December 14, 1501, Age of the Sea Circle
"Say aaah," said Victoria, holding a piece of cake and bringing it close to Orion's mouth.
"Amm!" Orion ate the cake obediently, and took the chance to gently kiss the beautiful actress's hand, which made her blush faintly and smile with genuine joy.
Almost two weeks had passed since Orion's visit to the Cindry residence, and several things had changed since then. To begin with, the day after his meeting with the Count, Orion had been transferred to the theater's main acting group, finally allowing him to spend most of the day alongside Victoria.
Due to the series of accidents that had been happening to anyone who dared take on the role of the male lead, no one wanted to step forward and claim the part anymore, which had put the future of the most important play of the year at risk.
Orion had seized that opportunity—ironically made possible by Hogback's malicious attempts to control who got close to Victoria—to volunteer for the role, and since he had no competitors, he obtained it without any trouble.
Once Orion became the male lead, the rehearsals for the year-end play, which had previously been completely stalled, began to progress smoothly. The other members of the acting troupe were overjoyed to see that the string of unfortunate accidents that had haunted the male protagonist role finally seemed to have ended, bringing a sudden conclusion to the curse that had plagued them for a month.
Even so, many of the actors in the main group found it suspicious that the incidents had stopped precisely when a newcomer—someone who had climbed through the theater's hierarchy in barely a month—had taken the lead role.
Although none of those who suspected Orion of being behind the accidents said anything, their impression of him worsened greatly. They decided to keep their distance, limiting their interactions with him to the bare minimum.
For Orion, the attitude of the other actors was completely irrelevant, since he didn't need them for anything and had no intention of remaining an actor once he completed his mission. Thus, he enjoyed not having to deal with extra social interaction within the troupe and instead focused solely on preparing for his role in the play and spending time with Victoria.
During the past two weeks, Orion and Victoria had publicly declared their relationship, so it was no surprise to see them flirting whenever they had free time. Of course, they were still technically in a "fake relationship," since the modest young woman refused to take the final step and officially acknowledge it as real—even though she clearly wanted to.
For his part, Orion was greatly enjoying this stage of romance with Victoria, taking his time to savor the small details of their budding love. Although their relationship was still labeled as a "fake couple," in practice they were already acting like a genuine pair.
Even so, Orion was in no rush to take the final step with the beautiful actress, choosing instead to move slowly with her. So far, they had gone on their first date, walked hand in hand, embraced romantically, and shared countless meals together.
There were still important milestones ahead in their relationship, but they would likely come naturally by the time Orion finished his current mission.
"Victoria, I love you," said Orion suddenly, causing the young woman—who was just about to offer him another piece of cake—to freeze in surprise.
At once, Victoria's face turned bright red, and she felt the urge to run away again out of sheer embarrassment. However, after weeks of maintaining this ambiguous relationship with Orion, she was no longer as easily flustered as before. After taking a deep breath, she managed to contain her instinct to flee, looked Orion in the eyes, and replied with a smile.
"I love you too, Orion."
Orion felt as if his heart were about to burst from his chest. The sight of Victoria Cindry, the most beautiful actress in the kingdom, smiling under the orange sunset as she declared her love, was something no normal man could resist.
Without thinking too much, Orion reached out and wrapped an arm around her slender waist, then leaned forward, intending to claim her pink lips for the first time.
However, before he could feel the soft touch of her lips, Victoria lowered her head and threw herself against Orion's chest, hugging him tightly and pressing her ample curves against his body.
Before Orion could ask what had just happened, the young woman's voice reached his ears.
"Orion, I want our first kiss to be something truly special… Could we postpone it a little?" said Victoria, listening to the sound of her beloved's heartbeat.
Orion, slightly surprised at having failed in his attempt to kiss her, reacted immediately with great relief. Returning her embrace, he simply said,
"Of course."
There was no need to delve into the details, because with his understanding of Victoria, he already knew what she was planning. The year-end play had a kiss scene between the two protagonists. At first, it had been planned as a fake kiss, using deceptive angles, since Victoria enjoyed certain privileges due to her status as the theater's star actress.
She would never have given away her first kiss during a play, especially to a stranger, no matter how professional she was as an actress. However, after Orion and Victoria had announced their relationship, the director completely ignored the previous arrangements to fake the kiss, since they were no longer necessary.
Orion knew very well that in the heart of the lovestruck young woman, having her first kiss with the man she loved—while both of them performed in the kingdom's most important play—was, without a doubt, the perfect golden finale, a memory she would treasure fondly for the rest of her life.
The two lovers remained in each other's arms beneath the fading light of the sunset, creating an image that would make anyone who saw them envious. Although neither of them had said it aloud, this was the moment when they had finally shed the label of "fake lovers" and fully embraced their relationship.
However, whenever someone finds happiness, there is always someone else who must suffer. When two people fall in love, it inevitably means that a third—or even a fourth—will be deprived of love, forced to accept "defeat" and seek happiness elsewhere.
Victoria Cindry was the most desired woman in this kingdom, and even in neighboring realms, so the fact that Orion had become her lover made him the enemy of all those men—the culprit behind thousands of broken hearts.
For the vast majority of them, it would only be a brief disappointment and nothing more, since their love had never been destined to happen anyway. They had merely comforted themselves with the thought that, as long as she wasn't in a relationship, there might still be a tiny chance—though they all knew that such a possibility was nothing but a dream.
However, there were two men who were different from the rest, and who now hated Orion with every fiber of their being: Hogback and the heir to the ducal house of Vancourt. These two men were completely obsessed with Victoria and would never tolerate seeing her in another man's arms.
Orion didn't know it, but in his previous life, the actions of the Vancourt heir had been successful. He had managed to get engaged to Victoria through deception and later won her affection with lies. Though his family's true intention had been to devour the Cindrys and their industries, it was true that the Vancourt heir had genuinely fallen in love with Victoria and desired to possess her.
Unfortunately for him, although his plans had succeeded and he had finally become engaged to her, Victoria had died before they could consummate their relationship—and the cause of her death had been none other than the other man obsessed with her: Hogback!
Unable to possess her, Hogback had completely lost his sanity. When he learned that Victoria would marry her fiancé after the grand year-end play, he decided to kill her, making it look like an accident. If she wouldn't belong to him, then she wouldn't belong to anyone!
Curiously, Hogback's own mind had acted to protect itself, dissociating his actions from the event. Even after Victoria fell dead because of what he had done, his mind convinced him that he had nothing to do with it—that it had all been a tragic accident.
The only true victim in this entire situation had been poor Victoria, trapped between the obsessions of two men and ultimately perishing because of it. To be the most beautiful woman in a place always meant to be the one in greatest danger there—unless one had the strength to protect oneself from the threats that beauty itself attracted.
History was full of similar tragedies, and it was a fact that would continue to repeat as long as humanity existed.
Fortunately for Victoria, in this timeline, Orion had appeared in her life by mere coincidence, changing the tragic fate that awaited her. Now that she had become one of the special people he wanted to protect, she no longer had to fear the actions of those two obsessed men.
…
As Orion held Victoria tenderly in his arms, he suddenly sensed that something was wrong. Releasing his Observation Haki, he detected that a large amount of debris was falling from the top of a nearby building—and it was about to crash down on them!
Frowning, Orion used his ability "Un Fleur," causing a hand to materialize in the air right in the path of the falling debris. Then, he activated his Art Coating skill, transforming all the rubble into rose petals that began to drift down gently from the sky, showering both him and Victoria.
The beautiful actress lifted her gaze as she felt the touch of petals on her face, and upon seeing the rain of pink petals, her eyes sparkled and her heart melted.
"What a lovely surprise," Victoria said almost in a sigh as she nestled even closer into her beloved's chest.
She was aware of Orion's almost magical abilities, so she immediately concluded that the petals were simply a romantic gesture from her boyfriend.
Orion didn't explain what had really happened, because there was no need to make her worry. As her partner, it was his job to spare her such unnecessary concerns. All she needed to do was keep smiling happily as always—and he would take care of the rest.
Activating his Prism Eyes and focusing Observation Haki into them, Orion was able to greatly expand his range of vision. In the distance, he could see Hogback's back as the man ran away after failing in his attempt to end the lives of the two lovers.
Orion narrowed his eyes, a sharp gleam flashing in them. The only reason Hogback was still in one piece was because the mission would fail if he eliminated him now. But once the new year began and the mission was completed… that would be the moment Hogback ceased to exist in this world.
…
December 31, 1501, Age of the Sea Circle
Finally, after two full months living as an actor in this corner of the West Blue, the final day of his mission had arrived. In just a few moments, the grand New Year's Eve play would begin, and the theater was already packed with distinguished guests. Even the king himself had come, along with his three wives and children.
During the last two weeks, in addition to finishing preparations for the grand performance and spending romantic days with Victoria, Orion had taken care of resolving the Cindry family's issues with the other noble families that had been besieging and restricting them financially.
To do so, Orion had spent his little free time at night infiltrating the mansions of those families, gathering enough information to act against them. It had been a slower job than he would have liked, but fortunately, he had managed to complete it in time.
After "amicably recommending" that those families stop their hostile actions against the Cindrys—unless they wanted Orion to use the weaknesses he had discovered while digging into their careless illicit dealings—they had finally decided to withdraw from the conflict, realizing that the potential benefits were not worth the risk of facing him.
Only the ducal family that had orchestrated the whole affair remained standing, now in a direct confrontation with the Cindrys. To deal with them, Orion had employed far more brutal methods, since they truly represented a persistent danger to Victoria and her family.
Orion planned for the young woman to stay about another year in her homeland before immigrating to Pacific Kingdom, as he wanted to give her time to settle her affairs instead of taking her away in a rush.
That meant he had to eliminate any potential threats that could arise in this kingdom for Victoria, and the two major ones were Hogback and the heir of the ducal family, who was also obsessed with her.
For that reason, on a dark moonless night, Orion infiltrated the duke's mansion and made sure the threat was completely erased. Curiously, the man's morality was so negative that when Orion killed him, the system actually rewarded him with SP for improving the world.
After taking care of the Vancourt heir, Orion simply used the other noble families to tear apart the ducal family itself, providing them support from the shadows. To the general public, it had merely been a typical power struggle among nobles—something quite common in the kingdom.
However, for the nobles directly involved in the downfall of House Vancourt, the situation was much more terrifying and complex. Everyone in the high political circles knew that the ducal family had offended a powerful enemy, and that had been the real cause of their demise in the end.
They also knew this powerful individual was connected to the Cindrys, though none of them realized that his identity was the same as Victoria's new boyfriend, who spent his days rehearsing at the theater with a group of actors. This was because Orion had used the pseudonym Kairos when acting against the nobles, and he had even altered his appearance with his Distorted Future ability.
It was best for his figure to remain as mysterious as possible, since that way the mere idea of his existence could restrict the movements of anyone who might consider acting against the Cindrys in the future.
If those terrified noble families, who now hesitated to move a finger against him, had known that Orion was actually the cheerful young man flirting publicly with Victoria and performing on stage, his intimidating image would surely have lost some weight among them—and might have even placed Victoria in greater danger.
Although the system's restrictions had prevented him from taking any hostile action against Hogback—which was one of the most irritating limitations Orion had encountered since he began completing system missions—at least he had been able to eliminate the Vancourt heir, sparing himself a potential headache in the future.
"Orion, are you ready?" said Victoria suddenly. She was dressed and made up as her character, looking far more mature than usual.
Especially with the help of a corset, her deep neckline made her curves appear much more pronounced than usual, and Orion's blood began to stir the moment he saw her.
"Maybe we could use those clothes again tonight…" thought Orion as his imagination began to run wild.
After the play, they had decided to take the final step in their relationship, so besides being thrilled about successfully completing the mission that had taken him two whole months, he was also deeply excited about the sensual encounter awaiting him with his beloved Victoria.
"Hey, Oriooon~ Are you listening to me?" said Victoria, waving her hand in front of his unfocused eyes and puffing her cheeks adorably. The contrast between her mature appearance—with that nearly explosive cleavage—and her youthful, innocent face dealt Orion another blow, forcing him to summon every ounce of willpower to avoid losing control and taking her into his arms.
"Ahem! Yes, I'm just a bit nervous about the play," Orion replied after clearing his throat, trying to come up with a more honorable excuse for his distraction instead of admitting that he'd been thinking about motorboats racing across the water and leaving massive waves in their wake.
"Don't worry, we've rehearsed so much—everything will go perfectly!" said Victoria with a bright smile, taking his hand affectionately.
Orion squeezed her hand and met her gaze without hiding his desire, making the girl lower her eyes shyly.
"T-Tonight…" Victoria began to say, but before she could finish, the curtain rose and the play began.
Victoria, who had just been looking at him timidly like a bashful maiden in love, instantly changed her expression, transforming into a mature woman who had witnessed countless tragic scenes in her life.
As if a switch had flipped in her mind the moment the play began, she entered her character completely, leaving her real self behind. The transformation was so sudden and complete that even Orion—who was used to seeing her perform during rehearsals—was astonished.
Victoria Cindry, the most beautiful and famous actress in the kingdom, smiled at Orion, then turned around and walked toward the stage. The moment she appeared, the crowd erupted into passionate applause, disregarding all theater etiquette.
Orion took a deep breath and stepped into his role as the male lead. The time had finally come to finish the mission—and he had to do it perfectly.