Chapter 02
At first, I thought I had misheard.
“Are you sure you want this doll?”
“Yes.”
I’m… being sold?
It had been a month and a half since I possessed this doll.
This was truly an unexpected turn of events.
No wonder I got chills all over when I met the woman who just came in. So this was why?
“Shall I put it in a box?”
“Wrap it as a gift. Oh, and write Lord Calion’s name, not Young Master Henry’s.”
Calion…?
At that name, a chill ran down my back, the cotton inside me dampening with cold sweat.
Could I ever forget it?
Just hearing that name brought back everything—I mean everything about this world I couldn’t remember no matter how much I tried.
My one and only favorite character from my entire romance-fantasy novel-reading life…!
Calion Nacht.
He must currently be Calion Button.
Either way, it doesn’t change the fact that he is the final villain of the regret-type romance fantasy novel Red Night.
“And the fact that he fell into darkness is heavily influenced by his time as the Button family’s adopted son!”
“Since Young Master Henry ordered a lot of things today, I’ll come pick them up tomorrow because I can’t carry them all.”
Even though servants would carry everything anyway, Calion suffered constant humiliation due to Henry Button, the eldest son of the ducal Button family.
His belongings were mixed with Henry’s on purpose. He was mocked for having no noble blood. Servants even went so far as to secretly put sand in his food.
With treatment like that, how could he not fall into darkness?
Anyway, the appearance of my favorite character—someone I could recognize instantly just from hearing his name—made me excited despite myself.
I was struggling to suppress the cotton inside me that was fluttering with joy when—
‘Wait a second…’
The air around me suddenly felt cold.
‘As far as I remember…’
None of Calion’s belongings survived in the original story.
All because of Henry Button’s abuse.
And among them—
“There was a doll!”
The words burst out of my mouth before I could stop them. I almost clapped a hand over my mouth.
I froze and carefully looked around.
‘Ah right. No one can hear my voice anyway.’
With an embarrassed sigh, I relaxed—only to hear a sleepy voice from the teddy bear next to me.
“Gasp! Lily, what’s wrong? You never talk during the day!”
But I didn’t respond.
Because I had just been placed into a very difficult situation.
At the moment I was chosen as Calion’s doll in this shop, it seemed my fate had already been decided.
To be torn apart by that Henry bastard.
My mind went blank.
Joy at meeting my favorite character and fear of death coexisted.
Even though I had prepared myself for hardship after reincarnating into a doll body, this was still unacceptable—
‘Wait, I’m not going to die, right?!’
And not even peacefully—I’d be torn apart.
As I imagined that gruesome end, my decision was made quickly.
‘Let’s escape.’
So even when children pulled my braided hair during the day, I unusually endured it without complaint while thinking hard.
“Doesn’t that doll look even uglier today?”
“…Honey, we don’t have time to play with that doll today. We need to go back quickly. It’s the night of the red moon.”
I tried to ignore the child and mother speaking in front of me, but a certain phrase made the cotton inside me tremble.
Red Moon.
‘I’ve heard about that.’
Once a month, a pitch-black night falls and a red moon rises. It has been happening strangely for the past ten years.
On nights when the red moon rises, people who go outside often meet misfortune. So it’s an unspoken rule that no one goes out.
‘That’s why people call it the Forbidden Night or the Devil’s Night.’
Some say it’s black magic. Others say demons descend to the human world.
But one thing is certain:
You must not leave your house on the night of the red moon.
I smiled inwardly in satisfaction.
On red moon nights, the streets become completely empty as soon as it starts getting dark. For me, this was perfect—there was no other chance.
‘It’s not like I’m even human. Would anything bad even happen to a doll?’
With that thought, I decided to escape tonight.
While I was carefully planning my escape using everything I had overheard—
Suddenly, my body was lifted into the air.
It was the shop owner’s hand.
“Lily! Congratulations!”
“You’re so lucky!”
“We were worried you’d never sell and just end up discarded forever!”
Cheers erupted all around as I was carried toward the wrapping counter.
But there were also voices mixed with regret.
“Who will find my hat now…”
“I really thought you’d never be sold.”
I thought so too.
I almost cried at my fellow doll’s jealous final words. The shop was in a festive mood, completely unaware of how tense I was inside.
And then, amid their voices, I was wrapped like a roll of kimbap in cheap heart-patterned wrapping paper.
The only consolation was—
‘It’s not a box.’
For Calion, that might be disappointing, but for me—planning to escape—it was good news.
The shop lights went out after the wrapping was finished.
After confirming that no one was around, I used all my strength to kick at the crinkly plastic wrapping covering me.
Once, twice, three times…
After who knows how many kicks—
Thud!
With a satisfying sound, I saw the familiar ceiling.
‘I broke through! That flimsy wrapping actually helped!’
Suppressing my excitement, I quickly moved toward the area where discarded toys were kept.
Just in case.
I bent down and searched through the pile.
After a while, I found cotton similar to mine, fragments of eyes, and torn fabric matching my clothes.
I smiled in satisfaction and scattered them around the wrapping station.
“Lily! What are you doing?!”
I ignored the voice calling me from above, coming from a feather fan toy.
I also ignored the surrounding voices of toys calling out in surround sound and continued my plan.
Then I caught my breath, looked around carefully, and moved quickly.
At that moment—the shop lights turned on.
“Huh? Why is this here?”
The shop owner walked in.
Wait… wasn’t she supposed to be upstairs?!
“I clearly caught a mouse yesterday, but it’s back again?!”
The shop owner muttered.
The second floor was her home, and since several plush toys had recently been damaged by mice, she had come down to check.
And I…
Barely managed to hide beside a display shelf.
Even in a world with magic, a doll walking around at night would obviously cause something terrifying.
Worst case, I could be taken to the mage tower as a research subject…!
‘I should stay hidden.’
I focused intensely, holding my breath.
The shop owner angrily headed to the wrapping area and picked up the scattered cotton and eyes I had left behind.
“Damn it! If I catch it…!”
Her frustrated breathing continued.
Then she muttered:
“…What about the doll?”
Choose something else!!
I silently prayed with my cotton hands clasped together.
As if my prayer worked, she eventually made her decision and headed to the display shelf.
“It would’ve been broken anyway if I looked for it.”
She picked up a doll and wrapped it just like before.
This time, she placed it into a basket.
‘She’s taking it home.’
A gift in her usual commuting basket.
Seeing part of the doll sticking out of the wrapping, I sighed in relief.
It seemed she had chosen a doll without self-awareness.
Good.
Even if it was doomed to be torn apart, at least it wouldn’t feel pain.
Unlike self-aware toys like me.
Only then did my cotton bristling with fear finally settle.
‘I would’ve been devastated if that straw-hat boy doll next to me had been taken…’
As the shop was locked, I didn’t move immediately.
I waited, completely still.
Then a sharp voice came from above.
“You can come out now! I saw her go upstairs!”
It was the mobile hanging from the ceiling.
Hearing that, the toys around me started speaking again.
“Why did you do something so reckless?”
“I was more scared than you were!”
I stayed silent.
I couldn’t exactly say: Because I was about to be torn apart, of course.
So I just smiled awkwardly.
Then the shop fell silent.
A deep male voice spoke.
“…How do you plan to leave?”
It was the oldest among them—the wooden grandfather doll.
“I’ll use the hole in the back of the shop you told me about.”
“And where will you go? It’s dangerous outside for a doll.”
Everything is dangerous anyway.
Whether I get sold and die, escape and die, or get caught moving and exorcised as black magic.
If I was going to die anyway, I didn’t want to spend it worrying about when.
But I couldn’t say that aloud.
Silence filled the shop.
They seemed to understand.
“It was nice meeting you.”
“We were happy too!”
“Don’t forget us!”
“Thank you! Who will help me put on shoes now?”
The wooden grandfather doll, the cuckoo clock, the green-framed mirror, and the duck toy wearing shoes spoke in turn.
One and a half months… short yet long enough to grow attached.
The wooden grandfather doll had especially helped me a lot, like a mentor or even a god, guiding me through everything.
As memories passed through my mind, my button-like eyes grew warm.
I bowed slightly.
And finally said—
“Thank you… for everything.”
With that,
I ran out of the shop.
