Sarah, “…”
She felt a bit offended. She was pretty, after all. Back in her original world, she had plenty of fans who were disappointed she never did TV dramas. They all said she was easy on the eyes and that she’d outshine the current starlets if she ever starred in a period romance.
But Holden was one of those big-shot characters in novels who didn’t notice if a woman was beautiful or not. He was portrayed as someone with zero interest in romance, the kind of guy who’d kick her out of bed even if she climbed in naked.
Trying to save face, Sarah responded haughtily, “Well, I’m not interested in you either.”
As soon as the words left her mouth, Holden pinched her cheek harder.
Sarah immediately changed her tune. “I’m sorry! Mr. Holden, you’re the man of my dreams. I dream about you every night and wish you could be my husband in the next life too.”
Holden let go of her and gave Butler Ted a look, signaling him to take her where she needed to go.
******
When Sarah arrived on set, she noticed something was off with everyone’s mood.
Director Beck had turned into a tyrannical dragon, breathing fire at everyone unconditionally. Even Sarah got yelled at. “You’re this late? Don’t bother coming next time if you’re going to be late!”
Sarah shivered. She wasn’t that close with many people on set, and a few of them disliked her because of Elisa, so she went to stand by the instructor she was more familiar with.
The instructor smiled and said, “Remember that newbie they pushed into the cast? Last night, she messed up over a dozen takes and couldn’t get a single scene right. Director Beck was furious.”
Sarah shrugged. Different fields, different challenges. She fit right in because she wasn’t actually a newbie. In her original world, she’d won several Best Supporting Actress awards and was known for her strong acting skills.
Elisa wanted to compete with her in everything and ended up in Director Beck’s crew, where acting skills were taken very seriously. It was inevitable that she’d struggle.
Director Beck didn’t like Elisa and was annoyed she joined the crew and got extra scenes, but he wouldn’t deliberately make her scenes difficult. The schedule was tight, and he didn’t want to waste time.
But in Elisa’s eyes, it seemed like Director Beck was deliberately making things difficult for her, refusing to approve her scenes.
The acting coach laughed, “Do you know why our Director Beck is nicknamed ‘One Cut Wonder’? He shoots a lot of footage, but after his edits, some scenes barely have anything left. There have even been cases where the main leads got edited down to supporting roles.”
From her perspective, Elisa, who forced her way into the crew but couldn’t meet Director Beck’s standards, would definitely get the ‘One Cut Wonder’ treatment. In the final cut, she might not even have a single scene left.
Sarah just said, “Uh-huh.”
She’d not only seen it happen, but she’d also been through it herself.
Once, because she looked prettier than the movie’s lead actress in a scene, all her shots were cut at the other team’s request, leaving her with nothing in the final film.
As for Elisa, Sarah just thought she deserved it.
Heh.
Watching Elisa struggle brought Sarah some satisfaction. Maybe she was too pleased, because when it came time to shoot her scene, she couldn’t stay in character. Her smugness leaked through, and Director Beck yelled at her for it.
“Your emotions are off!” Director Beck shouted, berating Sarah. “What’s with that look? The rebels just captured six cities of your country, and you’re happy about it?”
Elisa had spent half the night crying to Ronald, but she still showed up today, unwilling to admit defeat. She couldn’t believe that Sarah, also a newcomer, could be better than her.
Elisa regretted not having any scenes with Sarah, thinking that if they did, everyone would see who was really better.
So when she arrived and saw Director Beck scolding Sarah, Elisa felt a wave of relief, and the frustration from the night before melted away.
Sarah didn’t get upset after being scolded. She knew she hadn’t been in the right headspace, and besides, it was almost impossible to join a big-shot director’s crew without getting yelled at.
She made a gesture, “Director Beck, please give me a few minutes to get into the right state of mind.”
Director Beck was surprised at how well Sarah handled it and nodded.
Sarah drank some water, calming herself down and immersing herself in the world of the script.
A moment later.
“3, 2, 1, Action!”
The princess frantically shoved aside the nearest maid. Her eyes reddened in an instant, but she bit her lip, forcing all her emotions and tears back. Her gaze shifted from shock to hatred as she ran barefoot toward the other end of the palace.
“Cut.”
Director Beck nodded, “Good.”
If he hadn’t known that Sarah was a newcomer, Director Beck might have suspected she had extensive acting experience. Even most professionally trained rookies couldn’t achieve such subtle and precise emotional shifts.
Some of the actors who had previously thought Sarah only got into the crew because of her connections started to change their minds. Even without connections, Sarah’s acting skills were solid enough for Director Beck to choose her.
Elisa watched from the sidelines, her face darkening as she glared at Sarah. She had no idea Sarah had been hiding such talent.
But even if the director disapproved of her, Elisa was determined to stay. She made it a point to be friendly with everyone in the crew, even the lowest assistants, so most people still had a good impression of her-except for those who had acted alongside her.
Sarah, meanwhile, just went about her business as usual. Life was hard enough as it was; she only wanted to please herself and had no interest in sucking up to people who didn’t matter.
For Sarah, everyone was just a coworker, so she treated them all with a level-headed approach. But because of that, some of the crew members privately said that Sarah was aloof and cold.
******
Sarah finally got a day off and went out for dinner with Merry and David.
Lately, David was still tangled up with Nora, so the conversation over dinner was all about relationships. Watching this love-struck fool, Sarah just wanted to focus on her meal.
In the original story, David and Nora ended up getting married. Their bond wasn’t something that could be broken with just a few words or actions.
“Sarah, I followed your advice, and now Nora’s really into me,” David said.
These days, David hadn’t been sending Nora random cash gifts like he used to, nor was he giving her expensive presents anymore.
Nora had gotten used to David’s previous generosity, and her daily expenses had become more lavish. When David suddenly stopped being so attentive and didn’t give her pricey things, she started to panic.
Rich, naive guys like David were hard to find. Nora knew plenty of rich kids who were super stingy-not only did they just want to hook up, but they also never spent a dime, sometimes even giving fake gifts. Compared to them, David was a breath of fresh air.
Even though she still found David annoying, she had to admit that keeping him around as a doting admirer had greatly improved her lifestyle.
So when David stopped showering her with gifts, she thought it was because she had been too cold toward him before and started being extra nice, constantly checking in on him.
As for getting William a job, Nora stopped pushing David to make that happen.
David was really enjoying his current relationship and felt super grateful to Sarah.
“Sarah, do you think I should propose to Nora?”