There was a small room on the other side. Along the wall on our immediate right was a waist-high cabinet, above which hung a mirror. Both the cabinet and mirror were splendidly decorated; the cabinet’s cabriole legs were especially cute. The room was darker than the hallway, so I couldn’t see well, but the parts that were illuminated had an awfully pretty amber hue. It lent a superbly sophisticated atmosphere.
Opposite the door were two chairs that also sported cabriole legs; they were facing what would have been a fourth wall. However, there wasn’t a wall but what looked like another small room directly across from us.
I focused on studying the furniture as a way to escape reality, but that didn’t change the truth of what was going on: This suite was just what I had feared.
But even though I knew what sort of room we were in by appearance alone, and it wasn’t like the situation would magically change even if Yuri denied it, I wound up asking anyway: “Are these box seats?”
“Yes. Supposedly House Drewes only ever watches from a box,” Yuri answered. His tone wasn’t exactly begrudging in any way, yet his words felt somehow stiff. Maybe it was because he had never come to watch, seeing as he had no interest in theater.
“Ah. I see.”
Box seats were essentially a private suite. There were only two seats in there at present, but the space could probably have sat another two to three people. The chairs were wider than the ones on the first floor in front of the stage, and considering the elaborate nature of the furniture, I had a feeling that these tickets must have cost a whole heck of a lot.
I was impressed that Yuri’s family exclusively attended the theater in an opera box, but when I thought about it, Yuri was the son of a marquis. House Drewes were high-ranking nobles and a powerful house; many of their ancestors had served as grand magus of the Royal Magi Assembly. It made sense that they would be able to reserve this kind of luxury.
“Please, have a seat.” A servant pulled out a chair for me.
“Thank you,” I said as I took it.
After I settled in, I looked ahead. People dressed in sparkling garments entered the boxes directly across from us.
Hmm. I had figured as much as we arrived, but this really was the second floor. The position of the box across from us confirmed it.
The box seats had been built to surround the first-floor seats in front of the stage, as if they were the walls of the second and third floors. There also appeared to be seats on an additional floor above, but since I couldn’t see divisions between rooms, maybe those were regular seats as well.
The box seats by the one directly across from us and near the stage had high ceilings. Maybe those were for royalty. I couldn’t see them from here, but assuming the boxes were arranged symmetrically, there were likely similar seats on our side as well.
“Have you noticed something of interest?” Yuri asked as I gazed around.
I supposed you could say it was of interest to me, but really I was just drinking in the sights. “No, it’s just new. I’ve never been to a theater like this.”
“I see.”
That was the truth too. I had never been to a classic European-style theater before. At most, I had seen pictures of old theaters located abroad.
I looked up to see that the ceiling was colorfully painted, just like the ceiling at the entrance. In the center hung a large chandelier. It didn’t appear to have any candles either, so I figured it must also be using enchanted foci as light sources.
“The chandeliers are enchanted, aren’t they?” I asked Yuri off-handedly.
He looked up at the ceiling and nodded. “Yes, that’s right.”
“I thought you had to be near an enchantment to activate it. How do they work?”
The foci I sometimes enchanted at the Royal Magi Assembly were turned into accessories or embedded in weapons—something you could wear and then empower. The person wearing the enchanted item used their own magic to flip the switch, so to speak.
Thus I was wondering how the chandeliers worked. They could hardly be worn, and there was no one nearby to make them function. I had previously wondered this when I heard that the chandeliers in the palace used enchanted foci, and I figured now was the perfect opportunity to ask the grand magus himself.
“Things like these chandeliers follow different circuits.”
“What do you mean by that?”
As this was a question about magic, Yuri was about to launch into a thorough explanation, but unfortunately, our conversation was cut off as the lights dimmed and the hall went dark. The play was about to begin.
It was a love story about the twists and turns of a relationship between a noble and a commoner girl, from the moment he fell at first sight until their marriage. The girl had a guardian, but he was actually after her fortune and kicked up all kinds of problems by trying to marry her first.
It had sounded like a good story based on the summary. However, what had been described to me as a play turned out to be more like an opera, what with the way the songs and music were composed. Because I was even less familiar with operas than plays, everything the performers sang went in one ear and out the other; I had no idea what was going on. Maybe part of that was because of the lively banter in our vicinity.
I had thought that performances were to be watched in silence, but that didn’t seem to be how things were done in this world. Throughout the theater, people shouted at the actors while others ignored the performance altogether to talk amongst themselves. Because of that, my attention shifted to the scenery on stage.
The scenery was no different from the sort I had seen back in Japan. The theater went dark between scenes, and they switched out the large paintings that served as backdrops and so forth. They even used real furniture in scenes set indoors.
If I had to say what was different, it was the monotony of the lighting. All they did was turn the lights on and off. They didn’t change the brightness or the color.
“Can they not change it?” I unthinkingly murmured to myself.
“Change what?” Yuri asked.
I decided I might as well explain myself. “I was just wondering if the only thing they can do with the lights is turn them on and off.”
“What else would you do with them?”
“Well, in my world, they could change the intensity and even the hue.”
“Huh.”
It appeared that Yuri was unable to focus on the play as well, and he quickly grew invested in this lighting discussion. They say that “seeing is believing,” so I cast the Practical Magic spell Light below the waist-high wall. I didn’t want anyone else to see.
At first, I cast it at the usual brightness. The second time, I adjusted it. I had done this back in Hawke’s Domain, so I knew I could pull it off. Yuri’s eyes sparkled as he gazed at the small glowing ball at the tip of my pointer finger. Then, with the third cast, I wished for the light to be blue, and this time an azure light appeared at my fingertip, just as I had imagined.
“Incre—”
“Shh! Not so loud!” I clapped my hands over Yuri’s mouth as he was on the verge of shouting out in excitement. My warning had been quiet, so I hoped against hope that no one had noticed.
However, I felt the softness of his lips under my palm before I realized what I had done. My actions had clearly startled Yuri as well. His eyes were wide open.
Uhhh. I went pale as Yuri and I stared at one another for a time, unmoving.
But we couldn’t stay like that forever. A cold sweat ran down my back as I at last removed my hands from Yuri’s mouth.
“I’m sorry,” I said weakly.
“It’s all right. You surprised me a bit, but I’m fine.” Yuri smiled and his tone sounded just as it usually did.
Phew. He’s not mad.
I leaned in close and whispered so that we wouldn’t bother anyone else as we continued our conversation.
I had no idea that the people in the box directly across from ours had seen the whole thing. I only learned about that a week after our evening at the theater.