-Timeskip-
[General POV]
Inside Edward's private jet, he sipped champagne while reviewing a few documents.
The first Percy Jackson movie had performed surprisingly well at the box office, contrary to Edward's predictions, though he was rarely accurate in his assessments of such matters.
"650 million? How?!"
Edward crumpled the box office data in frustration, feeling lightheaded. Rubbing his sore forehead, he sighed and asked, "Is this because of the follower count?" His sharp gaze fixed on Sage, who was sitting across from him.
Whenever he checked the employee file for his Afterlife project, he noticed that Sage's follower count was rapidly increasing. She now had almost 40 million followers, which puzzled him. His own Instagram followers had reached 500 million, so what did the 50 million indicated in her file mean?
Sage sipped her tea casually and replied, "They are your die-hard fans… Your Swifties, so to speak. They would do anything for you, even support your less-than-stellar movies."
"So the movie is bad?" Edward asked, his concern palpable.
Sage shook her head. "It's good. I went to see it in theaters. You really nailed the Chimera fight, and I loved that you included an 'eyes-lighting up' moment whenever Percy accessed his demigod powers."
Suddenly, Caroline and Max popped out from behind Sage's chair.
Caroline exclaimed exaggeratedly, "In that dark, rainy night scene when he ripped out the Minotaur's horn with a cold expression, and the thunder illuminated the dead Minotaur after he stabbed it with its own horn—that sealed the deal for me!"
"That Chalamet guy really knows how to act. His sadness after his mom's death felt real," Max added. However, what truly sold the scene was Edward as Luke Castellan, comforting Percy by sharing a similar experience. This decision had been supported by Rick Riordan after thorough discussion.
"When did you two become movie commentators?" Edward asked, disbelief evident in his voice.
As the movie was targeted at young adults, Edward had decided to insert some fantasy-like scenes. It was a gamble, and the director took risks. The camera work during the sword fights was inspired by battle manhwa, creating a unique fighting experience that was exclusive to Entertain Studios.
In 2010, the studio had released five movies: Self-Made in February, Warm Bodies in August, Percy Jackson 1 in November, the animated movie Frozen in December, and a few Netflix specials, such as Geek Charming.
Frozen had climbed to $1.5 billion in box office collections, making it the highest-grossing movie of 2010, surpassing Toy Story 3.
Queen's Gambit Limited Series became a worldwide hit after it was released in September 2010, which brought Maggie a lot of fame. Edward got her a role in Ted afterward, replacing Mila Kunis as the female lead.
Edward invested in a lot of movies and studios, bringing up multiple movies to the big screen ahead of its time.
Arcane was released in February 2011 on Netflix, and it was praised for the great storytelling and writing. Edward received multiple awards for Arcane Season 1, and together with Breaking Bad, he cemented himself as a superior Screenwriter and Director.
Both Arcane and Frozen were created by Edward while he digitized himself. It took almost no budget except for voice actor's payments.
"But right now, I'm not sure if the success was due to my influence or skills.," Edward mumbled.
Sage replied lazily, "Like I said, the movie is really good. Your fans aren't brain-dead; they know how to discern quality. If it were a bad movie, they wouldn't have liked it so much."
Edward felt comforted by Sage's words, but he decided to test things out.
"I think I'll make a bad movie on purpose, just to see if my box office influence is real or not."
Despite saying that, Edward became engrossed in the filmmaking experience.
It was his directorial debut—a vampire movie suitable for all audiences. Enid was extremely excited when she heard that Edward would play the Vampire Duke himself; she got a nosebleed and fainted.
Edward even visited her in the hospital, greatly concerned for her well-being.
"Who's going to play the female lead?" Pepper asked. "Vanessa is working on her TV series, Diner, and Maggie's busy with her next movie, The Hunger Games."
Diner was an original netflix limited series, just like Queen's Gambit. It was basically the plot to 'Senorita' music video adapted to become a series.
Hudgens acted together with Lucas Till, who would become Havoc in X-Men in the future. It was a female focused movie like Queen's Gambit with relatable writing that resonated with the blue collar and female audiences.
"I guess it will be my first time interacting with Hollywood's agents. I usually pick the actresses I wanted, so I never experienced it. I guess I should experience it once." Edward said with a smirk.
He slapped the script and said, "But, since the script isn't that great, I don't think many would react to it."
He was wrong, yet again.
Edward was forced to attend another gala in Hollywood after Pepper noticed his low public appearances in the country's media. Actors, public figures, entertainment moguls, and top agents all attended the gala as it gave them a great prestige boost and appeal.
Even if Edward attended the Gala with Taylor, Vanessa and Maggie, it didn't stop the other actresses from actively flirting with him. After a tumultuous week, Edward finally decided on the actress.
"Won't it interfere with your current work?"
"No, we're already finishing that up."
Emma Stone replied to Edward as she came to the movie set. The movie, 'Draculein', focused heavily on the connection between the vampire– Draculein, and the heroine– Catherine.
A romantic fantasy with a class disparity subplot, romance element straight out of a female lead manhwa. With Emma Stone's skillful acting, it complements greatly to Edward's masterful personification of the inhuman character.
The story started with Catherine, a homeless girl, running away from a bunch of ruffians in New York city. Then, she climbed down the sewer to prevent herself from getting caught. However, the ruffians followed her inside the sewer tunnels.
She ran desperately until she accidently fell into a secret part of the tunnels. There, she saw a handsome young man, dressed like an aristocrat in the Victorian era, sleeping soundly with a stake penetrating his heart.
As the ruffians encircled her, she took out the stake from Draculein's body to use as a weapon, unaware that she had awakened something terrible.
The movie took only 20 million dollars to produce. There were a few incredible scenes such as Draculein summoned two bloody hands to rip off a building wall, exposing the gang member and Catherine who was kidnapped inside of it.
Another one was Draculein summoning a dark sphere, separating him and the villain inside it from reality.
The image of a vampire nobility appeared in one's mind as they watched the movie. There were a lot of action scenes, a huge twist where Catherine was the girl who stabbed his heart in his past life– both of them bound by a cruel fate to see each other again and again.
Her fate was to always be killed, and his fate was to always see her die in his arms. The movie ended with Draculein taking a different path, sacrificing himself instead in order to save the girl.
As he died, the girl's fate finally corrected itself, but she hugged his body while he was engulfed in flames from standing underneath the sunlight.
"I'm happy when I'm with you! So don't go!" Catherine cried, begging Draculein to stay. It brought tears to the audience's eyes, especially for those who loved fantasy– such as Enid.
Not only that, Edward also filmed another movie during the same time. A full action movie. A highschooler's sister was bullied and threatened by a gang, which led to him enacting his revenge after the police closed the case without finding the culprit.
If Draculein was a cheery character with a dark side, the highschooler– Cale, was a cool delinquent character. In fact, it became one of the characters a highschooler would try to emulate in growing up.
He was smart in concocting his revenge, he did it step by step, gathering evidence, snapping pictures of the police taking bribes, and handing it all to the FBI. The fight scene where Edward faced off against the gang members were masterful action sequences, which was the highlight of the story.
Many fans thought of the story as Batman without his wealth and in a world where law works. They came to the conclusion after falling for the ways of him using his intelligence to take down an entire crime ring.
Edward released the action movie in April, which made 670 million dollars at the box office, and Draculein in the summer, which made over 1.1 billion dollars at the box office.
Directors all over the world were confused by the popularity of the studio. Some even accused them of manipulating the box office themselves by using slush funds to buy out empty seat in theaters.
They were clamoring about it so much that it irked the fans and the ordinary people online.
Netizen1: Compare your movies to his. Yours is about two cannibals falling in love with each other, an 18+ snuff film, yet you're confused on why people didn't go and see it?
LilyFanPresident: Edward's movies have a lesson, yet it didn't make us feel uncomfortable. You guys can never do that if you try.
Netizen2: Edward made movies for the people to enjoy. That's all there is. Not only are the fight scenes great, and the vampire's skills are really creative. We have never seen that on the big screen before, that's why it feels really refreshing and we went to watch the movie.
Netizen3: I love the movies so much! I hope that Edward will keep acting, because he's really great in all of it!
Netizen1: Yeah, I hope he acts more too.
LilyFanPresident: I wish for that too. But his songs are also great, so I hope he will hold more concerts too!
…
In Germany, Edward and his dad went to a pub for his 16th birthday party. It was legal for Edward to drink beer and wine in the country.
"I guess this is why you kept pushing Europe's schedules until 2011 huh?" His dad said with disbelief after he sipped his own beer.
Edward smirked and said, "Of course not. Well, maybe a little~"
He wasn't bothered while he drank there in the small town despite people knowing who he was. Attack on Titan mangaka used the town Nördlingen as his inspiration. Edward wanted to see the town with his own eyes.
In France, Edward collaborated with a French musician– Indila. He used her song, 'Tourner Dans Le Vide' for Draculein, so he was familiar with her.
Indila, who hasn't debuted yet, was baffled when she heard Edward wanted to collaborate with her. She might have collaborated with other French musicians before, but she wasn't at the forefront of anything.
So she was skeptical when an Entertain employee reached out to her and said Edward Freaking Newgate wanted to collaborate with her.
…
Stade De France stadium. 80,000 people cheered as Edward walked onto the stage after Indila opened the concert for him. He grabbed her hand and started to sing with her.
[Indila– Dernière danse]
Edward crooned sweetly, "♫♪ Oh, ma douce souffrance ♫♪"
{Oh, My Sweet Suffering}
He dismissed her hand and walked to the side of the stage while the fans cheered loudly for him, singing, "♫♪ Pourquoi s'acharner? Tu recommences ♫♪"
{Why must you persist? You're doing it again.}
"♫♪ Je n'suis qu'un être sans importance ♫♪"
{I am just a being without importance;}
Indila continued without missing a beat, hugging Edward from behind, which made the fans squealed.
"♫♪ Sans lui, je suis un peu paro ♫♪"
{Without him, I feel a bit unhinged.}
"♫♪ Je déambule seule dans le métro ♫♪"
{I wander alone through the subway,}
"♫♪ Une dernière danse ♫♪"
{Seeking one last dance}
Edward turned to her and took her hand again as the background dancers entered the stage.
"♫♪ Pour oublier ma peine immense ♫♪"
{To forget my immense sadness.}
"♫♪ Je veux m'enfuir, que tout recommence ♫♪"
{I long to escape, to start anew.}
"♫♪ Oh, ma douce souffrance ♫♪"
{Oh, my sweet suffering.}
The impeccable French pronunciation made the girls in his audience melt.
Indila sang while holding Edward's hand.
"♫♪ Je remue le ciel, le jour, la nuit ♫♪"
{I move the sky, the day, the night.}
"♫♪ Je danse avec le vent, la pluie ♫♪"
{I dance with the wind and the rain.}
"♫♪ Un peu d'amour, un brin de miel ♫♪"
{A bit of love, a touch of honey,}
"♫♪ Et je danse, danse, danse, danse, danse, danse, danse ♫♪"
{And I dance, dance, dance, dance, dance, dance, dance.}
Both of them sang together, crooning melodiously while staring at each other.
"♫♪ Et dans le bruit, je cours et j'ai peur ♫♪"
{Amidst the noise, I run, and fear grips me—}
"♫♪ Est-ce mon tour? Vient la douleur ♫♪"
{Is it my turn? Here comes the pain.}
"♫♪ Dans tout Paris, je m'abandonne ♫♪"
{In all of Paris, I let myself go,}
"♫♪ Et je m'envole, vole, vole, vole, vole, vole, vole ♫♪"
{And I fly away, fly, fly, fly, fly, fly.}
The catchy lyrics and the beat broke the local chart immediately and the song went international. Basically everything that Edward did went international at this point.
Edward started the next verse, his voice seemed to transport the audience.
"♫♪ Que d'espérance ♫♪"
{So much hope}
"♫♪ Sur ce chemin en ton absence ♫♪"
{On this path, even as I toil.}
Indila continued as soon as he stopped. Edward went behind her, dancing expertly as he locked eyes with her.
"♫♪ J'ai beau trimer, sans toi, ma vie n'est qu'un décor qui brille ♫♪"
{Without you, my life is merely a bright, meaningless stage.}
"♫♪ Vide de sens ♫♪"
{(Empty of meaning)}
Edward danced together with the background dancers, putting Indila as the center of the performance. He sang the entire chorus alone.
"♫♪ Je remue le ciel, le jour, la nuit ♫♪"
{I move the sky, the day, the night.}
"♫♪ Je danse avec le vent, la pluie ♫♪"
{I dance with the wind and the rain.}
"♫♪ Un peu d'amour, un brin de miel ♫♪"
{A bit of love, a touch of honey,}
"♫♪ Et je danse, danse, danse, danse, danse, danse, danse ♫♪"
{And I dance, dance, dance, dance, dance, dance, dance.}
"♫♪ Et dans le bruit, je cours et j'ai peur ♫♪"
{Amidst the noise, I run, and fear grips me—}
"♫♪ Est-ce mon tour? Vient la douleur ♫♪"
{Is it my turn? Here comes the pain.}
"♫♪ Dans tout Paris, je m'abandonne ♫♪"
{In all of Paris, I let myself go,}
"♫♪ Et je m'envole, vole, vole, vole, vole, vole, vole ♫♪"
{And I fly away, fly, fly, fly, fly, fly.}
Caroline clapped like a seal as she knew French while Max was confused by the lyrics, but she still danced and enjoyed the song.
"Too bad we only have 6 more months of this. I'm going to be sad when it's all over." Max mumbled.
Indila started the last verse with sadness in her voice.
"♫♪ Dans cette douce souffrance ♫♪"
{In this sweet suffering,}
"♫♪ Dont j'ai payé toutes les offenses ♫♪"
{I have borne every offense.}
"♫♪ Écoute comme mon cœur est immense ♫♪"
{Listen to how vast my heart is;}
"♫♪ Je suis une enfant du monde ♫♪"
{I am a child of the world.}
Edward provided harmony for her part. Their voices resonated melodiously, deeply rooting itself inside the audience's mind.
"♫♪ Je remue le ciel, le jour, la nuit ♫♪"
{I move the sky, the day, the night.}
"♫♪ Je danse avec le vent, la pluie ♫♪"
{I dance with the wind and the rain.}
"♫♪ Un peu d'amour, un brin de miel ♫♪"
{A bit of love, a touch of honey,}
"♫♪ Et je danse, danse, danse, danse, danse, danse, danse ♫♪"
{And I dance, dance, dance, dance, dance, dance, dance.}
Both of them sang the last verse at the same time.
"♫♪ Et dans le bruit, je cours et j'ai peur ♫♪"
{Amidst the noise, I run, and fear grips me—}
"♫♪ Est-ce mon tour? Vient la douleur ♫♪"
{Is it my turn? Here comes the pain.}
"♫♪ Dans tout Paris, je m'abandonne ♫♪"
{In all of Paris, I let myself go,}
"♫♪ Et je m'envole, vole, vole, vole, vole, vole, vole ♫♪"
{And I fly away, fly, fly, fly, fly, fly.}
As Edward took control of France—something that wasn't difficult since they had already surrendered to him—he went sightseeing in Paris with Barbara Palvin.
Sitting together at a café near a bustling street, it almost seemed as if they wanted their meeting to be visible to the world.
"I became the L'Oréal brand ambassador, just like you said I would," Barbara said, looking at Edward with adoration as she rested her head on her hand.
Edward dipped his croissant into his coffee before taking a bite. "I knew you could do it."
"Really? You didn't bribe them or anything?" Barbara teased.
Edward scoffed, "You're pretty enough, so I didn't have to."
Barbara felt her cheeks flush slightly as she lowered her gaze to her cup.
Is he flirting with me, or is this just his personality?
Conflicted, she suddenly remembered something. "Oh, right!" She pulled out a piece of paper from her purse and presented it to him. "I got my visa, so I'm going to be living in LA starting next week."
"Oh," Edward replied flatly.
Barbara hesitated, feeling a bit down. "Aren't you glad?"
"I'm glad for you. It will be a good breakthrough for your career," he said, sipping his coffee.
Barbara understood the implication in his words. He was happy for her, but not necessarily thrilled about her moving closer to him.
That didn't deter her, though. With a coy expression, she said, "It will be a good breakthrough, as you said. But I don't know how to navigate the industry there. What if I run into another sleazebag who drugs my coffee? I need help from a local to show me around."
Edward smirked, amused by her cleverness. "Alright. I'll arrange for some people to show you around. You can relax; I trust them with my life."
"Okay~ But since you're vouching for them, I'll call you whenever I want to vent about them. Is that alright?"
Edward laughed. "Sure. You can complain to me if they're lacking."
"Now I have an excuse to call you," Barbara said gleefully.
"Should we go to Notre Dame next?" Edward asked after finishing his food.
Barbara feigned surprise. "You're inviting me out on a date? Finally?"
"Do you want to go or not?" Edward asked, inching his face slightly closer to hers. Barbara was taken aback, her heart racing.
In France, laws prohibited taking pictures of someone on the street without permission. Even journalists or paparazzi could face fines of up to 45,000 euros and a year in jail for publishing unauthorized photos.
Yet, some people decided to risk it all when they saw Barbara and Edward holding hands in front of Notre Dame.
Time passed by, and it was already 2012. Edward spent 5 months in Europe until May to film for his new project, 'Psychopath Diaries' in the UK. Edward rented out a building in Chelsea as he didn't want to stay at a hotel for the duration of the visit.
However, the location of the house was leaked in the first week he was there, so he bought a 15 million pound stately home miles away from London. The house was built in 2006, but it has the character of an old aristocrat home.
Edward held a few parties at the house while he was there.
'I'm finally 17 years old.' Edward said as he checked the calendar.
"I've been away for so long, and I've already gotten what I wanted. I guess it's time for me to go home." He muttered with a longing smile.
-Timeskip ends-
(A/N: Next chapter will open starting from a concert in Italy and he will finally go back home.)