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Chapter 8
“Good morning, Pandora-ssi.”
It was not good. Not a single bit of it was good. Her insides felt like they were rotting away, gnawed on by bugs and festering.
The warm whispers. The kisses. Every single sweet emotion that she had been certain they were sharing together… she had to keep all of it entirely by herself.
It was as miserable and foolish as a frog trapped in a fiercely deep, dark well, falling in love with the fleeting midday sunlight that offered a brief, teasing tease of warmth every single day.
Falling in love was dangerous.
If she plunged any deeper than this, she might truly become unable to endure it one day.
She would end up resenting Erp for failing to remember the kisses they shared, and it would take no time at all for him—who had been her hope that she could change her infinitely repeating life—to morph into absolute despair.
Yet, she didn’t want to turn her wrath toward Erp.
Because if Erp were to vanish like the white cat painting she had lost and failed to find again… she would end up regretting both loving him and resenting him.
It’s agonising.
Pandora turned her head to find another diversion.
Something fun. Something stimulating. Something absurd and ridiculous. Something that made a person turn mindless, as if their brain had broken.
She needed something humorous enough to make her forget everything and burst into loud laughter for even a single moment.
Using the search bar and typewriter she had acquired by opening the jar to peer into the world of the gods, what she had discovered was none other than “April Fool’s Day.”
“A day to trick people and tell lies? Of all the ridiculous things.”
Valentine’s Day, White Day, and Christmas existed even within the game, but she had never once heard of April Fool’s Day.
Rose Day, Kiss Day, Cherry Blossom Festival, Parents’ Day… The more she searched, the more vast amounts of information poured out.
Our gods really do love events, don’t they?
“You lock me up in June 9th while you guys enjoy parties, revel in festivals, and live your lives to the fullest 365 days a year?”
With anger surging up within her, Pandora pummeled the innocent pillow repeatedly.
The gods’ time, flowing along so steadfastly, felt deeply resentful.
Pandora had checked the time of the gods’ world in between moments. Sometimes the time flowed at a blistering pace, and other times it crawled much slower than Pandora’s own day.
It was an irregular flow. However, the time of the gods never, under any circumstances, flowed backward. It always marched forward, toward the future.
Pandora wanted to cast her body into that flow and drift along with it.
Pandora’s time: June 9th, 8:00 AM.
“Good morning, Pandora-ssi.”
“Good morning…”
Pandora bit down hard on her lips. She sprang up from the bed and grabbed her cane. Erp firmly supported her as she wobbled.
Leaning against his thick arm, Pandora stood on tiptoe and kissed Erp on the cheek.
“You know… if a day ever comes when we share a goodnight kiss…” “…” “Would I be able to answer with a genuine ‘good morning’ then, too?”
The taste inside her mouth was bitter.
It was a futile dream for the eternal “Pandora of June 9th.”
For once, Pandora headed to the art gallery early in the morning.
Until now, she had always dug her heels in and held out until 1:00 PM when the maid Anna forcibly loaded her onto a carriage, but today was different.
The expression on Pandora’s face as she climbed into the carriage was quite resolute.
Loaded into the cargo compartment beneath the carriage was a box packed full of something.
Arriving at the art gallery, Pandora pulled out the bundles of paper and items from the box, laid them out, and ordered a staff member to decorate the exhibition hall with them.
“Take down all the displayed paintings and move them down to the basement!” “P-Pardon? W-Why all of a sudden…” “Hurry! Fast!”
At Pandora’s stern expression, the staff members took down the exhibited paintings and pasted the strange, funny pictures Pandora had brought onto the walls.
In the space where the staff had departed after finishing the arrangement, Pandora picked up a fluorescent spray can and shook it.
If my time won’t flow, I’ll live according to the time of the gods!
I’ll make sure to celebrate Christmas, Easter, Rose Day, Kiss Day, Lunar New Year, Chuseok, and even Dano!
On Hangeul Day, I’ll write “Ga-Na-Da” all over the walls, and on Liberation Day, I’ll wallpaper the place with the Taegeukgi!
If I don’t pull off a stunt like this, I feel like I’m going to lose my mind! No, maybe I’ve already gone around the bend.
With her eyes ablaze and burning fiercely, Pandora glared and sprayed colorless paint against the wall.
< Blep! (๑¯ ঢ ¯๑) >
Her very first stunt was April Fool’s Day!
Having burned away her artistic soul while roaming around the exhibition hall, Pandora greeted her guests with a triumphant air.
Today, the female protagonist Vivian had come to the exhibition bringing the shy priest Noel Angelie as her partner.
She was filled with anticipation and excitement to see how the two of them would react upon seeing this messed-up exhibition.
To be precise, she wanted to see the reaction beyond Vivian—the reactions of the gods playing this game.
“Hmph! You guys think only you can enjoy April Fool’s Day? I know how to enjoy it, too! I like this kind of stuff, too, you hear!”
Heading toward the corner of the exhibition hall where the main circuit breaker was located, Pandora listened intently to the conversation between the two.
Vivian uttered her usual lines as if she hadn’t felt any changes at all.
“…I dressed up painstakingly since morning, so did it get reset after all?”
Pandora’s heart sank heavily before boiling over with heat.
Controlled by the ruling force and moving against her will, Pandora bit her lips raw.
“It’s depressing enough that there’s no tomorrow, but I can’t even play an April Fool’s joke either?” “Why… Why won’t you let me even put up a pathetic struggle like this…”
She tasted a trace of bloody irony on her lips, which she had bitten out of sorrow. Just then.
< Noel: What in the world is this…? >
The startled and bewildered voice of Priest Noel reached her ears.
< Noel: Yes? What did you say? > < Noel: S-Sorry. I’ll really focus now. >
Pandora jerked her head up.
It had changed. Her lines had changed!
Her heart began to pound frantically with excitement. Pricking up her ears, she could hear murmurs being exchanged among the other extra guests visiting the exhibition.
“Hah. Unbelievable. To send out such a grand invitation only to open an exhibition this messy. Where is Pandora?”
Crown Prince Eric’s voice could be heard, too.
The male leads who failed to become the protagonist’s partner would sometimes randomly sneak in among the other guests.
Since they were all influential and famous figures in the country, each had received an invitation separately.
However, they didn’t run into the main couple and would quietly view the exhibition before leaving.
“Where is Lady Pandora?” “Hold on. I need to go see Pandora.”
Even the voices of Vivian’s escort knight Eugene and Northern Grand Duke Frederick could be heard simultaneously.
There were unusually many people looking for Pandora today.
It was something that never happened normally. Pandora wanted to hop up and down, shout “It’s April Fool’s Day!” to the people, and giggle merrily.
However, until the controlling force manipulating her body released her, she couldn’t step forward and announce, “Here I am.” She could only squat in the corner and count the footsteps of the people roaming the exhibition hall.
Priest Noel failed to focus on Vivian throughout their entire date, and the event came to an end.
“My goodness. I apologize for the inconvenience caused by this unfortunate accident. It seems there was a blackout.”
When Pandora flipped the circuit breaker back up—which she had pulled earlier—and offered words of apology to the guests, all the male leads had already completely vanished.
Only Priest Noel, Vivian’s partner, cast a brief glance toward Pandora and disappeared together with Vivian.
6:00 PM. It was only after leaving the art gallery and returning home that Pandora was released from the guiding force and regained her freedom.
“Ugh, my aching bones.”
After experiencing this wretched controlling force, her entire body always felt stiff and heavy.
Even though she had experienced it well over a hundred times, it should have felt familiar, yet it was consistently exhausting.
Just as Pandora, having stepped inside the front door, was trying to move her steps while groping the floor with her cane—
“Are you back now?”
A voice that absolutely had no business being heard at this hour reached her ears.
“Doctor… is that you?”
Why on earth. No, how.
The time permitted for Erp to linger by Pandora’s side was only from 8:00 AM to 1:00 PM.
Once Pandora was dragged off to the exhibition and returned, Erp was gone without exception. Without a single solitary instance of exception.
“Could someone be trying to tease me? Because today is April Fool’s Day after all.”
Pandora looked around. Through the jar’s search bar, she’d seen that the gods loved hidden-camera pranks. She wondered if it was something like that.
Her heart accelerated rapidly with heavy thuds.
Heavy, deliberate footsteps approached. The person who approached came to an abrupt halt just a single step away.
Even though her vision was blurry and she couldn’t see well, Pandora could vividly trace the sheer presence of the massive man. Even though they weren’t touching, his towering height, broad shoulders, and long limbs standing before her felt as though they were being transmitted all over her skin.
He slowly bent down at the waist. A warm breath brushed against her forehead.
“I’ll just take my goodnight kiss and leave.”
