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Chapter 10
Pandora sat Erp down next to her—his face now as red as a ripe tomato—and leisurely enjoyed her meal, attended by Anna.
Only after devouring two bowls of fruit jelly for dessert did she head to the studio to meet the guests.
If they dared to throw a fit about why she took so long, her plan was to throw salt at these uninvited folks who showed up without prior notice, calling them shameless, and politely chase them out.
However, upon actually arriving at the studio, not a single ant was to be seen.
“What in the world…”
The only things there were the paintings piled up atop the bookshelf, spilled and scattered all over the floor, looking as though a fierce storm had swept through.
“Did they mess up my studio and run away…?”
Just why…?
Did those guys want to pull an April Fool’s prank, too?
Pandora’s pale face gradually flushed with mounting heat.
Even so, this was crossing the line!
Where on earth were such human trash-cans who treated other people’s precious works of art like this?
She was already aggrieved enough over the lost white cat painting, and now to treat her art so recklessly…
“Anna. Contact those guests’ homes and tell them that if they don’t sprint back right this instant, I’m going to set their houses on fire.”
Since a reset was bound to happen anyway, sparks flew in Pandora’s unseeing, reckless eyes.
Gritting her teeth, she picked up the paintings lying on the floor one by one.
“…”
Something was strange.
As she hugged the paintings to her arms and stacked them neatly, she took another look at a canvas she had glimpsed earlier.
The faces of some familiar men were drawn on it.
As Pandora sat there blankly, Erp, who was helping her tidy up, asked with concern.
“Pandora-ssi. What’s wrong? Is there a problem with the paintings?”
There was a problem. A very big one.
“I’ve never painted these men before…?”
Crown Prince Eric, Grand Duke Frederick, Knight Eugene, and Priest Noel.
They were all the guests who had visited Pandora today, as well as the male protagonists of The Villain’s Method of Love.
Pandora closed her eyes, rolled her eyeballs up, down, left, and right to stretch them, and then looked at the paintings once more.
Then, narrowing her groggy eyes, she checked the titles and signatures written on the backs of the canvases.
Desert Island, Dead of Winter, Moving Mansion, Labyrinth.
They were all extremely intuitive works whose titles matched the paintings.
These were paintings she had drawn during a period of deep depression, which she had piled up on the bookshelf because she didn’t want to show her gloomy artwork to others.
Then why on earth did these suddenly turn into portraits of the male leads?
The titles, signatures, and handwriting were all exactly the same—only the artwork itself had changed.
It was enough to make a ghost cry in bewilderment.
At that moment, Anna, who had gone out earlier, returned.
“Young lady. They say the guests haven’t left yet.”
“Huh?”
“The gatekeeper uncle has been guarding his post the whole time, and he said nobody went out. The carriages the guests rode in are still parked outside, too. That’s why everyone is currently scattered all over searching for them.”
“…”
Pandora swallowed hard, a wave of foreboding washing over her.
Those four missing men were the male protagonists.
Towering heights and robust physical builds. Men whose presence couldn’t be buried no matter where you put them, shining brightly even if you dressed them in burlap sacks.
If people were searching for such men by roaming around a mansion that wasn’t even all that large, and still hadn’t found them, something big and serious must have undoubtedly gone wrong.
Pandora looked down at the portraits on the four canvases cradled in her arms.
When she made eye contact with the subtly smiling Eric in the painting, a chill ran down her spine, and goosebumps broke out all over her skin.
At that moment, the noisy sound of hooves echoed from outside the window. Neighhhhh! Along with the sound of a horse’s cry, the slowing sound of hooves came to a halt right at the front gate of Pandora’s house.
“Who goes there?”
“Has His Highness by any chance not come by here?”
“Whose Highness are you referring to?”
“Why, the Crown Prince, of course.”
Just as the gatekeeper was about to answer, another man appeared riding a horse from the opposite direction.
“I’ve come to escort His Grace the Grand Duke.”
Following that, a pristine white temple carriage and a gorgeous luxury carriage appeared simultaneously.
“Priest Noel hasn’t come back, so…!”
“I heard Sir Eugene came here!”
The atmosphere turned chilling.
Pandora yanked the apron hanging on her chair and rolled up the four canvases to hug them tightly.
I have to hide them.
If these were discovered, she would undoubtedly end up pinned with every kind of misunderstanding. She had a strong premonition of it.
“Doctor. Doctor.”
At Pandora’s urgent call, Erp scooped her up into his arms.
“To your room?”
“Yes.”
The studio was still a long way from being cleaned up, but for now, it seemed best to leave things as they were.
The moment Pandora arrived in her room and hid the paintings beneath the bed, the butler was welcoming the new guests down in the front-floor foyer.
Pandora faced the influx of visitors in the parlor.
“I was at the art gallery the entire afternoon today. When I came home, none of the four of you were here. I don’t know why you left your carriages behind, but wouldn’t it be because you had urgent matters and had to step away?”
Fortunately, the guests accepted Pandora’s words and willingly turned back.
After all, it was completely unimaginable that the fragile woman standing before their eyes could have done anything to four grown men.
However, the knight who had come to fetch the Crown Prince insisted on opening every single bedroom door and even the basement of the mansion, and only left after confirming that Eric was nowhere to be found.
Watching those exiting through the front gate from the window, Pandora stroked her chest in relief.
In any case, once 11:59:59 PM passed, time would flow backward again and everything would become as though it had never happened—but since a fresh, entertaining situation had broken out after a long while, fully immersing herself in it was only polite.
“Wah. What on earth was all that about. I thought I was going to die of tension.”
Pandora hopped up and down, clinging to Erp’s neck.
“Where on earth could those four have gone, though?”
Did they ascend to the heavens together? Or sink into the earth? Since Crown Prince Eric was said to be an exceptional wizard, it wasn’t an entirely impossible story.
At that same time,
“Ha-ha. The weather’s gone completely mad.”
Eric was wandering through a frozen city amidst a raging blizzard.
“Damn it. Where is this again?”
Northern Grand Duke Frederick was roaming through a labyrinth filled with traps,
“…”
Knight Eugene opened his eyes in front of a creepy, eerie-looking mansion.
“Ah, is anyone there…?”
Priest Noel had dropped onto a deserted island stranded out in the middle of a vast, endless ocean.
“It’s getting late. Let’s go to sleep now.”
“If I fall asleep, you’re going to leave, aren’t you?”
Though her tired eyes blinked sluggishly over and over, Pandora held tightly onto Erp’s hand and refused to let go.
Even if 11:59:59 PM arrived and time rewound back to 8:00 AM to let her meet Erp at work…
I’m lonely.
She didn’t want to be alone for even a single minute.
Sitting on the floor by the edge of the bed, Pandora gently entrusted her hand to Erp and chattered on about what had happened at the art gallery today.
It was a story about the reactions of the people who had seen the exhibition hall freshly decorated with April Fool’s pranks.
Yet, holding hands, talking, occasionally toying with Erp’s hair, and even planting kisses on him couldn’t fill the hollow void in her heart no matter what.
You’re going to forget everything anyway.
No matter what she said or what actions she took, it would all become as if it had never happened.
Her spirits, which had soared for a moment, plummeted right back down like a roller coaster. Much like the ruined studio, both her heart and her mind were a complete mess.
“Doctor. Where should I go if I want to kill a god?”
“A cathedral or a church…?”
For reference, the development team of The Villain’s Method of Love were all devout atheists.
“What about becoming a god?”
“…Do you want to become a god?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To kill God.”
Pandora mimicked slitting her throat with her thumb and smiled chillingly.
If only I could kill God and replay my frozen time.
She felt like she could casually attempt any kind of insane deed.
“Couldn’t I at least graze the edges of godhood if I sold my soul to the devil?”
No wait, should she sell it to an angel instead?
She had caught a glimpse of it while peeking into the world of the gods through the search bar and typewriter that came out of the jar; in their world, there was something called a “second-hand trading site.”
Since my soul is a used item I’ve been running into the ground, wouldn’t it do pretty well if I put it up for sale there?
However, Pandora could only spy on it; she couldn’t write posts and upload them directly, nor could she sign up for any websites.
“…Don’t do that.”
To Pandora, who was letting her wild, rampaging thoughts run unchecked, Erp said quietly.
“As your primary physician, I won’t just stand by and watch you engage in dangerous behavior.”
Lies.
A wicked falsehood.
These kinds of sweet words from Erp had already deceived Pandora countless times.
Even though you’re going to forget me.
As much as her curiosity regarding the gods, Pandora was curious about tomorrow with Erp.
If tomorrow came, if you remembered today’s me, if we could start planning a future together—what kind of expression would you wear when facing me?
As such imaginations looped endlessly in her mind, she grew to resent Erp just as much as she hated the gods.
Because nothing is as cruel as false hope.
Moreover, the imbalance weighed heavy: Pandora’s heart grew larger and more frantic with each repeated loop, while Erp’s heart reset fresh every single time.
Imagining the scale of her emotions tipping further and further into imbalance, she tried to manually force it back to equilibrium in her mind, making Pandora want to cry.
She wished the world would just ruin itself.
Perish, all of you. Just disappear!
The clock hands were stealthily drawing close to midnight. But those hands would never actually reach midnight, would they?
“If I can’t sell it to the devil or through second-hand trading, you buy it, Doctor. My soul.”
Pandora abruptly yanked Erp’s arm, pulling him close to whisper right into his ear.
“How much are you willing to pay?”
Her tone was playful, but her voice was dangerously unstable.
“A goodnight kiss probably won’t be quite enough, you know.”
Pulling on the neatly tied necktie of Erp’s, Pandora drew him onto the bed.
Wrapping her arms around Erp’s neck, she pulled him down as she tumbled backward.
Feeling the firm hand that shielded the back of her head from hitting the bed’s headboard, she eagerly covered Erp’s lips with her own.
