Atticus [BL]-Chapter 29 The Black Book

"Woah... Brother Nathaniel’s library is spacious! I didn’t know he had a large library in his own estate. This one’s bigger than the one he has in the main house."

Nolan and Elwin were at Nathaniel’s library. Nerys, on the other hand, asked for permission to help in the garden outside when he saw the gardener working, which Arnold gave.

Of course, he was wearing his Earflap hat again to hide his long, pointed ears. As to what Nerys had noticed, the butler and Nolan’s brother were aware of his strange interest in occultism.

Nolan strolled towards the farthest section of the library, leaving Elwin alone on his own. Elwin could read now and was thrilled to be in the library, there was so much to read. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

Nolan arrived in front of a shelf against the wall, separated from the rest of the shelves. A label was written on top of the shelf: Demonism and Occultism.

Nathaniel’s hobby was reading. He had a deep love for books, especially classics and non-fiction literature. Academic texts, business, philosophy, science, how-to guides—anything that suited his interests and mood.

One day, at the age of 14, rumors of dark magic and heretics reached him. With lenient parents, convincing them to acquire books on the subject was no challenge. Out of mere curiosity, he delved into an extreme degree of reading, absorbing, and intellectualizing information through passive learning.

Although not intentionally, he was the main reason behind Nolan’s fascination with dark magic.

Unlike Nolan, Nathaniel was satisfied with understanding and knowing things in theory without a hands-on experience of the forbidden knowledge through reading.

But Nolan wanted to see it himself, and despite the countless failures of practicing and the application of diabolic rituals, his fervent passion remained.

Nolan felt a sense of empathy about the evil that the orthodox church abhorred so much. Truth be told, all he was ever interested in was doing rituals, summoning whatever creature he wanted, concocting whatever potion that came to mind and the pleasure that came after it.

Heretic practices were a sacrilege to the general faith of the orthodox church, a blasphemy, and a sin.

But he couldn’t care less about it.

Nolan scanned through the lines of books. Maybe he could find something he might be interested with, and he could invite Elwin to join him.

All they had ever done was summon ritual and concoct a variety of poison.

Suddenly, through the reflection of the light, his eyes caught an interesting title that glinted at an angle from his position. The title read Ancient Philosophy and Application of Diabolism.

He pulled the black book out from the shelf, dusting it off in his hands.

Bound in cracked, ragged black-colored leather, the book had a grim and unsettling tome vigor. Its title, Ancient Philosophy and Application of Diabolism was written in so dark it blended with the leather, only visible when the light hit at an angle—the words were hard to notice or read at a mere glance.

However, a second later, the book’s title—once shadowed and nearly invisible—suddenly began to glow in a shade of purple. Like flowing river water, the glow slowly traced the lines of the letters inscribed on the book’s hardcover.

Nolan paused, his brows furrowing as he struggled to react right away, watching the letters gradually glow. The title imprinted on the book was now visible, each intricate line of handwritten words shining with a purple hue.

"What are you reading?"

Nolan almost dropped the book when Elwin’s voice from behind startled him.

"Elwin! I told you to stop appearing out of nowhere, didn’t I?" his voice was like reprimanding a child as he looked over his shoulder and gazed at Elwin’s curious face.

"I’m sorry, but what’s that?" Elwin said and bent sideways, glancing at the book Nolan was holding.

Nolan gazed back at the book he was holding and to his confusion, the book’s title was not visible. There was no purple glimmering on its cover’s surface. Just like how he had discovered it earlier, the title could only be visible when a light hit at an angle again.

"Obviously, it is a book," he muttered, tilting the book in his hand and once again checking its title.

Elwin pouted, "I know it’s a book, but about what? I don’t see the title." He straightened his back and stood next to Nolan,"You know how Brother Nathaniel is interested in varieties of books."

Nolan flipped the thick and hardcover of the book. On the first page, a paragraph was written. They read it both in their head, with Elwin the last to finish.

"First penned in an era when heresy meant death, this book is both a scholarly examination and composition secret examination of diabolism, its theological implications, and the price paid by those who delved too deep."

Initials were scribbled at the right bottom of the page, V.L.

Nolan and Elwin exchanged glances, the excitement and curiosity about the book’s contents clearly written on their faces.

The book should contain things they had yet to try. Taking it with them, they settled at the nearest desk.

Nathaniel had several desks set up haphazardly throughout his library, ensuring he wouldn’t have to walk far to reach his main desk near the door.

However, before they could even start reading the book, a reverberating knock on the door echoed throughout the library.

No other choice, the two of them left the book on the table and headed to the door. Upon opening, the elderly butler was standing outside.

"Young Master Nolan, Sir Elwin, it is time for dinner. The meals have been prepared."

When hearing the word food, Elwin’s stomach rumbled, "Dinner! Thank you, Arnold. I’m starving already."

Nolan was unable to refute when Elwin quickly asked Arnold to walk them to the dining room. He took a last glance inside the library, to the table where they left the black-colored book before he exited and closed the door behind him.