A picture of her putting a tool in her hand with black soot on her cheek, one of her leaning against a chair, one of her smiling satisfied while hanging a finished blueprint on a wall. Just to be sure, Noah opened each file on the desk, and every one of them was a picture of Eleonora. But there wasn’t a single one of Adrian and Eleonora together. She hesitated for a second before opening up Adrian’s personal file she’d looked at before.

578.04.17

Eleonora died.

Noah saw something she hadn’t seen a few hours ago because she’d been in a hurry. It was a round dry mark left by a tear that had fallen onto the page. Slowly going through the records again, more pages with dried-up teardrops showed up. 

Thinking Adrian had been talking behind Eleonora’s back, there were parts that Noah had skipped over that were filled with more animosity than she’d thought.

Crazy b*tch. I begged you not to do this.

What am I to you?

What is the meaning of us?

Eleonora, what are you?

However, this animosity soon became nonsense, and this nonsense soon became self-deprecation.

While slowly reading the slurred handwriting that suggested Adrian might have been drunk, Noah felt terribly weird.

I’m not sure what I’m doing. I wish I could just be satisfied with her.

But she’s not going to crush me as much as you did. She’s good at acting cute and rebellious, and she’s not mean.

Looking at the date, it seemed like the ‘her’ and ‘she’ that Adrian was talking about was probably Noah wearing Eleonora’s body.

However, she is not the you that I want.

Let’s meet again soon, Eleonora.

That was the last sentence written at the end of the most recent research record.

Also, for Adrian, Eleonora must have served as an indicator of his life beyond just a lover. His despair of abandonment after struggling to be loved for such a long time filled the entire pages. It was also a feeling that Noah already knew… She placed the records on a desk and looked up at a bookshelf to see if there was anything else to go through.

Having pulled out so many books at random, it was now empty like a mouth with barely any teeth. She first reached out to the first book in the highest compartment that she could reach, titled Draft of the Replica Project-1.

“Huh?”

The moment her hand touched the book’s spine, a low wave streamed down her fingers indicating that it wasn’t just some normal book. When she hurriedly snatched her hand away in surprise, the thick book slid from the shelf, crashing to the floor with a thud.

Noah looked at it for a few seconds. As soon as she thought “There is something on the back,” she tiptoed up and started pulling out all the books in the compartment at random.

“Noah?” Kyle, who was looking inside in front of the door leading to the replica process, immediately turned his head. “Why? Do you need something?”

“No, I’m fine.”

The fifth compartment of the bookshelf from which the books were pulled out was empty. Behind the luxurious glossy wooden wall, however, there was still a faint wave of magic. Noah dragged the ladder toward herself that was leaning against the bookcase and began to climb to find the place where the magic felt thickest on the large wall. 

Out of nowhere, a yellow butterfly fluttered out. It circled her and soon landed on a bookcase in the middle of the wall. There it is. As she stirred her hands, the bookshelf shook dangerously and the books that had been placed were pulled out into the air.

Something appeared that had been hidden behind it; a door that was just about half the size of the bookshelf.

Looking at the tiny doorknob and complex round lock system, it was no doubt a safe. So this was what Adrian had been hiding deep behind the bookshelves.

A sentence that he had recorded passed through Noah’s mind:

A piece of her is safely stored.

The concern was short. First, after tearing open the safe door, she snatched out what was inside. It was something small and warm enough to be held in her hand. Then, she quickly placed it inside the pouch hanging around her neck. Before she knew it, Kyle came down another ladder with his recorder down.

“Noah, you’ll fall if you move on top of this ladder like that. Get down. I’ll keep an eye on you.”

“I saw it all. I’m coming down now, so please get ready to catch.”

“Huh? Catch wh—”

Before Kyle could even ask back, Noah had already jumped down. The air was gentle, and her fall had caused a light breeze. Within seconds she slipped into Kyle’s arms.

“…did this become a habit of yours?”

“It’s thanks to you. I’ve become bolder.”

“Is that so? It’s a scary habit.”