Chapter 001
Life is always a one-cast performance.
Since I’m the only irreplaceable main character in my life, I always have to give it my all.
No matter what happens, I can overcome it.
Because this is a role only I can play.
A broken family, a hard-knock life, years of obscurity—
All of it was a performance only I could give.
That mindset helped me endure every hardship in life.
But the situation I’m facing now… no matter how much I try to accept it, it just won’t sink in.
“C-Could you please repeat that?”
I wanted to believe I’d heard wrong—wanted to deny reality.
But unfortunately, she only repeated the same words again.
“If you use your acting to seduce Duke Peredil Seymour, as I mentioned earlier, the Woodville family will take care of all the charges against you.”
Where did it all go wrong?
Maybe the mistake was becoming famous?
If I had stayed a nobody, things like this wouldn’t happen.
Like, being blackmailed by the female lead of the novel I got transmigrated into, to seduce the male lead.
“Miss Joyce! Your performance was absolutely amazing again today!”
The praise made me feel good, but I kept a cool face as I opened the door to the dressing room.
“Tony, this is what it means to make a living through acting, don’t you think?”
Tony, a fellow troupe member who followed me in, looked at me with admiration, clearly impressed by my confidence.
“The audience was crying their eyes out today! It put the rivers of Bria to shame!”
While Tony kept gushing, I looked into the mirror in front of me.
Shimmering light brown eyes with naturally intense depth,
a sharply defined nose, plump lips,
and porcelain skin that could carry any makeup.
Long, wavy scarlet hair falling to the waist,
and a tall, slender figure I never had in my old life.
If this isn’t a female lead’s face, then what is?
“Miss Joyce, there’s another guest waiting for you in the parlor.”
I was happily admiring myself when Tony interrupted the mood.
“Again? I know the director asked, but I need to go home too. And all those noble young masters Charles introduces are just—ugh.”
My blunt words made Tony panic.
“Oh dear, Miss Joyce. What if a noble hears you? Please, be careful with what you say!”
I pouted.
“Come on. I’m always polite in front of nobles.”
Living my whole life in a democratic society and suddenly having to suck up to aristocrats isn’t exactly easy.
It’s only because I studied so many medieval plays in my original life that I’ve managed this much adaptation.
Tony must’ve noticed my sulking, because he tried to lift the mood again.
“Well, nobles keep asking for you. Ever since you joined the troupe, scalper ticket prices have more than doubled!”
“Speaking of scalpers, shouldn’t the troupe be cracking down on that? It feels like they’re encouraging it.”
Tony laughed awkwardly and quickly changed the subject.
“Today’s guest is a lady noble.”
“Oh? It’s usually noble sons. A female fan—that’s new.”
Still, it was a noble lady. I should probably touch up my makeup after sweating on stage.
I began powdering my face—then froze at the name that came out of Tony’s mouth.
“I overheard the director talking… Her name was Luna?”
Tony flinched when our eyes met in the mirror and saw my killer glare.
“W-Why? What’s wrong?”
Luna? The only Luna I know is…
The original female lead of The Moon of Coventin.
No way. She should be in the capital right now, caught in a messy love triangle.
Why would she be here?
“Tony, is ‘Luna’ a common name?”
“Hm, I don’t think it’s super rare…”
Right after I transmigrated into this world, I’d asked my friend Theo about Luna Woodville.
He said she was the daughter of the Baron Woodville family.
Which means… the male and female leads haven’t gotten together yet, and the Woodvilles haven’t been promoted to a count family either.
In the original novel, Luna saves the male lead during an assassination attempt when her family is falsely accused and exiled to the countryside.
The real plot kicks off when Luna’s holy power is revealed and they return to the capital.
In other words, I transmigrated near the beginning of the story!
I’m sure there was never a scene where the female lead visited a Bria actress.
No way she’s really here, right?
“You’re Lady Luna Woodville of the Woodville Count family?”
The young lady nodded with a bright smile.
She had golden blonde hair and shimmering violet eyes—the perfect textbook look of a romance fantasy heroine.
So the Woodvilles did get promoted. I guess the story has progressed.
But this wasn’t in the novel!
Once Luna moved to the capital, she never left. I’m sure of it.
“It’s such a shame that tomorrow will be the last day I get to see Miss Joyce’s performance.”
“It’s an honor to hear that a lady of a count family enjoys my plays.”
Though I’d been uncomfortable, hearing her praise made me feel better.
Maybe she really is just a fan?
Her harmless face gave me more confidence.
Luna seemed genuinely excited to meet her favorite actress, which made me breathe a sigh of relief.
Meeting the heroine of a novel I loved was like a dream,
but honestly, I wanted to stay as far from the capital as possible.
That’s where the civil war arc takes place in The Moon of Coventin,
filled with bloodshed over the throne, deaths, and betrayals.
If I happened to be born into a noble family that joins the rebel faction…
That’s a death sentence.
That’s why I was happy to be a nobody—
just a background commoner named Joyce living quietly as an actress.
Sure, it might’ve been nice to transmigrate into a noble lady’s body and live a luxurious life…
Wearing elegant gowns, surrounded by jewels and servants, living in a mansion…
But no, this was safer.
“By the way, Miss Joyce—did you write Love as You Please yourself?”
“Yes, it’s about a commoner girl and a noble man falling in love—fulfilling the fantasy of rising in status.
I think it resonated more than I expected, maybe because it’s the first play in the empire to explore love that crosses social class.”
And unlike the usual happy endings in Bria’s plays, mine had a sad ending.
I made sure audiences would suffer—and they loved it.
To be honest, it was a reworked version of a low-budget melodrama I performed back in university theater.
“That’s amazing. Are you working on another play?”
“Of course. I’m an actress and a playwright.
My dream is to keep performing in Bria with works I’ve written.”
“I see. Then I’ve definitely come to the right person.”
I caught Luna’s faint smile. Her lips briefly curved up, then immediately returned to a neutral line.
Something felt… off.
And that “I came to the right person” line—why did it sound so ominous?
As if to confirm my suspicions, the angelic smile on her face disappeared,
replaced with a cold, emotionless expression.
She began questioning me like I was a criminal.
“…Joyce of the Spencer Troupe. Do you admit to having private meetings with nobles under Director Charles’s orders?”
