"What are you doing here this late at night?" 

I was cautious yet curious. 

"And alone at that."

This didn't seem like someone, who said they couldn't leave the castle for long, would do. 

"Alice."

Chanyeol whispered my name. However, he called me the name of a young girl who lives in Wonderland, not by my real name, Kyungsoo.

"I have something I must talk to you about."

"...Really? I didn't see that coming."

I had met Chanyeol twice before, but he never really talked to me. He would always talk to Baekhyun. He would greet me, but that was about it.

(It's just a hunch, but Chanyeol doesn't look like the kind of guy who would do something unless he had to... He probably avoided talking to me because he had to.)

Perhaps he wasn't interested in Kyungsoo, but only in the role of Alice. Or perhaps he didn't have any reason to say anything in the first place. 

(Maybe he wasn't saying anything out of respect for Baekhyun, whose role is to guide me as the Cheshire Cat...?)

He gazed at me with eyes that looked like they could see right through all of my troubles. 

"He has continued to guide you ever since you wandered into Wonderland. Are you not curious to know more about Alice's guide, the Cheshire Cat?"

"...What do you mean?" 

The King noticed how my body instinctively tensed, and an almost-cheerful smile drew across his face. 

"You can put your guard down. I'm not a good liar. I only plan on telling you the truth."

"Not a good liar...