Winter Rabbit in Wonderland

Chapter 45

One morning, a couple of days after Tweedle Dee’s strange encounter, SoYoon was searching through her cross bag when she realized she was running out of her shoulder patches.

She headed over to Mad Hatter’s. She hadn’t visited him for a long time. She stood in front of his door and contemplated for a moment before she put her hand on the doorknob. Her privilege was still intact. She clenched her jaw as she watched the door open smoothly for her.

Once she entered, she checked for a human presence. Mad Hatter was in his laboratory.

“Mad Hatter.”

Even though she had called him loudly, there was no response. She went up to the second floor.

The laboratory door was open. SoYoon observed the Mad Hatter she could see through the crack in the door. Mad Hatter, whom she was meeting for the first time since that night’s incident, was curled up on the floor asleep.

He should have looked pathetic, but in the morning sunlight, he sparkled like an angel who had fallen from heaven. It was a spell more powerful than his magic.

She stepped into the laboratory. It was then she saw his bruised face was and his cut lip, his ankle wrapped in bandages. For someone who stayed locked up in his house and ran experiments all day, this look did not suit him.

At the corner of the extra bed, a familiar box was rolling around. Through the slight opening, she could see that it contained the item that only she used, and the item he always had ready before she even ordered it from him. Her eyes fell slightly.

Mad Hatter woke at that moment from his slumber. His drowsy blue eyes looked up at her, and he smiled slightly, a smile reminiscent of flower petals fluttering in the wind.

“Is this a dream?” he mumbled as he reached out his hand. When his scratched-up hands almost reached her hair, SoYoon avoided them by turning her head. Mad Hatter blinked several times and got up.

“White Rabbit?”

“I’m almost out of patches, so I want to order more.”

She watched Mad Hatter quietly. He glanced over at SoYoon several times with his lips wavering between smiles until his expression grew dark, and he hung his head.

At that time, he hadn’t been able to register the situation, so many things had happened. But as time passed, he had started to remember recent events. He had bitten her neck so hard it was a wonder it hadn’t bled. He’d left many bruises from his kiss marks and an imprint of his hand on her thin wrists. He’d ripped her clothes.

He had done that to SoYoon. After that, Mad Hatter couldn’t think of anything else. His red lips opened, and he uttered the words.

“I’m sorry.”

“Why?”

“I think you would have hated it.”

He avoided her eye contact, and a shadow fell over his face. SoYoon bit her lip. The scene in front of her spun.

At the research facility, experiments had been done regarding breeding. Unlike the cold eyes of the elite researchers who examined her, the man who was far from living a righteous life was apologizing to her—just because he thought that she would have hated what he’d done.

SoYoon pushed down the emotions that welled up. If she said the words she was thinking out loud, it would only make Mad Hatter more miserable.

“It doesn’t matter. You don’t need to apologize. You were not in your right mind then, either.”

“I guess.”

SoYoon remembered his white face with tears falling in huge drops as he cried that he was in pain. He had looked like he was insane or really about to die. It was a side of him she had never seen before. Had he always been in that much pain?

“If you want to fix that head once and for all, you should go see Alice. As I said before, she has...”

Mad Hatter blocked her mask-covered mouth, pushed back her bangs, and looked into her eyes.

Able to see clearly now, she noticed a mixture of complicated emotions revealed in his face.

“Don’t talk about that girl anymore. I already know you are a fool and stubborn.”

Mad Hatter hugged SoYoon. The action was stiff, understandable for someone who usually had no physical contact with other people. This time, she didn’t push him away. The refreshing and slightly sweet scent of eucalyptus called her heart.

“It’s okay to not worry about useless things like that,” Mad Hatter whispered in her ear. He was smiling wispily. SoYoon couldn’t say anything in response.

A few moments later, the two of them separated as though nothing had happened. As always, Mad Hatter scolded her for ordering her patches on short notice and handed her the ones he had already made in preparation. She walked out of Mad Hatter’s house after paying him, and he watched the back of her quietly to himself.

***

A white light flowed out of Alice’s beautiful hands, a light that reflected the warmth and peace of the healing powers it possessed. As Alice removed her hands, the light left her and traveled to the girl covered in blood.

The girl felt the pain leave her body and stared blankly at the other girl in front of her. Alice’s eyes met the girl’s, and she smiled as she said, “You’re all right now.”

She got up after the healing was complete. The girl rose with her and grabbed the end of Alice’s clothes.

“I...”

“Remove your hands.”

Next to Alice was a guard who frowned at her threateningly. He was a man who had come to the pub she worked at many times.

“Jeremy.”

The girl, embarrassed, called his name, but the man slapped her hands away. He pushed away Alice from the girl, and as she got further away, Alice waved her hands.

“I hope you stay well!”

The girl stumbled up as she was left alone. The girl walking away from her under the sunlight was breathtaking. Even though the beautiful girl who healed her didn’t reveal who she was, if Heart’s men were guarding her that protectively, then there was only one person it could be: Heart’s girlfriend, who had come from Outhouse.

The girl slowly turned around. When the sun set, she had to go back to where she was from. Stay well? For those born and raised in Wonderland, such a thing was not even likely to happen in dreams. She laughed bitterly and walked into the dark streets.

No secret could be kept a secret forever—especially if the bearer has no intention of keeping it. Alice was the miracle girl. Through the mouths of the people she healed, the secret spread from place to place. After she had killed Alice Liddell, she looked to anyone who saw her like a blooming flower on the path of a golden road.

Alice had many complaints about the situation, however. She should have run into Mad Hatter by now, but he was nowhere in sight.

Maybe the rumors haven’t spread as fast as I had hoped. If that is the case, should I swallow my pride and find him myself? I do have the perfect excuse. She turned around to head back to the house.