He shrugged. Unlike Aoli Berry's serious expression, Xiuka-Boge, who was her audition partner, felt no pressure.
However, at this moment, Xiuka-Boge, also an actor, kept as quiet as possible to allow his "temporary partner" to immerse herself better in the role.
"I'm sorry, I feel very sorry..."
This time, Xiuka-Boge, playing "Loki," started the scene. Although he was just a foil, Xiuka-Boge, also a professional opera actor, was very precise in controlling the emotional progression.
"No, wait!"
Upon hearing the news of her father's death from "Loki," "Natasha," played by Aoli Berry, spoke with a trembling voice on the verge of collapse.
"He was a qualified warrior. This... your father asked me to give this to you."
As the conversation continued, a ring engraved with a golden rose appeared in "Loki's" hand.
"Now it's back where it belongs."
According to the description in "blood shadow rose," at this moment, Natasha still couldn't believe the truth of her father's death, but the bloodstain on the rose ring struck her heart like a heavy hammer.
"Mr. Loki, please... step outside."
"Natasha..."
"Get out!"
A hysterical scream burst from "Natasha's" mouth. With a distorted face full of tears, everyone present could feel the genuine pain from Aoli Berry's performance at this moment.
...
"Anna, it seems she's also a fan of yours. This performance obviously imitates you."
"Mm."
Hearing Crane-Roland's soft comment from the side, Anna-Moonshadow, the current female lead of "blood shadow rose," could naturally see that Aoli Berry, with her pained and distorted face on the audition stage, was indeed imitating her performance.
But for some reason, Anna-Moonshadow frowned as she watched.
"The emotion is spot on, and the lines are delivered very clearly, but the performance is a bit overdone..."
"That's not overdone."
Before Anna could finish, Director Roman-Roland, sitting in the middle, interrupted:
"It's just that her facial Muscle Control is problematic; her facial muscles are twitching randomly, and she doesn't cry much like Natasha."
As an experienced director who had seen countless people, Roman-Roland's comments were very precise. And the people sitting next to him naturally understood what Roman-Roland meant.
It was nothing more than finding Aoli Berry's crying too ugly...
Even though her performance was a deliberate imitation of Anna-Moonshadow, Anna-Moonshadow, with her excellent acting skills, had long been able to precisely control every inch of her facial muscles.
Even in a painful crying scene, she could be both beautiful and tragic, making the audience pity her while also leaving them with the impression that "As expected of the Rose Kingdom's most beautiful woman, she's so beautiful and moving even when crying" while feeling the character Natasha's grief.
"But it's barely watchable. After all, her vocal condition is quite good, although still a bit lacking compared to Anna."
"Then why doesn't the Director just let me continue playing the young Natasha? That way, you won't need to recruit anyone else."
Regarding Anna-Moonshadow's overt and subtle complaints, Roman-Roland, who continued watching the performance on the stage, chose to ignore her and didn't reply. Instead, David-Berg, who had been sitting on the side and not commenting much, said with a smile:
"With your current height, performing as the young Natasha would make the audience feel disconnected. Of course, in your current state, playing the adult Natasha is the most suitable."
"Nobody will think you're mute if you don't speak."
Anna-Moonshadow, whose weakness was pointed out by David-Berg, rolled her eyes coldly and stopped talking, continuing to watch the performance on the stage.
And David-Berg, who received a glare from the beauty, still chuckled, shrugged, and refocused his attention on the audition performance.
...
At this point, the performance was past the halfway mark. After sending "Loki" away, the grief-stricken Natasha locked herself in her room alone, singing to the moon in the dark night about her sorrow for her father Payne and her hatred for the enemy who killed him—the Bloodline Earl Charlotte.
As Director Roman-Roland commented, Aoli Berry indeed performed exceptionally well in the opera singing. At the most moving parts, she even made the other interviewees in the waiting area feel a sense of shared sadness.
"Hmph, this Aoli Berry is really cunning. She's actually using her Wizard Talent during the interview."
"Is that so? Then do you know what her Wizard Talent is?"
Jia Na, who had also been listening intently just now, couldn't help but ask curiously when she heard Liji-Xiaosi's self-muttering next to her.
"C-rank mental talent 【Mind Infection】. When activated, it can subtly influence others' emotions."
"How do you know so much?"
"We're colleagues, and apprentices from the same department. Knowing the other party's information is just basic practice."
She nodded in agreement. If she were more familiar with David-Berg, Jia Na would also choose to gather information on all her competitors.
This wasn't a sign of insecurity; she was just being cautious.
"Cut!"
At this moment, Aoli Berry, who was still immersed in grief, was interrupted by the sudden call to stop the performance. She then looked slightly bewildered at Director Kelan Roland, who had called for the cut from the judges' panel. After a pause of about three seconds, Aoli Berry wiped away the tears on her face, straightened up, and bowed towards the judges' panel.
"You performed well. You can go down now."
"Thank you, Director Kelan."
Her emotions gradually subsided. Aoli Berry, whose performance was stopped after only two-thirds, still pretended to be calm on the surface, but her constantly fidgeting fingers showed her nervousness.
"Next interviewee, please come to the stage."
...
"What's going on? The most exciting scene where she cuts her hair and joins the army hasn't been performed yet... To be honest, I'm quite curious."
"I'm curious too."
Looking at Aoli Berry, who returned to her seat slightly nervous, Jia Na, as an outsider, didn't really see any problems.
In fact, she thought the overall performance was quite brilliant, except for the crying being a bit jarring.
"Look quickly, the role for the second interviewee is the Bloodline Earl Charlotte... The difficulty of performing this role is not low!"
Bloodline Earl Charlotte is the villain in "blood shadow rose."
Although he is a villain, the author David-Berg put a lot of effort into portraying him.
Unlike stereotypical villains with a single face, his tragic background and the reason he hated humans made the character of the Bloodline Earl very three-dimensional.
Of course, this character was not whitewashed at the end. From Jia Na's perspective, although this character was portrayed in a three-dimensional way, his psychology was extremely twisted...