A Monodrama for Carolyn August - Chapter 15

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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 15.
Click.
Caroline closed the empty mailbox with a disappointed expression.
‘Nothing at all.’
She wandered outside the Mansion searching for the yellow Exclamation Mark Indicator she’d spotted earlier, but even after combing through the Garden and Lakeside, the indicator never appeared.
‘Does it only show up inside the Mansion?’
To uncover the complete Rules, she’d need to locate all the places where the exclamation marks appeared.
Setting aside her disappointment, Caroline moved toward the dinner table as the sun bled into the sky like grapefruit, staining it crimson and gold.
“Thank you for this meal.”
At the long table that had once seated eight Players, only Aiden and Caroline sat facing each other.
Yet still, the table groaned beneath an abundance of dishes.
As Caroline filled her hunger from wandering the Mansion, she considered what to ask Aiden.
‘I only had three questions.’
The first was whether anyone else lived in this Mansion.
Aiden had never introduced anyone else. No other family members besides his mother were known to exist, so it was understood that he alone inhabited the Mansion.
“I’ve explored the Mansion today—it’s truly vast. Doesn’t living here alone make you feel lonely?”
It was a broad question meant to elicit whether Aiden was a twin and who the child was that Caroline had seen on the rainy day.
She expected a denial.
“It is certainly lonely. Since my mother left, I find this Mansion hollow living only by myself.”
Yet he insisted he was alone.
“You have no relatives you keep in touch with? No brothers or sisters? Nieces or nephews, perhaps…….”
Caroline grasped at straws in her confusion, but Aiden shook his head.
“I’m an only child. I don’t know any relatives by face. If I did, this Mansion would be far more lively……. I regret it. Do you have many relatives, Caroline?”
He replied in a mechanical tone devoid of visible emotion, turning the question back to her.
“Both my parents had many siblings, I believe, but the house is far away, so I haven’t seen much of my relatives’ faces.”
“I see.”
Aiden moved his fork and knife with a subtle smile.
Like the Players she’d observed before, his movements were unnatural.
Three knife cuts and one fork motion in perfect rhythm, repeating the same sequence on the same food every time she glanced away.
‘Watching him like this, he really is just a game character.’
She smiled bitterly and fell into thought.
There was no way to tell through conversation whether Aiden truly had no memory of when he performed the Character Role-play, or whether he was actually someone else entirely—someone who shouldn’t be revealed.
‘Maybe I should run an experiment.’
After finishing her meal, Caroline pretended to fix her makeup and applied Lipstick from her pocket.
She tapped her lips with her finger, smudging some onto her fingertip.
“Aiden, one moment. I think I have something on me.”
She worried the servants might stop her, but no such thing occurred.
Caroline rose and strode toward Aiden, standing before him.
“Would you turn your head slightly to the right?”
Then she rubbed her lipstick-stained fingertip on the inside of his ear—a spot others would barely see and he couldn’t easily check.
“Ah, it’s gone now. Lucky.”
Her acting was crude, but Aiden and the servants seemed barely to notice.
Satisfied, Caroline returned to her seat.
‘Aiden’s alternate persona might appear today as well.’
She saw it once a day, though encountering it remained difficult.
‘If he shows up with the mark smudged on, I’ll know for certain.’
And it didn’t take long for Caroline to confirm this.
* * *
‘What? Again?’
Caroline stopped in her tracks, eyes widening as she stared at the figure before her.
‘It’s James again, isn’t it?’
Unwilling to abandon her obsession with the yellow Exclamation Mark Indicator, she’d been exploring the Second Floor on the opposite side of her room.
There stood another man in James’s guise.
She flinched at the sight and began to retreat.
‘But I’m not afraid anymore.’
[Fifth. If Aiden Dearvel, whom you encounter in the Mansion, seems greatly different from his usual state, do not be alarmed. Do not react to his words. Call out Aiden Dearvel’s name and tell him to come to his senses and return to reality. He will soon return to normal.]
Hadn’t the Rules already instructed her how to handle him?
Caroline moved slowly toward him.
She was checking whether the Lipstick she’d left behind his ear remained, when the Aiden wearing James’s face spoke first.
“You didn’t leave.”
“?”
It was an unexpected thing to say.
Caroline stared up at Aiden with wide eyes.
“I thought you’d start finding this place difficult soon enough.”
‘Oh!’
Only then did Caroline understand the situation.
‘This is actual stage dialogue.’
Robelian—the new substitute teacher who’d joined the disreputable school where James taught, looking as fragile as a hothouse flower.
He, who harbored genuine love for the children, is ridiculed for being ensnared by illusions.
And the climax of that ridicule was this scene: James confronting Robelian and mocking him with a warning.
“Mm.”
Caroline didn’t answer, simply remained still.
‘I want to see behind his ear.’
“You’d do better to leave before you fail spectacularly. Lingering half-heartedly will only get you hurt.”
It was dialogue straight from the original work that Caroline knew. She nodded quietly.
Robelian, hearing this, smiles faintly and nods in return. And James, thrown by this unexpected reaction, grows flustered, spitting out the next line.
‘Ah, so you want to be known as a rich teacher trying to reform the children at a disreputable school?’
But contrary to what Caroline expected, Aiden said nothing more.
‘Huh?’
There should be dialogue that follows.
‘Is the acting practice over? Ah—no scene partner?’
Caroline didn’t know how actors usually practiced their craft, but she decided to accept that explanation.
Instead, she moved behind Aiden and examined his ear.
“Hm?”
The pink stain was still there.
‘It’s Aiden. He’s the same person, doing Character Role-play and acting it out.’
He’d definitely lied.
‘Or maybe it wasn’t a lie.’
If he needed to be reminded that he was Aiden, as per the fifth rule, then he might be experiencing some kind of psychological episode.
‘In any case, I need to follow the rules now.’
It was such a masterful performance it felt like she genuinely had a scene partner.
Grateful for his masterful acting, even in such a simple exercise, Caroline opened her mouth.
“Well done, Aiden.”
“?”
She saw his eyebrows twitch slightly as they rose.
Focused on watching his expression change, Caroline failed to notice the indicator that appeared in the upper right.
[▲]
“What do you mean by that.”
The irritable response was perhaps natural.
Caroline spoke again, composed.
“Now come back to reality.”
[▲▲]
She realized something was wrong when Aiden’s face before her turned sinister.
In those beautiful green eyes, there was unmistakable killing intent.
For a moment, time seemed to slow.
Caroline saw the face of the man looking at her with chilling coldness, and at the same time heard her own voice coming slowly as if from a distance.
“Come to your senses, Aiden.”
[▲▲▲]
Only after she finished speaking did she notice the three red markers in the upper right.
The moment her gaze touched them, they began flashing wildly.
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The moment she felt it—that choking pressure rising all the way to her throat.
The entire world turned white.
When Caroline came to, she was sprawled on the Corridor floor.
Through her flickering vision, she could make out the ceiling and a familiar face.
A young boy with a worn Hat turned backward. He was staring down at her with the blank expression of someone peering into the depths of a tunnel, searching for what lay within.
“Ah, what the….”
Caroline rasped out a complaint and froze mid-rise.
Something in her field of vision looked wrong.
The number of hearts in the upper right corner had changed.
[♥♥]
The three red hearts that had been there before were gone—reduced to two.

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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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