Chapter 7: Cards

She always felt something was off about that box, but she couldn’t put her finger on it.

Maybe she was overthinking.

It was just a broken box that wouldn’t open, nothing to get worked up over.

Adeline turned over again and fluffed her pillow.

Just as she was tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep, a faint sound suddenly broke the silence of the room.

click—

The sound was very soft, almost imperceptible.

Normally, it would have been easy to ignore.

Adeline instinctively opened her eyes and listened.

The room fell silent again.

The remnants of charcoal in the fireplace still glowed with tiny embers.

The wind outside was gentle, making the curtains sway slightly.

She waited for a moment, but the sound did not return.

‘Did I mishear?’

Just as she was about to close her eyes again, something on the nightstand caught her attention—a faint glint in the dim light.

She turned her head.

By the dim yellow glow of the small oil lamp, she saw that something new had appeared on the nightstand.

The wooden box that wouldn’t open lay there exactly as before, showing no signs of change.

But beside it, there was now a card-like object.

She thought back and was sure that before she went to sleep, only the box and the oil lamp had been on the table.

Adeline paused, then reached out and picked up the card.

The card was larger than a standard playing card but slightly smaller than a tarot card—about ten centimeters long and six centimeters wide.

It was thicker than ordinary paper cards, and it didn’t feel like paper.

Instead, it felt more like thin bone or ivory, with a faint, warm smoothness.

The back of the card was dark gray, with a tiny symbol in the center—two intersecting circles perpendicular to each other, their centers coinciding, with a neat cut at each of the four endpoints.

On the dark gray background, the symbol emitted a cold white glow, like a door not fully closed, leading to the unknown.

She flipped the card over.

The front was blank.

Nothing at all.

The entire surface was a uniform, empty light gray.

Adeline frowned and examined the card from both sides.

‘Where did this card come from? Before I slept, there was only the box and the oil lamp on the table—not this card. And the material and feel of this card are too unusual for it to have been sitting there without me noticing.’

‘Did it fall out of the box?’

She picked up the wooden box and shook it hard.

Something inside still rattled, but she couldn’t tell if the sound had changed from before.

Adeline checked the box again.

It still wouldn’t open.

She set the box down and picked up the card again.

But the moment her finger touched the surface, something changed.

On the previously blank light gray surface, starting from the point where her finger made contact, color began to spread outward slowly, like ink dripping into clear water.

Adeline’s eyes widened as she watched the transformation unfold on the card.

The ink-like lines seemed alive, spreading, intertwining, and converging across the surface, gradually forming outlines and shapes.

First a rough silhouette, then finer lines.

Finally, a complete image appeared on the card.

It was a young boy.

The lines on the card were as simple as a sketch, just a few strokes capturing a boy’s profile.

At the bottom of the card, a cursive line of text appeared, stroke by stroke, as if written by an invisible pen:

[Lai’en Kelin]

Below the text, there was an even smaller line:

[Health]

Adeline stared at the boy’s silhouette and the two lines of text.

Her mind went blank for a moment.

‘Supernatural?’

The word burst into her mind, and she felt a rush of warmth through her blood.

She had always suspected that supernatural forces existed in this world, ever since she read about the Holy Difficulty Church’s thousand-year reign.

A church that had suppressed the entire civilization’s knowledge and thought for over a millennium—faith and violence alone couldn’t achieve that.

There had to be some kind of power beyond reason supporting it.

Now, was that suspicion confirmed?

Adeline took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down.

It was still too early to jump to conclusions.

Methods that could produce similar results were not all that rare.

For instance, thermal paper.

It changes color when heated.

Rubbing it with a finger or breathing on it could make hidden text appear.

It might also be some kind of invisible ink or a magic trick—a pattern pre-drawn on the card using a special technique, then triggered to appear under specific conditions.

Changes in temperature, humidity, light, or even time could set off certain chemical reactions.

In her past life, she had played with postcards printed with invisible ink that revealed hidden patterns after being chilled in the freezer.

But the pattern on this card had appeared gradually before her eyes, without any special conditions.

It was triggered simply by her touch, like someone drawing with an invisible pen, stroke by stroke.

The feeling was too eerie—not like a chemical reaction at all, but more like something alive growing.

‘Don’t get excited. Don’t panic. I need to observe carefully. I need to think. I need to extract as much information from this card as possible.’

Adeline held the card up to the oil lamp and examined it closely.

The surface of the card was evenly colored.

The ink had stopped spreading.

The boy’s silhouette and the text at the bottom were stable, unchanged.

She rubbed her thumb over the surface—the ink didn’t smudge.

The card remained as smooth as before.

She brought the card closer to her nose and sniffed.

No smell.

She tilted it at an angle to the lamp—no reflection, no hidden watermarks, no secrets visible to the naked eye.

Adeline turned her attention to the content on the card.

Lai’en Kelin.

Clearly, that was a person’s name.

Below the name, it said “Health.”

Was that indicating this person’s current condition?

If so, did this Lai’en Kelin actually exist?

If he did, who was he?

Where did he live?

What did he do?

Why did his image appear on this card?

Adeline flipped the card over and looked at the symbol on the back again—the two intersecting circles.

It seemed like some kind of emblem or mark.

She touched the symbol with her finger.

No ridges or bumps.

It was a flat pattern, fused with the surface of the card.

She placed the card back on the nightstand and stared at it for a long time.

Too many questions filled her mind now, and none of them had answers.

Adeline leaned back against the pillow.

Her heart was beating faster than usual.

In the days since she had transmigrated to this world, she had been trapped in this room, trapped in this weak body, repeating the same cycle—eating, taking medicine, reading, sleeping.

Each day was blander than plain water.

She needed change.

She needed a breakthrough.

She needed something that could give her hope.

Now, that something had appeared.

Adeline blew out the oil lamp.

In the darkness, she lay with her eyes open, staring at the ceiling, still thinking about everything she had just seen.

There were many questions, but that was fine.

The box was in her hands.

The card was in her hands.

She had plenty of time to study them.

Sleepiness crept up on her.

Adeline closed her eyes and pulled the blanket up to her chin.

Just before she slipped into sleep, her final thought was:

‘Lai’en Kelin.’

She remembered that name.