Chapter: 360
Everything that exists in the world has the possibility of belonging to someone else someday.
Thus, I thought it was impossible to completely own something.
But it existed.
A way to fully own something.
“…Ahaha!!”
Auria burst into laughter as she gazed at the completely irreparable torn painting, ensuring no one could ever possess it again.
The satisfaction that filled her heart was incomparable to the first time she acquired the artwork.
The regret of tearing apart the painting, which she had bought at a fairly steep price, paled in comparison to that satisfaction.
By tearing the painting herself, Auria had obtained its ‘end.’
No one could take that away from her, no matter what they did.
Wasn’t that true, complete ownership?
“Awesome…!!”
That joy, that delight, that thrill.
Feeling the shivers in her soul that her father had described, along with the sentiment her colleague had shared about being born for this, Auria couldn’t help but lose herself in it all.
“More, more…!”
She wanted to grasp another ‘end’!
Auria, who hadn’t realized she was such a greedy person until now, began to pick up other items in the room to fulfill her desires.
The shining dishes shattered and beautiful clothes ripped under Auria’s hands, craving ‘ends.’
Her destruction lasted until everything in the room was completely wrecked.
“…Oh no, everything is already broken? Hmm, I guess I should go buy more things to break because this is still lacking.”
Feeling unsatisfied, Auria hesitated and thought about going outside to find new items to destroy when suddenly,
“…Wait a second.”
A thought flitted through Auria’s mind.
“…Does it necessarily have to be an object?”
Auria muttered blankly as she looked at the ruins of the items that had met their ‘end’ by her hands.
Though they might have held significant value to others, they were items that she could easily replace if she wanted.
“…These kinds of things are easily obtainable.”
Auria had learned that recently, things that could be acquired easily were not worth much.
The ‘end’ of an item could be so easily achieved.
Therefore, she began to think.
If she could feel this level of satisfaction from an easily obtainable ‘end’,
Then what would the ‘end’ of something more challenging, something truly valuable, feel like?
Just like what her father had once said.
“Auria, remember this—no object is more precious than a person.”
What would the ‘end’ of someone, who is more precious than an object, feel like?
“…Ahaha, I’m curious now.”
Auria’s body trembled at the very dangerous, yet enticing idea.
She wanted to rush outside immediately and quench that curiosity.
“…Ah, no. I must hold back.”
Still, Auria decided to suppress that impulse.
“…That would be too bad, wouldn’t it?”
Following that impulse would violate the ethics that humans hold.
Was she really that moral of a person?
“Because if I get caught doing such things….”
Of course not.
It was simply a rational judgment knowing the consequences of recklessly acting out.
Thus, Auria had no intention of giving up.
“Let’s think of a way to obtain it without getting caught…”
After all, it was said that things become more valuable the harder they are to obtain.
Then how sweet would be the taste of what she would experience after such effort?
Imagining it brought a smile to Auria’s face.
The man, who was the owner of the Golden Troupe and Auria’s adoptive father, was in a good mood lately.
It was because his beloved stepdaughter Auria had been smiling more frequently as of late.
He was delighted by Auria’s transformation, not used to seeing her smile so often outside the stage, and he was curious about the reason behind it, so he asked her.
“Auria, you’ve been smiling a lot lately. Is something good happening?”
“Really? Hehe, actually I’ve picked up a new hobby recently.”
“A new hobby? Not collecting objects?”
“I’ve actually stopped that lately. I realized that things you can buy with money aren’t that valuable. So now, I spend most of the money I earn helping the city’s vagrants.”
“Oh, so you’ve been helping the city’s vagrants? What made you think of that?”
The man was pleasantly surprised by Auria’s words.
The only thing he had genuinely regretted was Auria’s habit of wastefulness.
He had been troubled by her strange obsession with collecting, so hearing that she was correcting that was a relief.
Moreover, she was using the money she had once spent on buying items to help people.
Feeling a sense of pride swelling within him, he listened to Auria’s reply with a smile.
“It’s just that, my father told me that people are more precious than objects. Thinking about how those precious lives are perishing somewhere I can’t see made me feel that it’s too wasteful… too sad.”
“Indeed, what is truly precious is people. However, Auria, while it’s good to help the needy, do try to refrain from helping too much. Rewards that come without effort can be poison to people.”
“Hehe, yes, I know. I’m only helping those who are close to dying from starvation or sickness because they can’t get medicine. Otherwise, there’s no reason for me to help.”
“Well, I can see you are wise enough to handle things well on your own without me having to say it. So is this new hobby of yours about helping people?”
“No, it’s something other than that.”
With a grin that seemed filled with joy, Auria answered the man’s question.
“I’ve recently taken an interest in plays. I’m learning a bit from a playwright associated with the troupe.”
“Oh? Plays? That’s a wonderful hobby.”
Plays, in simple terms, referred to the scripts and stories used in theatrical performances.
Auria was an actress on stage, and it was naturally pleasing that an actress would take interest in the plays themselves, so the man smiled and asked her.
“I’m also a fan of that field, so I’m curious what aspect of plays has caught your attention.”
“Well, I wanted to write a tragedy.”
“A tragedy, you say?”
“Hehe, is that a bit odd? When I mentioned that, the playwright had a similar reaction. Most young women my age prefer comedies, so they found it curious.”
“People have different tastes, so it’s nothing unusual. Besides, I quite like tragedies myself. There’s a catharsis in them that you can’t find in comedies.”
Seeing the man nod in understanding, Auria smiled brightly and said.
“Yes, that’s true. More importantly, I really should focus on preparing for the stage, so I’ll get up now.”
“Oh, is it already that time? I look forward to hearing a good song from you today.”
Without answering, Auria slyly smiled at the man’s anticipation and stepped out into the street.
Then, she walked toward the theater while humming a tune.
“Tragedies are great. But the reason I want to write one is that I can write the ‘end’ of the characters at my own discretion~.”
Recently, the tragic story Auria was working on was about this:
There was a woman in a certain troupe who absolutely loved dancing.
She loved it so much that she would arrive at the theater at the crack of dawn and always practice dancing on stage from morning.
But one day…
Murmuring the content of her tragedy internally, Auria continued her tune very slowly.
“And even if they say they’re looking forward to a good song today, I won’t be singing on stage~.”
However, the tune that was continuing abruptly came to an end as she neared the theater.
A loud bang, followed by a scream, echoed from somewhere.
Auria stopped her humming and rushed inside the theater where the screams were emanating.
“Aaaaaaaah!! My leg, my leg…!!!”
“We need to get that off! What are you doing? Hurry!”
Inside the theater, chaos erupted with the screams of a woman trapped under a huge chandelier on stage and the voices of people trying to rescue her.
Auria glanced at the frantic scene for a moment before stepping back outside.
Before long, the news spread that the scheduled performance had been canceled due to the unfortunate accident.
*
Auria headed to the house of the fellow actress who had been injured in the accident to pay her a visit.
Knock, knock. Upon reaching her home, Auria tapped at the door.
But no response came, so Auria opened the unlocked door and stepped inside.
She briefly worried what she would do if no one were home, but fortunately, the fellow actress was there.
Auria sat beside the injured actress and spoke to her.
“…Senior, what a disaster it was, right? Who would have thought such a thing would happen? A chandelier falling suddenly from the stage, it’s fortunate you survived, even with an injured leg. I was so shocked as well.”
“…….”
“That chandelier, someone must have loosened the bolts. Even when someone dances on stage, it shook enough to fall. It seems like we couldn’t find out who did it in the end.”
Gently stroking the woman lying on the bed, Auria stifled the laughter rising within her and continued speaking.
“Pfft, heh…!! Well, it’s hard to imagine anyone harming the best actress in the troupe like that.”
“…….”
“Guess what. I’ve been working on a play lately. It features a woman who claims she was born to dance because she loves it so much, and the story ends with her being crushed by the chandelier while dancing on stage. But today, I changed that ending. The woman who was supposed to die didn’t die after all.”
“…….”
“Ahaha, I’m not blaming you, so don’t worry! It seems the changed ending is even better. A woman who loves to dance and can no longer do so falls into despair and ultimately takes her own life. That’s much more shocking, don’t you think? So, I changed the ending to her hanging herself in despair…”
“…….”
“Wow, I did guess the suicide correctly, but looking at it now, I realize I’m still far from being a playwright. I mean, with an injured leg, how could she hang herself? But still, death… this idea is nice. Dying beautifully could definitely be considered a fitting end for an actress. A touch of the unexpected always makes it more interesting, you know?”
“…….”
“Thanks to all this, it turned out far better than I imagined, a much better ‘end.’ Thank you, senior.”
With the dead woman before her, Auria beamed.
As she envisioned how to shape the narrative for her next project,
one single story was simply not enough to satisfy her.
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