Winter Rabbit in Wonderland

Chapter 86: Ye SoYoon

“Chester.”

Peter stopped walking and called out the raggedly dressed man’s name. He greeted him in a bright voice as if he was a friend. The man, Chester, threw the corpse he was holding in front of Peter and gave him a crooked smile.

“I knew this would happen. Peter, there’s always something about you that isn’t quite up to par.”

The afternoon sun revealed the face of the corpse. His eyes were rolled up, but Peter knew this person. Peter’s face stiffened like a statue.

“Was I already being followed?”

“No.”

Chester definitively negated Peter’s question as he looked at Alice. It looked as if he had not washed his dirty blond hair for several days, and she could see his gray eyes under the bandages stare sharply at her. Alice got the sudden feeling that she had met him somewhere before.

“You’re not the one being followed. She is.”

“What?”

Like a fog lifting away from her memories, she hazily remembered something from what Chester said.

Chester pulled out a flip phone from his jacket pocket. After pressing the numbers on the keypad, he shoved the phone toward Alice. His fingers were dirty with blood, and Alice stepped away in disgust, but Chester didn’t pay attention to her.

After a few seconds of silence, several audio files started to play.

“We are currently at Central. Nothing major has happened.”

“She is healing a girl. It is a girl who had hurt her leg.”

“We are currently heading toward the house from Central.”

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“She is healing a man. He has an illness. He looks to have come to her after hearing the rumors.”

“As long as nothing major happens, we will arrive at the house in twenty minutes.”

“I understand. If Alice pulls anything strange as we return, I will capture her.”

The audio files ended there. After standing numb for a while, Alice came to her senses and glared at Chester. But all he did was shrug.

“You may not want to believe it, but if you continue to go this way, you will get captured and potentially killed. I don’t care if that happens, but…if you really can’t believe it, you can try calling Heart.”

Alice hesitantly glanced at him and pulled out her smartphone from her clutch bag. Peter paced anxiously and tried to stop her as he glanced at his surroundings, but Chester pulled Peter away.

“Don’t stop her, Peter. This girl needs to be aware of the reality of the situation.”

Peter could not take his eyes off of Alice, who pressed the home button on her phone. Alice ignored the pleading face that she could see by the light of her phone and swept her finger across the home screen to unlock it.

Then, they heard a low whimper near the men. She turned up her head reflexively and saw a knife sticking out of Peter’s chest. Her eyes met with Chester’s. Chester was smiling back at her joyfully.

Alice turned her body and started to run. But she was caught after only a few steps.

“Let go! Ahh! Help…! Oops!”

“I can finally greet you properly. Hello, Alice. It’s been a long time since we’ve seen each other, hasn’t it?”

She gagged. Alice looked up, trembling, at Chester.

He hummed and swept back his hair with the free hand that was not blocking her mouth. His hand, which was drenched in Peter’s blood, was able to slick back neatly his thick blond hair and hold it in place. The homeless facade he had earlier was stripped away as he revealed his handsome profile and cold gray eyes.

“You still can’t tell who I am, even if I do this? Or should I put on a pair of glasses?”

Swept back and matted with dirt and blood, his hair was light blond as it shimmered upon catching the light. Then there were his gray eyes and the glasses. Alice combined the three elements and came up with only one person who would fit that profile. Her eyes grew wide.

“You’ re—you’re not…Cheshire…?”

“Correct.”

Alice’s legs gave way as she felt like a hammer had hit her over the head. Cheshire bent down and leaned into her, smiling widely.

“It’s okay, Alice. I’m not here to hurt you. You and I have something in common that we both want.”

“Why—why now…?”

In the second half of the book “Wonderland,” Cheshire kidnapped Alice and tied her to the sign at Wonderland’s entrance. A lot of time was left before that was supposed to happen, however, and this was not how the kidnapping should have gone in the first place. Plus, the story always depicted him in a suit, and never in the original story did he show up in this sort of attire.

Cheshire listened to Alice muttering nonstop to herself then stole the smartphone away from her. She had been holding it tight in her hand, so it had remained unlocked. He fiddled with it a bit, and because he was intelligent, he was soon able to figure out how to use it. He glanced over at Alice and shoved a dirty handkerchief into her mouth. Then he pulled out a knife stained with blood and put it near her neck.

“Just stay quiet. Then I won’t touch a hair on your head.”

He touched the icon with the picture of a phone on it and called Heart. A few moments later, a smooth voice called out the girl’s name.

“Alice?”

“Hello, is this Heart?”

“Who is this?”

“Well, I doubt you would know who I am, even if I told you.”

Alice looked down at the knife in front of her neck. Since her hands were free, she might be able to escape if she could catch the right timing. When Cheshire was distracted, she could remove the handkerchief over her mouth and yell for help.

But how would it change her situation if she did? Cheshire was right next to her, and Heart was far away at his house. While she was trembling in fear, Cheshire continued to pretend to be a kidnapper who captured Alice to gain money.

“One million carol. One million carol. You got it?”

“I would like to hear Alice’s voice.”

“The girl is currently asleep after being drugged. Hmm, maybe if I cut off a few fingers, she’ll wake up from the pain.”

“Tell me the location where you want to meet and the time.”

“Meet me one hour later, at four twenty-three. I’ll be at Wonderland’s entrance. Every ten minutes you are late, I will cut something off her body. Remember that.”

Cheshire’s voice was menacing. Hearing this threat mere inches away from her face, Alice fell into despair. Heart, help me, she cried silently. Then, she heard Heart’s cold voice.

“As long as she stays alive.”

Although it may have sounded like the whisper of a lover, he had not a single drop of worry about Alice’s well-being. His lack of expression woke up Alice to the reality of the situation. She looked blankly at Cheshire. After hanging up, he told her, “Do you understand now?”

He removed the handkerchief from her mouth. She was unable to say anything, however. Cheshire grabbed her roughly and dragged her away.

They arrived at an old house near the slums, and he pushed Alice inside. Finally, coming to her senses, she slowly started to creep away from him. As she did, he sat down in the only chair there and asked her, “Who are you? Have you really switched souls with the real Alice Liddell?”

His tone was so casual that Alice didn’t take in his meaning until a few seconds later. Her face flushed in fear.

“I heard everything. You and Li—no, the real Alice Liddell—the two of you fighting with each other.”

Cheshire pointed to the back of her hand. There remained the scratches she had gotten when she had tried to choke Li. Alice quickly hid her hands behind her back. Cheshire laughed at the girl who couldn’t even maintain eye contact with him.

“Don’t worry. I don’t care what your identity is. I only need your cooperation. This will benefit you also, you see? It’s a chance to get revenge over Heart and Undertaker.”

“Undertaker? White Rabbit…Is that who you’re talking about?”

Alice remembered what Peter had said to her. The person Heart loved was not her but White Rabbit.

“Yes, White Rabbit. That girl is Heart’s real mistress.”

“Isn’t White—White Rabbit a man? And he and Heart both like me…”

“White Rabbit a man? I don’t know how you came to that conclusion, but she is a girl. Also, that girl not only has a relationship with Heart, but with Mad Hatter and Twins.”

White Rabbit was a girl? In the original story, White Rabbit was definitely a man. Also, Heart, Mad Hatter, and Twins all liked her? Alice’s mind went blank.

Cheshire explained to her about SoYoon. He told her about the Caucus Race and Croquet Game four years ago, Heart’s insistence on being left alone whenever SoYoon visited, the rumors that spread on account of Heart’s minions gossiping, Heart’s and Mad Hatter’s reaction to Cheshire’s fake request, and Twins’ attack.

“You were being used. Your healing powers are a useful skill, so Heart used his seductive skills to hold you captive.

“Who…is that girl?”

“I heard you escaped from the research facility. Alice Liddell’s father, Henry Liddell, used to work there, but I don’t think that has anything to do with you…Oh, that’s right. She was the hundredth-something dimension shifter or something like that.”

Alice’s eyes slowly grew wider.

The real irregular character, the person who stole everything from her, had not been Li after all. She quickly comprehended the current situation.

She had been fooled all this time. How much she would have mocked her knowing she was none the wiser. Alice clenched her fists.

Chester laughed as he saw the anger and hatred reflected in her bright blue eyes.

“So now…”