A Monodrama for Carolyn August - Chapter 112

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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 112.

The man, who had appeared somewhat frightened, slowly widened his eyes.
The moment he realized the person before him was Caroline, his face—which had tensed only slightly—hardened further.
“…What are you doing here?”
Aiden sounded angry.
Caroline had anticipated his confusion, but not this glacial tone; she wet her lips.
“Couldn’t you find the way out of the Maze?”
“…No.”
“Then?”
Aiden was nearly interrogating her now.
“I turned back on my own, right before the final door.”
“Why?”
That single word carried too many emotions. Caroline struggled to know where to begin.
“…How did you turn back right before the final door? There was only one path forward—no way back.”
“There was a restart function I could use.”
“What did you lose in exchange?”
Before Caroline could answer, Aiden seemed to have already understood. His face went deathly pale.
“Tell me it wasn’t a Heart.”
“It was.”
“…!”
“Did you know what I discovered before I walked through that final door?”
Caroline pushed at the man’s chest—he was practically vibrating with agitation—and forced him down onto the Sofa. He crumpled backward with a helpless thud.
“Stop making that furious face. If you keep it up, I’ll have to get angry too. How did you even come up with such a plausible lie—that you’re an NPC?”
As Caroline planted her hands on her hips and scolded him like a misbehaving student, his expression became worth watching.
“My mind felt strange just before the final gateway. During all this time playing the Game, I never knew why I’d come here in the first place. But when I went back to the Invitation and examined it, I could tell—you have a Self.”
“…”
“You were the one who invited me directly, and yet you played the part of a Game character right to the end.”
“…You should have still gone through.”
He knew she’d seen through everything, yet Aiden spoke with an expression still firmly set.
“What does it matter whether I have a Self or not? You could have returned home safely without completing the Game. That’s what I wanted, and that’s why I helped you with all my strength.”
“But you’re going to disappear without a trace—how can you just leave like that?”
“Why not?”
“Because you’re not just a character. You have a Self, just like me. You’re a living person. How can you go off and live alone like this?”
“You should have gone! I was hoping for it too, so why—”
His voice had risen.
Caroline fell silent, watching Aiden lose his temper for the first time.
It was the first time she’d heard him raise his voice like this, the first time she’d seen his chest heave with ragged breath.
She didn’t know why, but this man cared for her—cared enough to lie and sacrifice more than his own life, cared for her enough that he’d entered the Lake on her behalf and still hadn’t recovered from the illness he’d caught, his face pallid as proof. She realized he cherished her more than he cherished himself.
Clearly she was his fan and he was the great actor, yet somehow their positions had reversed. Aiden had been fighting a solitary battle for her.
Alone, unknown to anyone.
Caroline knew this was far more than ordinary affection.
‘I’m not going to fight with Aiden.’
After all, both of them had ended up here thinking of each other.
Caroline curled her lips into a soft smile, tilted her chin down to look up at him, and reached out to gently touch his cheek.
The man accepted her touch the way someone might welcome something long awaited, perfectly still.
His bowed head cast a shadow over Caroline’s, and she spoke softly into the quiet.
“Aiden.”
“…Yes.”
“You love me, don’t you?”
At her words, the man’s head nodded slowly up and down.
“You did all of this for me. Because you love me.”
“…Yes.”
Despite the faintness of his voice, a strong pressure covered her hand—warm, almost burning.
“I do too. We’re the same.”
Caroline left her hand where he held it and stepped closer.
With her other arm around his waist, she rested her ear against his chest and felt the steady, solid beating of his heart.
“So tell me everything that happened. Not a single detail left out.”
Aiden’s chest swelled for a moment, then deflated.
A small sigh followed, brushing against the top of Caroline’s head.
“It was a very long time ago.”
Aiden’s memory stretched back years.
He’d discovered he possessed a consciousness when the System appeared one day without warning. To be precise, he already knew that his memories fragmented with each dawn and dusk, that something happened every time he transformed. But it was the System that deemed him self-aware—that decided he possessed a consciousness capable of recognizing these facts.
The System had materialized suddenly, opened its window, and revealed what situation he found himself in and that death awaited him because of it.
A Game. It called it a Game.
“What are you talking about? A Game?”
[You must have noticed that your life has been unfolding strangely, haven’t you?]
Denial was useless.
Aiden, who woke at three in the morning, knew full well that the daytime version of himself made decisions and acted on them according to his own whims, decisions that contradicted everything the nocturnal Aiden would have chosen.
Sudden retirements declared. Possessions discarded. Actions taken that made no sense.
He couldn’t help it. He existed only in these hours.
But it had all been the Game’s Scenario. Because he was a Conquest Target.
[I understand. You don’t wish to accept that your life will meet such an ending. But don’t worry, Aiden. A talented Player might appear and save you, mightn’t they?]
The System spoke with what seemed like genuine pity.
And Aiden believed it absolutely. Death or Deletion—from both of those fates, someone would come to save him.
But it was an empty dream.
Aiden soon realized that the System itself believed he could not survive, and that it wanted him to fail.
The Players were indifferent to the existence called Aiden Christian Darvel. They weren’t even truly living here the way he was.
They arrived without warning and vanished within a day.
Aiden could see the Missions repeating endlessly, failing endlessly. No one had ever found the Diary.
‘Must I die like this?’
He was alive here. Did he truly have no control over his own life?
It felt as though all his limbs were bound, as if he were being played with like a game piece. In truth, he was.
If no one could clear the Game, then no one could prove his existence. But would anyone ever know him well enough?
‘My fame and popularity are just settings assigned by the Game anyway.’
Yet at the same time, one face came to his mind.
Bright orange hair, eyes the color of a lake.
Lips parting again and again during pivotal scenes, and toward the end, a small nose flushed red from holding back tears.
‘I’m writing this in the carriage as we leave, Aiden. Your acting today was absolutely insane. This is my eleventh viewing, but I’ve never cried like this before.’
‘I bought this Mini Gerbera at the market held at the Academy because it was so pretty. I’m praying it arrives fresh…!’
‘I commissioned a special piece, and I’m wondering if a Circular Gem would have been better than pearls. Since the popularity of “Oyster Man” has grown so much lately, I’ll be swamped with letters and gifts, but I hope this reaches you, Aiden.’
When he stood on stage and looked at the audience, they all wore identical expressions.
It was as if the same face design was being reused over and over—he could barely remember their faces. Yet through countless performances, Aiden could always see one face alone, always in a corner of the crowd, always watching him.
Caroline.
Caroline August.
The only one who had given him vivid love, the only one whose name he’d learned.
Aiden mimicked a standard letter, careful not to let the System discover him, and sent it to Caroline.
It was the beginning of a nightmare.

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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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