“But… the Prince already has someone cast,” he whispered.
Alicia ignored him, simply smiling at Lynn.
“Lynn, what do you think?”
Lynn felt like he was being roasted over a fire again.
Play the Prince?
“With whom would he be acting?”
He looked toward the Student Director as if pleading for help, but the director had already buried his head in his chest, pretending he didn’t exist.
“I have no objection to Brother playing the Prince.”
Lilith suddenly spoke up.
She walked to Lynn’s side, intimately taking his arm, and flashed a provocative smile at Alicia and Vivian.
“However, shouldn’t the script be changed?”
“What?” The director was stunned.
“*The Prince’s Revenge* is too cliché.”
Lilith’s fingers lightly brushed against Lynn’s arm, her voice sickeningly sweet.
“How about we change it to… a story called *Two Princesses Destroyed an Entire Nation While Fighting for the Prince*? How does that sound?”
The air froze instantly.
The smile on Alicia’s face remained unchanged, but her gaze turned cold.
Vivian’s knuckles turned white as she gripped the hilt of her sword.
“That suggestion is quite interesting,” Alicia said softly.
“However, there is only one Princess. A holy Princess who guides a lost Prince toward the light — that is the script God desires.”
“Hmph, weak.”
Vivian gave a cold snort.
“It should be a brave Knight Princess who uses her sword to cut through all thorns for the Prince and protects his Kingdom.”
“Oh my,” Lilith said, feigning surprise as she covered her mouth.
“Both of you make such good points. Then how about this? The script will say that a Saint Princess and a Knight Princess both want the Prince. they fight openly and secretly, using the power of the Church and the Kingdom to attack each other, eventually smashing the country to bits.”
Her voice wasn’t loud, yet it reached everyone’s ears clearly.
“And then?”
Alicia narrowed her eyes.
“And then…”
Lilith’s smile grew even more brilliant.
“The Prince chose neither of them. He was found by his long-lost sister, and she took him back to a tiny castle that belonged only to the two of them, where they lived happily ever after.”
“You’re dreaming!”
Vivian finally couldn’t take it anymore and growled.
“Whether it’s a dream or not, won’t we know once we act it out?”
Lilith met her gaze without a hint of fear.
Three sets of eyes met in the air, sparking invisible flames.
The poor Student Director held the original script, his hands shaking like a leaf.
He felt like he wasn’t holding a few pieces of paper, but a bomb that could explode at any second.
Lynn stood in the middle, feeling breathless under the pressure of the three competing auras.
He finally understood.
He wasn’t here to act.
He was here to be a Sacrificial Offering!
***
Eventually, under the “friendly consultation” of the three powerhouses, the script was altered beyond recognition.
Lynn was forced into a cheap Prince costume, holding an A4 sheet of paper covered in scribbled revisions.
He stood in the center of the stage.
To his left was the “Saint Princess,” Alicia, and to his right was the “Knight Princess,” Vivian.
Both were wearing gorgeous princess gowns, but their eyes looked as if they wanted to swallow each other alive.
Below the stage, Lilith sat in the first row of the audience.
Her chin rested in her hands as she looked at him with anticipation, a happy smile hanging on the corners of her lips.
The surrounding student audience had no idea about the surging undercurrents.
Thinking it was some kind of novel improvisational performance, they broke out into excited chatter.
“Quiet! Quiet!”
The Student Director’s voice trembled as he struck the opening gong.
“The Academy Festival special stage play, *The Prince’s Choice*, begins now!”
*Snap!*
The spotlight hit Lynn.
Lynn looked at the lines in his hand.
The first line was: “Oh, my dear Princesses, who should I choose?”
He looked up at the two “Princesses” eyeing him like tigers on either side, then looked at the “sister” smiling innocently below the stage.
Lynn took a deep breath, feeling like he wasn’t on a stage.
He was on a guillotine.
The heat of the spotlight burned against Lynn’s skin.
The audience below was a dark mass, countless eyes focusing on him like the dead silence before a judgment.
The edges of the A4 script in his hand were already soaked with sweat, becoming soft and wrinkled.
“Oh, my dear Princesses, who should I choose?”
This line felt like a noose tightened around his neck.
On the left, Alicia stood in a holy white dress.
The smile on her face was flawless, but there wasn’t a hint of warmth in her beautiful eyes.
She stepped forward half a pace, her hem fluttering slightly as a sacred aura pressed toward him.
On the right, Vivian wore a black Knight Princess gown, her hand resting on the rapier at her waist.
The gemstone on the hilt glinted with a cold light.
Her jawline was taut, filled with impatience and warning.
Lynn could feel the two invisible auras colliding in the center of the stage, squeezing him and making it difficult to breathe.
If he uttered a single name or showed favoritism toward either side, the other side’s fury would instantly tear him to pieces.
And in the very center of the first row…
Lilith rested her chin on her hands.
Her ink-colored pupils reflected the stage lights, sparkling brightly.
The expectation on her face was like someone watching the most exciting circus act.
Lynn’s brain was on fire.
‘What do I do?’
‘Any choice results in death!’
The Student Director was stamping his feet anxiously behind the scenes, frantically gesturing for him to say his lines.
Whispers began to spread through the audience.
“What’s going on? Did he forget his lines?”
“This Prince is no good. He’s choking at the critical moment.”
The pressure grew heavier and heavier.
Lynn closed his eyes. When he opened them again, he had made a decision.
Since any choice was death, he wouldn’t choose at all! He would flip the table!
He took a deep breath and, using a soulful yet slightly melancholic aria, recited that life-threatening line.
“Oh, my dear Princesses…”
Alicia and Vivian both leaned forward slightly, preparing for his choice.
“…who should I choose…”
Lynn’s voice paused.
He didn’t look at them.
Instead, he raised his head, gazing up at the stage chandelier at a forty-five-degree angle, a look of philosophical confusion appearing on his face.
“…to help me wash the socks I didn’t wash last night?”
The air went silent.
It lasted for three seconds.
The perfect smile on Alicia’s face cracked.
The hand Vivian had on her sword hilt twitched.
Behind the scenes, the Student Director’s foot slipped, and he nearly tumbled over.
The audience was deathly quiet at first, and then it exploded into scattered, uncontrollable snickers.
“Socks? Did he say socks?”
“What kind of trendy script is this? Why don’t I get it?”
Lilith froze for a moment.
Then, she covered her mouth, her shoulders trembling uncontrollably.
For the first time, those ink-colored eyes were filled with a light called “amusement.”
“Lynn,” Alicia was the first to react.
She maintained her dignity as a Saintess, her voice so gentle it could practically drip water.
“What nonsense are you talking about? What we are discussing now is the future of the Kingdom — and where you belong.”
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