Chapter 46.1 – Protagonist: Because it’s you.
Currently, the most popular news in the Star Empire is the upcoming “Cecil” play presented by the Starlight Troupe. Some people would scoff and say that the Starlight Troupe is going to smash its own signboard, but more people are looking forward to seeing how the most celebrated acting troupe in the Chaos Continent will stage that famously difficult play. Even without special publicity, ticket sales for the Starlight Troupe’s “Cecil” was a great success; they sold out on the very first day. In the next few days, tickets were difficult to procure and prices were rising higher and higher.
Finally, it was the opening night of “Cecil.” It seemed as though everyone in the Imperial City of the Star Empire was waiting outside the door of the Starlight Troupe’s theater. It was so rowdy that the Empire had to dispatch soldiers to clear a way for people to pass through. Every time someone wanted to go inside, they had to go through barkers yelling sky-high prices for tickets – ever since the Starlight Troupe announced that there would only be one performance of “Cecil,” prices shot up. Those who were not able to buy tickets can only beat their breasts and stamp their feet in regret.
In a remote magical tower, glass jars filled with liquids of varying colours took up almost every square inch of space. It’s the famous Alchemy Master Vieruodis’s magical tower. She is Chaos Continent’s most sought-after alchemist because of her research in human immortality. Her medicines can effectively alleviate aging, therefore many people – especially nobles – want to curry favor from her. However, the alchemist is cranky and prefers to stay inside her tower, shutting everyone out.
Vieruodis sat on a wheelchair while quietly reading the text of her ticket to “Cecil.”. She took out a pocket watch from her bosom. Looking at the watch, Vieruodis’s gaze became both sad and complex.The hands of the pocket watch indicated that the show was about to start in one hour. Vieruodis stared at the ticket for a long time before she finally reached for it and called her apprentice.
Outside the Starlight Troupe theater.
“Look! It’s His Majesty’s, the Emperor’s carriage. It’s so gorgeous!”
“Can you see His Majesty? I heard that he is 8 years old.”
“No, I can’t see him. I think I see the Prime Minister’s carriage – ha, it’s more gorgeous than His Majesty’s carriage!”
……
Outside, the people watching the arriving dignitaries were very noisy and lively; inside the theater, the leader of the Starlight Troupe was extremely nervous. Everyone knows that the the Star Empire’s Emperor and Prime Minister are mortal enemies. Both sides are always jostling for position. Now the sworn enemies have arrived at almost the same time. As the Starlight Troupe’s leader, he has to greet them both, but which one should he approach first?The Emperor of the Star Empire alighted. Though he wore an Emperor’s clothes, he was still too young to look as dignified as an Emperor should. On the other side, a carriage door opened and the first to exit was the Prime Minister’s son, Darwin, one of the Star Empire’s most infamous playboys. Then an old man with meticulously groomed hair exited. He is the Prime Minister, the most powerful person in the Star Empire. When the Prime Minister glanced at the little Emperor, his eyes flashed a hint of disdain.
The atmosphere was so tense that the leader was about to cry. Fortunately, the next person to arrive on the scene solved his plight. The leader ceremoniously greeted the Emperor’s and the Prime Minister’s groups before ushering them both into a theater box. Then he was warmly greeted by a little girl who was dragging an old man along with her.
“Lord Antonio, for you to come tonight is a great honor for the Starlight Troupe!”
Naturally, no one dares to disrespect the first Mage God on the continent. Even the Emperor and Prime Minister want to flatter Antonio. If one of them could woo Antonio to their side, then their rival’s side was as good as dead. Antonio casually waved a greeting to the leader and drunkenly said to Honey: “Little Honey, slow down. Grandpa’s old bones are going to break.”
“Grandpa, you’re too slow!” Honey stamped her foot, then looked to the leader: “Where is Xiu?”
“Backstage.”
Once she got the answer to her question, Honey let go of Antonio’s hand and ran to find Xiu. Honey’s bodyguard Bart followed her. Antonio took out a flask and drank a mouthful of wine, sighing meaningfully, “Young people are so lively.”
When Honey arrived at the backstage area, she was surprised to see that it was incredibly quiet. Everyone was busy, but they did not make even the slightest sound. Their manner was cautious, as though a bit of noise would force them to wake from a wonderful dream.
Everyone was focused on their tasks but their eyes would occasionally wander over to a corner. After following everyone else’s gaze, Honey found the culprit who had made everyone quiet down.
At that moment, Honey suddenly had a deep understanding of Cecil’s story.
This beauty should be preserved forever and no one should be allowed to monopolize it.
***
With his left hand, Du Ze pulled up a wig with long, straight black hair. On his right hand was a red-and-black dress. His brain was empty.1
Little book, for you this young man has sacrificed himself to this extent … I’m absolutely forced to love you …
Du Ze put down the wig and used both hands to pick up the dress. A ribbon with a flower bud fell down, but before it landed on the floor it was caught by the small phoenix. It carried it in its beak and flew up to the chair. The fluff ball then laid down the lacy ribbon and looked curiously at the wig.
“Chirp?”
Agonized, the bitter reader looked at the ornate dress. His eyes were almost blinded by the gothic design, long skirt, silk belt, and layers upon layers of lace.2 He hesitated for a long time, but finally took off his glasses and began to change into the dress. As he struggled to get his head out of the skirt, the wig came straight down from the air and settled on his head. The little Phoenix, who had flown the wig up to his head, tweeted excitedly : “Chirp!”
His sight compromised, Du Ze waved his hands around until he was able to put the wig on its proper position. But tragically, he forgot where he had put his glasses. He moved in a circle searching for the glasses, yet couldn’t find it. Du Ze could only put on the clothes for now and wait for someone else to help him find his glasses later. He picked up the flower bud ribbon, and squinted at it, trying to figure out where it went?
What’s this lacy ribbon for? Belt?
Du Ze took the lacy ribbon and measured it against his waist. He came to the conclusion: if I put this thing on my waist, the most likely result is that people will find a body in the dressing room. A detective will take the lacy ribbon and show it to people, saying: “Look, this is the murder weapon.”
A hand took the ribbon from him. Du Ze looked up. His vision was blurry but he could still make out a man’s silhouette standing there while holding the lacy ribbon. Because his myopia is very high, Du Ze can only recognize that it is Xiu, but all the details are blurry.
“Put it around your neck.”
Du Ze heard Xiu breathe those words before he saw the elf’s face, still blurry in his vision, come nearer.
Du Ze felt something touch his skin- it was Xiu holding the lacy ribbon against his neck. Xiu brushed aside the hair on the back of his neck before a pair of cool hands gently tied a knot. Du Ze imagined that Xiu was tying a bell on a cat.
When the bell rings, you can tell where your cat is.
After tying the lacy ribbon, Xiu ran his fingers through Du Ze’s hair. Du Ze thought about how he was in female attire this time and some silly, cute person felt very unhappy.
Xiu seemed to sense Du Ze’s body go rigid with unhappiness so he said softly: “You look very good.”
“You like it?”
Xiu’s fingertips traced the edges of his hair: “Because it’s you.”
Du Ze was speechless. He thought that if Xiu liked the female attire then the Moe Master is still a heterosexual, but Xiu’s answer gave him little hope that Xiu could still straighten out.
—— Because it’s you. Whatever you look like, I like it.
Even though he can’t see clearly right now, Du Ze still had to look away from Xiu. A light flashed into his eyes. Du Ze squinted and and saw that it was his lost glasses, now hanging on the fat chirp’s body.
The small Phoenix, holding the glasses in its beak, acted cute: “Chirp~”
Du Ze: …
As Du Ze took back his glasses, he heard Enoch’s voice: “Ready? We’re about to start!”
Chapter 46.2 – Protagonist: Because it’s you.
The blurry world suddenly became clear. Du Ze stared at the carefully dressed Xiu. His brain went blank. The elf wore a neutral white robe with gold stripes, and his long, silvery hair was carefully adorned with hair ornaments. The makeup on his face is very light, but it brought out the exquisite perfection of his face – a perfection that had the kind of beautiful androgyny that attracts everyone … a beauty that cannot be described and can instigate a deep desire to possess the owner of that beauty.
This is “Cecil,” and his beauty makes the whole world exclaim in surprise and wonder.
When Cecil appeared, the audience was so quiet you could hear a pin drop
[Once there was a very beautiful person, his name was Cecil.]
As the narrator spoke, Xiu just stood there and let everyone go crazy.
Du Ze watched all of this from the wings. He couldn’t understand why Xiu liked him.
… Why him?
Du Ze watched God freeze Cecil’s time. It was like a glimpse of his own fate.
Du Ze put these thoughts aside and started to get nervous because some silly Moe person was about to step onstage. Regarding the character of “Cecil’s Lover,” in order to match Du Ze’s “coldly elegant and beautiful noble appearance,” the leader had changed the script. The lover was now a “cold on the outside, hot on the inside” character so Du Ze can simply maintain his usual facial paralysis while Xiu shows his love, then Du Ze can exit. But even so, this is an enormous challenge for someone with Du Ze’s long-established social barrier. He looked at the crowded auditorium and constantly tried to hypnotized himself. Du Ze took off his glasses in order to not see.
[God froze Cecil’s time so that Cecil would stay forever in his most beautiful moment..]
After the narration, the stage was transformed into a setting with a meadow under a blue sky. Brisk music sounded. Cecil stood under a tree and seemed to be waiting for someone. The birds sang an ode to his beauty and the flowers praised his good looks, but Cecil just leaned on the trunk of the tree. From beginning to end, his gaze focused only in a certain direction, indifferent to everything around him.
Gradually, a girl dressed in black and red clothes appeared. Her face was impassive and she looked very difficult to get along with. But when she showed up, Cecil’s eyes lit up and his breathtaking beauty became even more gorgeous.
The whole world looked at him, but he looked at his lover as if he were looking at the whole world.
Honey, sitting in her box, looked at this and thought: I really envy that person so much.
Almost all the viewers had the same idea as they looked at the girl on the stage, eager to replace her with themselves. In all fairness, the brunette was indeed very comely, but she was nothing compared to Cecil.
Du Ze sat stiffly on the lawn. He couldn’t see clearly but was still able to feel those fierce eyes poking his body – poke and poke, poke him to death, make his blood spatter three feet!
SOS, save me … QAQ.
His head sank but he had to follow the script. Xiu will put a garland on his head, then Du Ze has to kiss Xiu’s face.
But … @The person who wrote the script: Do you really not have a grudge against the lovers? Kissing a close friend in this type of situation, will this young man really be able to retreat?!
Du Ze edged slightly closer to Xiu and instantly felt the eyes poking him more fiercely.
***! This young man is risking his life to act in this play!
When Xiu saw that Du Ze had frozen stiff in the middle of his movement, Xiu did not hesitate and took the initiative to kiss him.
Du Ze’s eyes opened wide: Xiu kissed his mouth, not his face!
The audience watched as the silver-haired elf embraced a girl and kissed her intimately. The intensity of his passion made a lot of people’s hearts quicken and they blushed. Du Ze did not dare to struggle. He hadn’t had time to close his mouth before Xiu took away all his air. At first he still remembered that they were acting in a play but in the end he was in such a dazed state that he could not tell left from right. He could only lie in Xiu’s embrace.
Cecil hugged his lover, kissed his lover’s black hair, and said: “We will be together forever.”
His lover was silent in his embrace for a long time then gently said: “En.”
The birds stopped singing, the flowers bowed their heads, the whole world watched the lovers, and the silence was dreadful.
[The whole world fell in love with Cecil and envied his lover.]
The leader was dumbfounded and thought: In the original script, Cecil gave his lover a garland of flowers then the lover kissed Cecil’s face and said “we will be together forever.” Cecil kissed the lover and agreed. But when he saw the scene today, the leader discovered that the effect on the audience is better. The beautiful Cecil was more active, so the audience became even more jealous of his lover.
Du Ze exited the stage and collapsed. Now the script has moved on. Cecil and his lover are separated. After that scene, the actress from the troupe will play the lover and Du Ze becomes uninvolved. Some silly, cute person’s face was stiff. He looked straight ahead as he walked to his dressing room, too scared to look at other people’s eyes.
Ever since he and Xiu rehearsed the scene from the second act backstage, everyone looked at him with strangely treacherous eyes. Honey just sobbed and said she was lovelorn again. Enoch said: “you are my good brother so I will support you.” How could a silly, cute person overcome his social barrier to explain it? No, some Moe person just said “you misunderstood” without being able to clarify matters. And now he and Xiu French kissed in public.
Haha.
When Du Ze arrived in the dressing room, the leader smilingly blocked Du Ze’s way.
“I have a request … “
[The lark said to the lover: you are so old, how are you worthy of Cecil?
The rose said to the lover: you are so ugly, how are you worthy of Cecil?]
Seated in her box, Vieruodis watched as the lark-woman and rose-woman surrounded the lover. Her hand on the wheelchair’s arm tightened until it became white.
[The lover began to wonder: If I became beautiful, could I be with Cecil?]
In Vieruodis’ memory, a woman was thinking: If I could make a potion of rejuvenation, would I be able to be with him?
[So the lover used a taboo magic.]
The stage was filled with smoke and the magical array that was painted on the floor in blood gradually disappeared. Cecil’s lover stood in the middle of the stage, her back to the audience, and the narration continued.
[Finally, the lover became beautiful.]
No one can see the lover’s face; they can only imagine. A person more beautiful than Cecil, what would she look like?
[So God unfroze Cecil’s time and froze the lover’s time.]
In the last scene, Xiu walked out from the far end of the sea of flowers. When he saw who was waiting for him in the middle of the stage, he was stunned – it’s Du Ze.
The two are at different ends of the sea of flowers, separated by a vast distance. In the original “Cecil” script, this is the end. However, Du Ze thought of the leader’s instructions and he looked at Xiu. As was his habit, his hands pressed down on the headphones hidden in his hair and said earnestly: “We will be together forever.”
Xiu was a little startled at first, then his expression became so gentle that it made a person want to cry.
“En.”
The curtain fell.
The audience stared at the red curtain for a long time.
*******
The author has something to say:
Author: Tell me what you can’t understand.
Reader: The stamina of a stud1 protagonist.
Protagonist: Because it’s (topping)2 you.
