A Monodrama for Carolyn August - Chapter 102

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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 102.
Splash.
In the next moment, Caroline shoved the diary into the bag, evading Ifros’s outstretched hand—an act that demanded every ounce of her Superhuman Strength.
“What? How did you do that?”
……
Her heart hammered so violently she couldn’t speak.
Caroline looked up at the tall man who’d stepped close. She had no martial arts to incapacitate him, no arrogant retort to break his will. Nothing.
She felt fear in the face of a doll with the world’s most beautiful face doing something mad. Isaha would never succumb to such a thing.
‘I can’t let him read my expression again.’
Caroline quickly lowered her stance and peered into the Lake.
Night had made the water darker still, refusing to show where the Key lay. She could have thrown herself in and swum until exhaustion claimed her, but her body—her body that had once nearly drowned—refused. It was terrified, viscerally, unmistakably.
‘How do I find it?’
“Was it someone that precious to you?”
But Ifros’s suspicion showed no sign of ending.
Caroline realized that if she kept trying to find the Key now, she’d only provoke him further. If she couldn’t retrieve it anyway, she had to act as if she didn’t care anymore.
“……No. Actually, it’s fine.”
Caroline gritted her teeth and straightened her posture.
Her chest still fluttered and her legs still trembled, but she couldn’t show it to Ifros.
“I’ve decided not to worry about it anymore. It doesn’t matter now.”
“Really?”
“If it were a lie, I’d have jumped in. Take me to your hideout.”
Ifros stood still in the breeze, studying her for a long moment before taking the lead. He slipped his hand into hers as naturally as before—almost tenderly, as if nothing had just happened.
As if they were nothing but affectionate lovers.
Caroline gritted her teeth and followed him. How much time passed? She found herself in the Basement, following Ifros.
“……Is this your hideout?”
“That’s right. The place I came to before.”
Last time she’d been here, she’d napped in front of the Weapons Armory and met Ifros there.
“I found it while exploring by myself when Isaha was busy. There are useful things here, interesting things too. I wonder what kind of person left this place behind?”
Ifros had discovered this place before her, but he still knew only the Underground Prison and Weapons Armory. Today, too, the man holding her hand led her to the Weapons Armory where his bag was kept.
“This is my hideout, Isaha. It’s become the place I visit most often since I came here last time.”
“Why? Do you like it here?”
“It’s cozy. No one else is around. There are so many fascinating machines.”
It was such an Ifros thing to think. Born a machine, having lived as one his entire life, the various weapons and tools here could only fascinate him.
“Don’t you like it, Isaha?”
“……It’s fine. A Weapons Armory—common enough.”
“I suppose so.”
Caroline stood with her arms behind her back, stepping away from Ifros to observe him.
He opened the Weapons Armory and pulled out the Travel Bag he’d stashed at the bottom—worn, but crammed full of his Diary, Pocket Watch, emergency rations, a mirror, and more.
Though Caroline had removed the Diary, this version of him—his Alternate Personality—seemed unaware of the fact.
“I found items here that I liked and put a few in the bag. Look at this, Isaha. Pretty, isn’t it?”
Ifros opened the bag and asked her, and in the moment she stepped forward to determine what among all those things he meant was pretty—
Before she could catch on, both her hands were seized in his iron grip.
And then.
!
Click.
Two chain-linked rings she’d seen in the bag earlier but couldn’t fathom the purpose of were now fastened around her wrists.
Now she understood. They were Handcuffs. And she wasn’t quick enough to escape them.
“……What are you doing? Release these.”
“Just now, Isaha made the expression of someone who had already seen this bag.”
……!
Caroline shoved the bag closed carelessly and stared at him with a helpless expression.
She couldn’t believe what she was seeing.
“And last time, I noticed the bag had been arranged by someone else’s touch. You’d already searched through my things. Of course, I could say your things are mine, and this bag too, but.”
As the man continued in his languid tone, Caroline slowly stepped backward. But Ifros closed the distance between them in just a few strides.
“Release these.”
“And you went to the place I warned you was dangerous today. Without telling me. Were you planning to leave?”
“You left Thread behind. If you weren’t planning to return, you wouldn’t have done that. Just release these and we can talk.”
“It’s just Thread. If we succeed in going all the way, we can discard it then.”
Ifros, his languid face pouting as if hurt, pulled the chain of the Handcuffs with his large hand, dragging Caroline helplessly into his embrace. Against her nose, he breathed out a laugh-tinged butterfly kiss.
“……But I already threw it away before then.”
“I didn’t throw it away. So…….”
“And today there’s someone you love, apparently. Last night too—you were lying next to me while thinking of someone else.”
Caroline couldn’t create distance. She moved as Ifros intended, keeping his grip tight on the handcuff chain, pushing her forward slowly. She couldn’t run. She couldn’t overpower him.
Her mind went numb.
When Caroline came to her senses, she found herself in the Underground Prison. The place where Will had locked her away.
Click.
“!”
Ifros had locked the door behind them.
“…Open it! Ifros, open the door!”
His footsteps receded into the distance. Caroline gripped the bars and stared into the void, then realized it was too early to despair.
‘I’m all right.’
She had her trusty hairpin. It had gotten her out of this place once before, when Will had locked her in.
Though her hands were bound close together, it was no real obstacle. Caroline drew the hairpin from her bag and held it to the lock.
She was pushing it in and working it back and forth when—
“Tsk, Isaha. That’s cheating.”
Like a nightmare given form, a massive hand appeared and snatched the hairpin from her grip.
“…I’ll keep this. Maybe I’ll put it in your hair?”
Ifros had never left at all. He’d been standing back at a distance, watching her. Savoring the sight of Caroline—or rather, Isaha—trapped and helpless.
A chill crept down her spine.
After that, Caroline continued to shout at the dark bars, demanding the door be opened, threatening punishment if it wasn’t opened at once. She tried reasoning with him, insisting he had no cause for suspicion and never would, begging him to just open it and talk. As time wore on, she found herself pleading. Her voice grew hoarse. She pleaded harder.
But Ifros gave no answer.
Caroline realized he had truly left the Basement this time, abandoning her in the cold darkness of this vast space. Alone.
Her entire body began to tremble.
‘He’ll come back. He has to come back.’
The hope that had driven that thought began to fade as time crawled forward. Without a clock, she couldn’t know the exact hour, but she could feel midnight pass. She could sense the deep dark of early morning creeping in.
She drifted in and out of sleep. Each time her eyes opened, she wished this imprisonment was a dream that would vanish in the waking world. It never did.
Eyes closed or open, there was only darkness.
‘What’s going to happen? Am I going to die like this?’
Someone would come looking for her. She wanted to believe that. But in her heart, she knew the odds were slim.
If Ifros became 3 AM Aiden and fell asleep, he wouldn’t come back until he woke. 3 AM Aiden wouldn’t know she was here. He’d simply sleep through the night.
Daytime Aiden never came to the Basement, and neither did the servants. Even if the alternate personality Aiden came down tonight……
But it was already dawn. At least sixteen hours would have to pass.
Would Caroline still be alive by then?
In a space with no water, no food? Her mouth had already gone dry. Her throat burned from the screaming, already parched. Caroline felt despair settling over her like a shroud.
‘This is how I die.’

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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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