"Is that so..."

"Yes, I saw them..."

"Hmm" Luther was in deep thought from the words he just heard after waking.

Luther was currently in a giant room, almost of big as the stage, leaning against a wall while a woman wearing a mask covering the top half of her face was talking to him.

"You should probably get more rest, you just collapsed earlier."

"I'm fine, continue."

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

Earlier, as he walked through the preperation room after finishing his performance and thanking the crowd, the whole cast could be heard cheering his name.

"LUTHER! LUTHER! LUTHER!," was the only cheer that could be heard in the crowded room. However, as he continued forward he found his vision becoming more muddled and the sounds became more distant. With each step Luther took, it became harder keeping himself up and with a final step, a wave of exhaustion and relief hit him hard enough for him to collapse to his knees as the room went silent as they saw their hero on the ground.

"I did it, didn't I..." he managed to speak before losing consciousness

The room erupted into laughter as a few of the performers took him to a restroom in the staff area.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

"She should be fine but..."

"LUTHER!"

Before Luther could finish his thoughts, he heard his name being screamed across the giant room.

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"We can talk later," he whispered to the woman as she walked away.

"Hey Celica," he said, waving his hands to greet the women in the blue dress.

As he walks towards her, he expected a hug so he walked towards her dropping his guard at her unusual presence in the area. As he got within arms distance, he felt a huge impact into his sternum and collapsed to his knees.

"That's for earlier."

He heard his childhood friend from earlier pouting as she stood over him with puffed-out cheeks.

"I'd take it that you enjoyed the show."

He laughed in a muffled voice trying to hide the pain.

"Next time, tell me if you are going to do something so dangerous!"

She held out her hand.

"You mad about the rose? You know I wouldn't make a mistake."

He was about to reach out and take her hand but the hand turned into a fist and he knew that if he got any closer that his face would be in danger. So without help, he got up by himself as Celica was still furious but he knew she was happy.

"So why are you here, I'd take it one of the leaders of the King's guard wouldn't come in here to assault one of our cast members unless making you blush is a criminal offence."

"Can we drop that already."

"Sorry, sorry. Here, as an apology, how about I take your request to have a duel."

Celica's face lit up.

"You better not be lying!"

"I promise."

"Yay!"

She had been wanting to spar with Luther for months after receiving her position, she wanted to see where she stood against him.

"Oh, by the way, about the girl."

"hmm"

Luther's smile suddenly turned colder.

"I assigned a guard to an orphanage where I dropped her off."

His eyes opened wide open.

"Only one?" he asked

"Yeah, is something wrong?"

"... No, its nothing."

Luther took a bit of a pause before he could answer. That paused worried Celica but before she could finish her thoughts Luther started talking.

"Anyways, I'll be busy tonight with the cleanup, tell your folks I'll be by tomorrow to celebrate okay?"

"... okay."

Celica was suspicious of how Luther responded but didn't think it would be a problem knowing how well the guards were trained.

"Anyways thanks for coming."

He said as he hugged her and ran off.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

"Luther." The woman from earlier with her mask met with Luther in a dark room in the employee area dimly lit by a wax candle.

"This time, I'll go myself."

"But!"

"This is my mess, I'll call you guys for the 'cleanup.'"

"Okay."

As the woman left the room, Luther opened up a dresser nearby and took out a mask that was half lit up by the fire but was still completely black.