As night fell, the carriage carrying Roselle Gustav reached Saint Martin Street near the Rhine River in the Bols District, slowing amid the increasingly dense crowds.
The oil lamps along the street had been lit one after another. Carriages bearing different families' coats of arms, horses moving abreast, and groups of ordinary citizens had made the normally fairly spacious street unbearably crowded. Roselle could not help poking his head out the window to look at the imposing building ahead.
The Sushit Grand Theater, officially completed five years ago, stood on this street near the riverbank. It was also the first truly large theater in this major city of over two hundred thousand people.
Before that, theater companies or musicians wishing to perform could only borrow noble residences, the hall of the Governor's Mansion, or indoor ball courts. Space was limited, and audiences numbered a hundred or so at most. Without a certain degree of status, even money could not buy a ticket.
Only after the appearance of a grand theater capable of accommodating over a thousand people at once had this aristocratic entertainment gradually become an activity the whole city could participate in. Respectable people with steady incomes needed only to save a little money to buy a ticket for an ordinary seat and experience the influence of art through music, song, and dance.
*Instead, this made the truly respectable people feel it lowered their standing, so they stopped wanting to watch plays... Though I don't think Dad and Mom's excuse for telling me to come on my own, and saying I could invite some friends I knew well, really holds up. Especially that ambiguous smile of Father's-it made me a little uncomfortable. But the sheriff who died in his own residence a while ago really did like inviting famous