My Childhood Friend Is An Archmage Chapter 90
Translated by d6y (ko-fi)
Chapter 90
"Okay, I don't know about falling on you, but I'll pretend to be surprised."
I have decided to go along with the Crown Prince's plan for now.
He tells me a plan he doesn't have an obligation to reveal. I guess that means he trusts me. So it would be polite if I went along.
The Crown Prince seems pleased with my response. "Good. You're confident in your acting, right?"
"I'm not the best at acting, but I am confident in shouting at random," I confess.
The Crown Prince bursts out laughing. "Don't shout too much, though. You might lose your voice."
With that, I turn back to my seat.
Down below, Lancer's eyes are on me. I try my best not to look at him. I know it's a childish thing to do, but I can't help it.
If I turn my head towards Lancer now, I won't be able to stop myself from staring at him for the rest of the play.
I shouldn't do that when the Crown Prince has taken the time to invite me. But….
It's bothering me.
My mind is racing.
I feel guilty about the way I spoke to Lancer the other day, but I also feel resentful of him, and I'm frustrated that he's smiling as if nothing had happened.
A little while later, the play begins.
The emcee steps to the front of the curtain and announces, "Ladies and gentlemen, thank you so much for coming to see the greatest masterpiece of the year, My Husband and His Childhood Friend's Wedding as a Funeral!"
The audience claps and cheers. The excited emcee continues, "The legendary play that cured an old man of low blood pressure once and for all; the infamous play that made profanity fly out of the mouth of a boy who had been good all his life; the unconventional play that made a well-behaved young man beg the villains to please stab him just once; here we go!"
With a thump, dramatic music fills the theatre, and at the same time, the theatre staff standing in the aisles switch off the lights. Soon the theatre is dark except for the stage.
"How did this play cure an old man's low blood pressure?" The Crown Prince sitting next to me leans over and whispers.
"I suppose that means it's stimulating."
He seems surprised at my answer. "Stimulating? So, provocative?"
"I don't think it's stimulating in that way…. By the way, Ryan, did you really choose this play without knowing what it was about?"
At my question, he nods in response.
I frown slightly. "Then why on earth did you choose this play?"
The answer comes back like a boomerang.
"Because you can throw fake eggs."
So you picked this play just to be a Carberry-esque assh*le.
"Of course, I didn't pick this play just to send off an imperial knight for not doing his job," The Crown Prince hurriedly whispers, as if he could read my mind. "I asked my scribe what plays were in trend these days, and he recommended this one, not realising until later that it involved throwing fake eggs."
"...."
I stare at him, speechless.
Why is he giving me this gibberish excuse?
"I devised a plan to double-cross Carberry when I realised you could throw eggs, and I never intended to use you in my plan, I swear."
"Ryan," I speak up after a moment. "I don't care what you do to get me to meet you."
"...Why?"
I'm tempted to ask in response: Why should I care?
"Well, for one, we have a contractual relationship," I whisper in a voice barely audible to the Crown Prince.
That's how our relationship has been set up from the beginning.
A fraudulent engagement. He becomes emperor, I become duke. We achieve our goals, and then we part ways neatly.
Because the end was set in stone, I don't care what the Crown Prince does. I don't want anything from him in the first place.
"...Yes. A contractual relationship. Right," He mutters, like a melting snowman. The darkness that envelops the theatre makes it difficult to see his expression.
But his thoughts can be heard more clearly than anything else.
‘But we can amend the contract by mutual consent, right?’
…Amend what?
I shake my head at his inscrutable thoughts.
"Ryan, what are you talking about—"
Bam!
The music of the orchestra in front of the stage sounded. The dark, atmospheric tones began to descend on the theatre like a dreary fog.
"It's on."
The Crown Prince turns towards the stage. I keep my mouth shut and follow to turn my head.
‘Wow, this is going to be fun! I'm so excited! Other people's failed love is the best!’
Phoebe is ecstatic on the inside, jumping up and down like a child.
I nudge her and ask, "Are you excited?"
"Not really," she says.
The play follows the plot of the original novel.
The main character, Asilia, is to be married to the Duke of Desirune. But the Duke of Desirune kept spending time with his childhood friend, Serena.
The impatient Asilia protests to the Duke of Desirune.
"Don't be ridiculous, Duke! I'm your wife, how can you spend all your time with Lady Serena?"
"No, Asilia! Serena is just my friend!"
The audience starts booing. This is because right before this scene, the Duke of Desirune is shown holding hands intimately with Serena.
The actress who plays Asilia gives the audience a pitiful look, then turns to Duke Desirune.
"But you were holding hands with Lady Serena earlier, like you were lovers...!"
In response, the male actor playing the Duke of Desirune makes a face and recites the line: "Asilia, you really shouldn't have said that, it was cold out and Serena’s hand is getting cold, so I held it!"
‘What the hell. Then why don't you two just get naked under the sheets when the temperature drops below freezing?’
Phoebe, sitting next to me, clenches her fake egg and grounds her teeth. Truly a self-proclaimed fan of the original novel.
The Crown Prince, on the other hand, doesn't quite understand the meaning of the scene.
"If you have cold hands, you can wear gloves," he says, "and why can't a man with a ducal title have a pair of gloves?
You're getting it all wrong, Ryan.
The rest of the film follows the original novel.
Asilia witnesses the Duke of Desirune promising Serena his hand in marriage, then runs away, trips and dies.
Her funeral is celebrated.
"Asilia, my only love, why did you go before me?"
"Asilia, my dear friend, how dare you die like this!"
Duke Desirune and Lady Serena begin to sob uncontrollably at the funeral.
I know they're actors, but it seems so real that chills ran down my spine.
"Okay, everyone, now is the time, to throw the eggs!" The emcee, hiding at the end of the stage, tells the audience.
At the same time, the seated audience jumps to their feet as if they have been waiting for this.
"You shameless bastards, having an affair!"
"What are you crying about when you're the one who got her killed!"
Phoebe also stands up, holding the basket, her aura oozing nothing but anger.
‘Dear friend? Serena, You're the worst! You're the worst! You're the worst! You're the worst! You're the worst! You're the worst! You're the worst! You're the worst! You're the worst! You're the worst!’
What happened to not being excited, Phoebe? You're the most pumped up here.
Thump, thump!
Fake eggs made of cotton wool flow from all directions towards the actors of Duke of Desirune and Serena.
The actors don't blink an eye as they continue to act like they're crying.
Indeed, they're professionals.
I turn to the escort knights, who are standing by the door.
As I expected, Hubert's eyes kept alternating between the door and the booth seat.
Lord Carberry, on the other hand, is leaning against the wall, yawning softly. He, too, keeps looking in and out of the entrance. But he's doing so out of necessity, rather than as a vigilant sentry to guard against any untoward incident.
"Hey, Hubert. I'm going to the loo," Carberry says suddenly, after watching the egg-throwing for a while. He's probably trying to whisper so that only Hubert can hear him, but his voice carried all the way to me and the Crown Prince.
Hubert is taken aback. "What? Dude, we're on duty! Where are you going?"
"Who's going to attack His Highness when everyone else is busy throwing eggs? Anyway, I'm going to the loo."
"Hey, stop!" Hubert tries to stop Carberry, but he ignores him and strides away.
It's a golden opportunity.
At the same time, I saw the Crown Prince tug at the button on his sleeve. The button glistens and reflects the light from the tiny lights on the ceiling.
"Aah!"
"Aah!"
People in the audience begin to scream in unison.
"Whoa!"
"Ouch, my head!"
"Careful what you throw, you're hitting the audience!"
From the bottom up, the crowd began to roar.
I instinctively realise that the people the Crown Prince has ordered are randomly throwing fake eggs.
"Lord Lancer, are you alright?" I hear Artberry scream from below.
What the hell, Lancer got hit? I want to facepalm.
That bastard, he's been dozing off!
There's no way a mage of Lancer's calibre can be hit by a ball so easily. He must have been sleeping.
I click my tongue.
I'm just about to glance down to see if Lancer is okay,
Bam!
When a fake egg lands at my feet.
The Crown Prince's man has started throwing eggs this way!
Suddenly, the Crown Prince's face is faintly visible under the light from the stage.
“Now,” he whispers to me.
Leave it to me!
I give him a thumbs-up and begin to perform.
It's time to act.
