Winter Rabbit in Wonderland

Chapter 80: Chapter 8 Crossroads-3

Tweedle Dum knocked roughly on Duke’s door when he arrived. Duke had been happily mixing up a drug to feed Dor and so answered with a frown.

“It’s been a while, Duke.”

The last time Dum and Duke had met was when Dum had come to buy the drugs to kidnap SoYoon. Thinking that the potion had failed him, Duke smiled pathetically. Dum was sure that the situation would go as he had anticipated.

“Oh, Twins. What brings you here?”

“What brings me here? Do you not know why I’m here?”

Because the drug that Duke sold him didn’t work on SoYoon, Dum didn’t feel guilty about tricking him. He stepped inside and walked into the living room and observed him without letting Duke realize what he was doing.

“Would—would you like to sit down?”

“Hm? What’s the matter? You’re even sweating. Are you hiding something special?”

“Of course not…! Twins! You can’t go that way…!”

Duke grabbed at Dum, who was heading to his laboratory. Dum stopped and looked down at Duke. Sensing a coldness in Dum’s narrowed eyes, Duke hesitated a moment then removed his hands. Dum dusted off the spot where Duke had touched him and smiled.

“Weren’t we on good terms? Don’t make me angrier than I am now, Duke. I’m already quite upset about your fake drug.”

“Fake!”

“Yes, fake. What else would you call that? You told me that it was undetectable and odorless, but Undertaker figured it out before even putting it to her mouth. I ended up paying expensively for nothing.”

“That’s because she’s a special case…”

Dum put down his hand slowly from dusting his clothes and stared at Duke. Duke swallowed hard at seeing his blue eyes filled with annoyance and maliciousness.

At that moment, Dum kicked Duke in the stomach. In an instant, Duke flew across the room and hit the wall. To Duke, who was gasping for air, Dum said coldly, “Are you seriously telling me that as an excuse? You already knew all that. If you hadn’t listened properly, then isn’t it your fault?”

Due to the sudden attack, Duke couldn’t get his bearings straight and was too late to stop Dum from getting to his laboratory. Dum opened the lab door.

Dor was laid out on a cot. Dum lifted her by her collar. Duke must have used a strong sedative on her because even when Dum handled her roughly, she didn’t wake up. He lifted her and came out to the living room.

“Look, Duke. Shame on you. Hiding something this good here for yourself.”

“Oh, you can’t…”

Duke, having just recovered his voice, stumbled over to Dum. Dum stared coldly at the hand that was reaching out toward him and Dor.

“This is the kid that Undertaker cares for, right? What great bait.”

“Wait, Twins. I’ll refund the money for the drug I sold you but return the girl. Hm?”

For a moment, Dum looked at Duke with a blank face, then he smiled.

“No.”

He headed for the front door. Duke trembled in anger as he watched Dum and Dor getting farther away from him. Impulsively, Duke grabbed a small bottle.

Dum heard something fly at him from behind and reflexively swung his arm. The sound of glass shattering and a spicy smell diffused through the room as his hand throbbed with a burning sensation.

Dum glared at Duke. Unable to believe that he had done this, Duke glanced at Dum with a look of desperation. When Dum moved, the color from Duke’s face drained rapidly.

“Uh, I…”

“I must look very easy to you these days. If that’s not the case, how would you dare to do this to me? Don’t you think?”

Dum swung back around and kicked Duke in the leg. When Duke fell, Dum put his foot on his knee.

“Your hands may be important, but not your legs, right?”

After spitting out those words, he crushed the legs beneath his feet. With Duke’s scream echoing behind him, he walked out of the house.

The thing Twins hated most in the world was not burnt porridge or starvation. It was physical pain. Unable to curse when he was Dum, he muttered under his breath as he walked.

He wasn’t sure what Duke intended this drug for, but his shirt had already melted in places, and the spot where it made contact with his hand was excruciating as if it was burning through it. The only person that this made him think of was not Doctor but SoYoon, however.

And soon after, he found SoYoon looking at him.

“Tweedle Dum.”

SoYoon calling his name always sounded sweet. Forgetting his pain, he smiled and hurriedly handed over Dor, whom he had been carrying at his side.

SoYoon received Dor and examined the girl to see if she was all right. Her rosebud lips smelled of sugar and potent sedatives, but she could not detect blood. Relieved, SoYoon placed Dor more comfortably in her arms as Dum said to her, “I immediately followed him, so she should be fine.”

“…Thank you.”

Dum blushed at the simple words as SoYoon called March to tell him that Dor had been saved. A few moments later, March and Li ran in. SoYoon handed Dor to the two of them and explained what had happened.

“Thank you!”

“Really, thank you…”

March and Li teared up gratefully as they looked at Dum’s face. However, Dum had no interest in them and continued to glance over at SoYoon.

Unlike when she was at his house, her bangs were over her face, and she had the mask on, so it was hard to see her expression. But somehow, he seemed to be able to sense her position and her feelings. Her head was lowered slightly, resting on his left arm. Dum couldn’t help but smile a little.

Since two people needed to see Doctor, they all headed over to see him. And after they had left, Alice came out from hiding from a place a few meters away.

Alice ground her teeth as she saw them getting farther away from her.

In the original story, Duke kidnaps Dor when she comes out to meet Alice. After hearing the news late, March runs to save his sister but finds her too late, her body already cold. Losing his mind at his sister’s death, March tries to kill Duke, but Duke is protected by Heart, who knows that Wonderland’s citizens need Duke’s skills. Unable to get proper revenge, March goes insane and starts to murder people without reason until Alice brings him back to sanity.

Twins saving Dor and March and Li thanking him for it were nowhere in the original story. Alice glared at the back of Li. That girl that rolled in from out of nowhere was messing everything up.

***

After checking Dor, Doctor predicted that it would be at least five hours until she woke up. Dum was in a more serious state. Chemicals had burned his hand and parts of his arm below his left elbow.

Even so, he refused Doctor’s treatment and instead bought ointment and a bandage and handed them to SoYoon. She stared at them for a long time and eventually took them.

SoYoon treated Dum at her house. Dum sat on the sofa and didn’t take his eyes off of her as she sterilized his wound. He noted her fluttering white lashes, her smooth cheeks, her cute pale lips.

As his gaze got progressively hotter, she glared at him. They had already sat close so that she could treat him, but the space between them got smaller.

“Give me some space,” SoYoon reprimanded coldly. Dum made a face, pretending he was in pain—although he had forgotten his distress while staring at SoYoon.

“Stop acting like a baby.”

“I’m not acting like a baby. It hurts,” Dum said, casting his eyes down. Although her expression was hard, she seemed to have decided to be a bit lenient with him, so he carried on. As she bandaged him, Dum put his lips lightly to her cheek then moved toward her ear.

“Aren’t you going to ask why I went to save her?” his gentle voice asked her. She didn’t answer him, but he didn’t mind.

“You know the reason, don’t you?”

There was no reason for Twins to save Dor. And yet, he had gone over there to do it, even getting hurt in the process. There was only one reason for him to do that.

SoYoon tied a small knot after wrapping his arm with the bandages. As she had done on Earth, she tied it in a pretty butterfly shape, which Dum touched carefully. It was as if he had found a hidden personality within her. Unable to resist any longer, he cleared away the ointment and bandages and fell onto the sofa, hugging her.

“What are you doing?”

SoYoon’s voice was blunt, but that in itself sounded cute to Dum. He massaged her lips with his fingertips as he spoke to her.

“If you resist, it will hurt…me.”

She had been ready to fight him at the first part of his sentence, but on the last word, she blinked.

“I got this wound exclusively for you, so you wouldn’t hurt me, would you?”

She could practically hear those words hidden beneath his statement.

Dum relaxed his arms. Naturally, the two bodies came into close contact. SoYoon could feel his pounding heart underneath his thin shirt. His heartbeat was a truthful profession of his feelings.

“Can I kiss you?”

When she opened her mouth to answer, he shook his head and stopped her.

“No, I’m going to kiss you.”

He licked her slightly open lips, and his tongue pushed its way inside. SoYoon’s hand slapped his forehead. It was like a mother scolding her child. Dum didn’t know how normal mothers were supposed to act, yet he felt a strange maternal sense about the situation.

“If you ask a question, then wait for the answer.”

Dum realized that SoYoon’s voice was a bit softer than usual. He leaned his body closer.

“Can I?”

“No.”

Even though it was a rejection, Dum’s eyes smiled. He hadn’t gone to save Dor expecting anything in particular, but through what had happened today, he’d found her weak spot.

She was weak to those who were weak, actions were stronger than words, and most importantly, she had a soft spot for anyone who considered her feelings. He had thought that she was a blunt and cold girl, but she was a girl who lived in this world with little tact. He felt that he had seen the real SoYoon for the first time.

That day, Dum left the ointment and bandages that Doctor gave him at SoYoon’s house.