“You’re probably the only one in the world who would treat the temple that way.”

Calix said with gentle reproach, settling me properly in my seat while rubbing his face wearily.

“And from today on, make sure to share those dangerous opinions of yours only with me.”

“Did you not like my opinion?”

At my question, Calix pressed his forehead as if he had a headache.

“Of course not. It’s a big deal because I think it’s quite useful.”

This time, Ruel pressed his forehead and shook his head.

Calix, as if he had never worn a serious expression, sat down next to me with quite an excited face.

“Did you read some political science books in the library yesterday?”

Calix asked, his eyes sparkling uncharacteristically as he suddenly drew close.

Ruel let out a deep sigh at that gaze. I stepped back a bit, flustered by the burdensome look.

“According to rumors, Viscount Estanya doesn’t seem to be that interested in education.”

The corners of Calix’s mouth twitched upwards.

“You must just be smart, right?”

Why is he being so burdensome?

I scratched my cheek and slightly averted my gaze from Calix. My eartips felt hot from the direct compliment.

“But unfortunately, there’s a flaw in your opinion. The elven forests are hidden by magical mist. Only those permitted can enter.”

Calix’s gaze slowly settled. Then, with his characteristic serious expression, he asked me.

“So, what do you plan to do?”

I glanced at Calix at his question.

It seemed clear that Morisias and I were connected in some way.

Just in case, I took out the small ancient tree clock I carry around and placed it on the table.

“I’m not sure why I have this, but I’m certain it’s an elven item.”

“Don’t tell me that time……”

Calix’s expression was full of displeasure. He stared at the clock with a furrowed brow, as if in a bad mood.

“Did the elf give this to you that day?”

Actually, the diary gave it to me, but I nodded anyway.

It’s all the same.

“Yes. Moreover, the elf I saw that day looked exactly like the elf I saw at the Third Prince’s slave auction.”

At that, Calix grabbed the clock from the table with an intensely serious expression, gripping it as if he might break it. His forced smile looked as if he might kill anyone who crossed him at any moment.

“……That bastard gave it to you?”

Soon after, Ruel seemed to sense something and quickly snatched the clock from Calix, saying,

“It will break, Your Highness.”

At Ruel’s serious face, Calix cleared his throat and relaxed his facial muscles.

“So, you’re saying. That elf who tried to kidnap you that day is the same elf you saw at the slave auction?”

I nodded at Calix’s words.

“Ah, but to be precise, it wasn’t a kidnapping. He saved me from a corrupted magical beast that was trying to attack me.”

“If it weren’t for that bastard, I could have saved you.”

I lowered my gaze, a bit flustered at those words. A fiery gaze was pouring down on me.

Naturally, my eyes fell on his clenched fist, where the veins on the back of his hand were bulging prominently.

“Ahem, I know about the ancient tree clock.”

At that moment, Ruel stood firmly between Calix and me and spoke.

‘What’s this? Does he want to sit too?’

As Ruel stared at me intently, I scooted my bottom to the very edge of the couch, taking the hint.

Ruel sat down next to Calix without a care, and Calix looked at him with an expression of disbelief.

“I know what that is too.”

“Yes, I thought Your Highness would know as well.”

At Ruel’s words, Calix stared at him with his mouth agape.

“……What is it? You.”

“I just said I know, that’s all.”

Ruel responded to Calix’s words with his characteristic serious expression, as if nothing was amiss.

Calix seemed at a loss for words.

“……Are you crazy? Why did you sit next to me?”

“My legs are a bit sore from morning training.”

They’re really going at it.

***

Returning to my room, I sighed at the sight of the messy desk. Last night, afraid to return to the room with the diary, I ended up barging into Milla’s room and squeezing into her narrow bed to sleep.

“Sigh…… It should be fine.”

I shuddered at the memory of last night and then grabbed a rag to diligently clean the floor. I didn’t dare to lift the cardigan covering the diary. It’s been a day since I just sprinkled water on it, I wonder if the diary is still okay?

“What if it’s gone weird again after that elf worked so hard to fix it?”

Oh well, I don’t know. They say it’s better to face your fears head-on. Finally, gritting my teeth and squeezing my eyes shut, I yanked off the cardigan.

“……”

And when I slowly opened my eyes, I froze on the spot.

[Error, 404—Not Found.]

A familiar phrase. This time it wasn’t in red letters. It was written in large black letters in the middle of the page, clearly in English.

“F*ck!”

I had resolved to live elegantly as Calix’s high-ranking maid, but in this situation, I couldn’t help but curse out loud. I clutched my head. What is this?

“This is crazy. It’s really crazy. Why are you doing this to me!”

Even though I tried to calm down, my heart kept pounding. I thought I’d never experience such supernatural phenomena in my life, but what is this?

“What do you want!”

I stood straight in front of the desk and shouted. Surprisingly, as if someone was typing, black letters started to appear one by one.

[FATAL ERR. O R. : Us.er’s soul da. ta. location is ab.normal. Che.ck for .virus infec tion. in the con.ductor.]

Familiar with this kind of format, I bravely took a step closer to the diary. Then black Korean characters started to appear again.

[To s.can for .viruses, tou.ch the con.ductor.]

By conductor, does it mean the diary? I clenched my teeth. I had no idea what was going on, but I had nothing to lose at this point. I decided to do as instructed and placed my palm on the book.

[Scan.ning for. viruses.]

I quickly pulled my hand away from the diary.

‘Virus? What virus?’

As soon as I removed my hand, the diary emitted a blue light, closed, and then reopened as if resetting, flipping through pages to open to a specific one.

“Huh?”

And a chillingly absurd result appeared on the page.

[Virus: [Mel. e ry] fou.nd. (Infection rate: 45)] [Virus: [Fa. bi an] fou nd (Infection rate: 4)] [To ins.tall vac.cine, comple.tely block exter.nal interfe.rence energy.]

My mind went blank for a moment. I needed time to think. Mellory, who kept appearing in the diary, is a virus? Then what about ‘Fa. bi an’… who’s Fabian? I clutched my head in front of the diary for a long time, thinking.

‘What appeared in the diary are system messages that usually come from computers.’

So let’s think of the diary as a kind of computer. Then I could understand the identity of the red letters that had been appearing occasionally. The sentences made of 0s and 1s are binary codes used in computers. The incomprehensible Korean and hieroglyphic characters are known to appear mainly when there are coding errors.

I removed Kamesis’s holy relic from around the diary. As I did, the infection rate of the virus named ‘Fabian’ on the page instantly dropped to 0.

Conversely, the infection rate of the virus called Mellory began to gradually increase. Although it was confusing, I had a rough idea.

The diary became like this after coming into contact with Kamesis’s holy relic. Thinking simply, it was highly likely that Fabian, who had confused the Mellory virus, had flowed in from Kamesis’s holy relic.

Let’s think about it in a strictly binary way. If Fabian was Kamesis, there was only one answer.

‘Is Mellory Morisias?’

In the current situation, that was the only way to interpret it. If so, what exactly is happening now? The diary always appeared in the Posnian language. But now Korean and English are appearing simultaneously…

“Argh! I don’t understand any of this!”

I messed up my pink hair in frustration.

“So what do you want me to do?”

Suddenly, in response to my question, the pages started flipping again, and I screamed in surprise.

“Ah! You scared me!”

As if hearing my scream, the diary’s pages slowed down and turned very slowly. It was ridiculous. What is it trying to do with me now? Can it understand what I’m saying or what?

[Virus ‘Melery’ has caused the following error: Soul da.ta has been for.cibly sum.moned by the vi.rus. Error: The sum.moned soul has been dis.connected from the main body ‘Lee Chaerin’.]

I read the last line. I stared at it for a long time.

“……”

It felt like all thought had stopped, then suddenly started racing. My brain felt hot. I tore up the diary that was spouting nonsense so casually and threw it on the floor.

‘It’s bullshit. It’s definitely bullshit.’

It felt hard to breathe.

‘It’s because of the diary. If I kill that damn Mellory, a way to go back will appear.’

Finding it hard to breathe, I clutched my throat and opened the desk drawer. I saw a letter opener.

[Main body does not exist (CHAERINLEE): The main body ‘Lee Chae.rin’ is no lon.ger va.lid, so the so.ul da.ta can.not be re.trieved.] [Can.not.] [Cann.ot.] [Can.not.]

I just stabbed the diary repeatedly. Not even realizing my hand was being cut by the knife.

“Shut up!”