A Monodrama for Carolyn August - Chapter 58

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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 58.
Breakfast wound down in lukewarm silence.
“Hmm.”
Caroline traced the corner of her mouth thoughtfully.
Aiden had said he didn’t know where the diary and key were.
‘So my job now is to find them. They must be hidden somewhere in the Mansion.’
‘It shouldn’t be too difficult.’
After all, she’d found Will’s diary in the room modeled after the Campbell Cruise Set.
The remaining three diaries should turn up as she searched through the Mansion.
So Caroline set out eagerly. The first place she visited was the First Floor, a recreation of the set from “What Sylvia Left Behind.”
A space crammed entirely with machinery parts and scrap metal samples—so full of things that looked like they’d never actually be used. She couldn’t imagine finding a book or key among them.
But Caroline rummaged through them anyway. She shifted the heavy equipment aside, used a Screwdriver to pry open the chests of several samples and inspect what lay beneath.
‘Nothing.’
A velvet diary didn’t belong in a place like this anyway, and she found not a trace of one. Same with the key.
Next, Caroline made her way to another Set room on the First Floor, a recreation of “A Quiet Graduation.”
“Wow.”
As always, wonder escaped her lips the moment she approached the threshold.
Deep forest-green wallpaper, solid-wood desk and shelving, plush cushioned sofas and the table between them.
This was the Principal’s Office where Robelian worked.
As was always the case when entering a room modeled after a theatrical set, stepping into this recreation of Robelian’s office transported her to an entirely different place.
She half expected an actor in a beige trench coat to emerge at any moment, smiling warmly and waving.
She’d discovered this room before completing her circuit of the Mansion, but since no Mission Exclamation Mark appeared, she’d looked around briefly and left.
‘But today I need to find the diary.’
Of course, it seemed unlikely that James’s diary would be hidden in a space inspired by Robelian.
But it could be anywhere in this Mansion, couldn’t it?
Caroline began a methodical search.
First, Robelian’s desk.
As she pulled open a drawer, the contents rattled softly.
The first compartment was filled entirely with pens. Luxurious writing instruments crowded it so densely the bottom barely showed.
“Wow.”
Caroline let out a gasp of admiration.
‘They thought of every detail.’
In the story, Robelian was a collector with a passion for pens of all kinds. He hoarded beautiful ones he’d selected personally, dreaming of presenting them to his favored students.
And he gives James a pen three times: on the first day James opens his heart, after James takes his first school exam, and during the quiet graduation ceremony where James sits silent, too overwhelmed to speak.
‘I have all three.’
Though they’re at home, not brought along to the Mansion.
The three pens were later sold as Merchandise, and Caroline had collected several of each. All three had different designs, and with each pen Robelian gave later, they grew progressively more beautiful.
‘The last Fountain Pen was Robelian’s most treasured.’
Deep green combined with gold, its cap adorned with an exquisite engraved grapevine motif—it was more a work of art than a writing instrument.
Though the merchandise wasn’t made of real gold, within the story it was said to be so rare it was worth a bar of gold itself.
‘Aiden isn’t Robelian, and there was no real reason for him to ever open it, yet he gathered even this.’
Caroline continued exploring the drawer in wonder. Then it happened.
“!”
The bag at the edge of her vision began to dance. That meant there was something important in this drawer.
‘What is it?’
Caroline pressed herself closer, nearly burying her face in the drawer to find the special item. A continuous stream of exclamations spilled from her lips.
“Wow, these are actually here too?”
Remarkably, even the merchandise versions of the Fountain Pens were there. Caroline’s tongue practically fell out when she saw eight copies of the first pen Robelian gave, and five of the second.
And the third pen—
“Huh? It’s not here?”
It had to be. Among the heap of roughly fifty pens, Caroline searched with a growing sense of urgency.
As she felt through the drawer, her fingers caught the familiar raised grapevine pattern.
When she pulled it out and held it, she understood her own desperation—her instincts told her this was the only object her bag would mark as special.
And when she placed the pen inside, Caroline’s intuition proved correct. The bag stopped dancing.
‘Was it meant to be used when dealing with James?’
If she’d known, she would have brought it from home.
Caroline resumed her search with a regretful expression. She opened the next drawer, then the one after that, but the bag remained still.
No matter how thoroughly she looked, nothing resembling a diary or a key appeared.
The shelves and the drawers on the opposite side yielded nothing either. She found no velvet-bound book or anything with a metal lock.
‘Though I have seen books with hollowed-out insides before.’
Having heard something about it from somewhere, Caroline sat down on the floor and began opening every book in sight.
Open, close, reshelve. She tried this with over a hundred books, but came up empty.
‘Is there really nothing here at all?’
“Cough. Cough.”
She waved away the dust swirling through the air, and resignation washed over her. As she turned to leave the room, she noticed a servant standing politely by the door.
“Miss Caroline August, it is time for tea. The master is waiting for you.”
Today’s tea service was to be held by the lake.
Caroline dressed in a modestly long one-piece suit suited to the breezy shoreline and stepped out of the Mansion.
A crystalline blue lake where the sunlight danced and shimmered, and before it, a picnic table.
Two modest wooden chairs, a basket filled with refreshments and drinks, and a wide striped parasol spread over everything to protect it from spoilage.
In that bright sunshine, Aiden stood with his hands clasped behind his back, wearing a light summer shirt.
“Aiden!”
At Caroline’s call, Aiden turned around.
He draped an affectionate smile across his weary face and guided her to one of the small wooden chairs by the lakeside.
‘No wonder he’s exhausted.’
If the three o’clock Aiden was one of his personas, then he never slept until that hour.
If he fell asleep only after three in the morning and then washed and prepared himself before breakfast at nine—the accumulated fatigue must have been staggering.
‘How long has he been doing this?’
At this rate, he was running on willpower alone.
Watching Aiden pretend to be fine both on stage and inside the Mansion, Caroline felt a pang in her chest.
‘Why does he push himself so hard like that? It’s heartbreaking.’
All of this must stem from his dedication to his craft. Though she admired his performances, Caroline couldn’t help but feel deep pity for him.
“…Miss Caroline?”
Ah.
Here she was, presented with tea time and Aiden, yet her mind was elsewhere.
Caroline shook her head gently and looked at the daytime Aiden as he settled into the chair beside her.
“The weather is so lovely that I wanted to have a picnic. I believe we’ve had tea here once before—do you remember?”
Caroline nodded.
“Of course. I notice you’ve added a parasol since then.”
“Yes, indeed. Since the lake is windy, the heat is manageable, but the sun is too strong to bear.”
With that, Aiden reached toward the picnic basket. He set down a chilled glass on the small folding table between their chairs.
Dark sweet wine was poured into both glasses, releasing a tart fragrance.
“The wind is good, so I considered flying a kite, but the sun is too intense at this hour—I don’t think it would work.”
A kite?
At his words, Caroline noticed something jutting out behind the picnic basket—a diamond-shaped form where the drinks and glasses had been set aside.
The lavender thing was wrapped snugly in thick fabric.
‘Is this one of the Oyster Man scenes, then?’
At the last picnic, with the mat and the lakeside setting, she’d thought of Ipros and Isaha watching the sunset together.
But this second picnic didn’t seem to center on that. Rather, when she heard “kite,” Caroline could picture Regina and Friedman flying one together on a beach.
“Since I mentioned flying a kite, I wonder if Miss Caroline could guess which production we’re referencing?”
“?”
As if he’d read her mind, his words made Caroline’s eyes widen as she looked at Aiden.

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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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