A Monodrama for Carolyn August - Chapter 106

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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 106.
‘Though it doesn’t matter now that I know.’
She was beginning to understand how the Players felt.
For Caroline, Aiden was at stake—something that mattered deeply, something that held her interest. But for them, whether they knew or not made no difference. It was just someone else’s story.
‘I really have become a Player now.’
That feeling had only intensified since she’d decided to quit the Game.
“Even though he’s the most brutal and vicious character I’ve ever controlled, the values he pursues are the most virtuous of any character I’ve worked with… or so I thought. So when Regina died in my place, Friedman wouldn’t have been happy just because he’d saved Regina’s life.”
Aiden had returned to the baking now, picking up a handful of raspberries.
He placed half the raspberries from the basket into a pot, along with sugar and lemon zest, and a servant whisked it away the moment his hands were free.
“It’s surprising to learn something I didn’t notice at all, but I think I understand what you mean. It occurred to me that Friedman is like a child waiting for someone to correct him.”
The moment the words left her lips, Caroline’s skin crawled. It was a description of Friedman, but it sounded like she was talking about James.
She found herself remembering the Mission—comparing their wardrobes as they’d walked toward Aiden’s Room.
These are things she needed to leave behind now, to move forward from. Caroline swallowed hard and continued speaking to his back. He’d turned around by now, cradling a large bowl and whipping cream inside it.
“…So when Regina wrapped Friedman around her finger, I thought he surrendered without even realizing it. Because deep down, that’s what he wanted anyway.”
As Caroline spoke, Aiden added mascarpone, vanilla bean, and honey to the bowl and stirred.
His movements were nothing like a man known for grace—he wielded the whisk like he was gripping someone by the collar, fierce and aggressive. Flecks of cream splattered across his shirt.
‘Is he angry? Is something wrong?’
Caroline watched the man in silence as he failed to answer for a long time.
Turned now so she could see his profile, he was frowning, absorbed in whisking the bowl. His expression and movements were subtly different from the Aiden she knew—not something he’d typically show.
Unlike the Aiden who always had an answer ready, he seemed not to hear her at all. The longer the silence stretched, the more Caroline sensed something was wrong.
……
Then the man finished the cream and set the bowl down on the table with a bang.
He no longer felt like the Aiden she knew—smooth and refined. Caroline watched him scoop up cream with his pinky and slip it into his mouth, and she took a step back.
The man licked the delicious-looking cream, and his brow furrowed.
“Damn, that’s sweet.”
“?”
His scrunched face, his irritated expression, his sharp tone, his growling voice.
Caroline knew who he was. What she couldn’t fathom was why he existed in this form now.
“Friedman?”
“Yeah.”
The man answered readily, without ruffling his hair, without applying the scar—his expression disgruntled but compliant. He looked at her, picked up the bowl of cream he’d made, and approached her.
“Taste it too. Open up.”
He dipped his index finger into the cream and held out the tip toward her.
‘What is this?’
Her mind reeled.
It felt like the Game was playing a trick on her. A man who could slip into character without even makeup.
‘Yesterday, even with makeup, he was daytime Aiden.’
And it was only three in the afternoon—bright daylight—so why was Friedman appearing now? And while she was in the middle of a conversation with daytime Aiden, no less.
“Snap out of it, Isaha.”
The voice she’d heard that day in the water—the one she’d thought she’d misheard—flashed through her mind. If that had been real…
‘What’s happening to Aiden?’
If daytime Aiden’s defenses—so solid as a Conquest Target—were crumbling, and every personality was appearing and disappearing at will… what was happening inside him? Did the three-o’clock-in-the-morning Aiden know about this?
“Ah.”
When she didn’t open her mouth and just stared at him in fear, Friedman spoke again.
Caroline had no choice but to part her lips. Against her better judgment, she grasped his index finger and licked the cream from his fingertip.
Friedman seemed to savor it. He watched leisurely as her lips parted, as his finger touched her mouth, as she rolled the sweetness across her tongue and swallowed it down.
‘This is exactly like that scene.’
Like she’d stepped into the moment when Regina and Friedman, as lovers, were baking together. Aiden wore his usual face but looked down at her with the same arrogant smile Friedman would wear. It was disorienting to see such an expression on a face that had always been gentle and tender.
……
But even after she’d swallowed the cream, he didn’t step away.
‘What is he—?’
Caroline looked up at him in confusion and suddenly realized something fatal. Friedman was recreating the cookie-baking scene with Regina, and in that scene, they ended up kissing.
!
The man watched her quietly.
Then long fingers gently lifted her chin. Caroline instinctively knew what was coming.
‘No!’
She’d already kissed Ephros, and she didn’t want to do the same with Friedman.
Caroline raised her hand, bracing herself to abandon teatime and run. And in that instant, she was about to push him away—
“Wait, wait—those raspberries are burnt!”
Caroline quickly pointed to a spot and cried out.
A Servant approached, carrying the pot of raspberries, wearing that characteristic mechanical smile. He set the pot down atop an elegant trivet placed on the dining table.
‘Please, look anywhere but at me!’
Perhaps Caroline’s silent plea reached him. Fortunately, Friedman’s gaze shifted away from her toward the pot.
“Mm, excellent. It’s cooled perfectly.”
He lifted the pot to inspect its contents and nodded to himself as he murmured.
Then he poured Rose Water from a transparent glass bottle into it, and slowly stirred the mixture with a spoon.
“……The Rose Water must be added only while cooling. If you add it while it’s hot, the fragrance will dissipate at once.”
‘Good heavens.’
Caroline’s mouth fell open at the man’s tone, which had grown gentle again.
‘He just became Friedman out of nowhere, and now he’s already back to himself.’
It was bewildering. His personality shifts were happening too rapidly and too unpredictably. If she hadn’t stopped the game here but continued playing, what on earth would have unfolded?
‘Above all, Aiden doesn’t seem aware of any of it.’
“……The pie baked with weights should be finished any moment now, it seems.”
Aiden had reverted to the daytime version of himself that Caroline had seen so often, and resumed baking with perfect composure.
Caroline assisted him as well. She spread cream on the pie’s base, layered the raspberry compote over it, and decorated the top with raspberries, sugar roses, and pistachios.
Thus a truly elegant dessert emerged before their eyes.
“Please, do try some.”
Aiden carefully cut a slice and offered it to Caroline. The two of them each placed a slice of raspberry pie on their plates, then cautiously cut through with their forks and tasted it.
‘I’ve never tasted anything like this before.’
Moreover, it carried Aiden’s memories within it. Caroline thought she understood why he had wanted to make this dessert today.
‘It’s easy to see why he’d like it.’
Caroline carefully observed Aiden’s face as he ate the pie. Could it taste the same as what he remembered?
“……Yes.”
“How is it?”
“It’s delicious. It tastes exactly like it did back then.”
“I’m so glad!”
It was clearly a good thing, and yet his expression wasn’t bright at all.
Caroline, fork in hand, watched him anxiously as he sank into thought.
“……I wonder what it tasted like when Mother made it for someone else before that? If it’s better than this, what on earth could she have put in it?”
He smiled bitterly. Caroline opened her mouth to speak, but no words came; her lips merely trembled.
She couldn’t say things like making it for him to eat going forward, or that she’d make it for him. She simply couldn’t.
Once she found Friedman’s Key, she would leave, and Aiden would be deleted from this world.
Only then did Caroline truly feel the weight of what she had chosen.

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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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