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Chapter 11
Fearing the terrible misery that would come greeting her with the morning, she had never ventured past a kiss.
Like a light amusement. Like a trivial prank.
She had intended to remain a so-so relationship enjoying kisses without responsibility.
Even knowing she would bitterly regret it… she couldn’t control herself.
Her wayward feelings and body leaped back and forth.
Pandora untied Erp’s necktie and unbuttoned his shirt one by one.
When she pulled his restraining hand and placed it over her heart, he pulled his lips away and looked at her in confusion.
In those violet eyes, drenched in morning dew and brimming with moisture, dark and humid desire coexisted with an inexplicable sorrow.
The flushed rims of his eyes, his trembling eyelashes, his lips parting as if hesitating, and his bewildered pupils.
Every single small reaction from Erp tightened the shoulders of the waiting Pandora.
“…I don’t want to do it this way.”
Carefully pulling his hand away, Erp stepped backward. Covering her face with both hands, Pandora bit down hard on her lower lip.
Then how do you want to do it?
We don’t have a tomorrow.
There is no next time.
We can’t promise a future, plan for what’s ahead, or redefine our relationship.
Once time resets, we’ll just go back to being a doctor and a patient again.
11:55 PM. There was no time.
Even for just 5 minutes, like a normal couple without any thoughts, to her heart’s content…
Was it asking for too much?
Erp’s body temperature was far hotter, but the temperature of their hearts tilted the opposite way, making it hard for Pandora. Resenting that, Pandora didn’t say anything and let the time slip away.
11:59:59 PM. Waiting for June 9th at 8:00 AM to return, Pandora closed her eyes.
Waiting for the man who would come greeting her once again with, “Good morning, Pandora-ssi.”
And yet.
Clang— Clang— The chimes of the grandfather clock rang out.
Her eyes snapped open at the faint chiming sound drifting from afar.
It was the sound coming from the large clock placed in the central foyer downstairs.
Pandora’s gray eyes and Erp’s purple eyes met in mid-air.
Holding even her breath, Pandora strained her ears to listen to the sound.
Three, four, five… twelve. The chime rang out precisely twelve times and then stopped.
Midnight. Twelve o’clock at night, which had never once come, had finally arrived.
Tears burst forth from Pandora’s eyes as she blankly stared at the face of Erp, who was not greeting her with a “good morning.”
Seemingly startled by her tears, Erp paused for a moment before stepping closer to wipe them away.
Her heart pounded frantically with anxiety.
Could this situation be a dream, a hallucination, or a prank by the gods to punish a bold human who dared to dream of killing God?
Until it became certain that tomorrow had indeed come for the Pandora of June 9th, and that she had finally escaped this infinite loop, she couldn’t let down her guard.
Erp clasped both of Pandora’s hands together.
“Breathe.”
Hah-ah. Pandora hurriedly sucked in a breath.
She had completely forgotten to keep breathing. Her lungs constricted tightly and then expanded, sending a shallow wave of pain through her.
“Deeply. Slowly.”
Nodding, Pandora slowly drew in a breath and exhaled, trying to calm herself.
A warm, gentle hand stroked her palm with a thumb, comforting her.
As she looked closely into those calm, steady eyes, her stiffened shoulders gradually relaxed and her tension melted away.
Pandora reached out and tore off the calendar page for June 9th.
Staring blankly at the page marked June 10th and the clock pointing to the early dawn, she tightly grasped Erp’s hand and spent the rest of the dawn wide awake.
A red sun rose outside the window.
A brand-new morning had truly dawned.
Even when 8:00 AM arrived, the date on the calendar remained June 10th, and Erp was still sitting on her bed, clasping her hand tightly.
“D-Doctor…”
Pandora called out to Erp with a voice trembling violently. Worried that she might be crying, Erp peered at her anxiously.
Soon, however, a cry brimming with overwhelming emotion struck his eardrums.
“Good morning!”
Bounding forward, Pandora threw her arms around Erp and hugged him fiercely.
Excited out of her mind, Pandora set about preparing to go out.
Now that she was finally freed from that agonizing exhibition event, she didn’t have to head out to the art gallery.
So shouldn’t she celebrate this joyful, touching day?!
She would eat out, go shopping, and even hit the movie theater!
Just for today, even if someone’s carriage clipped her side, she felt like she could generously wave it off with an, “Oh-ho-ho! What a beautiful day!”
On top of that, Erp had readily expressed his willingness to accompany her when Pandora asked him to join her outing.
Thanks to that, if Pandora had wings, her mood would have carried her soaring past the stratosphere above the clouds and straight out beyond the cosmos.
“Young lady. Take a look at this!”
Anna, the maid, brought up a pile of newspapers along with a cup of coffee Pandora had requested.
The newspapers Anna brought were freshly printed today’s editions, each published by a different press.
On the front page of the topmost newspaper was plastered a giant, bold headline alongside black-and-white photographs of four men boasting dazzling good looks.
[Crown Prince Eric and Grand Duke Frederick Missing! Even Priest Noel and Sir Eugene Vanished?!]
Reading the newspaper headlines with her dim eyes wide open, Pandora felt her heart sink right down to her stomach.
Neither of the four has gone home yet?
The four portraits hidden beneath the bed flashed instantly into her mind.
Shaking her head, Pandora brushed aside the ominous imagination that had briefly brushed through her mind.
Below the photographs, the paper was filled with praises for the four most handsome men in the empire, along with testimonies and interviews from people around them.
Pushing the newspaper aside without reading it properly, Pandora dropped sugar into her teacup and stirred it.
They’re fully grown adults and robust men anyway; they’ll figure it out and head home on their own when the time comes.
Aren’t they “male protagonists,” after all?
Thanks to the developers pumping their stats to the absolute max, all four of them were ridiculously overpowered cheat characters.
Crown Prince Eric was the world’s greatest archmage, Grand Duke Frederick was the empire’s sole Sword Master, and Sir Eugene possessed monstrous strength coupled with lightning-fast learning that allowed him to wield any weapon proficiently without ever having lost a single fight.
Priest Noel had been born holding an immense wellspring of holy power flowing like a waterfall and had been slated as the candidate for the next High Priest.
In short, they were absolute monsters whom the frail, sickly NPC Pandora had no business worrying over.
If they really don’t show up, the female lead will handle it, I suppose.
The female lead Vivian possessed abilities just as dazzling as theirs.
She could brew bizarrely miraculous potions in a snap using alchemy—she could hypnotize opponents, turn them into animals, or even shrink and grow their height and weight just by having them drink her medicine. Temporarily, anyway.
Should I ask if she can fix my eyes, too?
Until now, she had been trapped in the June 9th event loop, so even when she ran into Vivian at the art gallery, the guiding force controlling her body prevented her from asking for any medicine.
Now, however, she was a free woman and could run over to request a commission anytime she wanted.
For now, let’s go on a date today.
Though she had asked Erp to accompany her by making up an excuse that “I might suddenly fall ill while outside so I need a doctor,” this was, in truth, an outright date.
When Erp stepped out of the room saying he needed to go get ready, Pandora had called out, “Dress up nicely,” and he had shyly nodded in agreement.
Whether his expression was truly shy or not, Pandora hadn’t been able to see it, but she happily sipped her coffee while arbitrarily distorting her memories.
Mmm, the aroma is lovely.
A rich scent of roses wafted in from the open window, and the diligent chirping of birds awakened the morning.
The world was so fragrant and beautiful.
“Young lady! This is no time for you to be acting so leisurely!”
Looking exasperated, Anna pushed away the topmost newspaper and revealed the other papers. Bold headlines struck her eyes all at once.
[The Painter Who Vandalized His Majesty’s Portrait! What Will the Punishment Be?!]
Gasp! His Majesty’s portrait! I completely forgot about it!
Not knowing that tomorrow would actually come like this, she had committed an insane act without an ounce of fear.
She had finally escaped June 9th, but now she was about to get dragged off for treason on the very same day. On top of that…
[Pandora Grimepalet, Who Is She?] [A Suspicious Exhibition! Four Men Vanished! Is Female Painter Pandora Actually a Witch?!] [All Four Missing Men Vanished After Stepping Into Pandora’s House…]
“Journalists are catching wind of the fact that all four missing gentlemen came here to see the young lady, and they’re churning out articles left and right,”
Anna said, clicking her tongue.
Perhaps aiming for the most sensational reports possible, speculative articles that were practically indistinguishable from fiction were running rampant.
[On June 9th last past, Lady Pandora invited the four men to her home. Having long coveted the beauty of the four men, Lady Pandora supposedly imprisoned them within a secret room inside her mansion to use as her own personal artistic muses…]
“Covet what?! Imprison who?! I don’t even know where those guys are!”
It was so absurd her jaw wouldn’t close.
Snatching the newspaper from Anna’s hands, Pandora hurled it out the window. However, the outside was in a complete uproar.
The noisy clatter of hooves and the shouting of crowds.
Journalists who had come to investigate whether Pandora had truly locked up the male leads, and crowds shouting that the male leads had to be rescued, were swarming in a tight circle all around the outer walls of her mansion.
“Is it true that His Imperial Highness visited this place?!”
“What is Lady Pandora’s usual personality like?!”
“Why did you kidnap them?!”
“What do you think is the reason Lady Pandora wrote that His Majesty is a mutt?!”
“Please give us a statement!”
Wiping away sweat, the gatekeeper was struggling to deal with the people outside the main gate who were hurling reckless questions at him.
Just then, elbowing their way through the crowd, two groups of tall men wearing different uniforms appeared.
“I am Mark, Captain of the Imperial Guard. Open the front gates, please.”
“Police. We ask for your cooperation.”
Oh, damn.
