I Am The Queen

"Angel, are you alright? Your face is so red! Is the water too hot?!" Fey asked, checking Angel up and down.

Angel stared blankly at nothing in particular. Her mind was dominated by the image of the handsome man"s face. She muttered, stammering.

"W-Who . . . Who is that man?"

Fey frowned, yet her eyes glimmered in infatuation, her tone in disbelief. "That"s Eric! Our very own Eric! You know, my a.s.sistant!"

Angel"s brows knitted, and her mind cleared upon hearing Fey said "my a.s.sistant" so intimately while she kept rumbling nonstop.

"Who would have guessed that beneath those unappealing gla.s.ses and messy hair laid a demon who could seduce any woman?"

Angel ignored her a.s.sistant and stormed to her dressing room, hurrying to get dress to see Eric once more.

At the side, Evangeline was walking towards the director. Her face was unreadable while the usual haughty smile on her lips was nowhere to be seen. On the outside, she was completely calm, yet all who saw her scurried away when they noticed her unusual severe face and the fury blazing in her eyes.

The director kept rumbling and rumbling to his crew, but when he saw Evangeline was approaching him, the fury and anger he felt were doused by the freezing chilly air she gave off.

"Director!"

Evangeline called.

Straightening his back, the director"s face straightaway turned amiable and kind while controlling the trembling of his knees from her intimidating gaze. "H-how can I help you . . . M-Miss Heart?"

Indecent scenes cramped Evangeline"s entire mind while her heart bleeds from betrayal and frustration. She couldn"t accept Eric"s real appearance was laid bare for everyone to see. And what was more, the one thing kept boiling her blood nonstop to the point of evaporating her innards in fury was the scene where Eric, with all his glory, was being intimate with a woman who was not her! With a woman, she so despised!

Her eyes dimmed, and she hissed through the s.p.a.ce of her grinding teeth.

"I"ll be very busy these couple of days. What stated in our contract, I want to do it. Now."

The director was in a daze, didn"t register what Evangeline had said. If what he was thinking was correct, she wanted to start shooting her part . . . this moment?

"Uhmm . . ." The director turned his eyes around, suggesting the scenery and setting were not appropriate for her scene.

Evangeline read the director"s thoughts and impatiently said, "My role doesn"t even reach a minute. You can just use a green screen for the backdrop."

The director, who was hesitating, gradually nodded. "Alright, Miss Heart. We"ll do as you say."

He clapped his hands and announced, "Props! Ready the green screen for scene number 47!"

The crew, upon hearing they would be doing a scene which wasn"t a part of today"s schedule, were momentarily at a loss before the director shot them a gaze. They busied themselves and prepared everything.

Meanwhile, a stylist led Evangeline towards a dressing room to prep her up.

Angel, who wanted to go out and see Eric right away, was stopped by Fey to announced the sudden additional scene today. At hearing her a.s.sistant, Angel"s eyes, which were glowing with infatuation, gradually turned dark. She knew all about that scene, for she already memorized the entire script. She was not ignorant at the reason as to why Evangeline invested in her movie and chose that specific role.

Rolling her fingers against her palms, she sneered. Evangeline, let"s see if you can have your way then.

----

"Why did the director gone berserk and wanted to replace Eric? I think that scene is so perfect."

"Idiot, that"s why the director wanted to replace the man because he is too perfect! Think about it, the smuggled man overshadowing the male lead? What would people think?"

While everyone was busy gossiping, Eric walked out from the dressing room entirely back to his nerdy, geeky self while the two girls, Rise, and the makeup artist, sighed in disappointment mixed with infatuation.

Eric casually resumed doing his job as if nothing happened, ignoring the curious, obsessed gazes" thrown at him while coolly and smoothly avoiding the women who wanted to flirt with him.

While Eric was busy playing cat and mouse with the women, Evangeline and Angel worn their costumes, and for some reason, they also got out at the same time from their respective dressing room. One was wearing a medieval maid costume while the other was wearing a simple, elegant embroidery dress, highlighting their statuses.

Evangeline no longer held her signature smirk. She was in no mood to play games right now. Angel wanted her to retaliate? Then, I will put her in her place!

On the other side, Angel was smiling calmly. Her inner thoughts, however, were having a party for successfully riling Evangeline.

Both of them didn"t say anything and positioned themselves in front of the camera while all hushed down.

Even those women who couldn"t take away their eyes at Eric changed completely, standing at one side, eagerness in their pupils. Gazing at the two women, their mouths parted, ready to gossip at any moment.

Now, everything made sense as to why Evangeline Heart explicitly chose her role. This irrelevant, thirty-second scene with Angel Lin.

At the side, Eric furrowed his brows, feeling something was not right with Evangeline. He never did saw her, who always had sarcasm on her face, be so serious and . . . scary.

"Alright! Is everyone ready?" the director shouted before he signaled to roll the camera.

SLAP!

Before anyone could react, a resounding slap stunned the whole place. Even the ripples of the spring water turned silent.

Without warning, Angel felt a sting on her right cheek. She then slowly turned to Evangeline, eyes blazing, yet still remaining in her role.

While the camera was still rolling, Evangeline sweetly smiled and said with an innocent tone, "Director, I feel that slap was not my best. We should redo it."

. . .

. . .

Everyone didn"t know how to react while the director pursed his lips, feeling a headache coming.

Whereas Angel"s manager and Fey came rushing towards Angel"s direction. Fortunately, the slap didn"t leave a mark though it was a bit red. They secretly sighed in relief before turning their dagger eyes at Evangeline.

"Miss Heart, what you did is not in the script! Apologize to Angel right now!"

Evangeline"s smile couldn"t anymore be fake as she answered, "What part of the script, "slap Reisha," is not clear to you?"

Angel"s manager was tongue-tied. Her mind was in a tangled mess from the many words she wanted to say. Fortunately, Fey said the words she wanted to convey.

"Miss Heart, I know you"re not an actress and is a beginner in this field. But that part means acting out a slap, not actually slapping Angel."

Evangeline"s taunting smile grew as she retorted, "Isn"t the saying the best actors are those who act naturally? Thus, I had to act naturally, so the slap should also be natural and not fake."

This time, it was Fey who was tongue-tied. She was having difficulty in choosing the words to make the woman understand, for she was afraid all her mouth would say were curses.

"Enough."

The scene turned silent again when Angel was the one who spoke, which warrant curious and bewildered gazes to turn her way.

Angel smiled and beamed at Evangeline much to everyone"s disbelief. "Evangeline is right. The effect of a natural slap is much more convincing and impactful." She then turned to the director. "Let"s continue the shoot."

The director hesitated for a moment before shouting at everyone to get ready for a take two.

And like before, a resounding slap echoed in the tense area.

Angel felt another stinging pain on her right cheek while Evangeline seriously stared at her with contempt. Then she burst out in fake giggles, ruining another take.

"Director, I"m sorry . . . *chuckle . . . Can we redo it again? I promise I won"t laugh. It"s a beginner"s mistake. You won"t hold it against me, right?"

The corners of the director"s lips quirked upwards while beads of sweat decorated his face. He didn"t know whether to laugh or cry. He was not ignorant to what was happening. He had grown old in this profession. He had seen it all! And now, he was forced in a h.e.l.lish place with nowhere to retreat. Evangeline was an investor with a specific contract to act how she sees fit in this particular scene while Angel had Robert Krisnov and Aldrick Loire at her back.

Should he stop Evangeline Heart and pay double the amount she invested for breaching the contract? Or should he pretend to be ignorant and continue the shoot while facing the consequences later from the two men at Angel"s side?

Ah . . . He really wanted to cry. He just wanted to shoot a d.a.m.n movie! Why did things have to be so complicated?

Fortunately for him, Angel smiled and said without any hint of anger in her voice, "It"s fine. Let"s take another retake."

The onlookers couldn"t help but revere and sympathized with her while glares full of scorn shot towards Evangeline.

As the day progressed, resounding slap after slap echoed in the shooting place. Evangeline had made every excuses possible to have retakes from the simple reason that her hair was loose or her makeup didn"t fit the scene or her dress was crumpled and had to iron it once more just to get a retake.

Evangeline made mistakes seven times, which meant Angel was slapped seventh times. Though the slap indeed stung, Evangeline made sure to use the right amount of pressure to administer pain, which wouldn"t damage the woman"s face so she could slap her again.

Right at this moment, Angel"s calm and amiable face was breaking. She could no longer feel her right cheek due to being slapped so many times. It was swollen and a bit red, but even so, she requested it to be hidden by makeup, which was reciprocated by her manager and a.s.sistant with nagging comments.

As usual, Angel paid them no ear. She steeled herself, ready to face Evangeline once more. She could feel the realization of her desired outcome when she took a peek at the faces of the crowds. Complete sympathy for her and scorn for Evangeline. Some even secretly recorded the whole event.

Ah . . . Evangeline . . . As I thought, once emotions muddled you, you are easily manipulated. It was an excellent decision to use Eric.

At the thought of the man"s name, Angel"s unbending and determined eyes turned soft and a little . . . infatuated, and she unconsciously gazed at Eric.

At the sight of this, Evangeline, who regained some of her calm after letting out her rage, was now scorching in anger once more. She shot an eye towards Eric, who was looking at their direction. But since she was in a frenzied state of mind, Evangeline thought that Eric and Angel were gazing at each other.

Her body burned hot to the point that even her eyes stung from the heat. Her heart felt like it was clawing out from her chest. Her breathing turned into pants when she wouldn"t inhale anything. The air became so polluted and dirty!

The overwhelming, ravenous desire to possess which she craved was being slowly coveted from her made her crazily insane from an emotion she realized was jealousy.

Her vision dimmed, and for a fraction of second, all she saw was darkness.

And before she recovered, her hand was already in the air while Angel"s face was screwed to the side. An eye-catching finger-shaped crimson mark was gradually appearing on Angel"s white porcelain skin.

But Evangeline didn"t feel anything –– just the insatiable desire to ruin Angel"s face!

Not a care that everyone was now condemning her with their glares while some staff was already rushing towards them in an attempt to stop her when she lifted her hand once more, determined to slap Angel nonstop.

Evangeline raised her hand and swung it forcefully against Angel"s direction. However, her hand was stopped midway while her clarity steadily returned when she felt that familiar warmth.

"Evangeline, that"s enough . . ."