My Most Precious Human novel Chapter 102

I was sitting on my bed, gaping at the unfolded pieces of paper from the box I found inside Elora's diary. I had been trying to read the coded notes, hoping for some kind of magical revelation, but none came. Then I started thinking that someone who gave me this diary clearly wanted to torture me. I found three different types of handwriting, yet none of them was Elora's. That made me almost certain that what I found were secret messages that Elora was receiving from some people she collaborated with. The more I examined those notes, the more similarities I found. They must have been all encrypted using the same method, but I was miles away from finding a clue how to decode them. Suddenly, someone knocked on my door.

"Just a minute!" I called out, threw all the secret messages under my bedsheets, and then ran to open the door.

"I came to check on you and ask how are you feeling," Kanan announced as he walked inside my chamber.

I was relieved that it was him. I was more than eager to talk to a friend and silence my frustration. I brewed us some tea and put out a box of biscuits Martha once brought me as a "just in case" snack.

"So… are you all right? I've seen your face after talking to Mr. Parson, and you looked terrified." He gave me a wry smile.

"Well, I was terrified, and to be honest, I still am," I sighed, "but the problem is that I can't get to Sariel, and without him, I can't join the negotiations."

"If you cannot be a part of the peace negotiations, then we simply have to figure out something to make Elora miss out on the negotiations as well." He shrugged, painting a cunning smile on his face.

I chuckled, "And what might that be? Are you going to make her trip and fall off the stairs?"

"Nah, with nobles' regeneration abilities, she'd be back to normal in no time, even if she'd broken most of her bones," he snorted.

His adorable wickedness instantly formed a grin on my face. Kanan had an amazing talent for improving my mood. Unfortunately, our black humor was also a way to hide our helplessness. I couldn't imagine what should have happened to get Elora out from the negotiation table… until I remembered what was underneath my bedsheets.

"I may have an idea, although I'm not sure what it is that I have yet," I claimed excitedly, never realizing how weird my words sounded.

"All right…?" Kanan gave me an awkward smile, trying to figure out what I meant.

I ran to my bed, grabbed all the coded notes, and put them on the table in front of Kanan.

"Here," I stated, grinning.

"And I am looking at what exactly?" Kanan raised one of his eyebrows, and then examined my grinning face as if searching for signs of sanity.

Only then did I realize that I should tell him where I got the messages from. I showed him the diary. He studied it thoroughly, looking closely at the writing and quickly reading most of the entries.

"This is definitely Elora's. I recognize the handwriting and the way of speech," he confirmed. "Moreover, I heard about some of those occurrences from royal servants."

I sighed in relief and then became even more excited. "That means that the messages could be real as well, right?"

"Yes, but decoding them can take some time," he stated, taking one of the notes from the table.

"Can you do it?" I asked, hopefully.

"It's a tricky thing to do without the keyword…" he smiled wryly.

I looked into his eyes, and already knew what he meant. "It's Vigenère cipher, isn't it?" I felt an arising headache just saying that out loud.

"Yes, it is," he chuckled meanly. "If we are lucky I just need to find one word or words, or even a sentence, that my sister used as a key and then follow the right letters in the alphabet to decode the message. Unfortunately, she could use different keywords, for example, depending on the day of the week…"

It didn't sound good at all. "So basically, if it is something easy, we can find the word and decode it in seconds, or it could take… a long time." I felt completely discouraged.

"Don't worry." Kanan patted my shoulder and said, "I'll take some of those messages and try to figure out something. Knowing my sister, it couldn't be anything too complicated. I would say that she probably used one or two words. The keyword probably means something to her," he smiled, as if he was trying to comfort me.

I forced myself to smile back at him, but I couldn't help but feel disappointed. For a short time, I felt as if I had the upper hand in this. The most pathetic part of that thought was that I instantly imagined myself going to Sariel and confidently announcing that I had got something on Elora… For now, I had nothing except a diary that proved nothing and over twenty messages written in alienish.

"Kanan… I just need to know your opinion… Someone left me this diary along with those messages. I don't know who it was or why he or she did it. Do you think it is worth trying to decode it? What if this is all some form of sick joke to keep me busy with something meaningless?"

Kanan snorted, "Elora wouldn't go this far. Her schemes are simple. Nine out of ten times, she acts before she makes a plan. Besides, what would anyone have to gain by giving you a puzzle like that?"

The silence was all I got. I came back to my room cursing Martha's stupid idea. It only made me feel much more restless and hopeless. To take my mind off of Sariel, I turned on my laptop again, took out the coded messages, and tried every word, even the most idiotic, I could think of as a key. I gave up around five or six in the morning, more frustrated than ever before. I felt like it was less than a minute later when Martha opened my door with a slam, scaring the hell out of me.

"I knew you could do it!" she called out happily.

"Do… what?" I mumbled, half-asleep and irked.

"Join the negotiations, of course!" she sang.

"Martha… what are you talking about?" I narrowed my sleepy eyes at her.

"Wait… you didn't know?" She stared with her big, wide, completely puzzled eyes.

"Know about what?!" I called out, annoyed.

"You are asked to join the negotiations. It is said that your participation is mandatory, otherwise the peace treaty is out of the question," she stated confidently.

I listened to her, having a hard time processing what she said.

"And… who stated such a demand?" I asked.

Martha looked at me confusingly saying, "I thought it was the King's doing. You talked to him yesterday, didn't you?"

"No, I didn't," I sighed heavily as I struggled to get out of bed.

"Then… it must have been somebody else." Martha shrugged and then went to my closet to prepare me an outfit. "All it matters is that you are going to be there."

I smiled nervously at her while one question kept popping in my head, "What the hell is going on?!"