A Monodrama for Carolyn August - Chapter 8

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Episode 8.
The gentle, affectionate melody that had filled the air was rendered decidedly eerie by the sound of the music box.
Caroline opened the door leading downstairs and descended the leather-covered brown staircase, recalling the play as she went.
Had someone already been inside before she boarded the yacht?
Curiosity brimming, she opened the door and her eyes widened.
Atop a velvet storage chest lay numerous music boxes, all of them strikingly similar in shape—each one molded like an oyster shell.
A pearl rotated inside each pristine porcelain shell. More than twenty music boxes. Caroline felt as though she were holding her breath.
‘It’s as if they’re asking me to find the right one.’
She tilted her head this way and that, searching for even the smallest difference, but it was hopeless.
‘This is frustrating. What am I looking at?’
It was in that moment of exasperation that something shifted.
The nape of Caroline’s neck grew cold. It felt as though something were watching her.
‘This isn’t it.’
It appeared as though she was meant to find the music box that was playing, but that wasn’t the real purpose.
But if Caroline turned from where she stood gazing at the music boxes—
In the dim corner where no light reached, there sat a box crafted from cherry oak. And in the play, it had symbolized love.
The peppermint candy the heroine gives as a gift to the hero.
Each time the hero Friedman placed a candy on his tongue, he would think of her.
‘Why is this here?’
Like genuine goods standing silent among countless counterfeits, the box of peppermint candy held its place. Caroline approached it step by step.
Click.
The box opened, and Caroline could see countless peppermint candies inside. The octahedral sweets gave off a subtle fragrance.
Acting on instinct, she took one from the top and placed it in her mouth.
‘Sweet.’
And beneath it, Caroline could see something smooth and metallic with a curved surface.
‘What is this?’
She hastily brushed aside the peppermint candies around it, and the object’s identity was revealed.
A key, no bigger than the palm of her hand. And below it, the pointed corner of a piece of paper peeked out.
‘Hm?’
With urgent fingers, she seized it and unfolded it.
<Leave this place quickly. Don’t worry about anything.>
It was a message left by someone unknown.
* * *
The tea time that began late in the afternoon ended in less than two hours.
Once the barrage of questions ceased, conversation came to an early halt, and people focused on admiring the view.
The women sat in silence, papers in front of them.
Clutching the note from earlier, Caroline’s mind grew only more vexed.
‘Where is this key supposed to be used?’
If she was meant to leave, why give her the key at all?
‘And who wrote this?’
Aiden?
Who else could have written it? It was his yacht, after all.
‘Why would he tell me to leave?’
He’d created this gathering to spend time with his fans after retirement. And yet, no matter how she turned it over in her mind, the activities didn’t seem to serve that purpose at all.
‘These strange women’s interrogations, people vanishing at every turn… what in the world is happening in this mansion?’
Could Aiden be under coercion?
‘That exhausted look on his face, the way he answered every question without flinching.’
Another hypothesis occurred to her.
What if Aiden’s mind wasn’t entirely sound?
If he was so scattered that he couldn’t even count numbers, couldn’t remember things from his past?
‘Is that why he invited his fans—to learn about who he used to be?’
Then what were those women?
Caroline struck her knee.
‘Psychotherapists?’
The refined manner of their conduct and the way they took notes suggested as much.
‘But then why did they disappear last night?’
Caroline arrived at an answer quickly.
‘Ah, I see. Were they dismissed?’
Having reasoned through it, Caroline finished her meal with determination and returned to her room.
She had something to do today.
‘Four days have passed already. I should write to Anna.’
Caroline picked up her pen and began to write.
[Hello, Anna. How are you?
Since I don’t know where you are, I’m sending this letter to both your family home and the Academy Dormitory—I hope you’ll forgive the redundancy.
How have you been? I meant to share my break plans with you, but I was too distracted by Aiden’s retirement to mention it on the last day of term. I’m at Aiden Dearvel’s Mansion now.
I can picture your eyes widening when you read this, your voice rising in protest. You begged him not to retire in your last letter, and he invited me. Of course, my parents don’t know any of this.
They still think I’m at the Academy Dormitory. So if—though it hasn’t happened yet—my parents send a letter to the Academy, could you please handle it discreetly?
I’m curious how you’re getting on. Even the smallest details would be welcome—I’d love to hear about your daily life.
Things are quite remarkable here, and certainly entertaining, but without anyone close to me, I feel a bit lonely.
Looking forward to your reply.
Wishing you were here with me, Caroline.]
She had to choose her words carefully, worried the letter might be rejected if it contained something it shouldn’t.
After writing it out several times, discarding false starts, Caroline finally completed the letter, made two copies with different addresses, sealed them in envelopes, and left them outside her room.
‘Perhaps it’s from writing so intently, or maybe the Mansion just feels strange today.’
Though midnight was still some hours away, Caroline felt drowsiness creeping in and crawled under her blankets to sleep.
Her sleep was deep and restful. She slept so soundly that she didn’t even hear the midnight chime.
And how much time had passed after that?
“Aaaaaahhhhh!”
A scream pierced through the well-insulated doors of the Mansion, followed by the sound of something crashing.
“Ah!”
Caroline’s heart hammered wildly as she jolted upright in bed.
‘What is that?’
Bang.
The sound of violent struggle erupted nearby—very nearby.
On the Second Floor.
‘Just outside the door.’
Caroline clamped her hand over her mouth, hesitating.
‘Open it? Does someone need help? A guest? Aiden? A servant?’
She had to know what was happening. Steeling herself, she carefully opened the door without a sound.
“!”
A golden-haired woman was being seized by something she couldn’t quite make out. The Second Floor was shrouded in shadow so deep that only the woman’s luminous hair was visible.
But Caroline’s eyes recognized the broad, familiar frame that held her—a man she knew all too well.
Black shirt, black trousers, black shoes. Rough grey hair swept back.
‘……That can’t be……’
In that instant, the woman in the man’s grip vanished.
“!”
She vanished.
Truly, literally—his hands were empty.
The silhouette of the woman was simply gone. Unable to believe her eyes, Caroline stared into the darkness at the man she could barely distinguish from the shadows themselves.
Surely not.
And then she saw his eyes—the eyes looking directly at her.
She had no idea how she managed it, but she slammed the door shut, locked the handle, and threw the bolt home before backing away from the entrance as far as the window on the opposite side of the room.
Her entire body trembled.
She wasn’t moving frantically, yet her heart pounded as if it might burst, and she couldn’t suppress the ragged sound of her breathing.
Friedman.
Friedman from the Oyster Man—he had been standing right before her eyes. With a gaze so cruel and terrifying that it made anyone who saw it quake with fear.
‘So Aiden was wearing a Friedman disguise……?’
Was that some kind of delusion?
‘No, wait—it’s the other way around, isn’t it?’
Perhaps she was the one who had lost her mind. By any rational account, it was more sensible to believe that Caroline was seeing things that weren’t there.
‘But the woman disappeared. What on earth……?’
Was she truly going mad?
What on earth was happening in this place? What had become of Aiden Christian Dearvel?
The entire world flashed white, then returned to normal. As if this were all some grand theatrical production, even lightning was playing its part in the scene.
How much time had passed? Then a violent thunderclap shook the earth itself.
Huddled in on herself, Caroline waited for the sound to fade before slowly lifting her head. She raised her hand to her eyes, rubbing them carefully.
There was something in the empty air.
[Miss Caroline Auguste, will you become a Player?]
Lightning struck again.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————