CH 103

“Even after inheriting the blood of a great dragon, he has since become a vicious man who is jealous of his brother.”

Nelia realized that the drama they were doing now was part of the Legend of Sigrid.

Old story is usually said to be adapted into a street drama, but the story in this one seemed to be based on Legend of Sigrid.

Well, if she thought about it, Legend of Sigrid is familiar among people to the point that no one couldn’t have known about it in this world.

‘But if it’s Shilin……’

He was the first son of Sigrid.

When she heard that line, she reckoned the person on the stage was playing as the second son, Carl.

Shilin, who resembled Sigrid and used to destroy the world, was envious of Carl, who was born as an ordinary human being and resembled Elena, set fire for his younger brother.

The situation she thought about seemed to be shown just after that. The actor on the stage who played as Carl had burnt makeup all over his body.

It was a bit dim to watch it on such a festival day.

Right after Carl was attacked by Shilin, he was carrying out the part when he suffered.

“Noona, I want to watch it.”

Zenuit said, having watched the drama in a daze for a brief moment, turned his head to Nelia.

‘Does it remind him of the past?’

If Zenuit was the subordinate, he would have known Sigrid closely, so he should have known Shilin and Carl as well.

“Yes, Nelia. It seems that this part of the street drama is about Shilin and Carl, and their story is rarely told in the book. I don’t know what book this is based on, but I don’t think it’s a bad idea to watch it.”

As the duke said, the story of Shilin and Carl was rarely mentioned in the book where the story of the Sigrid is written in general.

“Well…… I think the main character of Legend of Sigrid is obviously Sigrid.”

“Do you mind if we watch the play?”

“No, we can do that.”

Nelia nodded when the duke asked again.

The audience in front of the stage was already packed, so Nelia and her parties sat in the right corner of the stage and began to watch the street drama.

‘About the better part…… it seems that His Grace has not felt his headache for quite some time.’

He seemed to be in good shape as usual from the time he took part in the dart game.

Nelia looked at the stage confidently.

“Ugh!”

On the stage, an actor who acted as Carl was holding his right arm and acting as if enduring the pain.

The actor’s face was so twisted that he seemed quite absorbed in his acting.

“The pain of this burn won’t go away regardless.”

Shilin set fire to Carl’s house to injure him. Carl was badly burned because of him.

At that moment, a woman with long braids appeared on stage.

“My son, Carl.”

She seemed to be an actress playing Elena.

Elena hugged Carl and closed her eyes tightly. A deep sorrow was painted in her face, but Carl had a cold expression beyond indifference.

It was not long before Elena was pushed away.

“This is all because of you, Mother. Why did you give birth to Shilin? A monster who is neither a man nor a dragon!”

“……”

“Shilin will be hated by everyone for the rest of his life. Without ever being loved by anyone!”

Elena looked at Carl sorrowfully.

“Carl, I know everything that has happened is unbearable to you. But, can’t you understand Shilin for a little……”

“Mother, look at me. I have to live for the rest of my life with this big burn and a hideous face. However, you’re here defending Shilin……!”

Carl pointed somewhere off the stage.

“Get out right now, Father…… Mother…… I don’t want to see anyone.”

Then another person appeared on the stage. He was tall and wearing a gray wig.

Nelia immediately noticed what role he was playing.

‘Sigrid.’

Sigrid walked onto the stage with a stiff face, stood beside Elena and stared at Carl.

“Do you think you’re in a position where you’re supposed to be so boisterous?”

An icy voice slipped out from his teeth.

“I punished Shilin, but I found out something. You’ve been driving a wedge between Shilin and me.”

Nelia opened her eyes wide.

What?

Apparently, Carl mentioned in Legend of Sigrid resembled Elena and has a gentle personality.

“Do you blame me now? Someone made me do this.”

“It seems that all you can do is to blame others.”

Carl cried out while clenching his hands.

“Father will never understand me. I feel like I’m always compared with Hyung, who’s outstanding and excels at everything, meanwhile my existence always feels insignificant and helpless regardless of whatever I do.”

Nelia’s mouth opened weakly.

She never expected such a backstory existed between Shilin and Carl.

When she read that part of the book, it only said that Shilin was envious of Carl, who was loved by people around him.

However, the drama was actually implying that Shilin and Carl were envious of each other.

Of course, she couldn’t be certain that this street drama has actually taken from the thing that actually happened……

It might have been adapted in the process of preparing for the street drama, and since it was such an old legend, the interpretation was divided into various ways.

Nelia settled her thoughts for now and focused on the drama again.

“You mor*n! Is that why you did such a thing?”

Sigrid uttered in an angry voice as Carl lifted up his gaze.

“Father is just that kind of person. No one but Mother would understand you. In the end, we, who are your children, are just other people to you.”

Carl’s eyes turned to Elena, who was motionless beside him.

“The same goes to you, Mother. You pretended to care for us on the surface but she didn’t try to see through the pain at all, did she? That’s why you raised a monster like Shilin!”

“I, I……”

“Shilin will continue to try destroying everything.”

Carl grinned bitterly.

“Mother, you gave birth to a catastrophe.”

Tears poured down Elena’s eyes. It was Sigrid who replied on behalf of Elena, who couldn’t say anything upon the harsh remark.

“Shut your trap!”

Sigrid raised his hand high in the air and slapped Carl’s cheek.

Carl fell to the floor with a loud slapping sound effect. Carl looked at Sigrid, barely holding his slapped cheek.

“As expected, I don’t think I can expect anything from both of you.”

Carl staggered to stand up with his feet. He disappeared off the stage.

Sigrit and Elena also slowly went down the stage.

She thought the drama was over, but when the red leaves fell on the empty stage and followed by something white that looked like snow.

She thought they wanted to imply that some time had passed.

Only Sigrid and Elena came up to the stage again. Sigrid sat on a piece of cloth laid on the floor with Elena in his arms.

Elena’s face seemed to have changed a bit, for there were wrinkles upon looking at her closely.

“After all, we have not seen Shilin and Carl for 50 years.”

Elena spoke quietly as if reciting. Sigrid sighed.

They stared at each other without exchanging any words for a moment. Though she knew it was merely an act, the two seemed as if looking at each other affectionately, just as Sigrid and Elena in real life.

Elena slowly spoke up.

“Sigrid, you know that I’m going to die soon.”

Sigrid closed his eyes.

“Don’t say that, Elena……”

“But I’m right. Unlike you, I’m just an ordinary human.”

Nelia felt a subtle sense of deja vu whilst watching the scene.

Soon she realized that it was similar to the scene she saw in her dream. In her dream, Sigrid also said so while holding Elena in his arms, who was getting older.

“I’m worried that I won’t be able to quench the rage of fire in Shilin and Carl’s heart until the moment I die.”

Elena’s voice was weak, it might be because she was really about to die.

“I’m thinking about repeating my life like this when I can’t quench the rage of fire in their hearts.”

Sigrid caressed Elena’s cheek.

“Stop worrying about Shilin and Carl now. You’ve already lived with more than enough regret throughout your life.”

Elena simply gave a faint smile at his words.

A large white cloth came down on the stage to cover the stage from the audience. And after a while, when the cloth went up and showed the stage again, Sigrid was alone.

‘Elena’s dead.……’

Sigrid said quietly while standing alone under the light.

“Elena, there’s no way I can overcome the emptiness in my heart with your absence.”

Sigrid held the red jewel in his right hand.

“Now that I’ve nothing left, what’s the point of having the title of a great dragon and mighty power?”

The jewel seemed to be Sigrid’s heart.

“I’m going to go after you, too.”

His heart, which was on his hand, was thrown to the floor. Then, the red light came out from all directions and he floated in the air like a firefly,

It was a beautiful sight.

The property he regarded as his heart seemed to be a magic tool.

Perhaps that was the end of the drama because all the actors came to the stage to greet everyone.

At that moment, she came to a realization that Shilin hadn’t made any appearance throughout the drama at all. She wondered what kind of punishment Shilin had gotten from Sigrid and what happened after that.

The actor who was playing the role of Carl greeted the audience with a bright face.

“Did you enjoy the street drama prepared by us for the National Day Festival? We prepared the story about Sigrid’s son, Carl.”

A child raised his hand to ask the actor.

“Is it true that Carl was jealous of Shilin?”

The child’s eyes were gleaming with genuine curiosity.

“I’m afraid to say if it’s true because I don’t know myself. However, we didn’t adapt the specific content of the book.”

The child, who nodded in understanding, raised his hand and asked again.

“Why isn’t there a story about Shilin?”

The child happened to ask a question on behalf of Nelia, who was also curious about it.

“We also wanted to include Shilin’s story, but the book I obtained with difficulty hardly mentioned him, so we could only prepare Carl’s story. We are very sad about it, too.”

Oh……

Given that Legend of Sigrid didn’t mention anything about Shilin, he might have been punished by Sigrid and disappeared without any trace.

Nelia looked at Duke Hart and Zenuit whilst thinking that the lingering effect of the street drama she happened to witness was longer than she thought.

They were still looking at the stage even though the play was over.

“Your Grace……? Zenu……?”

The first person who clapped back to reality was Zenuit.

“Huh? Yes?”

“How was it?”

Nelia asked Zenuit.

It seemed that the story adapted by the street drama now must have made Zenuit felt somewhat bitter. It was about Sigrid after all, the creature served by Zenuit.

“……it wasn’t bad.”

Zenuit’s mood was quite sunken as he answered quietly.

This time, Nelia looked at the duke. The duke’s eyes still remained at the stage.

“Did you have fun, Your Grace?”

The duke turned his head slowly upon Nelia’s question.

“Yes, though it’s a bit strange for them to adapt a story that is not usually known……”

The duke suddenly stopped mid sentence. His eyes seemed to be distorted.

“Ugh……”

He closed his eyes immediately and clutched his head.