalization was familiar, but I can’t believe it’s really you, Iena-nim. I was sad to hear that suddenly you want to take a break from acting, but I’m so happy to see you here!”
Then the woman asked me if I could give her an autograph.
For a while, I smiled and nodded willingly.
The woman returned to her original seat after receiving my autograph saying that she likes me very much.
‘I didn’t know I’d meet someone who knew me here.’
She said she is my fan, oh my goodness!
When I was working as an actor, the men who came to me were more overwhelming than women, so I never imagined meeting a female fan in a place like this.
‘If she can guess me at once by listening to my song, then she really must be my fan.’
Fan… I didn’t know I had a fan like that.
Somehow, as I felt better, the corners of my lips curled up.
In the meantime, the last candidate finished the song, and the priest told all the candidates to go up on the podium as the announcement ceremony would be held soon.
As I was walking up to the podium, a certain priest was already speaking on the podium.
He said thank you for participating in today’s competition, and that he’s happy that all the candidates are enthusiastic… Anyway, such words continued.
‘He would announce the Kitara soon, right? I hoped I could win but…’
I don’t know if I want the other benefits of Kitara, but I really wanted to get Mila’s eyes treated.
While waiting for the results, my heart was pounding with anxiety.
I listened to the speech of the priest holding both my hands tightly.
“Now, let me announce Solenia’s Kitara, which everyone has been waiting for. The Great High Priest will announce the winner himself.”
At the priest’s words, an elderly-looking old man walked out.
‘So that person is the Great High Priest.’
The Great High Priest, who has pure white hair and a good impression, looked into the paper handed over by another priest and cleared his throat.
“This time, Solenia’s Kitara…”
The Great High Priest took a breath for a while.
The time itself was short, but it felt quite long, perhaps because the results were ahead.
The Great High Priest opened his mouth again.
“Today Solenia’s Kitara is number 16th.”
Woahhhh!
Shouts and applause arose.
In it, I was busy looking for candidate number 16th.
Number 16?
Who was number 16?
“What are you doing? Come on, go ahead!”
“Oh, oh?”
The woman who received my autograph earlier grabbed my arm and shook it.
Only then did I realize I was number 16.
Right, I was that number… Huh? It’s really me?
“Candidate 16?”
“Yes, yes?
“Please come forward.”
As I hesitated, the priest pointed at me directly.
When I stepped out with a puzzled face because I couldn’t believe the whole process, The Great High Priest came to me and gave me a bouquet of flowers and put on a tiara.
“I enjoyed your performance. It was new and nice.”
“Thank you.”
“Kitara-nim, please extend your hand to the Great High Priest so he can give you his blessing and engrave a pattern.”
“Any hand doesn’t matter?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
As the priest said, I held out my left hand after much consideration.
If the pattern is engraved like henna, it is better to use the hand which is used less frequently.
The Great High Priest supported my hand with one hand and wrapped the back of my hand with his other hand.
A white light flowed from the centre of the held hand, and I felt something warm seep into it.
‘I guess this is some kind of divine power.’
The light faded while I was watching with my amazing eyes.
Unlike what I thought he’d let go of my hand soon, the Great High Priest stares at my hand.
To be exact, to the ring that the crown prince gave me on my little finger.
Later, I realized what the Great High Priest was looking at my hand for.
He must have recognized that the jewel embedded in the ring I was wearing was a holy relic.
“The Great High Priest-nim…”
The priest next to him called him with a strange voice.
Only then did the Great High Priest let go of my hand.
“I’m sorry. It’s all over. May Solenia’s blessings reach you.”
After that, I greeted the Great High Priest and came down from the podium.
‘I can’t believe I’ve really become Kitara…’
I met the Great High Priest, but I couldn’t believe it.
With a shaky face, I looked at the back of my hand that the Great High Priest blessed me earlier.
‘There’s nothing here. Didn’t he say he was going to engrave a pattern?’
As I tilted my head, the officer approached me and said.
“Kitara, if you give us the tiara, we will send it to you together with the prize money to the address you wrote in the waiting room earlier. But if you want, you can take the tiara with you now.”
“No, I think it’d be nice if you brought it together later.”
I took off the tiara I was wearing on my head and handed it over to the priest.
“Then I’ll do that. Also, if you need help, please visit the temple anytime and show the hand that you received the blessing from the Great High Priest earlier. Only those with divine power can see the pattern, so you don’t have to worry about it normally.”
Oh, that’s why I couldn’t see anything on the back of my hand.
“But you said if I need help, what kind of help are you talking about?”
“According to the policy, Kitara and Kitara can be treated free of charge by all but the great high priest for a year. Also, we will send you three bottles of high-quality holy water once a month.”
Wow!!! I didn’t expect them to send me to holy water.
But regardless of one thing or another, it wasn’t those that mattered to me.
“Then, can I get my sister’s eyes treated?”
“Then, is she the biological sister of Kitara?”
“No, she’s the younger sister of my close friend, but I want to get her treated because of her poor eyesight. As long as you treat her, I can give up other benefits.”
“I see. I don’t think that’s a problem I can answer now. Can I ask the great high priest instead and let you know if it’s possible when I deliver the tiara?”
“Oh, yes.”
When I nodded, the priest turned around, saying, “Then I’ll go.”
My steps out of the waiting room with a bouquet of flowers were quite light.
“It’d be better to tell Dame Seria and Mila, right? I’m afraid I’ll just give them false hope if I said it without waiting for the priest’s confirmation.’
As I was walking, I realized one fact.
That I didn’t promise a place to meet Mila and Natalie again.
‘If I just go outside, will they be waiting for me?’
It was when I came out of the waiting room with that thought.
“She’s out!”
“That’s her!”
“It’s Kitara!
Suddenly, people flocked around me and suddenly sent me a letter.
“Kitara-nim! Please come to my owner’s mansion and sing for us!”
“How dare a servant block me! Instead of the house who only sends their servants to you, please Come to my house and sing for me!”
“No! Rather than this poor bastard, please come to my house!”
“At my house…Argh! Hey you! Stop pushing me! There’s no space!”
It was a mess everywhere.
Several hands sticking out between people’s bodies held out envelopes, and tried to deliver the letter to me somehow.
‘What the hell is this?’
I had never heard anything about the current situation, nor had I ever experienced it, so I was at a loss as to what to do.
As I was losing my thoughts, all the people who were holding out in front of me finally collapsed.
“Oh, my. My hat!”
“Stop pushing me!”
In an instant, people got trapped and tangled.
Forgetting their original purpose, people were now busy trying not to fall down or get stepped down.
Watching that reminded me of a case where people were pushed down by other people and crushed to death while chasing a celebrity in the past.
For some reason, I feel like this is going to be like that right now…
‘Let’s run away.’
I turned around and escaped the gap while people were fighting not to push each other.
I don’t want to get crushed here!
I don’t want to die like this!
Fortunately, it was not difficult to get out of the crowd.
My neatly braided hair was messy because I squeezed through the gaps, but this much was trivial considering that I could really get crushed till death here.
All right, now I just need to sneak out and find Mila and Dame Seria, right?
“Wait! Kitara is gone!”
“What? Where did she go?”
“There! There she is!”
The people who were fighting not to push each other turned toward me as soon as they noticed my absence.
Thanks to this, I revised my plan to sneak out with my heels up.
‘Let’s squeeze out the strength and run as hard as I can.’
“Kitara!”
“Catch her!”
“Don’t miss her! Catch her”
Why did “please come to my house!” change to “catch her!” right now?
Of course, I swallowed those words inside.
Because right now, running away was the first priority.
“Stop there!”
“Anyone, please catch her! Kitara is running away!”
I ran, throwing away the bouquet I received earlier, while the people followed me screaming and chasing me.
Shouldn’t they notice already when I run like this?
That I don’t want to go to their house!
I didn’t run much, but I was out of breath.
I don’t think my stamina was this low.….
It’s probably because of the skirt and shoes, right?
But I can’t take it off on the street.
As my physical strength was getting exhausted and the people chasing me got closer, I became nervous.
What should I do?
If this goes on then I’ll get caught.
While thinking about it, I kept running.
Just as I turned around the corner, someone suddenly grabbed my arm.
At that moment, I got goosebumps all over my body.
But even before I looked back or rebelled, my body was pulled back by a strong force.
So I was quickly dragged into a narrow alley.
* * * * *
A hard wall touched my back.
I tried to jump out right away, but I couldn’t because the man looking next to me with both arms locked up in front.
I wanted to identify the man, but I couldn’t recognize his face because he was wearing a hat and a mask.
There was also a shadow between the alleys that interfered with my sight.
Rather, why did he bring me here? Maybe, to help me?
Or is he going to do something weird?
If it’s the latter, then I’ll have to make sure I’m never even approaching this alley again.
It was just when I put strength on my toes and was ready to kick my leg.
“Now that they’re all gone, you can rest assured.”
My heart sank for a moment when the voice reached my ears.
It was a very familiar voice.
“… Lord Egon? Is that you?”
“Yes, it’s me.”
The man took off his mask.
Soon, a familiar face was revealed.
‘He’s really Lord Egon.’
I gently lowered my half-lifted leg.
But I think he’s kinda different from usual…… What is it?
After looking at Caleb’s face, I was soon able to find a difference.
‘He has a different hair colour.’
His hair, which should have been silver, was now black.
As black as his eyes.
“Lord? Your hair colour has changed.”
“It’s because I drank potions.”
“Did you watch the Kitara contest?”
Caleb nodded.
Well, it definitely feels different from when he had silver hair.
I usually didn’t notice it because of his gorgeous hair colour, but now his piercing eyes clearly stood out.
He still looks handsome though.
Oh, I shouldn’t be looking at his face like this!
I grabbed Caleb’s arm and looked around his body.
He looks fine from the outside, but I don’t know. But I can’t ask to look at his naked body.
“What’s wrong?”
“You went to subjugate. So I was wondering if there were any injuries.”
“I’m fine. There are no injuries.”
“Really?”
“Yes. I made a promise, remember?”
“I’ll return without getting hurt.”
Suddenly, I stopped at the words that came to mind.
Did he keep in mind what I said before?
So he tried to keep his promise…?
As soon as I thought about it, my heart began to beat faster.
‘Oh, again.’
It’s embarrassing to have a heart that gets excited over the smallest things.
Ugh, this is all because of Caleb.
He didn’t need to be this attentive.
“I’m glad you didn’t get hurt. But you came early. I heard you’ll arrive in two days.”
“That’s the case, but the subjugation ended earlier than expected, so I came back early. I was on patrol because it was during the festival.”
Only then could I recognize Caleb’s outfit.
A broad-brimmed hat like a navy admiral which covered his face, and a black cloak outfit were mainly what he wore on patrol.
Isn’t he tired to go on patrol right after the subjugate ended?
“I think it would be better to take off your mask before you go out here.”
“My mask?”
“Yes. The guards should have dispersed the people by now, but if anyone notices your whereabouts and recognizes you, they may swarm like before.”
That makes any sense
When I took off my mask as Caleb recommended, the pressure on the bridge of my nose and around my eyes felt refreshed.
I should have taken it off immediately.
While I was tidying my hair which got messy when I was running before, the red hair caught my eye.
“I want to ask you something. How did you find out, Lord?”
“What are you talking about…?”
“I mean, me. I was wearing a mask and my hair colour was different. So I wonder how you found out it was me.”
“I knew after hearing you sing. Because it’s the same as your voice that I’ve heard before.”
“But didn’t you just listen to my song once, Lord?”
“That’s true, but.”
Caleb took a moment.
“The moment I heard you sing, I knew it was you.”
