Chapter 2 – “Seduction Mission”
“Yes?”
“Was that ‘yes’ just now your way of admitting it?”
“No, no!”
A secret meeting? I’ve never done anything like that! And I don’t plan to either!
To clear up the misunderstanding, I quickly waved my hands in denial.
“I-I did once have tea in the drawing room with a young nobleman who said he enjoyed our play, at the request of the troupe leader. But it wasn’t anything like the kind of secret meeting you’re implying!”
I just chatted with some nobles who were supposedly friendly with Charles. There was nothing inappropriate at all.
Although flustered, I was confident I’d done nothing wrong and waited for Luna to understand and drop the matter.
But then she pulled out a divine-powered image scroll—and shattered my hopes to pieces.
Ha. There it was—plain as day. Charles, the damn troupe leader, holding a bundle of money. Of all things, this hard-to-view scroll shows that image?
That bastard Charles. I could only laugh hollowly, as if I’d lost it, picturing the darkness ahead.
“…Do you admit to accepting a bribe?”
Bribe? That word snapped me back to reality.
An actor meeting a high-ranking person and receiving money for it—basically, that’s a sponsorship. Scandal.
A scandal like that would be a fatal blow to an actor who lives off their image.
I would rather die than become a disgraced performer. So to prove my innocence, I used the skill I was best at:
…Crying my eyes out.
Throwing myself to the ground, I knelt and clung to Luna’s legs, expressing my utter despair with my whole body.
“I-I didn’t know anything! I swear! I only did what the troupe leader told me, and I had no idea there was any kind of… payment involved. I’m so sorry. Please… have mercy!”
Sure, it might’ve looked pathetic, but would anyone really still think I was guilty after crying and begging like this?
As I sobbed, pounding my chest and wailing, Luna finally helped me up and handed me her handkerchief.
“Calm down, Miss Joyce. You seem so genuinely distressed that I don’t even know what to do.”
Oh, please. You do know. Just arrest Charles and leave me out of it.
“Since you’re such a talented actress, Miss Joyce, I honestly can’t tell whether you truly didn’t know or whether you were complicit with Charles. And regardless of whether it was voluntary or not, you were still involved in bribery.”
Since she still showed no sign of letting me off the hook, I immediately prostrated myself again.
“But I really didn’t know! If an actor gets caught up in a bribery scandal, their career is over! You said you liked my performances. I can’t end my life as an actor like this! Please help me, Lady Luna!”
Perhaps my desperation got through, because the female lead hesitated, then offered a new possibility.
“…Actually, there is a way for me to completely clear your name.”
And you’re just telling me this now?
“What do I have to do? Anything! I’ll do anything!”
The moment I finished my sentence, Luna’s lips curved into that same smug smile from earlier. I flinched instinctively—but whatever. I wasn’t in a position to be picky.
Whatever her method was, I was ready to accept it.
…Until I heard the next words and froze completely.
“Please use your brilliant acting skills to seduce Duke Peredel Seymour.”
…Duke Peredel Seymour? She wanted me to seduce Peredel?
As in… the male lead?
*
“…So, how exactly am I supposed to seduce the duke?”
I couldn’t believe what I was saying, but no other ideas came to mind. Luna had made her request clear, and I was out of options.
If the rope you’re hanging onto is frayed and rotten—well, it’s still a rope.
“Are you accepting my proposal?”
Proposal? Ha! More like blackmail.
Normally, I’m the type who always speaks her mind, but I couldn’t talk back to someone holding my life in their hands. So instead, I just glared at Luna, sulking in silence.
“I don’t really have a choice. I don’t want my career to end just yet. You know how harsh the public is—who would welcome an actor caught up in a bribery scandal?”
In my original life, I had grown exhausted with being a nameless actor.
I believed that skill and hard work would eventually shine through, but the reality was that connections and luck mattered more.
Born to an insignificant family, raised by my aunt after my cheating dad and runaway mom abandoned me… I managed to get by.
My aunt once said we’d live together forever—but then someone new entered her life. I didn’t want to be a burden, so I started living alone in Seoul.
Thanks to my full scholarships, I never had to worry about tuition, but I still had to cover rent, utilities, groceries, phone bills, practice room fees, club dues, drinking parties…
Life was just one long expense list. If you weren’t born into wealth, it was a constant struggle—and it hurt.
Overwhelmed by financial pressure, I took a leave of absence from school and tried jumping into the industry, but success didn’t come easily.
My phone was full of rejection messages. Between auditions, I worked exhausting part-time jobs to survive, until my body and spirit gave out.
The day I ended up in this world, I had been dragging myself to yet another audition, so tired I slipped on the stairs.
And now I’d woken up in Bria, the heart of cultural arts in Coventin—a place like Hollywood.
Maybe this was my second chance.
A chance to live the dream I couldn’t fulfill in my previous life.
Now that I’d finally gained recognition as an actor in this world, I couldn’t let it go.
If I couldn’t act anymore… I might really die.
So yes, I was scared of going to the capital and messing up the original plot—but I had no choice.
“Don’t worry. If you successfully seduce the duke, you’ll be able to return to Bria and continue acting,” Luna said with a sweet smile, completely ignoring my inner turmoil.
“…But why do I need to seduce him in the first place? Is it to extract some kind of information or create conflict between characters or something?”
I hoped the mission was something like that—an entertaining side role to spice up the plot.
Something small that would wrap up quickly, so the main leads could take over.
Even though Luna’s words had shocked me, I still foolishly hoped she and Peredel would end up together, like in the original story.
“You really do have the imagination of a scriptwriter,” Luna said, smiling. “I don’t need anything complicated. I just want Duke Peredel to lose interest in me. That’s it. I want to be far away from him.”
Far away, huh…
Since I knew the story by heart, I could understand why Luna would say that.
Her family had suffered terribly due to a false accusation of treason connected to the Woodville family. Luna had always hated the capital, detesting the political games and hiding her divine powers just to avoid being dragged into it all.
But in the end, the law of Coventin stated that anyone born with divine power belonged to the imperial court, regardless of their will—so she had no choice but to come.
“Before I was promoted to a countess for saving His Majesty with my divine power, I had a few brief encounters with Duke Seymour in his territory. Since then, he seems to have taken an interest in me. And I can’t stand the rumors that come with his attention.”
The Seymour family practically ran Coventin under the emperor’s favor.
A handsome, capable man from such a prestigious family—of course he was always in the spotlight.
No wonder Luna wanted to stay far away from him.
But the problem was… Peredel was one of those frustratingly dense male leads!
He was completely oblivious to his own feelings, always digging emotional holes for himself.
I nearly choked just thinking about how I was supposed to seduce that guy…
“I understand what you’re saying. But even though I’m a good actress and a decent scriptwriter, there’s no guarantee I can actually make the duke fall for me.”
“Technically, you don’t have to seduce him. As long as you can redirect his attention away from me and toward yourself, that’s enough.”
“Then why did you tell me to seduce him?”
“Well… love is a powerful emotion. I thought that might be the most effective way.”
Fair point. Every character I’ve ever played was swayed by love in one way or another.
Even Peredel in the original novel couldn’t control himself once he fell in love.
Luna’s explanation convinced me.
“I think you’re right. Approaching him through romantic feelings is probably the most straightforward method. But what happens after I seduce him? I need to return to Bria eventually.”
Luna answered with a calm, cold smile.
“Well, at that point… you’ll just have to break his heart and walk away.”
