“What kind of mechanism?”
Elise, receiving the book from Feu, examined the cover. Unable to find anything unusual, Elise tilted her head in confusion.
“The cover is much thicker than other books, so I looked at it closely. Excuse me for a moment.”
Feu reached out and pressed on a protruding part of the book, and a sound of a spring winding up was heard. Then, a door drawn on the book cover opened.
“Oh, this could be opened?”
Elise blinked her large eyes.
“It seems there’s something inside.”
Elise peered closely at the book cover.
Feu’s eyes sparkled with excitement. Even for Feu, who had handled various books, the hidden mechanism of ‘Dictionary of Magic Circles That Are Terrifying When You Know It’ was fascinating.
Urged to open it quickly, Elise carefully opened the paper door.
“Isn’t it a letter?”
As Feu said, there was a letter inside the hidden space.
“If we read the letter, we might be able to find out who made this book. This secret mechanism is designed not to close once it’s opened. The letter was put in and the lock was installed when it was first made. It’s an incredibly delicate technique.”
Feu highly praised the craftsmanship of the book’s creator.
Elise was also secretly curious about who made this book. And who the recipient of the letter was.
Elise responded with a smile and unfolded the folded letter.
Then, as she confirmed the recipient, Elise gasped. Tears rolled down her cheeks.
The recipient of the letter was none other than Elise herself.
[Elise,
As I keep looking at your face sleeping soundly, I wonder if I’ll never be able to leave, so I’m hastily writing these few words.
I wonder how old you’ll be when you discover this letter.
Will you be old enough to play a beautiful piano piece? Will you have ended your first love? Will you have had your debutante ball? Will you have met your destined partner?
Whatever moment it is, you’ll be shining as the most beautiful moment within that time.
The mere thought of not being able to share that moment with you already breaks my heart.
Elise, don’t forgive your mother for leaving you with just this book.
But don’t think you’ve been abandoned either.
It’s just that I don’t have time, my dear. My body is slowly stiffening.
I’ve searched high and low for treatment methods, wanting to see your beautiful face even one day longer, but they say it can’t be cured unless organs are replaced.
Even magicians are powerless in the face of illness.
Elise, I have so many things to apologize for.
Not being able to pass on the talent of a magician is one of them.
When I found out that the mana vessel in your body was small, I wanted to give you my mana.
But just as my illness couldn’t be cured, that too was impossible.
The one fortunate thing is that you take after me, not your father (laughs), with very deft fingers and intelligence.
Your father is already spewing nasty words at you, but ignore it all.
Your life is what you make of it, dear. It’s not your talent that makes you. Your experiences, your thoughts, your will – these will lead you to happiness.
Ah, I hear your father shouting outside, telling me to leave quickly.
I’d stay even if he tried to hold me back, so why is he so impatient?
Still, I’m glad I can leave after completing this book.
Elise, I hope this book will help you whenever you lose your way.
I’ve poured everything I have into this. So even if I’m not there, you’re never alone.
You are a blessing, a joy, and my love. Always live with positivity…]
The letter ended there. From the tear stains and splattered ink marks, Elise could easily guess the situation in which her mother couldn’t finish the letter.
Viscount Worton must have barged into the room.
He would have hurried her to leave, and perhaps baby Elise, startled by the noise, woke up and cried.
Her mother must have hastily hidden the letter in the cover and picked her up.
Around the time Elise stopped crying, Viscount Worton would have taken her away.
And then her mother left. Leaving this book behind.
Elise clutched the letter tightly. Large, pearl-like tears rolled down her cheeks incessantly.
Karan, who had rushed over upon hearing the news, gently stroked Elise’s back.
“…I wasn’t abandoned.”
“I thought there was no way someone would abandon such a beautiful child as you.”
“My mother was a magician. I wondered who I took after…”
“You took after your mother.”
“But why didn’t my mother cure her illness?”
“The treatment method…”
Karan stopped mid-sentence. The treatment Elise was talking about meant turning back time.
Elise knew well about the illness her mother had. It was the same as Deboa’s disease.
Pregnancy and childbirth were fatal illnesses. Giving birth put an enormous strain on the body.
She could have turned time back to before she was pregnant, before she met Viscount Worton, and she knew the method…
“She must have loved you more than herself,” Karan said.
“I would have made the same choice.”
If I had to choose between death and going back to before I met you, I would choose death without hesitation.
Elise’s sobs gradually grew louder. Karan took the letter from her hands.
He didn’t want to damage the proof that Elise was born in love and was loved.
He hugged her tightly. Elise cried her heart out in his broad embrace.
The letter, which she had read more than ten times already, reminded her of her mother’s love anew each time she read it. Now that Elise had become a mother herself, she could deeply understand that love.
In her childhood, Elise had resented her mother when she saw the happy moments of the Viscount Worton couple with Iris.
Viscount Worton never told Elise about her birth mother, and Viscountess Worton would often say, “A child abandoned even by her mother.”
So Elise thought she had been abandoned. She thought she was born by accident to a gypsy who happened to stop by the Worton household, born without love.
“Do you want to know more about your mother?” Karan asked.
“Is it possible? All I have is this book. And there’s no one to ask…”
She could ask Viscount Worton, but he was likely no longer of this world.
“You said she was a magician. There must be records somewhere in the Ivory Tower.”
“Do you think so? If there are, I’d really like to find them.”
It was rare for Elise to want something, so Karan vowed to find out no matter what.
****
Tracing Elise’s birth mother, a magician from the past who had been expelled for some reason, was not an easy task.
But Karan didn’t give up. He wasn’t discouraged because he never expected it to be easy in the first place.
Karan persuaded and sometimes threatened the Ivory Tower to access even restricted materials.
Quite some time had passed.
Elise’s morning sickness had ended, and the baby in her womb had grown enough to be kicking vigorously.
In the meantime, Elise read and reread the letter and book her mother left behind, learning to love even her younger self.
Elise had matured more than before.
Her book-making also gained momentum. Like her mother, instead of “‘Dictionary of Magic Circles That Are Terrifying When You Know It,” Elise created “The Dictionary of Increasingly Fun Magic Circles.”
It was a book composed of simple magic circles that even children could draw.
She planned to familiarize them with magic circles using her book before passing down her mother’s book.
Elise planned for a very distant future.
The seasons changed from late spring to summer, and then to autumn.
Elise’s belly had swollen like a mountain. Her movements began to be restricted. Karan volunteered to be her attendant and stayed by her side.
On a day when Karan’s presence beside her had become as natural as breathing, he suddenly left for a long time.
It wasn’t like him to be away for so long without saying anything. Elise was worried but waited for him silently.
She knew well that he wasn’t the kind of person to leave her side without reason.
Her faith did not betray her.
“Elizabeth Minette.”
In the morning, as she opened her eyes to the creaking of the bed, Karan was by her side. As soon as their eyes met, he blurted out an unexpected name.
“Elizabeth Minette, that’s your mother’s name. Your name comes from your mother’s.”
“Ah…”
Elise’s eyes slowly widened. Karan kissed her clear face and told her what he had found out.
Elizabeth Minette, she was a promising magician.
However, disillusioned with the magicians’ sense of authority and disregard for non-magicians, she left the Ivory Tower.
From then on, she lived helping people from humble positions.
The Ivory Tower disapproved of her existence.
Magicians criticizing other magicians was taboo then as it is now. The magicians erased traces of her.
Elizabeth’s life wasn’t easy, as she didn’t receive large sums of money for helping people.
That’s when Viscount Worton approached Elizabeth under the pretext of sponsorship, and she became pregnant with Elise.
“Your mother seems to have intended to give birth and raise you alone.”
Belatedly realizing Viscount Worton’s character, she tried to escape from his grasp.
“They say she was happy throughout her pregnancy. There wasn’t a single day she didn’t smile.”
Karan had met the owner of the house where Elizabeth stayed at that time.
“I wanted to bring them here, but they were unable to travel. Instead, I heard many stories.”
Karan held Elise in his arms and told her the stories gently. Even just hearing about it secondhand, Elizabeth’s happiness was palpable.
Elise was happy too. Then she felt a tickle in her belly.
“I think the baby is laughing.”
As if to confirm Elise’s words, a footprint pressed against her belly. The baby’s kick was strong enough to be felt on Karan’s palm resting on her belly.
Karan furrowed his brow.
“You shouldn’t trouble your mother.”
Elise laughed at his fond scolding. As if the baby would understand, Karan would reprimand the unborn child whenever Elise showed the slightest sign of discomfort.
His seemingly serious expression and tone were full of affection, and Elise predicted that Karan wouldn’t be able to be a stern father.
Then what about herself?
She would probably be the same as Karan.
Elise had thought that because she was born from hatred and grew up being mistreated, she couldn’t sincerely love anyone.
But as it turned out, she was born in love and received the utmost love. So Elise had nothing but love to give.
Thinking thoughts she couldn’t have imagined a few years ago, Elise hugged Karan tightly.
When you really look at it, it was a life full of nothing but love.
~Fin~
