Chapter 2
Chapter – 02
That name echoed everywhere around her.
Luisa Messena.
She recognized it from somewhere distant.
A fantasy book she once considered turning into a script. Its hero crushed every foe in his way.
Luisa Messena met the cruelest doom of all.
Trueborn successor to the Messena Duchy. Once the Empire’s finest noble line.
Picture a conglomerate heiress lost in excess. Cradled by finery and masterpieces from birth, her house’s crash failed to wake her. Instead, she chased thrills through bets, spirits, wild nights.
Men topped her list of obsessions.
The handsome kind.
Surrounded by lavish fabrics and sparkling stones, beauty became her hunt.
It gripped her hardest with the story’s flawless hero. She morphed into a crazed captor, chaining him like a prize. The man who rose to Emperor ended her life in the open square.
Her last gasp demanded every splendor for herself.
A twisted gatherer of perfection. Madness defined her.
Her chosen partner reflected that fixation. Count Arno Dienche ranked high among the Empire’s stunning figures.
Arno Dienche.
Silver strands framing eyes touched with lavender.
His stare carried a superior edge, straight from the drawings.
“Luisa.”
The image breathed words right before her.
Directed straight at her.
“Is preserving your grandfather’s inheritance your true goal in claiming that theater? Or did fleeting urge guide you?”
This leader of the Empire’s top trading clan calculated every move for profit alone.
He’d accepted ties to the stormy Luisa as a sound bargain.
Dienche wealth came with whispers of purchased rank. Bonding to storied ducal blood opened doors.
Messena’s collapse erased that value.
Fiancé in name only now. Since the downfall, he’d tolerated her chaos from sheer duty.
Her recent bid at the auction forced his payment for the playhouse.
“A rash grab, Luisa? Theaters demand more than whims for gowns or trinkets.”
Fatigue etched his features.
Her new reality clicked fast, barely an hour after sensing the shift into the tale’s realm.
Ducal Assets Auction.
Luisa’s fleeting dark moment.
House in ruins, starved for funds to fuel habits, she called in lenders to sell every relic.
Ancient wonders. Grandfather’s guarded journals.
Fresh from his grave, she flung them to bidders.
Lenders gorged on bargains. Her image shattered.
Past pranks once shrugged off as youth’s folly now painted her destroyer of lineage, lost to outsiders.
A sliver of her grasped the desperation.
Broke enough, she’d pawn goods too.
Swords from eras past or faded pages bought no meals.
Judgment and grace counted.
Dumping sacred remnants publicly amid fresh grief? Disaster.
Her refuge with the Count’s house crumbled then.
Final pillar gone. Street death met his indifference.
She rejected that path.
Modern ease—gadgets humming, air crisp, silks and sleek carriers—swapped for relic-laden realms?
Public slaughter? Out of the question.
Sharpen focus, Shin Geurim.
Better: Luisa Messena.
Luisa she would channel.
Movies cut reality. Stages demanded full embodiment.
Guiding performers meant mastering the craft.
She’d foreseen it during New York theater immersion, overloading on performance training.
A tiny screen role bloomed from one walk-on into a feature call.
Face caught light as much as skill.
She weighed her reflection coolly back then.
Mother’s performer blood gifted strong appeal. Still, it locked into few molds.
Childhood words from her lingered.
“You echo my looks—striking, opaque. Stars must transmit heart. Enigma works, not hollow shells. Yours reads blank, like fragile china.”
Fragile china.
Prescient label.
Whose hands molded that shell?
Acting dreams would have sparked fury from Shin Seong-hyun regardless.
Luisa Messena broke the mold.
Empire’s unrivaled stunner. Peak antagonist.
Carriage pane now framed flawless villain poise.
A glare promised flames. Vacant gaze chilled with refined scorn—born for the role.
An ideal performer’s canvas.
She seized it fully.
Radiate icy command.
“Would my every claim ring true to you, regardless?”
Eyes fixed outside, she delivered with quiet defeat.
Arno held still.
His doubt radiated without a look.
“Grandfather guided me to a playhouse in my early days.”
Pure invention.
Echoing a true outing beside her mother.
Friends’ dim university staging.
Hall threadbare, worlds from blockbuster backdrops.
They claimed twin seats.
Starlet parent, fame-haunted, dropped shades and cap.
Curtain fall brought her breath:
“Afraid?”“Mmm.”“Clasp here. Tale will banish shadows.”
Fingers linked as lights bloomed. Panic vanished.
“That stay carved deep.”
Warmth flooded back through wistful timbre.
Recall stirred parallels for raw depth. No true ache for that parent stirred.
Shin Geurim owned no such warmth.
“Imagine a legacy-seller guarding one sacred fragment. Would that sway you?”
She wheeled to hold Arno’s stare evenly.
Gaze locked.
Audience ripple in a hushed house.
Fiancé’s turmoil pulsed clear.
Extend faith?
Reject?
Balance tipped inward.
Masters of the craft read every pulse.
They ruled from fingertips to stance.
Reform from the Empire’s scourge rang hollow to all.
Fate’s pages bound tight.
Direction remained hers.
Thrive in shadow without fatal fall.
Body seized from doomed script. Auction sealed.
Nuance yielded.
“Debt clears on my terms. Whatever path.”
Arno’s mask cracked a touch.
“Some bonds mock coin’s measure. Far beyond loose change.”
Target pierced.
Carriage rocked to halt.
She descended, gaze averted.
Sole to stone summoned dread.
Reality’s snag: sourcing those funds?
Blast.
“You mean to revive that venue, milord?”
Empire’s quake-auction wrapped.
Luisa Messena hawked ducal trove while grandfather’s remains warmed.
Derision swelled. Count’s hall buzzed same.
“Count burdened by vile wretch turned beggar!”“He cuts ties soon, Alfredo? Iron on such matters.”“Silence on his dealings, or pack your things.”
Butler Alfredo hushed the chatter, mind aligned.
Severance loomed for the Count.
Messena stain too deep. Blameless release.
Her breach preceded.
Frost incarnate, mercy absent. Tolerance ended.
The man Alfredo served would eject without pause.
But no.
“Affirmative. Fulfill her directive. Refresh the chairs, erect fresh platform, recruit the troupe.”
Marriage bond held. Her caprice playhouse reborn at his cost?
Alfredo’s thoughts spun.
Hidden sentiment for Luisa?
Dawn’s maid striker?
“Such tastes…?”
Reeling, he watched Count lower the cup.
Clink.
Exotic brew from afar—commerce goldmine.
Culture passed him. Deals defined.
Dienche vein ran deep.
Profit predators.
Vulgar brutes shadowed every step.
Labels known.
Slurs bounced. Gains endured.
Barriers rose from scorn at times.
Shed the weight.
Fresh schemes took shape.
