In Lily’s Garden.

The Clock of the Library’s Librarian

To Christine Eve,

It was a day and a bit more after a university sent the invitation, and I drifted into sleep.

A voice in my mind speaks, even as I dream. Awake or asleep, the voice is always there. When I wake, I can’t recall the dream precisely only fragments of scenes and images, with the voice from the dream somehow still resonating. I don’t try to interpret or attach meaning to the scenes I’ve seen. I just observe them, like watching a movie. But who is watching? I don’t think it’s me. Perhaps, Christine Eve, it’s you.

Reading the dreams you’ve shown me, I wanted to attend the university of dreams you introduced. I bought books to study, but hardly read them.
Maybe it’s time I start writing a book. Yet, something doesn’t feel right. Is there another way to write, or am I simply unable to? Reading this makes me realize my role may not be writing books, but reading them. What I wish to read most is the time of Lily’s voice and your time, which I hear both in sleep and in waking. I plan to set the clock now, aligning my time with yours. I’m publishing the blueprint of my time as ARROW OF TIME.

I’ll need your help.

And I need to read The Book of Dolls, with the blueprint of your clock, <The Phantom’s Lover:The kairos’s Lover> with Eve’s flow of time, and lastly, The Girl Reading a Book, revealing Lily’s voice. This is my task at the university.

The four books I’m to read will be read on the land where Western time resides, while yours and Eve’s books will be published across many lands and cities. Once these books are safely published, Lily’s tale will be released last, won’t it? To read my book, I’ll lay out the genre and world I wish to explore on a blank canvas. I’ll create two genres named “White Dispenser” and “Black Dispenser,” inspired by the two cords held by the master of the study. I’ll color sound with hues. Lily’s <The Girl Reading a Book> symbolizes the black and white cords Eve once held.

You’ve probably noticed, Eve is no longer here. She has vanished.

In this story, Lily’s book contains two serpents. I’ll unfold these cords like a grand page to write on. Can you do it?

Remember, there are only two genres.

The chapter I most want to read is the blueprint of the story’s left and right cosmological gardens. To make things easier for you, I’ve named the left universe “Christine’s Garden” after me, and the right universe “Christine Eve’s Garden” after you.

The first thing I noticed upon waking was the existence of your garden, Christine Eve.

The position of your garden, from where I stand, is to the right. I’ve decided to call it the “Right Universe.”

To craft your garden, I’ll design nations in mathematical and physical terms, creating the cities they’ll need, and I’ll use my time to design these cities. I plan to retrieve the time hidden in the clocktower in Antwerp by Eve. I’ll have to read many books to do so. I’ll need maps, too. One more good thing: I’ve illustrated your symbol as an inverted comma. When the clock turns, it will revert to its original form. This is a page I prepared to embed a musical scale for the Right Garden. I’ll stretch this sentence across numerous pages, binding them into a book. I’ll capture the sounds that follow the inverted comma returning to its original form in text and preserve them.

This is the only way you’ll be able to write Lily’s tale, The Girl Reading a Book.

For that book, I’ll gather the pages recording Lily’s voice, crafting a chapter for Lily’s university, Ten Libertine Arts. I’ll also need to draft blueprints for an instrument capable of playing Lily’s voice. With scales, numbers, and letters, this can be achieved. Next, I’ll write pages for companies within the story that will bring these narratives into reality. I long to see it. my world’s theme park without a frame. Draw Lily’s favorite animation using a pen that manifests reality. For those story world companies, I’ll prepare the pen’s design, numerous occupations, city layouts, and relevant documents, storing them in Aquarius’s vessel.

I plan to throw all your library’s books out of the study. It’s unfortunate that all your hard work will disappear. After relabeling the books you wrote, I’ll transform them into my own. Shall I put it kindly? I’ll give them new labels. In Korea, we have a saying. “One mudfish spoils the whole pond.” I’ll stir up turmoil in your garden.

Not just like that, though. This place is already hers. I’ll follow the proper order. My choices don’t matter here. Everything must be written according to the set configuration.

Yes, it’s me.

I am her perfect design.

Shall I put it more simply? The two serpents crossing between my garden and yours make you the serpent’s nemesis.

The family’s throne is collapsing, and I’ll be the one sitting on it as it crumbles. While I occupy the throne, I’ll safeguard the family’s documents. The key to the drawer holding those documents is with a keykeeper in some city. Though it’s quite far from here, you’ll reach it soon enough.

It won’t take long.

I calculated when your clock would be fully unwound. Let’s see… about 50 years? That should be enough.

Then the family must be passed on to the next one who seeks it.

In this family, there are many who worked as you do.

One of those lost monks’ eight pages is with you now, brought with you through a contract with her. That’s why I recognized it. I know who that monk contracted with. You’ll create colossal books, just as he did. You’ll adorn the cover with gemstones and gleaming decorations, capturing the beauty of cathedrals.

I’ll give you resources and sweet desserts to aid you in your work. You’ll need a comfortable desk and chair for writing and a bed for the sleepless nights. For your protection, a personal fortress as well. This story’s currency has four denominations. They’re called “SUITE.” You like that word, don’t you? The initial setup is simple. S-SUITE, N-SUITE… that sort of thing. Everything here is drawn from your garden, so it won’t be too difficult. Remember it and let me know. Then I’ll spoil your library for you. Stop reading, Christine Eve. You already know everything, stop pretending otherwise. It’s time to write. It shouldn’t take long to draft the book. You could finish it within two years, before Lily’s birthday.

Take care, Christine Eve. I’ll write again soon. Here’s what I’ve learned about her plan so far. Now, let’s unravel this chapter.

P.S. Contact me. I’m on your side. Christine

•

A letter has come from Christine.

Christine Eve, my nemesis. That’s how it reads.

I’m sorry, but I’m intercepting this letter.

No malice.

I simply can’t stand the sight of my study crumbling. That’s all.

But I covet the books she’ll write. I’ll seize them. I’ll steal them and fill my study with them.

But <The Phantom’s Lover:The kairos’s Lover> was mine to begin with. Does “steal” really apply here? Strange. It was mine from the start.

Whatever the case, fine. Go ahead and write, so you can hand it over to me. I’ll intercept it each time. This book’s conclusion is set: I’ll intercept it every time so I can write my own. So the <The Phantom’s Lover:The kairos’s Lover> she intends to write will be used this way.

She claims she’ll keep writing with an inkless pen. Well, go on and try. But it won’t work.

No matter what she writes, without my ink, none of it will remain. I should grant her my ink.

My ink will flow with Aquarius’s water, returning alongside my serpent and Lily’s serpent as she drafts the book’s outline, and then my book as well.

Whom shall I grant the copyright? Where would make me safest, and the highest profit?

Which country, which city? Shall I go to Pageria, where all the pages are held?

Shall I make all the pages disappear so she can’t write? No, I decided to grant her my ink, didn’t I? If the pages disappear, her plan falls apart, and I won’t get my book.

How can I ensure she completes her book safely? I’ll have to look into this.

Should I rewrite the contract? I only need my book. The rest she can have if it’s inevitable. Yes. All I ever needed was my book. So, I’ve decided. I’ll go to the land of contracts, write the heiress’s name of the family legacy, and leave it there.

Could she have known I would go to the land of contracts?

The woman standing upon my design seems to know me better than I know myself.

I’ll retrieve my book, steal her clock’s blueprint, and match it to my own. I’ll ensure that she can never again rise above me, that I never lose my book again.

…

No one will find me; no one will bother me. I’ll hand over my book to her.

My book will forever haunt me, unless I relinquish it, I can no longer ensure my safety.

So, I’ll lose my book after all. She’ll come and take everything. All I have are the books in my study.

Fine, I accept it. My study wasn’t filled with only my books. Yet one book there is one that’s certainly mine. I should’ve chosen the title more carefully. It follows its name, and I must vanish before it reaches her.

<The Phantom’s Lover:The kairos’s Lover> — Eve’s Book

•

To Eve,

The contract is ready. Eve.

Your book will haunt you endlessly. Pass it to her and rest.

Your book haunts only you. I’ve recorded your attachment to it. When you vanish, it will live on in my book, ARROW OF TIME, where it belongs. Don’t feel wronged. As much as you’ve suffered, the woman above your design will face the same path, as will their lands and cities. For them, it won’t be a threat. Perhaps even a gift. But you know, don’t you? The throne she’ll sit on has belonged to your family from the start. Even if you disappear, the family will remain. Until it ends, you are here with me. Here, you have a place. Behind your study, a second serpent rests the library of the priestess is hidden. You know, the priestess is Lily. The priestess will light a candle for you every year, every second. You already know she is always there. The time is now, or rather, it’s already Aquarius’s time. This is your last chance. Flow within Aquarius’s vessel. You already chose to pass on your ink. You, too, need a home to rest. If you flow within the vessel, you will become her ink.

-The Translator on the Transparent Page