Winter Rabbit in Wonderland

In the evening, Wonderland started to become rowdy. The bystanders near the slums tried to find a good spot to watch the group of people that rushed into the empty building.

This was the first Croquet Game to open after the one played four years ago for the position of White Rabbit. The people waited expectantly for the night to begin.

It was a little after 10:30 when Heart showed up.

As always, he wore a tailored suit as he made an appearance on the 2nd story balcony. He stood leaning on its corner. However, there was an unexpected guest next to him. Next to Heart stood Mad Hatter. As if advertising their dislike of each other, they were standing on the opposite sides of the balcony.

A few minutes before 11, Heart’s men appeared, bringing in a man with them. The man was tied up tightly with rope. Heart’s men put him down, cut the rope, and left.

Upon checking the identity of the man, the people below started to talk amongst themselves. Throughout the crowd, his name popped up in their conversations. Cheshire, today’s special guest. His hair had returned back to his light blond color and he was wearing an expensive suit that they associated with him. Heart’s men had even provided him with a striped necktie to complete his look.

However, there was something out of place about his look. One thing was that a long scar ran from his left cheekbone to his lip. The other strange thing was his left leg. Every time the wind blew and his pant leg fluttered, they were able to catch glimpses of an artificial leg.

Evidently, he was today’s Croquet Ball. Although he had carried immense influence in the past, his breaking of the law had forced Heart to cast him out. Cheshire was enough to gratify the violence the crowd wanted.

11 o’clock. Finally, the Croquet Games started.

Cheshire was not given a weapon. Because he had been captured as a prisoner, other than a glass of water, he had not been given anything to eat or drink. Also, due to his injured leg, he wouldn’t be able to run properly. He fell down after the first step. Instinctively, he tried with all his might to run away, determined to escape, even if he had to crawl to do it.

The image of Cheshire crawling on the ground, groveling for his life in front of the contempt-filled masses... that was the picture that Heart had wanted to see. However, even after witnessing what he had hoped for, he felt bored.

His thoughts wandered over to SoYoon. She was still not over her cold and so she was probably still sleeping. Although he had placed a guard dog to protect her, he wasn’t too happy about it given who that guard dog was.

Cheshire’s head rolled around in the dusty dirt.

At that time, SoYoon woke up, sensing someone staring intently at her. The dark blond hair shimmered slightly in the darkness of the night.

SoYoon called out his name/ “Twins?”

The guard dog, Tweedle Dum’s face cast a shadow over her. He mouthed something and mumbled, “Think about us...” f𝒓𝗲𝗲𝒘𝑒𝚋ｎoѵ𝒆𝗹.co𝗺

However, the words became muffled so that the rest of the sentence could not be understood. Dum stayed there in place with his mouth closed tightly, then buried his face in her embrace. It felt like he was trying to cling onto her.

This world was the inside of a book and SoYoon was its reader. Having lived in this world since he was a small child, telling Twins about this did not affect him whatsoever. But one thing, the fact that she knew everything about them, even the things they had wanted to hide, made them uncomfortable.

Would she know this also? To find relief from the guilt he felt at eating his brother, he had created this fantasy. Dum was that fantasy. This had never been a problem to him before, but now, mixed with the new emotion of love, it all seemed ridiculous.

SoYoon pet his head. Her action was awkward and rough. But even that made Dum want to cry and so he hugged her waist tightly.

SoYoon glanced down at Dum. There was a red burn on his left arm that he had gotten when he was trying to save Dor. She gently pushed Dum away. His face drained of color, expecting the worst, but she pointed at something.

“There’s ointment over there. Bring it here.”

With a slightly dazed expression, he got up from his seat. The ointment she pointed out was something familiar to him. As he brought the ointment over, SoYoon got up.

“Sit.”

She pointed to the chair that Mad Hatter had used when he had treated her wounds. Dum sat on the chair as she opened the medicine packet and dumped out its contents. Rubbing alcohol for sterilization, ointment cream, and bandages fell onto the bed.

“Give me your left arm.”

Dum showed her his left arm without a word. SoYoon started to put on ample amounts of ointment from his arm to his hand. He felt a tickling sensation as she touched his burnt skin. His cheeks blushed red and he lowered his head.

SoYoon, seeing this, told him, “You have to take care of this so that you can get better fast.” 𝗳𝔯𝙚e𝒘e𝚋𝘯𝚘ν𝙚l.𝑐o𝙢

The injury was so blatant that it was best to fix it as soon as possible so that others would not catch onto the fact that Dee and Dum were the same person. Dum, realizing her meaning, knew that if their secret was revealed, they may lose the trust of their men. But what came out of his mouth was something entirely different.

“I wish it would continue not getting better. Then you will continue to take care of me.”

The hand that was wrapping the bandages froze for a moment. SoYoon finished tying the ends and put the rest of the bandages into the prescription packet. As she did, Dum took it away from her and pushed her down on her back.

“Sleep more. You still have a fever.”

SoYoon closed her eyes without resisting. Soon, her breathing slowed. Dum, watched her sleeping, let out a small yawn. Whether it was because her sleep was contagious or because he was finally able to relax, sleep was rushing towards him. He placed his arm on the bed and propped his head on it.

Right before he fully fell asleep, Dee spoke. “Hey, you punk. The thing you locked yourself away for all this time to think about was this? I thought you were smart but it looks like you’re an idiot. That oblivious girl won’t even care about that.”

That was true. Dum laughed to himself drowsily.