Goddess Kaleidoscope

Thanks to the commotion caused by these beggars, many people who originally wanted to watch the show had to take a detour. Ludwig saw all of this and was already planning how to help Servis next.

Soon, Ludwig and Hume arrived by carriage at the Celestial Opera House, located on the main thoroughfare in the center of Flamewood City. The magnificent opera house was seven or eight stories high, with snow-white marble sculptures standing on both sides of the imposing entrance, making it far superior to the Celestial Opera Company.

With the VIP ticket in hand, Lude led Hydra to a private box on the upper floor. The view from there was expansive, overlooking the masses in the ordinary seats, giving one the feeling of being a traveler.

At this moment, Hume quietly pointed to several other private rooms not far away and introduced the important figures inside to Ludd one by one.

"See that big bearded guy on the left? That's Lord Badan. And the one in armor behind him is Maxi. Many people are fooled by his big, dark, and rough appearance, thinking he's a simple-minded brute. But actually, he's a cunning and shrewd guy! Otherwise, he wouldn't be an elder."

"It seems that Bataan trusts him a lot?"

"At least that's how it appears on the surface."

"And what about Juan?"

"He's probably messing around with Katie backstage right now."

"Holy crap! Is it that exciting?"

"What, are you envious?"

"How could this be! I... I'm just angry!"

"Tch! Keep pretending."

Hume gave Lude a disapproving look. Seeing that their box was relatively secluded and not easily seen by other boxes, he plopped down next to Lude and began eating the snacks and drinks on the table without any hesitation, completely oblivious to the fact that he was playing the role of a maid.

At this moment, the lights in the hall suddenly dimmed. To ensure the viewing experience of the audience, only the stage was lit, while the only light source in the private boxes was a small candlestick placed on the table so that guests could easily grab snacks.

Lu De suddenly recalled that when the waiter led them to the private room, the waiter deliberately reminded him in an extremely ambiguous tone that the soundproofing between the private room and the sides was excellent, and as long as he didn't lean out of the window, no one would find out what he was doing inside.

Clearly, the waiter misunderstood the relationship between Ludwig and Hume, and was also telling Ludwig that not all guests come here to see a show.

Influenced by the other party's "kind" reminder, Ludwig subconsciously conjured up corresponding images in his mind. He had also "criticized" several similar films late at night, and his brain had even thoughtfully replaced the characters in these famous scenes, changing the male and female protagonists to Ludwig and Hume.

Just then, Hume, who was about to take a banana from the fruit plate, suddenly leaned towards Ludwig without warning. His soft and curvaceous body pressed against her first, then slowly slid down, lowering his head to approach between Ludwig's legs.

Caught off guard by the sudden attack, Lud was momentarily flustered.

End of this chapter

Hume's "surprise attack" caught Ludwig off guard. Although the two of them would often make harmless jokes and show off their driving skills, they had never done anything like this before, with a car wheel running over his face. This left Ludwig, a virgin in both his past and present lives, somewhat at a loss.

"Hey! You should at least know when to stop joking around!"

"Who's joking with you..."

With great effort, Hume struggled to get up from Ludd's lap. By the dim candlelight in the box, Ludd saw that Hume's face was sickly red, her breathing was very rapid, and her forehead was covered with sweat. At first glance, she looked like she had suddenly suffered a heart attack.

But Hume was a god, and even though his divine power was sealed by the curse of the God of War, he was only unable to use it. Therefore, his current state was most likely related to that fake person who was about to break through.

Fortunately, Hume's state came suddenly and ended quickly. He recovered in less than ten seconds, then glared at Ludwig with a fierce look and said in a low, coquettish voice, "I'm so annoyed."

"You bastard, you poked my chin."

"Uh...sorry!"

Lude chuckled sheepishly. He had been having some wild thoughts, but Hume's sudden "bump" had caused his body to react instinctively, producing a very common male physiological response before his brain could process it.

Rather than calling him despicable, it's more accurate to say he was overly "honest."

Hume wasn't really going to blame him; he just glared at him a couple of times and let the matter drop.

The two pretended nothing had happened and turned their gaze back to the stage outside the box window. After a short silence, Lu De asked without looking at him.

How long have you been experiencing this?

"It's been about a month now. At first it was once every ten days or so, but now it's once every two or three days, and the symptoms are much stronger than before."

Why didn't you say this when we contacted each other before?

"What good would it do to tell you? I know what's important and what's urgent. The key to winning or losing this battle has never been in my hands from the beginning. Besides, these are just minor issues, not worth distracting you."

"..."

Hume's calm words silenced Ludd for a moment. He could clearly hear that behind these words lay Hume's complete trust in Ludd and the fact that he truly placed all his hopes on him.

After a brief silence, Hume reached out and extinguished the candle, then quietly leaned on Ludd's shoulder.

After watching an opera, Ludwig, who was in his box, successfully met several important figures and memorized their appearances.

As for the performance on stage, Lu De only glanced at it briefly and could only summarize it as "similar in form but lacking in spirit".

The advantage is that the costumes and props are really exquisite, and you can even see that the actors have real martial arts skills in several fight scenes. However, the script copied the story of Romeo and Juliet, but cleverly changed the tragedy into a comedy, which completely erased the core of the original story.

People who haven't read the original work might think it's pretty good, but Lu De shook his head after reading it, feeling it was neither fish nor fowl.

"Adaptation is not random fabrication, and detailed explanation is not nonsense!"

After the performance, having achieved his goal, Lu De was about to leave when he ran into the lead actors of the Fei Xia Dance Troupe coming out to meet their fans. A huge crowd had completely blocked the hall. Lu De looked around but didn't see any of the important figures, assuming there was a "VIP passage" reserved for them.

Left with no other choice, Ludwig and Hume could only retreat to a corner and wait, while also observing the members of the Flying Skies Dance Troupe.

Lude had already heard a lot about this song and dance troupe from Hume. Unlike the Rainbow Song and Dance Troupe, which travels all over the country, they are based in Yanmu City and only go out by invitation from other major cities. They are truly top-tier figures in the arts.

However, just like the seemingly glamorous Yanmu City, the Feixia Song and Dance Troupe's current status is not solely due to its stage performances.

In the center of the crowd, Katie, the leading lady of the Fei Xia Dance Troupe, was interacting closely with her fans.

But after observing for a while, Lu De concluded that this woman was definitely a seasoned master of tea ceremony. Without exception, all the men she accepted flowers from were young masters who were clearly wealthy and noble just by looking at their clothes. She maintained a limited, ambiguous relationship with them in public, and would blush shyly for a long time even if she just kissed their hands. She seemed very pure, making it hard to imagine that she was having affairs with at least two older men behind the scenes.

Just then, several people carrying paper and pens squeezed through the crowd, struggled to reach Katie, and loudly asked her some questions. Seeing this, Lude thought to himself, "There are actually reporters in Yanmu City."

Because Lud had previously been active in the relatively underdeveloped northern border region of the kingdom, he only knew that the south was more developed, but he wasn't clear on the extent of that development. Now, looking around, he could see some remnants of the Renaissance era.

Of course! In Yanmu City, there aren't really any proper periodicals or newspapers yet; they're mostly rudimentary publications, not as formal as the newspaper Lude co-founded with the Golden Axe Merchant Guild in Oyster Harbor. But these are purely local products, naturally developed without the transmigrators forcing them to grow.

These reporters asked Katie a lot of questions, one of which was clearly meant to stir up trouble. They directly asked Katie what she thought of the Rainbow Dance Company, which has been making headlines recently, and why the two companies' main operas are so similar.

Katie glanced at the reporter, casually tossed her long, golden waves with her hand, and spoke in an extremely confident tone.

"I have no opinion on the dance troupe you mentioned. They're just another challenger. Our Feixia Dance Troupe has always relied on our strength, and I believe the audience will make a fair judgment. As for the similarity of the scripts you mentioned, I'm sorry, I've never seen that dance troupe's performance. Our scripts are all written by the famous writer Master Sanz. I'm not surprised at all that his work has been borrowed by someone."

"And what about Master Nathan himself?"

"He...is not here today."

Since the vast majority of people present were Katie's fans, her answer was echoed by many. Some young people, eager to impress their idol, even shouted excitedly, insisting that Rainbow Dance Company had plagiarized the work, and they were determined to seek justice for Miss Katie.

Luther watched the farce with a cold eye, and suddenly felt that the name "Sans" sounded familiar, so he asked Hume in a low voice.

"Hey! Who's this Sans she was talking about? Is he a screenwriter?"

"You should be very familiar with this name, right?"

"Very familiar?"

"A third of those notebooks you stuff under your bed are works by this Sans. Don't you enjoy reading them?"

End of this chapter

Faced with Hume's mischievous grin, Ludwig coughed awkwardly twice. However, after her reminder, Ludwig did recall seeing the name Sans somewhere before.

It's not hard to tell from Katie's words that this Sans must be a fairly famous writer in Yanmu City. But because of this, he couldn't help but suspect that the "Sans" he saw in some awful things was just a coincidence of names with this Sans.

But Hume told him clearly that it was the same person, because this Master Sans was a famous all-around artist in Yanmu City. He could not only write but also paint. He could write elegant operas and also paint vulgar scripts. He was an extremely free creator!

Those little notebooks that Lu De only dared to peek at secretly were openly sold in major bookstores in Yanmu City.

But why would such a powerful figure resort to plagiarism?

As the "transferrer" of the original works, Ludwig knew very well where the scripts he provided to Servis came from. But while being a plagiarist was certainly enjoyable, Ludwig never had the heart to claim all these classic masterpieces that were popular on Earth as his own.

Therefore, when Ludwig heard Katie imply that the original author was Maestro Sans and that the Rainbow Dance Company was plagiarizing, he couldn't help but sneer repeatedly.

Meanwhile, after finishing her interview, Katie left the opera house and returned to her residence. The moment she closed the door, this "stage golden bird" who had always been all smiles outside suddenly turned cold, as if venting her resentment, and viciously threw her coat at the face of a maid standing nearby.

"That Servis, why doesn't she stay in some backwater and dance for those country bumpkins? She dares to come to my turf! She's courting death! I'll make that bitch pay!"

Katie cursed loudly through gritted teeth, and the other members of the song and dance troupe who had returned with her all fell silent. Finally, one of the male actors who played the "fake Romeo" on stage stood up and said tremblingly.

"Commander, please calm down."

"Calm down? Okay! Bourne, come here."

Hearing Katie call his name in a somber voice, the actor named Bourne visibly trembled, but he still obediently came to Katie's side and skillfully crawled to the ground, allowing Katie to step on the back of his head and grind it down several times. Bourne, in pain, could only endure it, lying motionless on the ground.

Unlike the innocent and lovely goddess in the eyes of her fans, the core members of the Feixia Dance Troupe all know that beneath this woman's naturally beautiful appearance lies a devilish soul. She is ruthless and merciless towards her subordinates, and will beat and scold them at the slightest displeasure.

Many people couldn't stand it and wanted to quit, but unfortunately, when they joined the group, Katie tricked them into signing extremely harsh contracts of servitude. She also had powerful figures from both the local underworld and legitimate society backing her up. Anyone who tried to resist or run away would face a terrifying fate.

This female demon has been unusually irritable for the past month, all because of the appearance of the Rainbow Dance Troupe.

At that moment, Katie looked around and suddenly asked a question.

"Speaking of which, where did Sans go today?"

“Master Sans… he said he had something to do today and went out.”

Bourne, who was being trampled under Katie's feet, answered cautiously. He knew what Sans had been up to today, but precisely because he knew, he dared not tell the truth when this female devil was in a fit of anger. Therefore, he made up an excuse to try to get away with it.

If she were to find out that Sans was going out to see the Rainbow Dance Troupe's performance today, and that it was their seventh time seeing it, she'd probably get a hole punched in the back of his head.

In the Fei Xia Dance Troupe, the great writer Sans is a special figure. Although Katie always claims that Sans is the troupe's go-to choreographer, in reality, he has a cooperative relationship with the troupe rather than a subordinate one, and often completely ignores Katie.

Just like their script this time, it wasn't actually written by Sans himself, as they claimed. Katie had already received some information long before the Rainbow Dance Troupe even arrived in Flamewood City.

Knowing that Servis would definitely come to take revenge, she devised a preemptive strategy. She planned to stage a similar performance before the Rainbow Dance Troupe arrived in Flamewood City, and then use her popularity in Flamewood City to completely suppress the other party.

But Sans refused to do such a tasteless thing, so Katie found a ghostwriter to write a shoddy script based on Romeo and Juliet, and then attributed it to Sans.

To be honest, Byrne also thought that Katie was wrong in this matter. She shouldn't have used Sans's name to plagiarize the script. Although Sans didn't seem to care much afterward and didn't angrily break off relations with their Flying Chapel, Byrne felt very sorry for Sans.

Later, the Rainbow Dance Troupe finally arrived in Flamewood City. Although their performance drew some criticism, and Katie used her connections to smear and slander them, their performance still won the praise and recognition of some audience members, including Sans.

Privately, Byrne had heard Sans say more than once that he absolutely had to meet Shakespeare, the author of such wonderful plays. And this desire had gradually evolved into a desire to become Shakespeare's student as he watched the plays more and more often.

Bourne was so frightened that he repeatedly advised the other party not to say these words in front of that she-devil Katie, otherwise who knows what terrible things she might do.

However, it wasn't just Sans who wanted to see Shakespeare; Kitty, who was currently standing on Burns' head, also wanted to see him.