[As in the past life, so in this life]
It's a short sentence to be called a letter.
But I froze, holding the note, at the sentence that contained more than anything else.
'This is the original title.'
The correct title is <As Above, So Below>. The sentences written in the letter are not exactly the same as the original title.
But what's important is that the person who wrote this letter used the original title.
The person who sent this letter was a priest?
'That guy is a possessed person, for sure.'
I've been wondering since the North Wall incident, but this makes it clear.
'But how did you know I was possessed?'
This question was answered more quickly than the others.
It's incense.
Since I made and sold something that doesn't exist in this world but exists in the other world, my identity was bound to be revealed.
'If the priest was possessed, then it makes sense that he suddenly lost interest in Erne.'
Even if he had possessed the body of a priest, he would have prioritized making a living over finishing the work his master was doing.
In the meantime, who cares what happens to Erne, the subject of the experiment conducted by the character he possessed?
Of course, other Followers would have continued to report on Erne, so he would have been forced to learn of his current situation.
'Then I heard the story about incense.'
It must have been interesting to see them doing business with items that were commonly seen in the other world, and as they observed them, they must have thought that they were another possessed person.
He must have sent a black-winged bee to check that out. But when Erne appeared on the northern wall, the priest mistook Erne for a possessed person.
'It's easy to misunderstand. Erne is a character from the original work, and she died and came back to life.'
Just as I was originally possessed by Judith when my heart was paralyzed, likely, the priest was also possessed when he was originally dead or on the verge of death.
So, wouldn't the priest have naturally thought of a person who had died and come back to life, that is, someone who had been in a similar situation to himself, as a possessed person?
'Yes, that aside. The priest seems to want to let it be known that he is a possessed person.'
I looked at the letter rustling in my hands.
'But why?'
Why would the priest want to reveal that he was a possessed person?
'Besides, you could have just used the original title, why did you change it?'
Why did you write it differently? I tilted my head.
Was there some great meaning to the original title? No matter how much I thought about it, there wasn't any.
The original was a romance novel for ages 19 and up. The title also followed that genre faithfully.
<As above, so below> was a sentence that meant posture.
I'm talking about the positions that a man and a woman take on a bed. Whether the man is on top or the woman is on top, it's a symbolic meaning that their minds and desires are the same.
The title had no other meaning than to indicate the genre's characteristics. So it was even harder to figure out the priest's intentions. I scratched my head.
'Who is the priest?'
Are you an author?
Of course, one of the readers, like myself, could have been possessed. But the author was the first thing that came to my mind.
The author was unknown for a long time but hit it big with this novel and died suddenly while writing a side story.
Is there anyone else who has such great affection for the original work, and also has the regret of not being able to go to the afterlife in peace, other than the author?
“What does this mean?”
As I stared at the letter for a long time in silence, Erne, who had been watching from the side, couldn't wait any longer and asked.
“As in your past life, so in this life? It’s just like a love letter.”
Erne frowned. Honestly, if the priest hadn't left this letter in the room with the poisonous spiders, it was a phrase that could have been mistaken for a love letter.
“Is it a love letter?”
“Let’s meet again in this life, just like we did in the past life. Doesn’t that sound like that?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
It made sense.
Putting aside the fact that it was the original title, no other sentence came to mind other than 'Let's meet in this life, just like we did in the past life.'
I don't think it was sent with the meaning of, "Live well in this life as you did in your past life."
So now the problem is what comes after 'let's meet'.
“What do you want to do when you meet?”
“Looking at the circumstances surrounding the return, it doesn’t seem like we’re going to meet up and do something fun.”
Erne said, glancing at my serious face.
“This is a duel arena. Let’s meet up and have a showdown. Something like that.”
I thought the same thing. But why on earth did the author send me a threatening message to fight?
If we had just met each other once, it might have been different, but the author and I were completely unaware of each other.
'I would understand if I had left a bad comment on that novel. Then wouldn't the possessed person be the author?'
I frowned and licked my lips with my tongue.
“Your face reminds me of the bad things I did in my past life, Miss Harrington.”
“Is that a bad thing?”
I raised my voice in anger.
“As I said last time, I am a person who can live without the law.”
In my past life as in this one, I may have been poor, but I did not harm others.
“It’s not easy for someone who lives without the law to receive a letter like this.”
“I think there is some misunderstanding here.”
In this life and in the past, I couldn't think of anyone who would hold a grudge against me.
That is, it was clear that the priest was mistaking me for someone else.
But he also misunderstands that the possessor is Erne, not me.
'Where and how do I start to fix this?'
It became very difficult.
'Wait, I didn't explain anything to Erne.'
Erne acted so naturally when he saw the strange letter that he missed the most important thing.
I didn't explain to Erne that this was a novel and that is was living a second life.
'Should I explain...? If I were to tell a story, how would I explain this? Should I just tell it as it is?'
This was a real problem. I, who had a bad habit of suddenly being faced with a problem, put my hand to my mouth again.
But this time, before the teeth could reach my fingertips, Erne's hand touched them first.
“You’re not a kid.”
Erne noticed my worries. Erne wasn't the type to use his head very well, but he wasn't stupid either.
The priest's letter and Judith's response. The meaning of both was clear.
The priest and Judith remember their past lives.
Erne sometimes recalled Judith using words she had never heard before.
“Erne, don’t you know about royalties? It’s like teaching someone a recipe and receiving a certain amount of money based on sales in return.”
That was probably the word Judith used in her past life.
Then it occurred to him that her previous life might have been a world unknown to Erne.
“Do you remember your past life?”
Judith nodded in response to Erne's question, although her expression was awkward.
Now that he had noticed it, there was no way to hide it. And there was no reason to hide it.
“Was the priest also a person who lived in the same place as you?”
“Yes. And...”
Judith opened her mouth to explain, then closed it again. She couldn't just gloss over it, but how could she explain it from beginning to end?
“The truth is, I don’t simply remember my past lives.”
"Then?"
“I died and came back to find that I was Judith Harrington.”
Erne was silent for a moment. However, his distorted eyes and slightly parted lips were asking, 'What kind of strange thing is that?'
“To put it simply, it’s a soul change.”
Judith left out the description that this place was in a novel. She couldn't open her mouth to directly tell a character in a novel that he was simply a character in a novel.
If the original work is still in progress, then I don't know, but this is already a world after the ending.
Erne is moving of his own free will, not the author's, and isn't he also a character that doesn't appear in the original work?
Since we have already deviated from the original, there is no need to talk about the original story.
“So you’re saying you were hit by a big carriage and died, and when you opened your eyes, you were in the body of Judith Harrington?”
Strictly speaking, she was hit by a truck and killed, but Judith explained that it was a large carriage for the sake of explanation.
Erne didn't fully understand, but he also remembered how Judith sometimes acted strangely.
“Does it snow a lot here in the winter?”
“It always snows a lot in the winter. Why do you talk like it’s your first winter in the capital?”
Is that why you often act strangely?
“Did the priest go through a similar process?”
“Yes. He probably died there too and opened his eyes to find his body was the same.”
“But why does he hold a grudge against you? Can’t you guess who he is?”
It wouldn't be so frustrating if I knew that for sure. Judith shrugged.
“Were you lovers? You dumped him and held a grudge, so he followed you here.”
"No."
It was a quicker and more decisive answer than ever.
“Why are you so sure?”
“Because there wasn’t any.”
Ex-boyfriend? How can I have an ex-boyfriend when I never had a boyfriend before?
That was even more absurd than the ice.
“You didn’t have a man in your past life either? What did you do without meeting a man?”
“Well, I made money. I paid off my debts and saved the rest to buy a house.”
“...In your past life too?”
Aren't you confused with this life? The letter the priest sent came back to Erne's mind.
Did that bastard want to say something bad like, "Pay off your debt in this life just like you did in your last life?"
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