Echoes of Strangling and the Secret Script

[Why is my Pel being like that again?]

[TT]

[Even if his personality is trash and there’s nothing to praise but his face, let’s forgive him just this once.]

<What would I even do with that bastard’s face? At most, I’d spit on it.>

<That godforsaken prick…>

[Why? Is he nagging you? Giving you backhanded insults?]

If it were just that, I wouldn’t have even brought it up. I held the pen still until the ink bled into the paper, then I moved it slowly.

<Actually, I ran into the Crown Prince that day.>

Erkel listened quietly as I explained, but he lamented when I mentioned that the Crown Prince had strangled me.

[LOL]

[He really is trash…]

[Did I raise you like that?]

Erkel hadn’t exactly raised the Crown Prince, but since Kim Min-ji had created and developed him, it wasn’t entirely wrong. Erkel then poured out questions asking if I was truly okay. I reassured him and moved on.

[Hmm…]

[Nothing specific comes to mind… Even if Fel (the Crown Prince) was a main character, his screen time didn’t really explode in the early stages. He mostly just appeared occasionally to use his status to help Llewellyn and then vanish? That ‘cool, cold, but secretively kind’ trope?]

[There shouldn’t be any major incidents involving him yet.]

<It bothers me that I’ve seen that mask before.>

<Does it not appear in the original story?>

[Well, actually…]

[I… I might have recycled some similar plot devices.]

[That kind of item appeared in my other novels too. But I don’t have the names of every item memorized.]

[I’ll have to think about it for a bit lol]

Dammit. No real gain. I had hoped Erkel might know something. Feeling drained, I leaned back against the chair and slumped.

<Anyway, how did you find out about this diary? Does it appear in the original?>

When I changed the subject, Erkel confirmed.

[Yeah. I don’t usually write Academy tropes, so I remember this part!]

[Originally, Cedric and Llewellyn find one each in the Academy library. Llewellyn accidentally picks it up among books for an assignment, and Cedric senses it’s enchanted. They start communicating without knowing each other’s names or faces. Since Cedric sounds perfectly normal through letters, Llewellyn falls for him.]

<Why is her life like that?>

I lamented Llewellyn Edwill’s unfortunate fate, but Erkel ignored me. There wasn’t much he could say.

[I knew it was in the library, but I didn’t know exactly where, so it took forever to find. Since you aren’t here, I was worried it might fall into Cedric’s hands earlier than in the original, or someone else might find it. Anyway, I thought it would take a month, but the library is freaking massive. I felt like I was going crazy. You could read there for a lifetime and not finish. Plus, why do the kids look for me so much? If I say I’m going to the library, five or six of them follow me. FML.]

<Okay… just calm down.>

[TTTTTTT]

Erkel, who complained that ten months felt like ten years at the Academy, finally calmed down after more grumbling. He had said in his official letters that he was doing well. I suppose those were only meant for public eyes.

<So, the thing you said you had to find was this diary?>

[No. This is just a bonus lol]

[I’ll tell you when I find the actual thing.]

<Fine… whatever.>

I didn’t intend to pry further if that was the case. Instead, there was something I’d been curious about.

<But why a diary specifically? And the signature? What’s that about?>

[Huh? You seriously don’t know?]

Erkel threw out words in shock at my reaction. I couldn’t even deduce the meaning of most of them.

[No way. Even if you didn’t read the books, you should have seen the movies! It defined an era! TT]

My memory was hazy, but I recalled a movie about a kid becoming a wizard and fighting. As I listened to Erkel, I seemed to remember—or maybe I was imagining—a haunted notebook where writing would vanish and a reply would appear.

<Isn’t this plagiarism…?>

[There’s no soul inside this one.]

He added a [lol], and I could imagine him smiling awkwardly. So the diary in the movie had a soul in it? To tell a kid to defeat something like that… that neighborhood was truly amazing.

[The thing you signed is a protection magic contract. Usually, it’s used on things like rings, but since the letters come in a pair, I used it here. If both parties sign by hand, the magic activates to prevent others from touching it. I modified the one I sent so that if others open it, it looks like a normal diary. See the back of the contract for details.]

<What if someone else had signed it instead of me?>

[That’s why I put a handwriting verification spell based on the letters you sent. If someone else writes in it, the contract breaks and it explodes.]

I was speechless. I imagined the scene of someone finding this and having it blow up in their face. I mean, they shouldn’t be touching other people’s things, but still, what if they got seriously hurt?

<Does that kind of magic even exist? Never heard of it.>

[I asked a professor. I mean, what was I supposed to use in the Empire—iris scans? Fingerprints? Handwriting was the only option. The professor loved it, said it was revolutionary. He got my permission to go into research mode with it; apparently, another professor is covering his 5th and 6th-year lectures now. It seems common among professors here.]

Certainly. If this were commercialized, it would be revolutionary. Though a safer method than “exploding” would need to be researched.

<Are you sure it’s perfect? What if a mage higher-ranked than that professor finds it?>

[Of course it’s not perfect. Any great security is bound to be breached eventually. But he’s a mage from the Tower and an Academy professor, so he’s better than most. On my side, I have other professors and, above all, Cedric. You can’t be completely at ease either.]

<Goddammit.>

[At least the content itself vanishes permanently after a while, which is a relief. Even the original Cedric couldn’t do that, so no one can likely do it this time either.]

<Still, it’s dangerous if they figure out how to use it.>

No one would likely try to write in such an old notebook, but “what if” is always the most dangerous scenario. For a “meeting-and-falling-in-love” story to run smoothly, this much plot contrivance was necessary.

[I was actually worried about that. I thought about it, and I think we need a password.]

Erkel laid out a few options he had thought of while moping alone at the Academy. After some negotiation, we established the ‘Diary Usage Rules.’

I couldn’t breathe. No matter how much I opened my mouth to gulp in air, nothing reached my lungs. Something was gripping my throat and pressing down. I clawed at whatever was crushing my neck, my toes curling in desperation. I pushed off the ground and twisted my body, but I couldn’t escape. I’m dying. I gasped, feeling the cold anticipation of imminent death.

In my wide, panicked eyes, I saw those cold, non-human eyes staring back, and behind them…

“Llewellyn!”

Someone grabbed my hands. Even though my eyes were open, my vision was distorted, like ink dropped into a jar of water creating geometric shapes. It took a moment to identify who was in front of me. It wasn’t red. When I confirmed the violet eyes—so much like my own—my body went limp. It was my eldest brother.

Cale pulled me into his arms. Feeling his lips press against the top of my head, I felt my throat. There was nothing there. Ah, f—. I leaned into him and closed my eyes. My forehead was damp with cold sweat. I wanted to wash off the uncomfortably sticky clothes, but I didn’t even have the strength to twitch a finger.

Most of what I told Erkel about being “fine” was true, but it wasn’t the whole truth. My body had recovered, but I was struggling in an unexpected way.

The physical wounds had healed quickly. Even though I’d been beaten, no bones were broken, and a skilled healer removed the bruises in no time. The problem was that just because the body was clean didn’t mean the memories had vanished.

I was having nightmares. At first, I was so drugged on potions that I slept without a care, but after that, I started waking up intermittently. I would wake up gasping for air, stuck in a hallucination that something was strangling me.

At first, I was baffled. Was this really enough to leave a trauma? Sure, I’d survived a brush with death. I’d almost actually gone to the Great Beyond. And I was terrified at the time, but isn’t that a normal reaction when you almost die?

But that feeling only lasted a moment, and as the occurrences surpassed what I could count on one hand, I grew used to it. Now, once I woke up, I knew it was no big deal. It wasn’t like I was seeing ghosts. Once I confirmed there was nothing on my neck, I could just steady my breathing, lie back down, and go back to sleep.

The timing this time was just bad. I noticed the square box on the floor and Cale, who was frozen as he held me, and I wrapped my arms around his back. I suppose he had come to give me that.

“Brother.”

I was going to say I was fine, but I stopped. I knew I was okay, but he must have been so shocked. If I said I was fine here, the atmosphere would just turn into some heartbreaking drama about a young sibling being too mature for their age.

“I’m f—, well.”

Even so, I couldn’t think of anything else to say but that I was okay, so I hesitated. Fortunately, Cale seemed to read my mind and gently patted my shoulder. He started humming a few notes, perhaps thinking of a lullaby, but it didn’t continue. Cale was tone-deaf.

I was glad he didn’t ask for details. I leaned my head against him quietly once more.