A Monodrama for Carolyn August - Chapter 85

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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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Chapter 85.
Green juice that some might mistake for a sedative, a gun that fires paint, the finest hair pin…. And even an acorn and a mirror that hardly seemed useful for protecting her from danger had made their appearance.
As items continued to materialize from nowhere, Aiden wore the expression of someone who’d just witnessed magic.
“Neat, isn’t it? A Player’s bag can hold an endless number of things.”
“That would certainly be useful. But what’s this?”
He pointed to the paint gun.
“I got it from the Armory today. When the paint fires and hits the target, it supposedly freezes them for three seconds. But I’m not sure how to reload it every other day.”
“That could be handy when you’re being pursued—or if you run into a servant unexpectedly.”
Aiden held it in both hands and examined it carefully. With the character makeup on, the man studying the gun so intently looked exactly like Ifros, someone who truly understood machines.
And he found the answer almost immediately.
“I think you’re supposed to open this and fill the inside.”
He grasped the brass paint storage container hanging beneath the handle and turned it slowly counterclockwise. The metal threads unwound, and the container slid smoothly into his palm.
A faint paint smell emerged from inside the worn container.
Caroline watched in wonder as the gun separated like magic in his hands. To her, he seemed like a problem-solver.
“If paint is what fires, then we’d need to refill it with paint. Hmm… paint.”
He seemed uncertain where to find paint to reload it. Caroline frowned in thought for a moment, then found the answer.
“Oh! Will probably has some. He’s always doing clown makeup on his face.”
“Ah, that makes sense.”
Caroline remembered having cleaned the clown head sculpture in Will’s room on the third floor. Just as she was about to rise and head toward his room, a wave of drowsiness swept over her, and she couldn’t stifle a yawn.
Her mood had been good since meeting Aiden at three in the morning, but her head had been aching the whole time.
Between falling into the water and staying awake so late, it was no wonder.
Noticing Caroline’s exhaustion with sharp eyes, Aiden fitted the brass paint storage container back under the gun to reassemble it, then held it out to her.
“You should get some rest now. It’s almost four. You’ve clearly exerted yourself considerably today. There will still be time tomorrow to search Will’s room.”
“But….”
“There’s no need to rush.”
When Aiden spoke soothingly, Caroline nodded in agreement.
She placed the gun and the other items back into her bag and got to her feet.
‘Think long-term.’
Pushing too hard in haste could ruin the entire schedule ahead. It wouldn’t matter if she were just another Player, but Caroline had to move according to her own physical capacity.
When she checked the dollhouse that Anna had gifted her, the two servants were circling the garden.
‘Perfect timing if I go up now.’
Just as she was waving goodbye to Aiden and about to leave Ifros’s room—
“…Caroline.”
The man on the bed, his expression full of concern, sat with his hands clasped, watching her.
“I’m not trying to frighten you all the time. But I’d like you to take care of yourself while you complete the Mission. Sleep well, look after your body. If you do that, you can still manage it all.”
Caroline realized he had already sensed the state she was in today.
Then something strange stirred inside her. In this lonely Mansion, he was the only one who worried about her condition, the only one who remembered what she said.
Why did even a short time with Aiden feel so precious?
“…I understand.”
Caroline nodded, then hurried out of the room.
* * *
She had no memory of lying down in her room, but when she opened her eyes, she heard a knock.
“Miss Caroline, are you awake? Breakfast is ready.”
Another day had begun. The eleventh day was starting.
Caroline rose with a body that felt considerably lighter than yesterday. Her spirit, too, was relatively unburdened—she’d accomplished so much, despite having only a third of the allotted time behind her.
Just find the key.
‘Even if I have no idea where it is.’
For now, today’s objectives were to find Friedman’s Diary, locate another key, and refill the paint gun.
Thinking this over as she descended to the Dining Room on the first floor, Caroline stopped short in front of a chair, slightly surprised. The daytime Aiden was waiting for her as always, but above his head now floated two black squares.
[□□]
This time they were black.
Recalling the yellow squares that had appeared above Ifros’s head yesterday, it seemed that each character had their own colored squares representing their intimacy level.
‘Fewer than Ifros’s.’
Still, some closeness was forming, which wasn’t a bad sign. Perhaps as those squares—that intimacy—grew, the daytime Aiden was starting to remember her words.
Caroline recalled the moment yesterday when she’d startled and fallen into the water.
“I was deeply immersed in Ifros then. I wish I’d known that as long as I don’t abandon my sense of self, it would be alright.”
Now that she thought about it, that wasn’t what he’d meant—a comment meant to signal that he remembered what she’d said.
It seemed he’d left it in his own mind without even realizing it was something Caroline had said. Still, the fact that he was beginning to retain her in his memory, however faintly, made her happy.
‘How much intimacy does the Aiden of three in the morning feel toward me?’
If hers measured four squares, how many did he have?
As the thought occurred to her, Caroline remembered that even though she had opened that setting in the configuration menu yesterday, nothing had appeared above Aiden’s head at three in the morning.
It had been there above Ifros as he laid his head on the pillow, but the moment she became the three-o’clock-in-the-morning Aiden, it vanished.
‘NPCs don’t qualify for it, then?’
[Personality Intimacy Display]
[Shows at a glance the Intimacy level that this personality holds toward the Player, displayed in five stages. It differs from affinity toward the opposing Character Role, and reveals how familiar the personality considers the Player to be.]
‘The three-o’clock-in-the-morning Aiden is a personality too, if anything, but maybe NPCs are an exception.’
Feeling disappointed, Caroline took a seat.
Like her the day before, Aiden—who had fallen asleep well past four in the morning—wore a tired expression again. His cheeks were still hollow, and with no flesh to fill them, his eye sockets sank deep, giving him an even sharper, colder impression.
Yet it pained her to see him trying so hard to muster a gentle smile.
“Miss Caroline, how are you feeling? The accident on the boat yesterday was my fault. I’m truly sorry.”
He bowed his head with a guilt-stricken face. Caroline was startled and quickly waved her hand.
“No, it was just an accident! It wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t dropped the cup. Besides, Aiden saved me. I’m so grateful.”
“That’s not true. I don’t even want to imagine what would have happened if I hadn’t been able to save you.”
“I rested well yesterday and I’m fine—completely fine—so please stop worrying. Let’s eat now.”
Aiden sat there looking thoroughly dejected until he finally began to eat with his fork, prompted by Caroline’s stern insistence that she wouldn’t eat until he did.
Watching him, Caroline’s thoughts moved slowly. How should she use the three questions? She recalled what the three-o’clock-in-the-morning Aiden had said last night.
“Moreover, the Details that ‘Aiden’ added to those Character Roles while performing them will also differ. Some Character Roles have more Details, others fewer.”
“Aiden, I was wondering—did you perhaps add any Details to the Character that you created yourself while performing, Details that might not have been very obvious on stage?”

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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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