A Monodrama for Carolyn August - Chapter 38

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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 38.
Happy.
‘I feel like I’m floating away!’
The heaviness that had settled over her only moments before was lifting now, buoyant and light.
All thanks to Anna, her dearest friend.
And now Caroline had to share this joy with Aiden too.
‘I did tell him I’d be hosting Tea Time.’
Caroline gazed at the cake before her and, beyond it, at the servant approaching with a tray.
The teapot holding chilled tea, and the delicate teacups.
Once she’d spent time with him and lifted whatever displeasure weighed on Aiden’s shoulders,
‘Oh, that’s right. The letter! Actually, I sent you a letter before this birthday greeting, and since I had it sent express, it might arrive faster than this one or at the same time.’
[Reward: Anna’s Confiscated Letter]
[Second. Letters are the only means of communication available to you. They are also a channel through which useful information reaches you. The servants review all mail that enters the Mansion, and during this process, letters that could prove helpful are typically destroyed. Please wait for the Postman’s visit to the Mansion and protect the letters he brings.]
Anna’s letter must have arrived together with the express letter sent later.
But it seemed the servant who received it from the Postman had confiscated it after reading its contents.
‘It must contain information that’s quite important.’
Caroline watched the servant crossing the Garden with the tray, and beyond him, the man leaning against the Mansion door.
Aiden, his caramel hair glinting in the sunlight.
He looked as exhausted as someone who had endured the most grueling torture.
‘He looks so weary.’
Caroline stopped moving her hands and fixed her gaze on him.
Perhaps sensing her attention.
Aiden, who had been ruffling his hair with a troubled expression, lifted his head and met her eyes.
Only then did he seem to remember that he had promised to attend Tea Time.
His expression filled with guilt, he straightened himself and began walking toward the parasol at the center of the Garden.
“I apologize, Caroline. I nearly forgot. The Tea Time….”
“It’s quite all right. There’s no need to apologize.”
Aiden was the one whose afternoon had been disrupted by an uninvited visitor—why should he be the one apologizing?
Caroline had gained information for her quest during all this, and even if she’d suffered some setback, it was the fault of the Estate Executor.
“Forget about the Tea Time. Instead…….”
Caroline had Aiden sit in the chair across from her.
She set a teacup before him and poured the tea.
“Today’s Tea Time will be my invitation to you.”
“You mean you’re inviting me, Caroline?”
Though Aiden looked taken aback, he readily accepted her words.
He, who had always played the role of host within the Mansion and always had to provide information.
‘He must have wanted this kind of rest all along.’
Caroline retrieved the plate with the cake from inside the box.
As she placed it between herself and Aiden, she saw his eyes widen.
“That’s a splendid cake. What’s the occasion?”
“Well, today is actually my birthday.”
Caroline smiled bashfully.
“A friend from outside the Mansion sent me the cake and a letter. I was thinking of having a quiet birthday party here under the parasol, and then you arrived.”
Caroline adjusted the height of the parasol so the sun, now slightly lower than before, wouldn’t glare in Aiden’s eyes.
“I’d like to invite you. Will you join me as my guest?”
When she smiled playfully, Aiden’s expression turned momentarily blank.
“……I’d be delighted.”
And he too drew his lips into a gentle smile.
The displeasure from before had visibly faded, replaced by a look of ease.
“I’ll congratulate you as heartily as any crowd of guests could.”
“Thank you.”
She’d known the answer would be positive since it was a mission objective.
But hearing his congratulations felt genuinely warm, and Caroline found herself blushing.
To think that she, not he, was the one receiving birthday wishes from an actor she admired.
Embarrassed, she fixed her gaze on the cake and reached for the candles and matchsticks.
“!”
A large hand touched hers.
“The birthday person should sit and wait while we prepare. Your guest has come to do all the work.”
Long fingers gently took the cake knife, candles, and matchsticks from her hand.
He placed a large heart-shaped candle in the middle section of the cake, where there were no cherries.
With practiced ease, he struck a matchstick.
Snap!
A small but brilliant flame flickered to life.
“And, um.”
But instead of bringing the match to the candle, he hesitated.
“Do you make a wish before lighting the candle?”
“?”
Caroline’s eyes widened at the unexpected question.
Light the candle, make a wish, blow it out—he didn’t know this simple ritual.
“……I’m embarrassed to say it, but I’ve rarely celebrated anyone’s birthday, or been celebrated myself.”
Caroline saw a new expression cross Aiden’s face.
An awkwardness laid bare.
“But it seems wonderful. I’m grateful to be invited to just the two of us like this, to have this kind of experience.”
He smiled with genuine pleasure.
But Caroline couldn’t bring herself to smile the same way.
“It’s been that long since your birthday was celebrated?”
That couldn’t be right.
Caroline had sent him gifts and letters every year on his birthday.
“Strictly speaking, I do receive congratulations from many people on my birthday, but I’ve never had time set aside just for me like this, within the Mansion.”
Caroline bit her lip.
Never celebrated in the Mansion—that was because of Michelle and Roman.
To Michelle, Aiden was a useful trophy, but he was also the starting point of her rift with Roman.
Despite his fame as an acclaimed actor, his birthdays went uncelebrated in the Mansion.
He’d never blown out candles on a grand cake.
He’d come to think it troublesome and meaningless.
‘This breaks my heart.’
It wasn’t simply that his birthday had been neglected.
It was that his attitude toward birthdays, the reason Michelle hadn’t celebrated her son’s—
It all connected to how Aiden treated himself.
Caroline felt a surge of emotion rise in her chest.
“I know your birthday. December 8th. Right in the middle of winter.”
Aiden looked at her in surprise.
“I told you. It’s a fan’s duty.”
Of course, he often forgot she was his devoted fan.
Caroline wanted to show him that someone valued his birthday.
That someone genuinely celebrated the day he was born.
So she struck another matchstick and relit the candle that had already gone out.
“Do you remember when you last celebrated a birthday?”
“……”
He fell into deep thought.
Caroline waited for a long time, but he couldn’t find an answer.
“I don’t recall.”
“Then let’s celebrate all your past birthdays today. Your real birthday is still far away, and it’s summer now. Before your actual birthday comes this winter, let’s celebrate all the ones that have passed and move forward.”
It sounded a bit absurd.
‘I know.’
She knew it made no sense—celebrating past birthdays on a random day that wasn’t even her own birthday.
But Caroline wanted him to have the memory of standing in the Mansion, holding a cake, being celebrated for his birthday.
So that when his real birthday came this winter, he could enjoy it.
So that twenty days from now, he could survive, and afterward live happily.
“……But this is your birthday, isn’t it?”
He looked flustered, his fingers trembling slightly.
“You let the day you were born pass without celebration, yet you’re telling me today belongs to me. I’m grateful.”
Caroline pushed the cake closer to him.
“Today is special. It’s your birthday too. A happy day for us together. So come on, Aiden.”
Caroline took both his hands and clasped them together.
“Close your eyes and make a wish.”

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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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