A Monodrama for Carolyn August - Chapter 25
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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 25.
“Welcome.”
Aiden’s Recreation Room — the place where he’d told the story of .
She’d returned to it now, but what she saw was quite different from before.
“Do you know how to dance, Caroline?”
The Billiard Table, the Chess Board, and other furnishings had been pushed to the edges of the space.
What was already a hall-like room became even more spacious with those pieces cleared away, leaving the center open and perfect for dancing.
Today’s Tea Time, it seemed, was not quite a Tea Time at all.
“No, I’m not very…”
She wore a Green Outfit with a subtle, refined air.
The man standing by the window was graceful yet subtly defiant in bearing. He withdrew his hand from the curtain with a faint smile, having glanced outside.
“I’d predicted the weather might turn.”
Unlike the clear brightness of moments before,
the sky had grown overcast.
Thin streaks of rain marked the windowpane like exclamation points.
“It’s beginning to rain.”
“…Yes, it is.”
“Tea has been prepared. Do drink.”
Before where he stood rose a tall, round side table.
Caroline picked up the steaming cup resting upon it and took a careful sip.
Meanwhile, the man crossed the hall and came to a stop on the far side.
Click. Click.
A sound like something being inserted and adjusted,
then a creak. A squeak.
An eerie noise emerged.
“?”
‘What is this?’
Caroline furrowed her brow in bewilderment.
Aiden stepped back with his hands clasped behind him.
At the same moment, music filled the room. Now Caroline understood that what Aiden had touched was a Gramophone.
Whether the Gramophone was old, or whether the rain had affected its condition, crackling static interspersed the melody and blended with the patter of rain.
Yet Caroline recognized the music at once.
A melody that was both faintly eerie and antique.
“This is… the music from the dance scene between Will and Jane, isn’t it?”
“How did you know?”
The man opposite her raised both hands to his chest with an expression of amazement.
“I’ve seen it many times. .”
Today’s performance, it seemed, was the play — where the clown Will and detective Jane became entangled.
“It appears you’ve grown quite fond of that play.”
“That too, but I’m a fan of yours, Aiden.”
Caroline confessed plainly to the man whose face registered amazement.
“You know, I’m someone who watches your performances very diligently. I even mentioned it when you were surprised by my knowledge of .”
Contrary to what she’d expected — a nod of agreement — his face grew distant.
More precisely, it seemed he hadn’t understood what she was saying.
“Ah, was I?”
‘Was I?’
She felt a chill of unease.
‘How could he forget that?’
The two of them had continued their conversation while playing Chess,
and during that time, hadn’t Aiden confessed his regret about his own unusual childhood?
“Do you remember when I asked you about your youth?”
“…”
Aiden blinked slowly, his eyes still.
It was then that Caroline understood.
What stood before her was a Conquest Target in the game.
Which meant he could only remember what he was meant to do — nothing else remained in his memory.
He would offer hints to Caroline and move in response to her reactions,
but he could not retain their conversations.
“You said you’d never danced before.”
Now he was even skipping over dialogue entirely.
Caroline decided to give up.
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Then let me teach you. Will you find the courage to try?”
Aiden walked slowly to the center of the hall-shaped room and extended his hand to her.
A bitter taste lingered in her mouth, yet his bearing was like a masterwork painting. So Caroline stepped toward him and took his hand.
Today, unusually, he wore not simple summer casual clothes, but a formal evening coat.
And Aiden Dearvel dressed in it was dazzlingly beautiful.
“Take my hand. Place your other hand between my shoulder and chest.”
She had to keep her posture upright, yet not appear stiff or rigid.
It was surprisingly difficult.
Until now, Caroline had rarely had the opportunity to dance.
The Academy had offered dance lessons, but each time she’d watch the students who’d practiced beforehand and felt intimidated, hanging back instead.
She knew only the theory—a type of dancer’s curse.
But thanks to Aiden, Caroline could move cleanly and lightly. He was skilled, affectionate, and gentle.
A line of dialogue she’d heard somewhere brushed through her mind.
‘A truly great dance teacher can make even a beginner move like a swan.’
And then the tea time began.
“It’s not difficult, is it? Dancing like this brings to mind the events from the Campbell Cruise.”
“Now that you mention it, this space does resemble the recreation room on the cruise.”
“You have a keen eye! I used it as a reference when designing the space.”
The events from the Campbell Cruise was, quite literally, a play depicting the story unfolding aboard the cruise.
So every location in the play was aboard the cruise.
The recreation room, the cabins, the dining hall…
‘Wait…?’
“Are there other spaces in the mansion designed after the cruise as well?”
The image of Aiden she’d seen on her first day here brushed across her memory.
And the 3rd Floor East Room had also looked strangely like a cabin.
If that were true, then the Aiden she’d seen back then was…
“Yes, that’s correct. The 3rd Floor East Room was modeled after the second-class cabin where Will stays.”
‘I see.’
What she had seen was Will.
More precisely, Will the clown from outside the circus.
The protagonist, the clown Will, was a ridiculous man dressed in a Clown Hat and Clown Outfit inside the circus.
But outside the circus, he wore a Blue Formal Coat and was an attractive, handsome man.
Yet because of his status as a clown, he was regarded merely as entertainment.
Even on the cruise to which he’d been invited, there existed an insurmountable, shameful wall between him and the nobility who watched him.
‘So he began killing people on the cruise.’
And pursuing him was Jane, playing the role of a detective girl.
“Oh! I’m so sorry!”
Caroline, lost in thought, cried out and stopped.
She’d stepped on Aiden’s foot as he led her with ease, but he made no sound and pretended not to notice.
“It’s fine.”
“Still…”
“Actually, it reminds me of Jane. When the two of them danced, didn’t Jane step on Will’s foot?”
The man redirected the conversation gracefully.
Rather than blaming Caroline, he refocused on the play itself.
Caroline flushed with embarrassment, her ears turning red.
“…That was intentional, though. She was checking whether the culprit who injured his foot last night was Will. Mine was an accident.”
“If there’s anything about me that displeases you, please tell me directly, Caroline.”
“There’s nothing like that!”
Caroline raised her voice at the teasing Aiden, looking up at him with a playful tone.
“And Will gritted his teeth and made no sound at all.”
“Just like you’re doing now?”
At Caroline’s question, the actor’s eyes widened and he laughed heartily.
The two of them were slowly turning across the hall.
As the rain outside grew heavier, their steps became increasingly familiar.
“But do you know, Caroline? In fact, I once had my injured foot stepped on during a performance, truly like Will.”
“When?”
It was something she had no idea about.
Neither that he’d injured his foot during a performance, nor that he’d really had it stepped on during an act.
“My partner didn’t know any better, so I simply followed the script and stepped on him. That’s how I managed to deliver such authentic acting.”
Jane had been a witness to Will’s second murder.
She’d hurled a small Knife at the man disappearing down the corridor, and it had lodged perfectly in his instep.
The arrogant aristocrats had forced her, a commoner, to dance alongside Will, a man of low station.
It was the moment Jane had seized to confirm her suspicions.
“However did you manage to hurt yourself?”
“I mistepped while acting out an escape scene. That’s how I ended up badly bruising my instep.”
“Good heavens!”
Caroline winced as if she herself had been the one injured.
“Come to think of it, I believe I was quite badly hurt at the time. I suppose it’s because there were so many scenes requiring violent choreography.”
“Hurt, you say?”
How could anything happen to someone so precious?
Caroline started in alarm and instinctively seized his hand to examine it.
It was an anxious gesture—an old wound wouldn’t leave a mark, surely—yet she couldn’t help herself.
“Besides your foot, where else? Were you badly hurt? You shouldn’t have gotten hurt at all…….”
“It’s fine now. There’s no scar.”
“……I thought the world was ending.”
He gazed at her with mild surprise as tears welled up, then smiled softly and patted her shoulder.
“It was only difficult at the time, that’s all.”
“I read in the papers that playing a murderer was exhausting. I had no idea it was that taxing…….”
Caroline bit her lip, overcome with sympathy.
“All the same, playing Will was fresh and delightful. It truly was a rare character to portray. And somehow, it’s still an invaluable experience for my craft.”
“How so?”
“I can still Juggle six balls, you see.”
Juggle?
Caroline hesitated, uncertain whether she should laugh.
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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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