“How have you been, Leon?”
“Good.”
“Okay. Let’s talk business then.”
The screening for ‘Léon: The Demon officially began.
It did not have a beautiful operatic performance like the opening of ‘Beauty and the Demon.’ Instead, it went straight to the point.
The opening cut scenes of the dark and messy Squirrel Street, the close up and simple conversation between Léon and his employer... they’ve established the prevailing theme of the movie.
Why... would it be the Squirrel Street?
Having lived in Norland year-round, Kaos was extremely flabbergasted by it.
Even though the opening scene for ‘Beauty and the Demon’ was in a village, the village had a peaceful atmosphere.
As for the Squirrel Street, it was the most filthy nook in the city illuminated by magic. There were countless grand and epic settings and buildings for one to make a movie at, so why would the setting for the movie be a tavern in the Squirrel Street of all places?
Many other nobles held the same question as Kaos. ‘Beauty and the Demon’ had simply left behind too deep of an impression on them.
Every scene in that movie resembled a fairy tale’s setting!
The actors and actresses in ‘Léon: The Demon’ all came from the Black Swan Theatrical Troupe, a theatrical troupe renowned for their gorgeous settings and performances.
Because of that, the audiences were all expecting for this movie, with the Black Swan Theatrical Troupe performing, to be able to bring forth a dazzling slight like the graceful dance between Belle and the Demon Prince in that castle. In fact, they were even hoping for this movie to surpass that...
But, what happened next in ‘Léon: The Demon’ completely ruthlessly shattered the expectations of the audiences who came to watch the premiere with romance in mind.
There was a peaceful village. There weren’t any dance scenes. A romantic story about the encounter between a prince and a young girl was not present in the movie at all.
There were only ice-cold ‘firearms’ and a bunch of underground associations engaged in the ‘magic craving crystal’ trade.
When the grim demon hitman used his special ‘weapon’ to utterly crush and then kill the members of those underground organizations, Kaos was able to hear many noble ladies among the audiences screaming in fright.
The noble ladies living sheltered lives were momentarily unable to comprehend the scene filled with blood and corpses.
Kaos frowned. He did not expect for the Black Swan Theatrical Troupe that were known for their graceful and gorgeous performances to film such a bloody scene.
In the movie ‘Beauty and the Demon,’ not a droplet of blood could be seen. As for ‘Léon: The Demon, it was filled with blood right from the start. Accompanying the blood were over a dozen corpses.
Later on, the fat leader of the underground association took out an arcanotech ‘communicator.’
The hitman Léon slowly walked out from the shadow behind him and placed his knife on the fat leader’s neck. At that moment, Kaos felt his body shivering from head to toe. It wasn’t because he was afraid. Rather, it was because that scene was simply too cool!
The beginning scenes had completely revealed to the audiences how powerful that demon hitman was.
What will happen later? Would they meet the main female lead played by Miss Gallolei?
Kaos was fortunate enough to have seen a couple stage plays performed by the Black Swan Theatrical Troupe. Without a doubt, the Flower of Farucci, Miss Gallolei, was the focus of all those stage play performances.
He was certain that the main female lead for the movie would also be Miss Gallolei. Even though Gallolei’s attire was completely wretched and unpresentable when compared to her attire from all her stage plays, Kaos was certain that she wouldn’t have a normal identity in the movie.
Perhaps she might be the princess of a certain nation and was receiving help from the demon hitman?
But, the upcoming scenes were completely different from what the audiences were expecting from the Black Swan Theatrical Troupe. It also shattered their expectations for the renowned Flower of Farucci.
The character she was playing in the movie was completely different from the unreachable female leads she played in stage plays.
She was only an ordinary little girl living in a shabby apartment hotel. Furthermore, she had a problem with her personality.
Kaos has never seen this proud Black Swan dressed in such a simple manner.
This movie completely shattered the Flower of Farucci’s grandeur image... Then, the movie began to show Mathilda’s father’s domestic violence on the little girl. This once again informed the crowd how helpless and lowly her everyday life was.
The style changed too quickly. The last movie, ‘Beauty and the Demon,’ was a movie akin to a fairy tale, a romantic fantasy. The innocent and pure-hearted girl Belle has never received any rough treatment the entire movie.
Yet, in this movie, the main female lead was given a ruthless slap to the face by her own father. Most importantly, the actress playing her was the noble and renowned Flower of Farucci.
Kaos turned his eyes to the frontmost audience seats.
Madam Schroder was sitting there. He found it very difficult to imagine that the Grand Duchess of Blackwood would allow her daughter to receive this sort of treatment, even if it was only in a movie!
Madam Schroder was extremely calm. Different from her, the noble ladies seated next to her were all applauded by what was happening in the movie.
“How could you allow that actor to treat your Gallolei like that?” quietly asked one of the noble ladies that was very familiar with Gallolei.
“Rest assured, he wouldn’t live for much longer,” Miss Schroder gave a small spoiler with a calm voice.
The actor playing Mathilda’s father just so happened to be sitting nearby. When he heard those words from Madam Schroder, his body started shaking in fear. He felt extremely bitter but was unable to voice his pain.
Even though Madam Schroder’s words were spoken very quietly, many people still managed to hear the official spoiler, the root of all evil. The audiences started to look forward to the person that would come to punish this scoundrel and bring Mathilda to live a happy life.
Soon, the punishment arrived... but, the people that came to punish Mathilda’s father couldn’t be said to be righteous at all. Because of that, the crowd were unable to clap their hands and applaud for them.
The law enforcers in charge of the ‘magic craving crystals’ trade unleashed a ruthless massacre upon Mathilda’s entire family.
During the first massacre, many noble ladies were able to handle it. But, this massacre caused them to all open their eyes wide and cover their mouth in astonishment. Some of the younger nobles even had their eyes covered by their parents.
The darkness and bloodiness of this world was once again bared naked to the audience by that massacre.
The close-up scene showing the features of the leader of the law enforcers, Stansfield, caused the person seated next to Kaos to jolt back in fear.
Kaos knew that the character Stansfield was a villain. Furthermore, he was completely crazy and unhinged. But, Kaos kept feeling that the villain possessed a special sort of charm that made it difficult for one to dislike him.
In less than an hour since the movie started, two bloody massacres had occurred. This had completely informed the crowd that... this movie was not a romantic fairy tale!
“Fortunately that little girl wasn’t home...”
Kaos was able to hear the rejoicing whisper from an audience. But, perhaps the director has seen through the heart of the crowd, the scene was intentionally and maliciously cut from the blood-drenched massacre to Mathilda who was out getting groceries.
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Translator YangWenli:
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