A Monodrama for Carolyn August - Chapter 34

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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 34.
Caroline pulled it out swiftly.
‘There it is.’
It was a thick book with a lovely cover of red velvet, slightly worn but still striking.
What caught her attention was the lock fastened to its spine.
“So that’s why it felt cold.”
A square lock was attached to the top edge of the book where the pages opened.
A key inserted horizontally alongside it would release the mechanism and open it.
‘Where’s the key?’
Was it in this room at all?
If it was, the bag would signal her to it.
With that thought, Caroline slipped the book into her bag and surveyed the room once more.
‘The bag didn’t tremble.’
Was this all she could find in the room?
Caroline gazed around with a sense of regret.
‘I need to leave now.’
Thanks to Aiden posing as Will, she’d bought herself some time.
But the servant could reappear at any moment.
Besides, Jane would only stay a short while in the room after Will left before departing herself.
Lingering here too long risked arousing his suspicion, and Heart could vanish.
So Caroline slipped carefully back to her own room.
Once there, she tried various approaches to open the book, but without the key, it remained sealed.
“Hmm, I suppose I’ll just have to leave it as is.”
She turned the book this way and that, sighing.
Then, lifting it high to examine the bottom, she spotted something.
Small golden letters were etched there.
Will.
‘Will?’
Perhaps because it had been in Will’s room.
Or perhaps because it concerned Will.
For whatever reason, Caroline had uncovered a crucial fact.
“Every character has one of these books.”
And each one must have its own corresponding key.
Caroline opened her notebook where she’d organized everything and jotted down this new discovery.
Then she unfolded the wrinkled paper envelope she’d been clutching desperately earlier.
Inside was,
“An Agreement Document?”
Caroline flipped through several pages that resembled a contract, dense with clause after clause.
“Party A, Count Roman, shall grant the Dearvel Estate to Party B, Michelle Bellota Dearvel.”
‘Who is Count Roman?’
But there was more to notice.
Where it said “Dearvel Estate,” the name “Dearvel” before the word “Estate” wasn’t printed text.
It was handwritten.
“The Dearvel Estate is hereby declared to have become the property of the Dearvel Family through auction.”
A foul taste rose in her mouth.
Why disguise a gift from someone as an auction purchase? What possible reason could there be?
“Authority over all appurtenances of the Dearvel Estate—its gardens, servants, sculptures, paintings, and tapestries—is vested solely in the Dearvel Family.”
Below that were listed the artworks and servants housed in the estate.
Hundreds of pieces of art, dozens of servants.
‘So not everything Aiden currently owns was purchased by him.’
Yet there was no mention of jewels.
“There were certainly far more than this.”
In other words, the countless treasures now in Michelle’s room had been brought in after the estate’s purchase.
‘The servants too have changed considerably.’
Currently, the estate had at most a dozen servants.
“Michelle Bellota Dearvel and Aiden Christian Dearvel shall henceforth refrain from any contact with members of the Roman Family, including Malentine Idaeus Roman.”
Not only contact, but any communication or even mention of them was forbidden. And further,
“Aiden Christian Dearvel shall make no mention of his father.”
‘Why?’
“Violation of any of the above terms shall result in immediate forfeiture of the estate and payment of twenty times the original compensation amount.”
Malentine Ideus Roman, a viscount of the Roman Family.
Whoever he was, one thing was certain: he and Michelle shared no bond of affection.
They owed a debt to Michelle and Aiden.
It clearly had something to do with Aiden’s father.
Michelle had suffered something, lost the man who was to become her husband, and received the estate as compensation.
‘What on earth did he do?’
As Caroline lowered her gaze with that thought, she noticed the numbers were wrong and furrowed her brow.
The date written in the Agreement Document didn’t match.
‘Did I read it wrong?’
She checked again, but the date both Viscount Roman and Michelle had signed the Agreement Document was before Aiden was born.
Yet the Agreement Document explicitly named Aiden as an existing person.
‘Aiden’s birthday is August thirteenth.’
And the document was dated May twenty-seventh.
Since the year matched Aiden’s birth year, it seemed Michelle had agreed while pregnant with him.
‘Did she lose her husband while carrying his child?’
Then she’d conceived before marriage.
It was heartbreaking.
“To have loved like that.”
So much that she still kept a man’s face on her ceiling.
Caroline’s heart ached, sensing the tragedy that had befallen them.
She organized all the newly discovered facts in her notes.
Aiden became so absorbed in performance that he sometimes forgot himself and became his role.
And for that reason, he contemplated his own death.
Michelle had lost the man she was meant to marry while carrying his child.
Viscount Roman was involved in that process.
“I learned so much today.”
From exploring the maze to meeting both the jester and Will the presenter.
“Ah, with Aiden, I suppose I’ll at least avoid the servants’ pursuit.”
After recording everything, Caroline collapsed onto her bed, exhausted.
Before pulling the cord to extinguish the light.
In her line of sight lay the back cover of the Picture Book she’d taken from the box today and left in one corner of her room.
‘It was Delia and Toby, wasn’t it.’
She couldn’t fathom why it suddenly caught her eye.
On the back cover of the Picture Book was a spirited boy in a hat and suspenders leading the way, with a small girl holding his hand following behind.
A determined pair of siblings.
“We can’t starve. Not me, not my sister.”
Perhaps because the names were the same.
Thinking of the boy who’d suddenly come to mind and his words.
Caroline fell asleep in an instant.
It was past two in the morning.
* * *
Whenever Aiden swept through the estate after sunset, the cleanup always fell to him.
Today too, the man moved through six rooms, searching for corners that needed tidying.
He came to a halt before Will’s room on the Second Floor.
From the jester’s costume and hat being disturbed, it was clear they’d discussed Will today.
He must have moved as Will the presenter as well, yet this room seemed scarcely touched.
The cage, the parrot’s perch, the club, the bookshelf’s position.
As for the bookshelf, even if Will had made a mess here, there’d be no reason for him to touch it.
Thinking thus, he was about to turn and leave.
“……!”
He saw the empty space.
The space where the Red Velvet Book should have been shelved.
He approached as if entranced.
His heart pounded.
His hands trembled so violently he had to grasp them together.
Was this salvation?
Fear and exhilaration spread through him, tingling down his spine.
He slowly caressed the space where the locked book had been.
He couldn’t believe it.
He closed his eyes slowly, wishing the other side well.
The performance seemed about to begin.
Or perhaps it already had.

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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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