A Monodrama for Carolyn August - Chapter 89

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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 89.
“Oh dear, you’ve caught me. Why are you here now?”
Jane spoke in her usual measured, deadpan way, her voice betraying no inflection.
“If I hadn’t come now, what would you have done in this cabin? With the Count’s death already casting a shadow over the Campbell Cruise, you’d never escape suspicion.”
“Hmph.”
Caroline snorted. Her hand trembled at the same instant, forcing her to hide it where Will’s gaze wouldn’t find it.
“I may have searched your room a little, but I’ll grant you—it does look suspicious. Still, I was actually hoping to ask you for help.”
“Oh, so you came without warning to ask for my assistance.”
“Not your help, exactly. I needed something. Paint—liquid paint, and quite a lot of it.”
Caroline continued speaking in a level tone, utterly unafraid, barely flustered. True to form for Jane, caught red-handed and brazening through it.
“You didn’t search my things because you suspected me of being the culprit, did you?”
At her words—delivered with a face as blank as a steel plate—Will’s expression shifted to something like bewilderment. He lowered himself into a crouch beside Caroline, who was already crouching as she rifled through the luggage. Squinting one eye, he studied her from that position.
Both of them had hunched down, yet he was so enormous that he concealed her entirely even in that posture.
That fact alone made her all the more tense.
“…You’re right. You were suspicious to me.”
Caroline averted her eyes naturally as she admitted it. Meeting his gaze would terrify her. No matter how she thought about it, no character in her repertoire seemed more frightening than Will.
‘He’s the only one who kills people.’
The lethal air that emanated from Aiden when he performed—it was something else. Caroline brushed the dust from her hands and stood.
“I thought you might be the murderer. So I was looking for clues, but nothing suspicious turned up.”
“……”
Will rose to his feet after her, crossed his arms, and fixed her with a skeptical expression.
“I mean it. But the part about needing something is genuine too. I need paint—the kind with the right viscosity to be sprayed from a container.”
“So you needed paint, not something.”
“Excellent wordplay.”
Caroline’s face remained utterly unmoved, and she stepped back with her hands clasped behind her. Will narrowed his eyes as if trying to discern whether her words were true, then turned away and began moving toward the luggage.
“You don’t have the face of someone lying.”
He rummaged through a few items and withdrew a small hand bag. When he opened it, an array of glass bottles the size of a palm, each containing paint in different colors, became visible.
“You seem to have no talent whatsoever for acting, so I’ll trust you.”
Will picked up a bottle of red paint from among them and strode back around to face Caroline.
“Here.”
“Thank you. I won’t forget this kindness.”
“No, you mustn’t forget it.”
Will crossed his arms and tilted his head at an odd angle.
“Now that your suspicions of me have cleared, I’d appreciate it if you stopped rummaging through my belongings without permission. It’s not only unpleasant, but they’re full of very delicate instruments. If I catch you doing this again……”
The man who had flashed cheerful smiles at countless customers, who had dealt with them so smoothly, now leaned forward with an icy sneer spreading across his face.
“……you’ll have to pay a very steep price.”
Those few words alone sent a chill racing down her spine—Caroline nearly jumped on the spot.
But to maintain her Jane persona, she held herself in check and left the room with Will. He stood at the stairs, descending toward the First Floor, his cheerful smile restored as though nothing had happened. He winked at her before vanishing.
‘Terrifying.’
Caroline clutched the paint bottles to herself and shuddered. But then—
‘Huh?’
[□□]
The deadly aura had vanished entirely, replaced by a lighter stride. Above the man’s head as he departed, the small square had doubled into two.
‘How interesting.’
Did this mean Will had grown a little more familiar with her? Though Caroline’s actions today as Jane had certainly been enough to disturb his composure,
‘it’s not favorability—it’s affinity.’
Caroline thought this to herself as she deposited the red paint Will had given her into the brass container. Now to reassemble the gun.
[Loading complete!]
The words she’d been waiting for appeared.
Even with loading complete, she’d need to reload again in two days. Caroline made a mental note of the small hand bag Will had opened. Next time, she’d have to search his room without him catching her.
‘But why did he appear now?’
The sky had darkened somewhat by now, but the sun hadn’t set yet. After all, if he truly were Aiden of the Night, he shouldn’t appear until evening came.
Just as Caroline tilted her head in puzzlement,
a window materialized before her eyes, inscribed in ornate gold lettering.
[Special Mission!]
“?”
[All Personality Affinities have reached Level 2 or higher.]
[The ‘Aiden’s Perspective’ option in the Settings Bar is now available. Additionally, a Special Mission offering the reward of your choosing has been unlocked. Available rewards are as follows:
→ Location of Unclaimed Key (choose one: Will, Friedman, or Ifros)
→ Location of Unclaimed Diary (Friedman)
――> Abandon the game mid-session (reconnection impossible, return to the Academy)]
[Once you select a reward, the mission will begin.]
Caroline blinked.
A mission—it had been a long time since the special mission on her birthday. And now they were offering her any reward she wanted; there was no reason to refuse.
‘I can skip the final reward anyway.’
The choice was whether to obtain Friedman’s diary first and collect all the diaries, or to acquire at least one key quickly and examine the diary.
Caroline didn’t deliberate for long.
“I’d like to obtain Will’s key.”
If she wandered through Will’s rooms searching for the key and happened to encounter him, he would fly into a terrifying rage. Thinking his crimes had been discovered, there was no telling what he might do to Caroline.
‘It’s best to eliminate that possibility altogether.’
By going straight to the key’s location, she could avoid meeting Will entirely.
[Then the Deduction Mission regarding the murder case aboard the Campbell Cruise will commence from now until midnight.]
“A deduction mission?”
[First, before starting the game, please navigate to the Settings Bar and activate the “Aiden’s Perspective” option.]
Caroline seized a moment when the servants were absent and hurried toward the passage connecting to the basement. Following the path she had taken before, she soon arrived at the underground prison.
[Settings Bar]
The moment she stepped fully into the cell at the far end of the basement, a window appeared before her.
[Settings Bar]
[Background Sound ― OFF/
ON
Triangle Indicator ― ON/
OFF
Exclamation Mark Indicator ― ON/
OFF
Aiden Tracking Permission ― Disabled/
Enabled
Personality Affinity Display ― Disabled/
Enabled
Aiden’s Perspective ― Disabled
System AI Version Setting ― Locked]
She pressed the disabled button linked beside “Aiden’s Perspective,” and an enabled button appeared. When she pressed it again, a strikethrough appeared over the disabled button.
[Aiden’s Perspective ― Enabled/
Disabled
]
In that instant, Caroline witnessed something she could scarcely believe.
The basement interior where she stood transformed into the interior of the uppermost deck of a luxury cruise ship. When she hastily climbed the rope stairs to the second floor, she discovered that every corner was furnished like the elegant interior of the Campbell Cruise—the very setting of the events that had unfolded there.
‘This can’t be real.’
This was Aiden’s world. He was so immersed in his performance that he perceived his surroundings like elements within a story itself.

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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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