A Monodrama for Carolyn August - Chapter 108

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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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Chapter 108.

After that, Caroline couldn’t catch her breath.
She’d somehow handed the Peppermint Candy to Friedman, hastily tucked the Key into her pocket, and couldn’t even remember how she’d eaten the Lemon Sherbet.
‘So that’s why the Exclamation Mark appeared above the Peppermint Candy box.’
It had been rendered so conspicuously special because it contained a Key.
After finishing her meal, Caroline entered her room and began organizing her bag.
The Yellow Diary and Key, the Red Diary and Key, the Black Diary and Key, green and blue ones too. If she just received the Ring from Aiden at three in the morning, she would finally be able to leave the Mansion.
‘It’s already the thirteenth day since I came to the Mansion.’
Caroline began packing just as she’d brought everything roughly two weeks ago.
Back then, she hadn’t expected to leave the Mansion so soon. She’d had no idea she’d experience something like this while inside it.
Various clothes, cosmetics, merchandise from different games—after placing it all in her bag, Caroline picked up a thick Notebook and hesitated for a moment.
‘Should I leave it here?’
It contained all the secrets of the Mansion, Aiden’s past, and information about each of his personalities. It would be right to leave it behind to properly close this chapter of her time in the Mansion, but…
‘If I leave this behind, all traces of Aiden will disappear.’
From now on, Caroline would live in a world without Aiden.
Only this Notebook—a record of their conversations and time together—would serve as proof that he once existed. And only then would Caroline herself remember him fondly for a long, long time.
After packing her luggage securely, Caroline checked the Dollhouse.
When the Friedman-shaped Aiden and the servants were out of sight, she grabbed her luggage and slipped quickly out of the room. Then she entered Aiden’s Room, situated between the four other rooms.
There was no one left to meet, nothing left to find. So she would simply wait for Aiden at three in the morning in the safety of his room.
Sitting on the plush sofa, waiting for Aiden, Caroline’s eyes grew heavy and she drifted off to sleep.

“…lin.”
Then she heard a faint voice.
“…Caroline.”
Opening her eyes in the darkness, she could see the green-eyed man calling to her quietly. He had just finished his time as Friedman and recently bathed—the scent of fresh soap clung to him.
“Aiden?”
Caroline rubbed her eyes and sat up.
For some reason, she was lying on the plush bed. And Aiden was sitting on the sofa across from it.
‘I was definitely sitting on the sofa.’
At least, I was before I fell asleep.
Caroline quickly pieced together what had happened.
The way he’d called to her so carefully suggested he’d moved her and waited for her to wake. After enough time had passed, he’d had no choice but to wake her.
“Is it already that time?”
“Yes. More importantly, it seems you’ve found Friedman’s Key. I’m relieved.”
Aiden’s expression softened as he noticed her luggage in the corner of the room. He seemed genuinely pleased that she would leave the Mansion so soon. Seeing him like that, something stirred uncomfortably in Caroline’s chest.
He would disappear soon. And he wouldn’t even feel himself disappearing.
No matter that he was an NPC, Caroline couldn’t understand how he could care so deeply for the Player until the very end.
“…Don’t make that face.”
Recognizing her state, Aiden smiled gently and shook his head.
Caroline couldn’t remember what expression she was wearing. Guilt, regret, surprise, sadness—she wished she could show him only good things.
“Now, it’s time for me to give you the last thing you need.”
Aiden deliberately raised his voice and removed the Ring from his left hand. In the dim light, the platinum gleamed smoothly.
As he held it out, Caroline couldn’t take it right away.
“Come now, Caroline. There’s no need to feel any sense of debt. Today is something to celebrate.”
Still, she hesitated.
Then Aiden closed his eyes in understanding, then opened them again—like a cat sending a kiss with a slow blink. Then he gently pulled her hand forward and slipped the Ring onto her left thumb.
“There. Now just do as I said. Break through the Maze, go to the Fountain, and from there open the doors that appear. Since there might still be servants around at this hour, move through the Basement Passage.”
Aiden stood up as though he had no lingering attachments and gathered her luggage, then returned. He gently tugged her hand to help her to her feet.
‘Is this really how we’re saying goodbye, without a trace of hesitation?’
Though she was the Player and Aiden at three in the morning was an NPC.
Despite all the conversations and connection they’d shared, he showed no emotion whatsoever.
‘Maybe it’s only natural. Perhaps I’ve been foolish for growing attached to an NPC and relying on him all this time.’
“I’ll go check if there are any servants outside.”
“Wait.”
A bitter taste spread across her tongue.
But Caroline had no intention of parting ways just yet. So she caught hold of the insufferable man’s sleeve as he kept trying to move faster, unaware of her resolve.
“There is, Aiden. We’ve only known each other for about a week, but it seems I’ve grown far too fond of you in that time. So it’s not that you being an NPC looks inadequate to me—it’s that seeing you move like clockwork, mechanically completing your assigned tasks just to hurry me out the door, it hurts.”
At Caroline’s words, the man’s expression flickered as though he’d taken a blow.
She couldn’t say what it meant, but his green eyes glistened with some unnamed emotion.
Whether the shadow that fell across his face was the sting of conscience, despair, sorrow, or relief—Caroline found she couldn’t read it.
“Still, I need to say what I must.”
And the moment she spoke those words like a declaration, the man before her seemed more alive, more filled with feeling than she had ever known him to be.
More vivid and breathing than when he had tended to her kindly because he was an NPC, or provided for her because he was an NPC—now she saw him in colors more luminous still.
“Meeting you in this desolate Mansion, I’ve been so very happy. I’m grateful for the way you’ve always cared for me gently, for being someone I could always rely on, for solving every problem and danger that came my way.”
Perhaps it’s ridiculous to confess all these things to a Player’s construct, a being incapable of true feeling.
But Caroline felt no shame. Even if he couldn’t fully understand everything she was saying right now.
“I don’t know how much strength I drew from thinking of you whenever things grew hard. Enough that my heart turns toward you more than toward Aiden, the greatest actor I’ve ever seen. So this farewell today feels unbearably precious—even though it’s for my own sake.”
As expected, the man could offer no words in return.
But Caroline didn’t hesitate. She reached for the ribbon of her blouse.
“?”
She felt his questioning gaze, but it didn’t matter. Whenever she dressed for an outing, Caroline would fasten a Pink Brooch—the kind she kept among the ribbons, buttons, and collars of her tops.
A heart-shaped jewel cradled in golden filigree.
And she pressed it into Aiden’s hand.
“What goes must come back in kind. Let’s say we’ve exchanged treasured possessions. I’m sorry we don’t have time for the story behind this Ring, but my grandmother gave me this brooch, and I’ve thought of it as part of my very self since childhood.”
“Caroline, I…”
The man’s hand trembled as he received the gift.
He opened his mouth to speak, but couldn’t finish—his lips only moved wordlessly.
After Aiden slipped the Ring onto her thumb and made certain it wouldn’t slip off, Caroline gathered her things and checked the Dollhouse in her bag. The servants were making their rounds through the Garden at that moment.
“Then I’ll be going now.”
Where such courage came from, she didn’t know.
She couldn’t say, but Caroline spoke those words and rose on her toes. A soft whisper of friction proved that her lips had brushed against his cheek.
“It was lovely to meet you.”
And without hesitation, Caroline turned and stepped out of Aiden’s Room.

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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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