Children of the Rune – Winterer - Chapter 284

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 54.
Finding the Cat in the Furnace (3)
2. Persona’s Afternoon
So you’re Icabon?
I have no idea who you are.
You don’t need to know. You couldn’t possibly understand anyway. But I’ve been genuinely curious about what kind of person you are for a very long time. Your friend told me so much about your future, you see.
I don’t know what you’re talking about, but I’m not interested, so move aside from the woodpile.
“So the rehearsal venue changed again today?”
“There’s a limit to how much trouble one can cause. At this point, even Benevento will lose patience and get angry.”
“Is rehearsal a joke? What on earth is Panyanna thinking?”
Two workers hurried past the complaining supporting actors, frantically carrying rolled-up backdrop cloth. Costume boxes arrived in succession and were sent to the dressing room, while the musicians who had arrived first jostled about in one section of the audience seating, tuning their instruments.
Since the practice room had been hastily borrowed, there was work to be done everywhere. On one side, someone was tapping and fixing a window that wouldn’t close, and a dancer was loudly insisting that the floorboards needed sanding.
Everything was bustling, but the lead actors had yet to arrive. The workers sweated profusely under orders to have the stage completely prepared before Muchia Benevento, who would play Adriana, and Max Cardi, who would play Camilo, arrived.
Finally, the sound of a carriage approaching and stopping was heard, and Muchia Benevento arrived. As the supporting actors had predicted, her face was thoroughly angry. With her thick, dark hair—which the people of Hyacan considered the finest—pinned up in three tiers and a silver silk parasol in one hand, she immediately spotted theater owner Panyanna and cried out.
“What is this! I have to wander around like a lost child every time we rehearse. What has become of me!”
Since her habitual phrase “What is this!” had begun, Panyanna quickly adopted an expression that said “You are absolutely right.”
“The situation has become complicated, and I find myself at a loss. I am truly sorry. As you know, Max must avoid people’s eyes, and so….”
“Max again? It’s always Max this and Max that, and I don’t matter at all? If I were to quit the role of Adriana now, even Max Cardi himself couldn’t possibly manage twenty performances!”
“Ah, I know. I do indeed. Without you, I cannot possibly stage ‘Aquarian’ at all. I cannot even imagine a more perfect Adriana than you. Where else could I find such a magnificent actress with eyes as beautiful as the sea itself, with both superb singing and acting abilities?”
“Stop with the flattery! Why don’t you try managing with Fulvia without me and see how well that goes?”
Fulvia was Muchia’s understudy and, while not renowned, possessed adequate fundamental skills. Therefore, even if Muchia withdrew from the performance, there was no reason the twenty-performance run could not proceed. Of course, Muchia was the superior actress and more popular, but since Max Cardi controlled this production entirely from conception through direction, the supporting role merely needed to be competent.
However, there was no need to offend the temperament of the increasingly popular Muchia and risk ruining future performances where she would be essential. Panyanna was a seasoned impresario who had acquired the Colzetti Theater in his late twenties and successfully produced countless performances as he approached his forties. Whether there was a performance or not, he never offended the sensibilities of popular actors—with one exception: when it came to accommodating the convenience of an even more popular performer.
In any case, to appease the angry Muchia, Panyanna not only lavished compliments faster than breathing, but also had seven varieties of desserts and a tea set from Cafe Majore, the most popular cafe in the Capital, prepared for her, and presented her with handkerchiefs and gloves embroidered with the performance title and the actress’s name—he pulled out every stop. However, it was only after Max Cardi himself appeared that Muchia’s heart was truly won.
Cardi did not walk in from the entrance shouting as Muchia had. While Muchia and the theater owner were bickering, he slipped in quietly and suddenly leaped onto the stage where the backdrop and props were already in place.
In Act Two, when Camilo watches Adriana dancing alone in an empty hall and hides in the second-floor seating to accompany her on harmonica, the music suddenly began to play. Muchia instinctively turned to look at the stage. Then, as Cardi played the harmonica and glanced at her with an awkward smile, their eyes met.
A faint smile appeared on Muchia’s face.
“You’re such a bad person.”
Without even changing costumes, Muchia simply kicked off her shoes with her toes and began dancing on the stage. The theater owner, barely relieved, wiped his forehead with a handkerchief. If they stopped awkwardly after just starting, he would have to endure the quarrel all over again, so he gestured frantically to the distracted people and shouted.
“Come now, come now! Supporting actors, why aren’t you preparing? Light all the stage lights below!”
As the two lead actors launched into rehearsal on their own terms, about a dozen people rushed about with props around the stage, frantically creating the finale of Act Two that followed Adriana’s dance.
Just as all the rehearsal lamps were lit and the orchestra took their seats to continue the harmonica’s sound, the harmonica playing ended at precisely the right moment and the violin took up the melody. Next came the scene where Muchia, playing Adriana, had to dance with her eyes covered—a part that had never gone smoothly during practice despite having small holes pierced in the cloth.
The moment Muchia covered her eyes, Cardi, who had been sitting in the audience seating area, leaped onto the stage in one motion without any preparatory movement. As the ensemble dancers poured out from both entrances, a brief solo began that would lead into the chorus.
As always, his clear, crystalline voice flowed effortlessly, and while I surrendered my ears to it for a moment, the orchestra, taking up the violin’s melody, responded all at once, and the actors took their positions, moving directly into female and then mixed chorus. As the chorus built toward its climax and transitioned into the main theme, Cardi’s voice stood out distinctly.
No one knew what Max Cardi’s true identity was, how old he was, or how he became an actor. Rumors circulated that theater owner Panyanna, who had discovered and debuted Cardi, deliberately kept it secret to generate interest, but the theater owner flatly denied knowing himself.
However, based on the fact that he had claimed the lead role from his very first performance and achieved explosive popularity, the speculation that Panyanna knew something was quite credible.
The problem was the intricate mask that covered his eyes, the area around his nose, and part of his cheeks. Not a single person had ever seen Max Cardi without this mask. He never removed it during performances, rehearsals, or even while eating or resting.
This was not a mask that someone could casually pull off—it was precisely fitted to his facial contours, and even its material was unclear. Some speculated it was not a mask at all but rather something painted onto his face.
Quite a few people believed Max Cardi must be one of the other famous actors. Given his talent, it was unimaginable that he would be doing anything other than acting. Consequently, investigating the backgrounds of actors who had not performed with Cardi became something of a fad for a while. Then someone theorized that since the mask was fitted so closely to his face, its contours must match his actual facial structure, and they sketched what they imagined Cardi’s face to look like. But they found no match among either famous or unknown actors, which troubled many people.
Determining his age was equally difficult. Despite the mask making facial expression essentially impossible, his acting ability, vocal talent, dancing skill, and proficiency with all manner of instruments were all things that could not have been honed in merely a year or two. Thus, the argument that he must be at least thirty, and that anyone under twenty-five was impossible, carried weight. Yet sometimes his high notes flowed out like those of a boy whose voice had not yet changed, leaving people uncertain.
Of course, judging by his slender height and build alone, he was not of an age where his voice would not have changed. Even those estimating the lowest age did not place him below nineteen. Particularly after it became known that Max Cardi not only wrote the scripts for his own productions but also composed a considerable portion of the lyrics and music, and even involved himself in direction, some argued he must be in his late thirties at minimum, certainly not under thirty. Simultaneously, the theory that he might be a castrato began gradually gaining supporters, given that his private life remained shrouded in mystery.
Once, after a performance ended and Max Cardi was greeting the audience, a patron from the front row suddenly stood up and demanded, “Why on earth won’t you remove your mask?” Cardi smiled and replied smoothly.
“The truth is, I have terrible burn scars on my face. If I took off the mask, everyone would faint.”
As rumors of this remark spread, shocked patrons debated its veracity endlessly. Yet Cardi himself remained unfazed, even jokingly asking another masked actor in a similar role, “Do you have burn scars too?” as if the whole affair were nothing at all.
“Ah, I got it wrong again!”
Muchia Benevento tore off the cloth blindfolding her eyes and hurled it down in frustration, stamping her foot—and the music and dancing stopped entirely. There was a section where she needed to synchronize her movements precisely with the other dancers, sweeping in alongside them, but every time her positioning was slightly off. As a conscientious actress, Muchia could never be satisfied with choreography that deviated from the director’s vision. Yet in her irritation, she turned her ire toward Max Cardi, who stood across the stage from her.
“How is anyone supposed to match this while blindfolded? You choreographed this section, didn’t you, Max? Do you have any idea how many times I’ve practiced this? Even Fulvia can’t nail this part!”
“I did choreograph it, but….”
Cardi removed his hat and started toward Muchia, then stopped and took two steps back—precisely where Muchia had begun losing her bearings moments before. He’d been watching from the corner of his eye the entire time, having noticed this was where she consistently made mistakes during her own performance.
“I don’t think it’s impossible.”
Children of Rune – Winterer
Author: Jeon Min-hee
Publisher: 14 Month Books
The copyright to this book belongs to the author and 14 Month Books.
To reuse all or part of this book’s contents, written consent from both parties is required.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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