Chapter 09
The day after I had dinner with the theater troupe, everything sold out again. When I counted the money, I realized I now had enough to easily buy a dress for Leuke to wear to the tea party.
Maybe it was thanks to word of mouth, but the number of audience members at the theater kept growing. Lately, many performances have been selling out.
“This week’s commission.”
“Thank you for your hard work.”
Once things started to stabilize, we decided to switch the commission payouts from daily to once a week. Doing it every day was just too much work.
“Business is going really well.”
“Yeah.”
It felt good getting closer to the troupe members and seeing the shop do well. The income from the play and the merchandise sales now felt completely steady.
Zion had also started telling me right away whenever he made script changes.
I didn’t start producing new goods immediately after every script change, but it definitely helped give me ideas.
“Your business sense seems to be getting sharper.”
“Eh… Not really. The play’s just that good. That’s why we can sell stuff like this.”
Alex and I felt a little awkward complimenting each other, but still, it was nice to see everything going so smoothly.
“Thanks to that, we even got a raise.”
John said with a smile. Alex, as usual, turned red and looked down shyly.
“We still don’t make enough for everyone to live on theater income alone.”
“But maybe we will soon.”
Sitting at the stall every day, I could clearly see how well the theater was doing.
“I’m not sure if it’s all good news, though. There’s been some worrying stuff going around lately.”
“Worrying?”
I opened my eyes wide in surprise. John nodded like he already knew what was being talked about.
“Oh, is that true? I thought it was just a rumor.”
“What are you guys talking about?”
I looked back and forth between the two of them. Maybe I had been too focused on the shop lately and hadn’t paid attention to what was happening outside.
“You know the Bisk Theater?”
Ah yes, one of the places I went to watch plays at the beginning. I hadn’t liked it much, but it was a big and popular theater.
“Yeah, why?”
“It’s gone. Overnight. It didn’t shut down because of poor ticket sales, either.”
John let out a sharp breath.
“Could it be… Did they get into trouble for making the Grand Duke look too good?”
My heart dropped at John’s words. If that’s true, aren’t we in danger too?
“No one knows for sure. It’s all just rumors. Still, I think we should be careful.”
“You mean… from the Imperial family?”
I asked, surprised. I had expected the Grand Duke might take notice of us. After all, we were trying to earn money for Leuke’s dress and hoped to get his attention to block Buffington’s plans. But the Imperial family? To the point of shutting down an entire troupe?
“Yes. I’d say the Crown Prince and the Grand Duke are seen as rivals. So if the Grand Duke’s popularity is rising, of course the Crown Prince wouldn’t be happy.”
‘The Forest Theater can’t be shut down!’
Should we stop selling merchandise for a while? No, we’re already too well-known! Should I try to bribe the papers to keep us out of the news?
Dozens of worries flashed through my head.
Maybe not as much as Leuke, but the Forest Theater had become precious to me too. If something happened to them, I’d be burdened with guilt for the rest of my life.
****
That evening, after work, I came home as quietly as I could. I didn’t want to run into anyone, so I opened the door gently—but I heard a voice I really didn’t want to hear.
“What have you been doing, going around outside?”
“Ah! You scared me.”
My aunt was waiting downstairs, glaring at me. She was always out at dinner parties or salons—why today of all days was she home and in this mood?
“Melias. I heard you’ve been running a shop. Hanging out with those vulgar theater people.”
Of course she somehow sniffed out the money. Maybe someone mentioned it at one of her endless dinner gatherings.
“Well, since you spent all of our inheritance and didn’t leave us a penny, don’t you think it makes sense for me to go earn some myself?”
“I gave you food, clothes, and a roof over your head. Girls with money do nothing but get into trouble.”
“Huh. Now that I think about it, that’s kind of true. Amy and Sophie don’t do anything but cause trouble all day.”
My aunt’s face turned bright red with anger.
She must have figured out I was making a profit, too. I quickly tried to head upstairs before she tried to take it.
“You’re already not as good as your sister, but now you’re out working like a commoner, mingling with men, coming home at this hour without a guardian—who would ever want to marry you?!”
“Sorry. I’ll be going upstairs now.”
“I’m not done talking!”
She yelled, and just as I was trying to escape, she grabbed me harshly.
“You’re getting real cocky these days. You think you can just keep avoiding me?”
Clink!
Just then, my coin pouch dropped. As I quickly picked it up, my aunt’s eyes lit up like a predator spotting prey.
“So you really are making some money from that little shop of yours.”
“Do you really want to touch money that was earned so ‘cheaply’?”
“Oh please. I just want to see how much you’ve made. I’m your aunt—can’t I at least be curious? My niece is starting a business, after all.”
Earlier, she had called it “shop work,” and now it was suddenly a “business”? She grabbed the coin pouch. What was wrong with her? Was she insane?
“Let go. What are you doing? Aren’t you ashamed? You’re still a noblewoman!”
“Why are you acting like it’s some big secret? Just let me see how much is inside.”
Oh no. She’d probably ask me to pay her back for “raising” me soon.
I held onto the pouch tightly and twisted away. She was older, but her grip was strong. Then one idea popped into my head.
“Did Uncle fail at something again?”
In the original story, that’s all he ever did. Stay out late, start a business, go bankrupt.
Since he kept wasting money when the daughters were supposed to be getting married, Aunt wanted to sell us to Buffington for a high price.
My question made her eyes go wide, and in that moment of distraction, I ran up the stairs and shut myself in my room.
“Huff… I seriously need to get out of this house…”
And then a scary thought crossed my mind.
No way…
I ran to the wardrobe and opened it. I looked under the clothes where I had hidden my stash.
“It’s… gone?”
My mind went completely blank. No matter how hard I looked, I couldn’t find it. My chest felt tight, and tears welled up in my eyes.
Knock knock.
Someone knocked at the door. If it was Aunt again, I was ready to grab her by the collar and throw her out.
“Melias.”
It was Leuke, standing there with a pale face, holding a pillow in her arms.
She looked just as lovely as always, but she was clearly exhausted and worn out.
Something must have happened while I was gone.
“Why aren’t you asleep?”
“I was waiting for you. I need to ask you something.”
She walked in and placed the pillow on my bed. The bed creaked as she sat down.
“Oh!”
I looked at her in surprise. It was the money I thought had disappeared!
“After you left this morning, Aunt went crazy. She started yelling about how you’ve been disappearing a lot lately… She was in a terrible mood. And it seems like Uncle did something big again. Ugh… It’s a good thing I took your money just in case.”
“Did she yell at you too?”
“She asked where you were, if we were plotting something together… I’m exhausted.”
Later, I found out Aunt had kept Leuke trapped for three hours yelling at her. No wonder she looked so pale and tired.
“I think she heard something. Are you really working? With a theater troupe?”
“I was planning to tell you tomorrow anyway.”
I told her everything—how I’d started selling things, what I was trying to do with the money.
“I figured you were doing something to earn money, but this… This is so different from what I imagined.”
“Do you… also think it’s shameful money?”
