A Monodrama for Carolyn August - Chapter 1

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Episode 100.
With the face I loved most, a man wearing such a pitiful expression opened his arms wide, and there was no time to hesitate. Caroline approached as if entranced and embraced Ipros.
Though by all rights she was the one doing the holding, given the difference in their frames, Ipros nuzzled his hair against her shoulder like an affectionate cat.
“You have to stay with me forever. You can’t go anywhere.”
“I won’t.”
“Mm. Promise me.”
“I promise.”
Even though the promise had been uttered carelessly while she was nearly crushed against his body, he seemed pleased with it, letting out a soft laugh. Caroline, held in Ipros’s arms, felt her head pressed firmly against his solid chest. Beyond that, she could feel a heartbeat that seemed slightly too fast.
‘Does Aiden’s heart race and slow like that when he’s acting?’
It was the kind of pulse one would expect from someone truly holding someone they love. Aiden’s entire being had become Ipros, expressing happiness at meeting Isaha.
But it wasn’t really Isaha. Caroline felt something strange stir in her at the sensation of receiving such fervent affection.
It was already embarrassing enough to be holding Aiden, the actor she loved so deeply. But as Ipros displayed even greater happiness than she did, rubbing his cheeks and nuzzling his hair against hers, Caroline’s own cheeks grew steadily warmer.
‘Dangerous.’
Dangerous not for her, but for Ipros.
The way he did nothing but beautiful things made her want to shower the crown of his head with kisses right then and there. No matter how mechanical he was, how could Isaha have used such a being as a tool to be sent out at night? It infuriated her.
“Well, now that we’re attached,”
Caroline patted Ipros’s chest and carefully pushed him away.
Whether this much physical contact had satisfied him or not, Ipros accepted it with a dejected expression and stepped back obediently.
“Let’s go have dinner. I’m going to use the bathroom first.”
The sun was sinking low now, and the world had grown dark. Surely dinner would be prepared by now.
Caroline took Ipros’s hand toward the Mansion, then briefly parted from him under the pretense of using the Bathroom. After giving herself enough time for him to return to daytime Aiden to join her for the meal, she walked into the Dining Room.
“?”
Ipros, wearing the same mascara and lip gloss, was already seated at the table.
‘How is this possible? Will I not be able to have dinner with daytime Aiden anymore?’
Caroline hesitated, but decided to eat anyway.
The moment she reluctantly took her seat—
“Welcome, Miss Caroline. They say tonight is the longest summer night. I’ve prepared a suitably abundant meal for the occasion.”
“!”
The one speaking to Caroline was not Ipros. It was the unmistakable manner of daytime Aiden, even using the clear title Miss Caroline.
He possessed Ipros’s appearance while existing as daytime Aiden.
‘What on earth is happening?’
Bewildered as she was, Caroline diligently brought food to her mouth. After wandering through the Maze for so long, she was hungrier than ever before.
The Aiden before her was also eating, which meant he wasn’t in the Ipros state. So he could become daytime Aiden without even removing his makeup. How on earth was she supposed to distinguish between his personalities now?
“Aiden. Ipros?”
[▲]
Caroline tentatively called his name, then called out Ipros’s name as well.
“What do you mean?”
“Oh, it’s nothing. It’s just that the way you look today seems rather like Ipros. Your clothes are like his, too. And your eyelashes look like you’ve applied mascara, as if you were about to take the stage.”
[▲▲]
“……Is that so?”
The moment she spoke, Aiden’s expression hardened. Two red triangles appeared in her vision as a bonus.
Aiden didn’t simply stiffen his expression and posture; he gestured to a servant nearby. When the servant approached, he whispered something to them, then took the Mirror the servant brought.
And he examined his reflection in it carefully.
“I haven’t applied anything to my eyelashes today, so they seem no different from usual. And these clothes are what I wore at tea time…… Are you saying the feel of these particular garments is especially like that?”
For a moment, it felt as though her breath caught in her throat.
[▲▲]
Caroline stared at the red triangles still floating in the upper right corner. She couldn’t afford to do anything that would cost her a heart here.
She barely suppressed the urge to choke, forcing her lips, which were growing cold and rigid, to move.
“……Yes, that’s right.”
“Ah, now that you mention it, I see what you mean.”
[□□□□]
The moment Aiden said those words, four black squares appeared above his head.
He had applied mascara to his eyelashes and changed his clothes to Ipros’s things. Yet he saw himself as daytime Aiden, and believed it.
By this point, Caroline wanted to doubt her own eyes. She felt as if she were going mad. She almost wished she were.
‘Has Aiden’s condition worsened?’
Nighttime Aiden had emerged before evening had even fully arrived, and daytime Aiden had emerged while still in makeup. His Dissociative Identity Disorder symptoms were undoubtedly becoming more severe.
‘If things continue like this, will I no longer be able to identify his personalities just by makeup?’
The sudden thought chilled her heart. Makeup and time—those had been the markers that allowed her to deal with Aiden.
If all of that disappeared, what would Caroline do?
Even now, as they dined, Aiden was firmly convinced he was daytime Aiden. Caroline noticed something rattling beneath her.
Her hands trembled uncontrollably—a situation her rational mind couldn’t keep pace with.
‘I’m frightened.’
The way Aiden saw her, so at odds with reality, was terrifying in itself.
And the trials that lay ahead of her filled her with dread. Caroline finished her meal with a sensation like her insides were churning.
* * *
What would the 3 AM version of Aiden do if she confessed this to him?
If he came to understand that she’d completely lost her mind, would he suffer? Or perhaps he’d remain unmoved. He seemed to treat the daytime Aiden as an utter stranger. Perhaps it was because the daytime Aiden was his Target to Conquer as a Player, while he saw himself as an NPC helping the Player.
Caroline placed a hand over her racing heart and wrote down the day’s discoveries in her Notebook.
First: Aiden sometimes thinks of himself as the daytime Aiden even while in disguise.
Second: I found Friedman’s Diary. I’ve now secured every character’s Diary—I only need to collect Friedman’s and Ipros’s Keys.
Third: Past the twisted section of the Maze, there’s a Settings Bar at the Fountain.
Fourth: Beyond the Settings Bar, the path straightens into a direct route, and there’s an Iron Door that opens only when Diaries and Keys are inserted.
‘What could be beyond that?’
The 3 AM version of Aiden didn’t know either. Caroline resolved to ask him when they met again, then set out to find the two Keys she had yet to locate.
And at the Second Floor Staircase Threshold, she encountered someone she hadn’t expected.
“Ipros?”
A man whose appearance hadn’t changed. She asked hesitantly, and no triangle came to mind.
So it was indeed Ipros.
‘The daytime Aiden just moments ago, and now he’d returned to Ipros without any change in makeup.’
The erratic nature of it left her breathless.
But it wasn’t truly difficult to tell them apart. The daytime Aiden and Ipros carried themselves completely differently. Though mechanically maintaining a rigid, formal posture, this man’s fidgeting fingers and subtle nervousness gave him away.
Just by looking at his eyes—so full of affection and dependence toward her—Caroline sensed she could tell them apart instantly.
“Yes, Isaha. I came to see you.”
“Me?”
“I discovered a new hideout. I wanted to show you—will you come with me?”
As he said this, Ipros extended his hand. In that moment, why did it happen?
The conversation from teatime flashed through Caroline’s mind.
“Among the four characters, Ipros is the one you can never predict what he’ll do. According to the details I’ve set, there’s no telling how far he’ll go. In that sense, it seems accurate.”
“So you mean he has those kinds of tendencies—the sort you see in love triangles… abduction, kidnapping, obsession?”
“Exactly.”

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————