9. Black and Gold (27)
9. Black and Gold (27)
Outwardly, he appeared to be listening calmly to her confession.
Inside, his mind was anything but calm.
He had no idea how to handle this situation.
On paper, Wonderstein was an attractive man.
Chiseled features, a tall frame, a perfect physique, and an affable smile — it was a combination anyone might find appealing.
Even in the games, where he was purely a villain, he had plenty of fans.
A confession directed at him wasn't strange at all.
The problem was that the someone was Ella.
A confession from a male ratman would have felt more plausible.
This was different from the time she'd declared her feelings in front of everyone a month ago.
Back then, he'd chalked it up to her distorted memories — she hadn't known any better, so it couldn't be helped.
But now she knew her memories had been tampered with, and she still refused to deny her feelings for him.
If anything, she'd doubled down.
Even after her memories returned, she said, she would still like him.
He looked into her eyes, which were fixed on him.
Large eyes holding glimmering black jewels blinked at him.
"You really do like me..."
Ella wrapped both arms around his neck.
She rose onto her tiptoes.
Her face came toward him.
Her breath brushed past his cheek.
He realized what she was about to do.
And instinctively, he knew he couldn't let it happen.
He poked her forehead with his finger.
"Ack!" she yelped, stumbling backward.
"Wha— what's the big idea?"
She rubbed her forehead and glared at him.
He winced.
He'd forgotten that his muscle strength exceeded a tiger's and hadn't controlled his force.
Wonderstein clicked his tongue, looking at the swelling on her forehead as if she'd taken a hard flick.
"Miss Ella."
He stroked the spot on her forehead as he spoke.
"Let's not do anything you'll regret."
Ella bit down hard on her lower lip, then let out a sigh.
"So in the end, my memories are the issue? I told you I'm fine with it. I'll do my best! So that even when my memories come back, I'll never hate you."
He shook his head.
"No. You'll regret it—one hundred percent. You'll be kicking yourself."
"You're sure about that?"
"Yes. Of course. Every night when you lie down, you'll be kicking the blankets."
His voice was brimming with mischief.
The Smiling Man's compulsion was potent.
No matter how seriously he took the situation internally, the smile couldn't be suppressed.
He'd found a clue for handling this awkwardness on Rouge's stage.
Don't hide the smile — lean into it.
Then the other person would see his exaggerated grin and understand it wasn't sincerity, but teasing.
Better to come off as a frivolous joker than to invite pointless misunderstandings.
Besides, the original Wonderstein had been exactly that kind of person.
Throughout the Tril Trillo series, he'd played the part of a clownish demon.
He'd cracked jokes and smiled in any situation.
Even while killing and torturing people.
Ella jutted out her lower lip, looking at his impish smile.
This man, seriously. Always like this.
"A person confesses sincerely, and this is how you respond?"
He gave an exaggerated shrug.
"I can't help it. What if I happily accepted it and something terrible happened? It wouldn't be strange at all if Miss Ella came at me with a dagger later, would it?"
Ella glared at his smirking face and said threateningly,
"Well, right now you're definitely giving me at least one solid reason to stab you."
"Heh-heh-heh, just bear with it a little longer. Anyway, it's true that Miss Ella's mental state is unstable, isn't it? Would you accept a confession from someone in that condition, if you were in my place?"
At his words, Ella's fire subsided a notch; she mumbled in a deflated voice.
"W-well, that's true, but..."
"I can guarantee this. When your memories come back, I bet you'll want to stab me as many times as you've ever said you 'like' me."
"Oh, really? Then let me say it more. I like you. I like you. I like you. I like you. I like you. I like you!"
She rattled all that off, then huffed hard.
Her face ripened to a pleasant red, like a fresh apple.
Wonderstein watched her and let out a hearty laugh, still speaking in that teasing voice.
"It already hurts all over. At this rate, I'm going to die."
His exaggerated playacting, as if he'd actually been stabbed, drew a reluctant laugh even from Ella, who'd been scowling.
Right. This was the kind of person he was.
He never lost his smile, no matter the situation.
This side of him was one of the reasons she liked him.
But this time he'd gone too far.
She'd steeled herself to open up to him.
She pushed against his chest and stepped back.
She muttered in a sulky voice.
"I'm jealous."
"Of who?"
"My future self."
At her serious tone, Wonderstein's forced smile faded slightly.
"You're dismissing how I feel right now out of consideration for 'that Ella.'"
"That's..."
Before he could retort, she waved her hand and cut him off.
"Forget it. Just forget it. What can I do — the person I like is this kind of man."
He tilted his head for a moment, then let out another chuckle.
"Didn't this incident make you dislike me a little?"
His knack for asking questions like that made Ella's fist clench.
She could deeply sympathize with Yurakne's frequent urge to smash Sven's skull.
Damned clowns.
Their whole existence is a prank.
She let out a derisive snort and muttered at him.
"The opposite."
"Huh?"
"I like you more."
She leaned against the window.
And looking at him, she smiled and said,
"It means you value me, doesn't it?"
Her words sent a chill down his spine.
This is serious.
She wore a relieved expression as she straightened up from the railing.
"Still, it does feel good to get it all out in the open. So, speaking of which, could you grant me one favor? In exchange for rejecting my confession... would that be too much to ask?"
"What is it?"
She shook her head once and said,
"About the treatment to recover my memories. Could we not do it? Old man Gaston said so too, didn't he? That in my current state, if I just let things be, they'll gradually come back on their own. There's no need to rush, right? Just give me a little time. Let me try to make sure the future me can still like you."
At her request, he thought for a moment, then slowly nodded.
This much, even her future self would accept.
It was a decision she'd made herself.
More than anything, his own personal wish that her attempt would succeed played a part too.
"Alright. I'll speak with the old man and have the treatment stopped."
"Thank you. For understanding! Ah, wait — I'm hearing some kind of negative voice inside me. It says this adds three more stabs to the tally?"
The laughter the two of them burst into filled the hallway.
They walked side by side toward the dining hall where lunch was being served.
She told him about Simon Magier's scheming toward her.
"So that's how he kept Reina trapped mentally for fifteen years! She must have had it so hard. Greedy bastard. Trying to get his hands on both me and Reina."
"Then, in exchange, he ought to give one of them to us, shouldn't he?"
"There's a member Reina's close with — the one with the limp. She kept contradicting Lord Fantastic's opinions. He was probably planning to kick her out."
The two of them walked the shortcut through the factory.
Thanks to Wonderstein having already mapped out every corner of the place, they were able to make it to lunch without being late.
Before they entered the building, she asked something that had been nagging at her.
"The idea of making Reina the Deputy Leader instead of me... you've honestly never once considered it?"
Wonderstein was glad she'd asked.
It was something he could answer honestly, without any calculation.
"Yes. Of course not. My Deputy Leader is only you."
A smile touched Ella's lips.
"That's all I needed to hear."
She prepared to part ways with him again.
Technically, on paper, she was still a temporary member of the Golden Carnival until next Tuesday.
They had to sit at separate tables.
Wonderstein spoke to her as she was about to leave.
"What about you, Miss Ella? Didn't you want to stay with the Golden Carnival?"
She hesitated for a moment.
She debated.
Should she tease him, or answer honestly?
But the moment she saw his face, the latter impulse won out.
"I've never once considered it. My troupe leader is only you."
"That's all I needed to hear."
He smiled and echoed what Ella had said earlier.
"Alright. I'll see you Tuesday, then. Oh, right. Inside the dining hall, I'm going to act dejected. I want to see the look on Lord Fantastic's face when he thinks his scheme is still working."
"Go right ahead."
But Wonderstein soon regretted agreeing to her prank.
Simon and Wonderstein were seated facing each other, directly in front of the Duke.
Throughout the meal, Simon comforted a gloomy-faced Ella beside him.
She acted the part with tears welling in her eyes, playing along as if she'd fallen for his hypnotic suggestion and smooth talk.
- Jealous, aren't you? Hmm? Jealous?
Ella cackled through the Sound Room.
It was genuinely unpleasant, honestly.
Seeing Simon's smug, triumphant gaze thrown his way.
And the way Ella stared vacantly at another man as if she'd fallen for him.
He could now guess, just a little, what Lord Fantastic must have felt earlier when he'd seen Reina.
Still, he considered the matter settled.
Under the rules of this draft, a selected member could freely choose their own destination once the temporary contract period ended.
Ella would come back to where he was.
But he'd momentarily overlooked something else implied by the rule.
Namely, that if a temporary member wanted to stay, that too could not be prevented.
"I don't want to go back."
"What?"
Wonderstein, having returned from the factory tour, was speaking with Gaston using his 'Sound Room' ability.
It was to discuss stopping Ella's treatment.
But suddenly, Reina requested a meeting with him.
Sitting across from him, she hesitated, then blurted out those words.
"I don't care about the terms. You can give me more work. I want to stay here."
She spoke stiffly, her expression tight with tension.
Wonderstein didn't know whether to be happy about this or not.
A talent like her joining the troupe was certainly welcome.
But the rules didn't allow it.
They'd already selected an additional recruit.
This meant that instead of getting Ella back, there would be no one to hand over to the other side.
After mulling it over, Wonderstein muttered.
Should I just hand over Gaston, then?
- My student... you've forgotten I'm on the line with you...
...
['Member Quest — I Don't Want to Ride the Jige!' has been activated.]
The quest was loaded with all manner of aggravating failure penalties.
From then on, Wonderstein had to spend the entire night listening to a grumbling old man's complaints.