Chapter 4

The next morning, the three of us went to greet the Anderson family.

Lady Eva greeted us with a smile that was as radiant as ever, a typical welcome from Lady Eva.

"Victoria! Welcome back! And congratulations on your marriage!"

"Lady Eva, I'm sorry for suddenly disappearing back then."

"It's fine. We're able to meet now, after all. Mike explained the situation to me. I was told not to disclose anything about you. Don't worry. I may look like I talk a lot, but I can keep a secret."

"Lady Eva..."

My heart was filled with gratitude and a sense of guilt.

Lady Eva then spoke to Jeff, who was looking at us with kind eyes.

"Jeff, I heard your decision to go to Shen was sudden."

"Yes, it was quite hectic."

"You're going to receive a viscountcy for the medicine, right? Congratulations."

"Thank you. I think it will be a while before that happens."

Nonna, after greeting Lady Eva and Lord Clark, stood back with a polite smile. No one would have guessed that this girl had been reviewing martial arts forms in her nightgown last night.

Lord Clark had grown into a full adult. How much had he grown in the past five years? He must be around 180 centimeters tall, and he's still growing.

"Lord Clark, you've grown so much."

"Teacher, thanks to you, I was able to overcome my aversion to foreign languages. Now, studying various languages is my hobby. I'm really grateful to you. I'm currently working as a civil servant in a department that handles foreign language documents."

Lord Clark's voice had changed to that of an adult. When he saw Nonna, he looked slightly surprised, but compared to Nonna, who was fidgeting, he seemed quite composed.

It was a bit sad to see that the frail, shy, and adorable boy had disappeared.

Jeff had some business at the castle, so the three of us left the Anderson house after a short visit. At the farewell, Lord Clark seemed to want to say something to Nonna, but she didn't seem to notice.

"Thank you, Lady Eva, Lord Clark," she said and started walking quickly. Jeff and I followed Nonna.

"Jeff, Nonna and I will walk to Bernard's house."

"Alright. I'll head to the castle by carriage."

"Father, see you later."

"Sure."

Nonna and I were walking through the bustling streets of the capital.

"Nonna, you were a bit too quick to leave after saying thank you. That was rude."

"But Mother, I was disappointed. Lord Clark has changed."

"He looks different, but what are you disappointed about?"

"I wanted to talk a lot about Shen, but Lord Clark didn't seem interested at all."

"Hmm, was that so?"

"It's fine. I'll talk to Bernard about Shen."

Lord Clark, being an adult, probably couldn't just say, "I'm so glad to see you!" and be as innocent as before. He was also too young to properly engage with Nonna's conversation. But it's a young person's world, so I'll refrain from interfering.

When we arrived at Bernard's house, it was quite clean. As I looked around,

"The live-in housemaid cleans it. She prepares dinner and breakfast before leaving."

"I see. Then it would be rude for me to help."

I really wanted to clean every corner with a rag, but I held back, thinking it would be unpleasant if the housemaid had to redo the cleaning.

While Bernard and I were chatting nostalgically, Nonna was looking at an old book on the table with interest. Bernard said, "You can read it," and Nonna started reading with a smile.

The deep navy leather cover had the title "The Lost Crown" embossed in gold.

"The Lost Crown" is a famous adventure novel that has been translated and published in this country and its neighboring countries.

It's a story about the protagonist traveling to various places on the king's order to find a crown stolen long ago. After much hardship, the protagonist finds the crown but is attacked by the people protecting it. He has to abandon the crown and escape with his life. Although he didn't get the crown, he was cared for by a kind woman and lived a happy life.

"The book Nonna is reading is the one that led me into the world of books."

"The author of 'The Lost Crown' is from this country, right?"

"Yes. It was written about a hundred years ago, and at that time, most books were religious or academic, so entertainment books were very rare. But the truly rare thing isn't that."

"Bernard, I'll try to find the rare part, so please don't tell me."

I approached Nonna, who was reading on the sofa, and peeked at the book.

Nonna leaned in and started reading with me. I could smell the sweet scent of her hair and the honey-scented beeswax on her lips.

The novel was written on parchment, and the handwritten text was beautiful. On each page, there was a delicate illustration in the top left corner. The illustrations featured plants and small birds, and the pigments were still vibrant, adding a touch of elegance to the pages.

After reading for a while, Nonna looked up from the book.

"The wording is roundabout and hard to understand. Bernard, did everyone speak like this back then?"

"The language is indeed old. The language in books from that time was like this. Victoria, what do you think?"

"The phrasing is old-fashioned, but the content is as I remember it."

"Is that all you have to say?"

"There are spelling mistakes. Even after reading a little, I noticed that while difficult and long words are spelled correctly, there are several mistakes in short words that even a child wouldn't misspell."

Bernard smiled contentedly and handed me another book with the same title. This one was also on parchment but newer than the one Nonna was reading. I took it and checked inside.

"The newer book has fewer illustrations and more character drawings. Also, the spelling mistakes are corrected."

"Yes. The one I just gave you is a later copy."

"Was it copied much later?"

Bernard nodded.

"Yes. The one with the spelling mistakes is the original handwritten by the author. The writing is very intelligent, but it's strange that such an intelligent writer would make simple spelling mistakes. I've been working on these spelling mistakes since I got the book, but it seems I don't have the talent to solve the mystery."

(Spelling mistakes with a meaning? Could it be a code?)

"So, Bernard, you think the author intentionally misspelled words in the book?"

"Yes. I think this author, Elmar Archibald, used these spelling mistakes to convey something to the readers."

Bernard loved Elmar's books since childhood and had his parents buy all of his works.

I also knew Elmar Archibald. "The Lost Crown" was a famous novel in my home country, the Kingdom of Haggle.

"I've always wanted to visit the place where 'The Lost Crown' is set. But I got so engrossed in studying this country's history that I'm too old to go now. It's a real shame, as it was a dream of mine since childhood."

"Do you know where the story is set?"

"From what I've deciphered, it's probably the vast forest between this country and the Kingdom of Subart, the Sibil Forest."

That forest was where Jeff fought in a war when he was a member of the First Knight Regiment.

"That forest? I remember there was a tribe that considered that area sacred."

"Yes, you know well."

"I heard from Jeff. It's a place with painful memories for him."

"Yes, that's where Jeff and his comrades went to war."

Actually, when I found four spelling mistakes while reading this book, I thought (maybe it's a code). I even chuckled at my own paranoia.

But I thought (a code from a hundred years ago should be simpler than modern codes), yet I couldn't figure out the rule to decode it just by reading a bit.

During my time as an agent, I was obsessed with decoding ciphers for both fun and practical reasons. Based on that experience, if this book contains a code, there are two possibilities.

1. If the code is intended for a specific person.

If the recipient has the key to decode it, the code can be very complex.

2. If the code is intended for anyone to decode. If the code is too difficult, no one will be able to solve it. Therefore, the code is not too complex.

So, which one is it for this book?

"I'm giving up, so if you want, Victoria, would you like to try?"

"That sounds fun, but isn't the author's handwritten book very valuable?"

"The book would rather be read by you than be stored away in an old man's house. Take it home and enjoy it. Consider it a wedding gift from me."

And so, the adventure novel "The Lost Crown," handwritten a hundred years ago, came to be in my possession.