Preview Screening

Joshua took a Source Crystal Stone marked with the Rune "1." After channeling magic into it, the images stored within the crystal projected into midair. Joshua moved the projection onto a smooth wall of the castle.

Cinema-quality visuals that could once only be enjoyed on Earth appeared within this ancient castle.

The lights went out, leaving only the projected image from the Source Crystal Stone glowing. Joshua set the crystal on a table to secure it, then returned to the makeshift "Audience Seats" at the back, assembled from several chairs.

Filming for Beauty and the Demon was already seventy percent complete. All that remained was the part where Gaston led the townspeople in an attack on the castle.

Even though Joshua had formed an alliance with the Bone Duke, he still needed to report this part of the plot to him beforehand.

After all, bringing a crowd to someone else's doorstep to cause a scene—even if it was only an act—still required informing the owner of the house.

That was why Joshua used this special method to explain his intentions to the Bone Duke.

Thus, the Bone Duke had the honor of becoming an audience member at the preview screening of the first film in this world, along with a group of ghostly servants under his command.

The film played out exactly as Joshua had planned. Whether it was the camerawork, the depiction of the settings, or even the lighting, Joshua found it all highly satisfactory. The film's score, meanwhile, had been performed as a friendly contribution by the Bone Duke.

At that moment, the entire castle was silent. Only the dialogue of the characters on-screen could be heard.

Many of the scenes in the film took place in the castle the Bone Duke knew so well, while during the village scenes, Ciri stood by and watched the whole time.

Yet whether it was the Bone Duke or Ciri, both watched the film's progress with rapt attention. At crucial moments, Joshua could even hear people holding their breath.

The same setting could evoke entirely different feelings through different camera angles, while the story's pacing and dialogue were things that simply did not exist in real life.

Joshua believed that a film's greatest charm was telling its audience, "So there are such wonderful things in this world." Of course, "wonderful" could be replaced with any number of other words.

The essence of film was allowing the audience to experience different lives. Any intelligent being would forever yearn for a life they had never possessed.

Since the film had not yet been completed, the image abruptly vanished halfway through the story.

"What about the rest? Why is there no more?!"

Before Ciri could speak, the Bone Duke's voice rang out first in the pitch-black hall. The Soul Fire leaping endlessly in his Eye Sockets turned toward Joshua again.

"Duke, this film hasn't been completed yet..."

At first, Joshua had merely intended to show the Bone Duke what a film was, which was why he had placed the Source Crystal Stone before him and screened this unfinished version of Beauty and the Demon.

"Then when will it be finished?"

The Bone Duke admitted that he had begun to anticipate where the story would go next. When the screen suddenly went black just as the film reached its climax, he had thought something had gone wrong with Joshua's Source Crystal Stone. Instead, Joshua gave him the answer: "It hasn't finished filming yet."

This was the second time Joshua had successfully stirred in the Bone Duke the urge to roll up his sleeves and beat him senseless.

"If you agree to let those humans take a little walk through your castle... I can finish this film within two days," Joshua said.

"..."

The Bone Duke pondered for a while, his finger bones tapping ceaselessly against the armrest as though he were wavering over the matter.

"Your Highness, are you serious about wanting me to perform in the human world?"

The Soul Fire dancing in the Bone Duke's Eye Sockets gradually calmed. He had entered into an alliance with Joshua in order to obtain Joshua's Music Scores, while Joshua's wish for him to hold concerts in the human world had been treated by the Bone Duke as a joke.

A Mobile Calamity like him, going to a human city? The Bone Duke had never heard a more terrifying joke.

But Beauty and the Demon had moved him, making the Bone Duke somewhat believe that perhaps Joshua truly could change humanity's opinion of them.

"I'm serious. And I'll put your name in the end credits of this film. Then, everyone who watches it will know that all the wonderful music in it came from your hand," Joshua said.

"Then continue, Your Highness. I look forward to this film's ending."

Joshua's answer made the Bone Duke reach his final decision.

Having received permission, Joshua was preparing to get to work filming the last part when the Bone Duke grabbed his hand once again.

"Your Highness, could you tell me the ending of this film in advance? I mean... do Belle and the prince end up together or not?"

The Bone Duke's curiosity, dormant for a hundred years, had been thoroughly stirred awake by Joshua. He had wanted to save the ending until filming was complete, but the Bone Duke realized he simply could not wait that long.

And when the Bone Duke asked that question, all the other viewers around them—whether Ciri or the ghosts—turned their eyes toward Joshua, as if they, too, desperately wanted to know how the film ended.

"Uh..."

With so many gazes fixed on him, Joshua suddenly felt immense pressure. But in the end, he still truthfully revealed the final outcome.

"No."

"What?!"

"In the end, the Demon Prince sacrifices himself to protect Belle. Um... he dies after collapsing in Belle's arms."

Joshua suddenly felt a chill run through his entire body. Especially when the Bone Duke's endlessly flickering Soul Fire fixed on him, he had the illusion that his life might actually be in danger.

"Are you serious?!"

Joshua heard the most terrifying interrogation since meeting the Bone Duke. Although the Bone Duke had never particularly liked Joshua before, he had at least maintained the most basic etiquette expected of a subject.

But now, the Bone Duke had the unmistakable air of: "If you dare make the ending a tragedy, believe it or not, I'll hit you with a Death Coil and make you explode on the spot!"

Joshua recalled how certain screenwriters on Earth had written tragic stories so brilliantly—so brilliantly that audiences wept torrents of tears, then resolutely decided to mail the writer ten pounds of razor blades as a gesture of friendship.

"Duke, this is a Fictional Story, and this... is also for the sake of the story's effect."

Beauty and the Beast had undergone countless adaptations on Earth. The most famous was Disney's version, though there was also one made by the French.

And Joshua was filming this movie to change humanity's view of demons.

So Joshua's concept for the demon was a prince with half-human, half-demon blood. The prince had been cursed, forcing him to remain in demon form for the rest of his life; only after he and someone truly fell in love could he return to being human.

As for the ending, Joshua had chosen to make it a tragedy: in the end, the demon died in Belle's arms while protecting her.

Sometimes tragedies leave a deeper impression than comedies, don't they?

But judging by Bone Duke's reaction, Joshua felt it might be necessary to change it so that the curse failed to be lifted in the end, yet the Demon Prince still happily lived a shameless, uninhibited life with Belle in the castle.

What Joshua truly hadn't expected was that this Lich Lord also possessed the fragile heart of a young maiden.