Chapter 20

𝕾𝖔𝖓𝖌 𝖙𝖔 𝖑𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖊𝖓 𝖙𝖔: 𝕱𝖔𝖗𝖊𝖛𝖊𝖗 𝖂𝖎𝖓𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝖇𝖞 𝕿𝖆𝖞𝖑𝖔𝖗 𝕾𝖜𝖎𝖋𝖙

***

The imperial guard looked at the seal from my hands and stood frozen. They looked at one another and sighed as they moved from one another and with their gestures, I smiled and grabbed Claudius along.

I couldn't help not to notice the way they looked at one another while they opened their mouth and yet silence came out from their throats.

I shook my head as we proceeded toward the vast place. My eyes began to sparkle when I looked at the wideness of the bookshelves as well as each of them being tall.

As if I was looking at a magic tower. When I looked at the young boy beside me, I felt like I was resonating with him, because his eyes mirrored my reflection very well.

Then I smiled at him as I held his hands.

"We will not only be touring this library but we will get the books that we needed to get," I saw his eyes widen but he sighed at the very end and followed me.

I had the impression for sure that his lingering gazes filled the gap between our walking fleshes and yet, he was the one who repositioned our hands as he intertwined them. I halted for a moment to look at him.

Though he's only looking at our hands. When he gazed at his reflection from my soul, I couldn't help but feel the drum within my heart.

Everything surrounding us didn't matter. As if everything was covered in this yellowish-orange mist of bright rays and there was this shining glitter coming from his way.

His other free hand went to caress my cheeks. It was gentle, serene, and fluttering to the point that the drum wanted to get out of my chest.

"C-Claudius?" I barely asked like a passing cool breeze, and yet I could see how his eyes smiled while his lips reflected the glitters around.

"I know that I could never stop you from being curious," he paused while his gaze remained on me.

"But I also know that in that situation, I promise to be always by your side," I didn't realize that my hands and his being intertwined would also do the pinky swear that I've taught him years ago.

My eyes widened at that time but someone's cough made us jump off our reverie but this time, it was already Claudius who was grabbing me by the arm and leading me to the place I never thought was all about the Vellitas household.

"We might as well move if we got some nobles' attention way too long, Vestia," His words made me chuckle but instead of responding with one, I nodded with the corners of my lips lifted.

When I found one of the books that contained information from the Vellitas household, my eyes wouldn't stop narrowing. I tried to understand the passage but all it did was crease my eyebrows.

I asked Claudius about the Winter's sonata and how the book welcomes a sword, but he only narrowed his eyes.

"I think it would be great if we borrow this book for a while," Claudius suggested. His voice became serious and before I knew it, I looked once more at him as he flipped some of the pages of the book.

I couldn't help but sigh since gazing at him, made me realize how many ladies would cling to him but in the end, he would make them cry.

"If you keep on staring at me, I will surely melt, Vestia," I suddenly felt this heat in front of my face, and before I could even touch it, I felt this shadow looming over my being and in a blink of an eye, my back descended on one of the bookshelves.

The book that was previously in his hands landed on the floor making a thunderous sound only to open in the middle of the pages, his eyes which were seriously looking for information now darted into my soul.

His lips which were tightly closed came to open only to caress me with his soft breaths, the hand that was soft earlier became a strong grip that I could never win against.

He's a junior knight from our household as he had passed becoming a trainee. Even though I knew that Henry had become a senior, I couldn't help but feel as if I was being left behind by these two amazing people.

Claudius was wrong when he assumed that I was always one step ahead of him because if I did, I wouldn't have anticipated his moves.

Perhaps, in reality, I was always one step behind them, as I looked at how their shadows would always overlap me in a blink of an eye.

He leaned in closer as if he wanted to evade my vision and when he did, all I could think of, and all I could stare at was his face.

"If you wanted to get a good look from me, then you should have told me so and I would be willing to corrupt your vision the whole time," he said but there's this tiny part of me that wanted to say yes.

Was it because I was staring at those crimson eyes that he had already taken hold of my soul? I don't know and yet, all I did was open my mouth but no words would come out.

"I see," was all he ever said before he finally loosened his grip from my hands. He stepped away in an instant but when I thought I would be fine leaning my back on the bookshelves, my ankle twisted.

Before I knew what would transpire, the surroundings became a blur. I thought my butt would kiss the floor by now, but when I opened my eyes, I saw Claudius breathing heavily with his eyes widening while he held me by the waist.

I even looked at where my hands were, but it seemed that I reflected Claudius way too much as I didn't think I would cling my hands around his neck.

The heat that passed my face earlier came back especially when I realized, his hands were also gripping my waist. Enough to close the gap between our bodies.

"Children nowadays, back in the olden times, the grand library was only used for adult nobles but the emperor got too generous to even let children have their time within," only when we heard some adult nobles coming their way saying those words of whisper that we let go of each other.

As if we had run into a marathon I held both of my knees while breathing hard. I couldn't let go of my hold on my chest since the drum got louder.

When my gaze landed on Claudius, I could see that he was facing the bookshelves while his hands felt as if they were hitting them.

I started to sigh as I cleared my head of some unnecessary thoughts and began flipping some of the pages. I could see from my peripheral view that Claudius did the same thing but the redness in his cheeks as well as neck and ears remained for the longest second before fading away.

I chuckled

"He's just a sweet friend," I whispered through the windows as I looked at how the weather became sunnier.

As we finished what we came for, the librarian managed to instill the borrowed book from my household. They listed my father's name but I got to claim the seal since it would be used for entering once more.

As I waited for Claudius on the sides of the exit door for the books he would be borrowing as well, I heard some of the adults talk.

My face heated up considering that they would have a conversation about what had happened earlier but instead, I felt frozen, as if my whole body wasn't able to move. My eyes widened when I heard the title of the noble who just come.

"I never thought that His Highness would visit the Grand Library today"

"I could also think the same since he's always busy from learning of the imperial state affairs"

"Well, we could never predict what he wanted to do but to think that he would be here without any notice surprised most of us"

"You're not the only, Count Lutherfore, I am as well," I looked at the noble that passed.

I couldn't help but immediately avert my gazes because the name of the Count was too familiar for me, and I've heard that in my past life but I just couldn't pinpoint where.

Instead of being busy thinking about Caliere this time, the image of the Count who would always wear gloves, walk with a wooden stick, and wear a black coat and hats sounded familiar.

"Did you wait long enough for me?" My thoughts went to stay behind as I fixed my gaze on where Claudius was. He was already holding the bag with books within and smiling at me.

I couldn't help but sigh

No matter what or who those people are, I would try to find them but not right now.

I nodded with a smile and grabbed his hand. This time, I was the one who intertwined them.

Though, I never thought that, at that moment, there would be eyes darting at our back.

***

"I thought we would be resting coming from the Grand Library but after we get back to the household, you want us to come towards the Vellitas, Vestia?"

"When I read that one book, Claudius, I realized what that meant, and I need to see their family seal, it has something to do with Henry..."