In This Life I Will Die as an Actress Not a Villainess Chapter 46

Right before filming, while catching my breath for a moment, Lee Seokhyun glanced sideways at me.

“Have you filmed a kiss scene before?”

“No, this is my first time.”

“Oho.”

Lee Seokhyun nodded as if impressed.

“Sena-ssi is a veteran in every aspect.”

“Hm?”

“You look so calm without any nerves. I panicked during my first kiss scene and had over five NGs. I felt so bad for the other actor that I couldn’t even make eye contact.”

“Ah…”

So I looked calm.

Thank goodness.

Right now even standing next to Lee Seokhyun felt awkward.

I swept a hand over my heart inwardly.

Lee Seokhyun looked at me and grinned.

“As expected, so cool. So cool.”

“Haha, thank you. I’ll just go to the bathroom for a moment…”

I hurriedly left and headed for the bathroom.

The moment I opened the door, I turned on the sink and stared at the mirror.

Why does he keep talking to me, breaking my emotions!

The real me inside kept trying to pop out instead of Sunim.

It had been a rehearsal where I’d struggled to push down the pressure and focus.

“Whew, I’m a pro. A pro. A pro!”

I lightly patted both cheeks with my palms.

If he saw me like this right now, from Lee Seokhyun to all the staff would lose it.

I briefly held my wrist under the cold running water.

‘This is an important scene, Han Sena.’

The kiss scene took more time to immerse myself in than other scenes.

That made sense—despite all the projects I’d done, I was genuinely a complete novice when it came to kiss scenes.

Especially pretty, sweet kiss scenes even more so.

In my previous life, the kiss scenes I’d experienced as a ‘villain supporting role’ had all been affairs, love triangles, and the like.

This kind of deeply emotional skinship felt unfamiliar.

Living like a workhorse doing nothing but work meant I had no real experience to draw from either…

A sigh escaped.

You idiot, Han Sena.

What the hell were you doing with your life?

While rubbing my ears and tracing back through my life searching for traces of kissing, Sunim’s face came to mind.

That beautiful face approaching me to kiss in the script.

Sunim’s footsteps approaching slowly, one step, two steps, without rushing, and those thick lashes, light flush, the barely visible gentle smile, warm body temperature…

I turned off the water.

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes for a moment.

Pushing aside the confusion I’d felt that day, I started thinking about the emotions Sunim must have felt approaching me.

The courage to reveal her heart while pushing aside embarrassment.

The desperate heart yearning for the beloved person before her eyes.

What was certain—what I was feeling right now wasn’t simply shyness or anything like that.

* * *

“All stand by!”

“Alright, let’s do this.”

At Director Kang’s words, all the staff steeled themselves and moved to their positions.

“Ready, action.”

Thud, thud—

Walking slowly across the bridge, the red dragon robe came into view in the distance.

Lee Seokhyun spotted me and immediately approached with rough strides.

Our eyes met and I bowed at the waist.

“Your Majesty, an urgent matter…”

“You showed up at just the right time.”

But the king cut off my words and grabbed my wrist.

In an instant, dragged by the king, my back touched the wall and I was trapped in his arms.

Startled, I looked around…

The king looked down at me with an angry expression as if such things didn’t matter.

I looked up at the king’s face with a tense expression.

“Release me! How can you, when there are eyes watching…”

“Will you also lecture me about propriety? I’ve heard that speech from the Queen until I’m sick of it.”

Lee Seokhyun gripped my wrist tightly once more.

This was acting that hadn’t been in the rehearsal earlier.

‘The emotional levels don’t match.’

My mind spun rapidly.

Lee Seokhyun’s emotions were a bit too strong.

The king right now wasn’t angry at Sunim, but rather needed to be throwing a tantrum because he was angry about something else…

The atmosphere was slightly too forceful.

Lee Seokhyun’s acting sometimes jumped like this.

There was exactly one reason.

Lee Seokhyun was nervous.

Not because of the kiss scene, but because of the important emotional flow.

He was anxious about potentially breaking the flow himself.

In times like this, responding well created a breakthrough.

I immediately opened my mouth.

“If anyone sees, I’ll be unable to remain safe, and also…!”

I delivered the line firmly from Sunim’s perspective—a line that could show confusion and fear.

This kind of acting also hadn’t been in the rehearsal.

This way, Lee Seokhyun’s emotions would have more room to maneuver.

“What would you need to remain safe for?”

In that instant, Lee Seokhyun’s line settled calmly.

“Your Majesty.”

I pulled my wrist from Lee Seokhyun’s grip.

Then I steadied my heart.

“Of course, to serve Your Majesty for a long time.”

“If my heart crumbles completely, will hiding from others’ eyes still have meaning?”

Sadness seeped through Lee Seokhyun’s sunken voice.

‘Right now, this is good.’

Lee Seokhyun’s emotion hit the mark perfectly.

I looked at the king’s face, then lowered my head as if unable to bear watching anymore.

At the end of that gaze lay the king’s coldly frozen hands.

As if hesitating, I reached out my hand and slowly grasped the king’s hand.

Then I lifted my head and met the king’s eyes once more.

A brief silence flowed between us.

For a moment, the emotions that had rushed in chaotically fell back, and both of us forgot words.

Our lips slowly overlapped.

“…Cut! Okay!”

“Wow, so pretty.”

“Hey, that came out well.”

At the director’s okay sign, the filming team expressed satisfaction and praised themselves.

“Sunim came out so beautifully.”

At that, Director Kang also nodded toward the cinematographer as if relieved.

“This is really good, Director.”

“Right? Even though I filmed it, it’s beautiful!”

Laughter bloomed on the set.

Except for just two people—Lee Seokhyun and me.

Lee Seokhyun became lost in thought the moment filming ended.

I awkwardly smiled and slipped away from Lee Seokhyun’s side.

That’s when Director Kang, who’d finished monitoring, approached silently.

Then smoothly held something out to me.

“Ah…?”

It was a water bottle.

The director pointed at my ear.

“Hm?”

Following his gaze and touching my ear…

My ear was burning up.

I hurriedly took the water bottle and pressed it to my ear.

“Thank you.”

I quickly beat a retreat.

I could feel the director’s gaze on my back.

* * *

The afternoon filming continued.

Kang Jeonghwan sat before the monitor with a slightly stiff expression.

“Solving something that would’ve been resolved with one flutter of the Queen Dowager’s skirt by dragging it out for a month—I’m a tyrant of all tyrants.”

On the monitor, Lee Seokhyun was exchanging lines with Han Sena.

Kang Jeonghwan remembered how in the earlier kiss scene, Han Sena’s quick thinking had helped Lee Seokhyun barely catch his emotions.

For a newcomer actress to film a kiss scene and have her ears turn red was nothing much.

Actually, Kang Jeonghwan’s attention had been focused on Lee Seokhyun since this morning.

‘So close.’

Kang Jeonghwan pressed his temples while watching the monitor.

This time too, Lee Seokhyun’s emotion was subtle.

The scene they were currently filming showed the king mocking himself.

To connect with the emotion from the earlier kiss scene, showing a bit of anger would suit it.

But right now.

“You must resent me too.”

Lee Seokhyun’s voice had no strength whatsoever.

Because of this, along with the line, all of the king’s emotions fell flat.

‘We’ll need to go to the next take.’

The moment Kang Jeonghwan leaned back, Sunim opened her mouth.

“Then will you remain as a tyrant, just as they’ve made you?”

Sunim’s line wrapped around the king’s line.

Almost as if playfully teasing the deflated king.

The line that had originally just sat there plainly without any indication of nuance.

At that, Lee Seokhyun’s eyes sparked slightly.

“Do you have a hidden card?”

It felt like he’d noticed and utilized the opening Han Sena had created for him.

Kang Jeonghwan leaned back toward the monitor.

The texture was different from what the script described, but in its own way, it was quite good.

Kang Jeonghwan found it increasingly amazing how Han Sena would stabilize the situation and pull things along each time Lee Seokhyun jumped around inconsistently.

Like that, one scene ended before he knew it…

The actors looked at each other, waiting for the sign.

“Cut.”

Kang Jeonghwan nodded.

“That was fine just now, but Seokhyun-ssi, let’s do the skirt line with a bit more anger. More of a ‘damn, I got played’ feeling.”

“Got it.”

And so, action again.

“Solving something that would’ve been resolved with one flutter of the Queen Dowager’s skirt by dragging it out for a month! Ha, I’m a tyrant of all tyrants.”

Then Sunim’s line tone changed again.

“Then will you remain as a tyrant, just as they’ve made you?”

She settled the king’s anger neatly with one line while changing the atmosphere.

At that, Lee Seokhyun gained something called breathing.

Lee Seokhyun caught his breath briefly before delivering the next line.

‘This take is better.’

The king looked more shrewd this way.

As expected, Kang Jeonghwan felt certain.

Just when he’d think Lee Seokhyun’s acting was about to waver, inserting Han Sena as his scene partner would improve his form.

Like a pattern.

Kang Jeonghwan pressed his temples and fell into thought.

From before, Lee Seokhyun had been an actor with an extremely high peak in acting ability.

When his condition was good or when he’d interpreted the script well, he was an actor who displayed capabilities no one else could surpass.

However, that peak was rare to see, and as high as the peak was, the low point was equally too low.

In other words, he was an actor with far too wide a graph range.

But when paired with Han Sena, moments approaching that peak were frequently observed.

Like right now.

It was purely thanks to Han Sena being clever.

Moreover, not just Lee Seokhyun—currently even he himself, as the director who’d cast Lee Seokhyun, was being half-carried by Han Sena.

In that instant, Kang Jeonghwan recalled Han Sena’s appearance on the day she did the re-audition.

After seeing all of that.

He’d said the broadcast station runs on money, not passion.

But there was one thing he’d overlooked.

‘Chemistry.’

Even if he’d chosen one of Seo Jaeyeon or Lee Nara, Sunim would have come out well.

But considering the chemistry with Lee Seokhyun…

The scales tipped toward it not coming out like this.

Seo Jaeyeon and Lee Nara, who boasted the industry’s top careers, also had their distinct inner skills and strengths.

However, as a partner who could stabilize Lee Seokhyun’s wavering while showing chemistry, Han Sena was the right fit.

Just that this kind of performance, which could only come from sufficient acting depth, made it impossible to know where exactly it originated from in that newcomer actress.

Every time, it was strange.

Kang Jeonghwan looked at Han Sena once more.

Either way, it was time to admit his mistake.

“Cut, okay. Let’s move now.”

In Kang Jeonghwan’s gaze watching Han Sena dwelled trust that had become much more comfortable.

“Everyone, great work!”

Han Sena cheerfully shouted from the middle of the set.