A Monodrama for Carolyn August - Chapter 88

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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 88.
“What do you mean by that?”
“I’m not sure whether Will and Jane lived as lovers after fleeing the Ship together.”
Caroline rolled her eyes to gauge the man’s expression. He seemed quite serious.
“Jane did confess for Will’s sake, but I don’t think it was because she loved him as a man. Imagine it, Caroline. Could you love someone who, even if guilty, murdered so many people, blackmailed you, and tried to eliminate you by locking you in the Underground Prison?”
“Is that your reason?”
“The same applies to Will.”
Aiden interlaced his fingers with a composed expression.
“Will is not someone capable of loving another person rationally. At least, that’s what I think.”
“Why?”
“In my view, he is emotionally abnormal. He’s a man who lives only for vengeance and his own self-interest. Jane’s actions for his sake stirred some guilt and pity in him, which is why he fled with her—but I doubt he ever promised to spend his life with her.”
So the Will that Aiden described was a selfish, cold-blooded man.
Compared to the cynical gangster Friedman, he was far colder and more cutting, and every trace of pleasantness and vitality was a fake.
A fundamentally broken man incapable of loving anyone or being loved.
“I don’t think so.”
Caroline shook her head.
Of course it was absurd. If an actor who had already played the role understood his character this way, he would have performed accordingly. Then Caroline, who witnessed his acting, should respect what he intended.
“Will can love someone too. I think in the end, he can make selfless choices. Though I agree it might not be Jane.”
Caroline felt herself being unusually irritable.
‘Why is that?’
It was a familiar sensation. When the System had asserted that this world was part of a Game and said it would delete it, she had similarly raged and insisted she would clear the Quest to save this place.
And the second time, when three-in-the-morning Aiden had suggested giving up the Game midway. She couldn’t abandon Aiden to save her own life.
And now she was angry at Aiden’s denial of Will. Clearly Will and Aiden were different people. Will was only a Character. Yet what Aiden recounted about Will felt as if he were speaking of Aiden himself.
‘Does Aiden do a lot of those kinds of things in this room?’
Though she herself didn’t understand her own actions, Caroline pushed forward stubbornly.
And she finished the last remaining cocktail cleanly.
‘Ah, perhaps.’
Having drunk too quickly, the alcohol was rising to her head, and she might simply be talking without a coherent argument.
“Did you enjoy the cocktail?”
“It was lovely. Thank you, Aiden.”
“Then let’s end today’s Tea Time here. And I do hope that what Caroline said today reaches Will as well. If I had believed and acted him that way, things might have been different.”
Saying so, Aiden smiled softly and began tidying the items on the table.
Caroline watched as the various tools and ingredients, now cleaned, disappeared into the cabinet. And there she spotted a flat paperback book.
<Cocktail Making Guide>.
The book, marked with fingerprints, was surely what he used when studying Cocktail Making.
Taking one last look at it, Caroline walked out of the room and headed toward her own room just ahead.
She opened a Notebook where she jotted down new information about Aiden.
‘First, the Characters had detailed personalities.’
Friedman dreams of Regina, so he responds helplessly to her demands like a thief with an itching foot.
Will likes making cocktails, and dreamed of becoming a bartender if not pursuing clowning.
Ipros… was unclear. She’d have to ask at dinner.
After writing down the details, Caroline moved to the next section.
‘Aiden seemed to feel a kinship with Will. Does he see a similarity between an actor and a clown? Will’s habits kept poking through.’
It seemed he was on the verge of calling her Jane at any moment.
‘Hm?’
Caroline tilted her head at the sense of déjà vu.
It seemed that daytime Aiden had once called her by a Character’s name. When was that…?
‘Oh.’
“Come to your senses, Isaha.”
It was a memory she didn’t particularly want to recall. She heard that voice while soaking wet like a burlap sack, loaded onto a Gondola.
As she was talking about Ipros, could she have misheard and thought he called her Isaha? Even though it was definitely Aiden, the one holding her felt like it was Ipros.
‘Anyway.’
This wasn’t important.
Caroline turned to the next section of her Notebook and organized her thoughts.
‘Finally. Aiden described Will as a Character who was hard to love and hard to be loved.’
Cold-blooded, psychopathic. A man lacking empathy, considering only his own interest and revenge. The opposite of his cheerful demeanor as a host, yet perfectly suited to a clown who hides his emotions and makes others laugh.
Caroline thought he would come to love Detective Jane. And in that regard, she felt he held a thread of tolerance for the weak and a whisper of affection for people.
‘If that’s not the case, Aiden’s Will would be far more terrifying.’
It would be best not to meet him. Caroline had judged Will very frightening even when she thought he loved Jane.
The way he confined her and bound her so that Jane wouldn’t interfere with his murders, wielding a blade with a chilling threat…
‘I can’t bear to watch Aiden’s brilliant performance again.’
Just thinking of the stage made her skin crawl. Caroline closed the notebook and jumped to her feet, retrieving the paint gun she’d prepared in case she ran into him. Then she headed toward the set for the backdrop of what had happened at the Campbell Cruise after tea time. By now, Aiden should be gone.
The room was indeed empty and quiet, everything neatly arranged. Caroline began searching through the space, which was cluttered with torches, cages, various costumes, balls and clubs, hoops, and other props.
The liquid paint in the Third Floor Room had all dried up, so there was a good chance that usable liquid paint would be here. But with so many objects scattered about, finding it wasn’t easy.
‘Still, I should be done before dinner.’
She could search through this place while looking for the key as well. She was thinking precisely that when—
“It seems the detective was actually a petty thief.”
A cold voice came from above her head.
Caroline’s head snapped up as if she’d seen a ghost.
A man in a light blue tailcoat, his hair swept back voluminously, stood looking down at her with his hands clasped behind him.
‘Why?’
Why now. Why already.
The sun hadn’t set yet, had it? Caroline’s eyes narrowed in disbelief. Bright light still streamed through the window. At least an hour remained before sunset.
But dealing with the person in front of her mattered far more than understanding why.
[□]
Above Will’s head floated only a single red square. Until now there had always been two or three. This different, far more difficult level only tensed Caroline further.
“Allow me to give you a chance to explain, Detective. What exactly are you doing here?”
Caroline shut her eyes tight.
As multiple murders unfolded aboard the cruise, images flashed through her mind—Will coming under Jane’s suspicion, herself investigating his background, and the moment she’d become almost certain he was the culprit.
She still didn’t want to act according to that latter conclusion. After all, this was her first time; she could probably get away with playing dumb.
After a moment’s deliberation, Caroline opened her mouth.

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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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