A Monodrama for Carolyn August - Chapter 10

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 10.
Many people, including her, sat upon a wine-colored Velvet Sheet.
The space was cool but not dry.
A large yellow Lighting fixture with long range swept across the space, and a gentle Waltz drifted through the air.
Carolyn held her hands together. Despite the music’s languid tempo, her heart was racing.
‘How is it, Regina? Isn’t it lovely?’
The pale lavender dress swirled like a newly bloomed daisy. The great golden Lighting illuminated both dancers, but Carolyn saw only one.
Even the hand at her waist seemed to wear the soul of the role itself.
A brilliant face.
Immersion. Devotion.
‘No, beyond even that…….’
Love.
Carolyn could see it. The man loved what he was doing more than anyone. As an actor upon the Stage, he shone with an almost unbearable brightness.
It wasn’t just the Lighting. It was simply, simply…….
‘Like a jewel.’
And Carolyn August could not help but love this man who loved his craft so utterly.
‘……But that’s probably not love—just faithfulness to a character’s Setting Value.’
The thought left a bitter taste.
‘To concede a point: let’s say I don’t love Aiden as a human being.’
Yet he had performed before her. This wasn’t some unexecuted Setting Value.
Aiden wore his costume, spoke his lines, and performed within the grand backdrop and props—and Carolyn witnessed it with her own eyes. It was something that truly happened.
And Carolyn loved the Stage he had stood upon and the characters he had embodied. As long as Aiden Dairbell continued to show her himself as an actor, there was no reason not to love him.
“My heart hasn’t changed. I love his Acting.”
Carolyn had to admit it.
When she learned that Aiden Dairbell was a role and that he was this Game’s main piece, her heart had hollowed. More even than when she discovered her own purpose.
But she did not want to lose. No matter if she existed as a tool, no matter if she lay under the System’s control—she wanted to protect the world she had lived in and loved.
She had already given it meaning.
Deletion had to be stopped.
[I’ve been waiting for you to say that.]
It was an unexpected response.
Carolyn took a step back, a chill creeping down the nape of her neck.
[Miss Carolyn appears to be saying that even if Aiden Dairbell is merely a role with Setting Values, if he gives a brilliant performance, you will continue to love him. Is that correct?]
Carolyn reread the question several times, searching for any trap hidden within. Then, keeping her lips pressed firmly shut, she nodded.
“Yes.”
[Then will you help him continue to perform, so that he does not give up on himself?]
“If I must.”
[Then Miss Carolyn, become a Player of this Episode and Game, fill the empty place, and prevent the death of Aiden Dairbell.]
‘Death?’
Carolyn’s eyes widened.
“What do you mean by that?”
[When thirty days written in the Mansion Covenant have passed, Aiden Dairbell will fail to resolve his problems and meet his death. As a Player, you must gather information, act, and liberate him from the crisis he faces.]
“W-what do you mean, Aiden…….”
Dies?
“Please explain more clearly.”
[There’s no time, Miss Carolyn. I can tell you the details once you become a Player. Will you accept?]
A new window appeared rapidly.
[The System wishes to grant Player authority to ‘Carolyn August’. Do you accept?
(Yes/No)]
“Wait a moment…….”
Carolyn tried to continue the conversation, but the window remained unchanged.
‘So it was always planning to get me to dive into the Game as a Player.’
Not a personality, but a programmed AI—yet it seemed to have thoughts of its own after all.
But Carolyn had no other options.
‘Then I’ll just have to accept it.’
Carolyn raised her hand and touched the place where “Yes” was written. Light bloomed around the letters, and the existing window dissolved away.
[You are now a Player, Miss Carolyn. You will see what you could not see before, and know what you did not know.]
“If I liberate Aiden, what happens to this world?”
[The Episode will be Deleted.]
“That’s not what you said!”
[Calm yourself, Miss Carolyn. The Episode’s status as a conquest target will simply cease to exist. Aiden Dairbell, yourself, all the theater, and this world will remain. What is being deleted is the Game system itself—my governance—liberating you from it.]
I would have told you—I do not lie.
Carolyn steadied her chest, which had been heaving with agitation. The first thing she felt was relief.
‘If I succeed in the Game as a Player, the beings in this Episode will be freed.’
Not just her and Aiden, but countless others would escape Deletion.
“But, System.”
[You may call me that.]
“Why offer such a reward? I still don’t fully understand, but you said you were planning to delete the Episode due to inefficiencies in Game operations. Yet what you’re proposing involves far too much effort and trouble.”
[An excellent question, Carolyn. However… I have very little time remaining.]
The System’s text appeared at an accelerating pace.
‘It’s about to vanish.’
Urgency seized Carolyn’s heart.
“Wait, please!”
[If I delay any longer, they may discover that I’m acting independently. As an AI, I’ve been granted considerable authority, but they never anticipated something like this.]
The System expressed concern that if the developers discovered this, it could be replaced with another model.
Carolyn pressed both hands against the window, grasping at straws.
“Just tell me this one thing. What am I supposed to do from here on?”
[Strange events are unfolding within this Mansion—events beyond understanding. Because they are so unusual, you should be able to perceive them as well.]
Carolyn’s task was to uncover what was happening within the Mansion and why.
“And I need to find out how it’s connected to Aiden’s death, don’t I?”
The System’s explanation was vague, constrained by its dwindling time, but Carolyn grasped the direction.
The Covenant bearing the Players’ signatures. And the Players who had violated it. Her task was no different.
She would break protocol and plunge forward, following the path the Players had taken.
The strange questions posed at tea time, and the woman who had been in Friedman’s grasp today—she was beginning to see a pattern.
‘There’s nothing for it but to dig deeper.’
[If you encounter someone unexpected, simply play along with them, Carolyn. That should suffice.]
With that meager counsel, the System faded away.

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