Villains also get Second chance

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Cassius gave me his hand and I held onto it, my eyes taking in the large building that stood in front of us. I thought I had seen all the theatres of this area, but this was new to me.

"This is really tall," I commented as we started to head inside.

"It is one of the oldest and possibly the biggest theaters in the whole empire. The concentration of theatres was more in the land of the West before it moved to the East, here is the only place where this type of theatre existed." Cassius educated me with the history of it.

"I didn't know that," I said, walking closer to him when I caught sight of other people in here but they all returned as they were told that the theatre was full, and could not take further guests.

``Where is this place?" I asked him curiously. My voice was not too loud so that only he could hear,even after wearing the maid's uniform I was not feeling comfortable at all.

"This is a city abandoned a long ago due to a plague that vanished the only source of water here."

"But the theater still functions?" my eyebrows furrowed in question.

"Well, I think the theatre did not need that much water. A few other jobs are here too, as the land is cheap here."

"So strange," I commented. I never heard that the water of this vast area dried.

The walls were made of a darker shade of red and gold in color and it was filled with only small candles giving it a dim lighting, that was enough to walk only. It wasn't too dark but it gave off a vibe of secrecy and sensuality.

I looked up at the ceiling which was decorated with various types of paintings, contrasting the wall which was bare. This place was designed with classiness.

Red seats were placed across the room in a series of lines where I stood. The stage was big enough for one to have enough sectioned rooms to play a long script with different settings in it.

Mostly when we entered the theatres nobles mostly took the seats in the above area, galleries so that they could see the show clearly, but Cassius held my hand and took me to a cabin formed in the front of the area. It was just in front of the stage from where I can even see the minor details of the actors.

There were chandeliers that were placed at the top, multiple ones with candles that were burning brightly to illuminate the paintings which were at the top of the ceiling. The entire place illuminated in a color of warm gold and I had seen nothing like this that made My eyes only continue to look at it.

When I was looking around he was busy talking to one of the staff about food and other servings. What surprised me was his order to not to disturb us once the play starts.

"Come Marianne," Cassius said, slipping his hand to me and tugging me gently along the empty path as we crossed the series of seats.

"It's so beautiful," I praised the theater. I have always liked theatres. I have seen all kinds of plays yet this place had a different vibe on it, something that was new to me too.

There were already the instrument players have already taken the stage. The instruments were grand. Two pianos, two violins, one zither and one which looked like drums.

I looked at the room where we were in, it was a large room enough for many to be settled easily, and from three sides it was covered with glass. While in the front there was a transparent mirror, on the both sider the whole wall was covered with the shiny mirror where one can see himself all the time.

Looking at the stage which I could see clearly, I turned my head to look at the other galleries which were covered in glass which made it difficult to see if there were other guests like us.

"Why is this place so deserted?" I asked as I saw not a single person around us except the staff working here.

"Do you want to move closer to the stage?" he asked, completely avoiding my question, making me frown. but I quickly shook my head.

"No, this is fine," my voice came out higher than normal. The seats below were empty and there was hardly anyone there.

"And about your first question. I have booked the whole theatre." he said nonchalantly.

It made me question how much Cassius would have paid to get this whole palace and why? To sit in the gallery itself cost a lot of money, but booking the whole theater was not something even lower nobles could afford.

I turned my head around to find Cassius talking to one of the women who had previously helped in taking our coats in the reception area. She moved in and bowed to me with a blank face.

Two other girls followed her and put the plates of snacks and wine on the side counters. There were already binoculars and a parchment was laying closely. I was moved to see that the wine was strong, only its smell was making me intoxicated.

The woman bowed her head and left the room before closing the doors to a clicking sound leaving both Cassius and Me alone in the room.

"How much does the booking of the theatre cost?" I asked him in wonderment.

"Depends on the show which is put up here to watch and the timing, and the days. This one was around sixty thousand gold coins excluding other minor services," he looked at the food and then went back to me. 

"Sixty thousand gold coins" I asked in wonderment.

"You have never given me more than 600 gold coins allowance for the whole month in the whole year of marriage and you spent 6000 gold coins here".