Chapter 13: Caught
Lia peeked her her head out of her door, making sure that the hallway was empty. She quickly pulled out her trolly. Closing the door, she made a run for it, heading towards the direction of the library. Soon she fell tired and began to simply walk while pulling the trolly behind her.
It has only been three days since she was thrown into jail, got sick, and became bedridden. Although she wasn't fully recovered, she decided to make a trip to the library to exchange her books. Lia was surprised that she was able to finish reading the history book. Now although she had many other books in her room, she was feeling rather bored. She needed to switch up the genres and not read ten romance books in a row, otherwise she'd find that it became harder to dive into the world of that novel if you were still processing the world of the previous one.
"Aren't you supposed to be resting?" Lia quickly turned around to face the owner of the voice who turned out to be the boy who caused her problems and landed her in jail. She groaned, rolling her eyes.
"You should have said so if you were allergic to something," Lia said, still confused about the whole situation since some of the maids didn't know a thing and Jennett has swore secrecy to the empire. The whole situation really pissed her off. She struggled for days from a stuffy nose and occasionally a high fever.
"I am not allergic to anything but I do have a mana deficiency which makes my body lack energy. Or at least I used to have it. But thanks to you, it's gone. Whatever magical ingredient that happened to be in those so-called muffins, has restored the natural mana balance within my body. I am forever in your debt, your highness," Prince Noah bowed sincerely which made Lia cringe.
"I guess it was just pure luck, you don't have to thank me or bow to me, Prince Noah," Lia replied, glancing down at her trolly to make sure the books were hidden under the blanket.
"I don't believe in luck, but I do believe in destiny," he smiled cheekily. "And I believe that meeting you was my destiny."
"I should really be going," Lia said, turning away to hide her pink cheeks. She didn't know what that simple phrase made her blush. She wasn't into little boys, she was into grown men!
"Are these your books?" Lia quickly turned around to find Prince Noah peeking underneath the blanket.
"Hey! Mind your own business," she quickly responded, pulling the trolly closer to her.
"Being out without an escort, in such a hurry too, you act almost as if you aren't allowed to be out," Lia flinched, he may be a little kid but it wasn't the first time that she noticed his skills to catch on to every detail.
"These are not yours are they? Perhaps your brother's, Prince Lucas?"
"You said you are forever in my debt, so I'd appreciate if you keep your mouth closed about this," Lia tried to play it off, but inside she was freaking out. "How did you even figure it out? Were you spying on me?"
"No, the palace has it's own grand library, but that's in the other direction. His majesty, the Emperor has a study room with a library but no one is allowed there unless he approves. Your brother also has on-,"
"Wait did you say there is another library? A bigger one?" Lia's eyes were sparkling, she tried to hide her joy at this new discovery behind her blonde hair but the boy took notice fast.
"It is very big, it has all the books in the world, even those that are forbidden to be seen by the public."
"Why are they forbidden?"
"Knowledge holds power, such books if used wrongly could cause great harm and imbalance in this world," Lia caught on to the way he talked, almost as if he understood the consequences completely. "Not everyone is allowed to enter. Only a few with authorization."
"Oh..." Lia's face completely fell and Noah smirked when he saw that.
"But I so happen to ha-,"
"Can you take me there?" Lia asked with excitement, cutting him off completely. Prince Noah was taken aback by her sudden childish outburst, especially for someone who was always so composed.
"I guess I could, but under one condition," he said lifting his finger, Lia immediately frowned.
"You owe me already."
"And I'm repaying the debt by not telling your brother that his little sister is a book thief," he said, his eyes lighting up with amusement.
"You've got to be kidding me," Lia groaned again. "What do you want?"
"Make me more of those muffins, they were good." He said. Lia's eyes widened, every time she thought of those muffins she was reminded of her time in prison, and the fear crawling up her back.
"What if I make you something else?"
"Deal. If I like it then I'll take you," Lia felt as if she was starting at a road full of danger.
"Of course you'll like it."
"Okay, well whenever you finish, you are welcome to come visit me. Me and your brother Ethan usually practice on the field, but you already know where it is since you are not only a thief but a spy too," he smiled. Lia remembered the time when she watched her brother Ethan practice his sword magic with another. Guess the other turned out to be this devil in disguise.
"Fine, now if you excuse me, I really have to go."
"Wait a second. I'd appreciate if you keep the fact that my mana has been restored to yourself. And I mean what I said, thank you." He turned around and walked away, leaving Lia standing there. She thought back to what he had told her, it seemed like some personal information that he trusted that she would keep to herself.
Now although not many knew of the Prince's mana deficiency, very limited number of people knew that his mana has been restored to its original state.
* * *
Lia spend her time looking through books on magic, anything that could possibly answer her question. Is there a way back?
Reborn or not, magic existed in this world, it brought her here with her memories still fresh within her mind and it could possibly take her back, even if her body was gone in her world.
Like teleportation or something?
Was that even possible? There was only one way to find out, and it was through books, her main source of information. As she spend her time looking through the library, she began to lose hope that maybe there were no books on such topics.
However, the encounter with the young prince popped into her mind sparking her hope once again. If the palace library could only be accessed by limited number of people, not to mention the forbidden books that it possesses, it might just have exactly what she is looking for!
Either way, Lia picked up some books on all kinds of magic and decided to scan the pages in hopes she might find something. But sooner than later she began to feel tired, her body hadn't fully recovered from the cold and still remained weak. Walking all the way to the library was a mistake on her part seeing as she was completely drained of energy. She placed her head down on her arms as she lay on the floor, reading the pages of the book.
Soon enough she began to feel sleepy, although she knew that falling asleep can get her in a lot of trouble if she were to be caught, however she didn't care. Her brain simply shut down and her eyes closed.
* * *
Lia woke up three hours later and jumped up on her feet in disbelief of falling asleep on the floor. She spent the next ten minutes running around and putting the books back in a state of panic.
As she put back another book carefully onto the shelf, she grabbed one that she found interest in and placed it on her trolly, covering it with the blanket that she happen to be wrapped in when she woke up. She must have taken it off her trolly, half asleep.
She quickly pulled it after her as she ran towards the doors. But before her hands could even touch the door knob, she heard movement behind her. The sound of a book being closed and placed carefully on what sounded like a hard desk. She slowly turned around and found herself holding eye contact with her brother, Prince Lucas. Lucas had been watching his sister running around in the library for about ten minutes, still surprised at how she was yet to notice him.
"H-Hi there...uhm..I was just passing by..." she said awkwardly, trying to hide the suspicion.
"Oh yeah, for three hours?" He asked, raising his eyebrows. Lia didn't know what to say, it was clear that her brother had caught her.
"You know I'm not stupid, I had been noticing books misplaced or missing throughout my library, it was only a matter of time before I found the culprit," he spoke, standing up and walking towards Lia. She quickly turned around and tried to open the door that soon began glowing green.
She turned around and faced her brother whose face showed a small glimpse of frustration. He glanced down on her trolly, lifting the blanket with his magic. His eyes widened at the sight of three books, two of which were about magic. He found it suspicious at how his young sister was reading such heavily detailed books. It hasn't even been one month since she had awaken from her slumber.
"Can you even read or do you just look at the pictures?"
"I can read and understand everything perfectly," Lia replied, slightly offended. He made a motion with his hand and the books flew out of the trolly and deep into the library. Lia's eyes widened, her hand reaching out for the flying books.
"B-But..."
"Do you have any more?" Lia fell silent for a second, debating if to tell the truth or simply lie.
"Yes...I do have one more," she said, turning around to open the door. She walked through the hallway with her brother by her side, with an empty trolly following behind her. It felt odd pulling an empty trolly, she missed the heavy weight of the books on it already.
As they entered her room, Lia quickly pulled out the big history book from underneath her bed, making her brother's eyes widen. His little sister was too curious, but at the same time, who wouldn't?
"T-That's all..." Lia said, not wanting to meet his eyes. When the silence between them seemed to stretch for too long, Lia finally looked up, trying to conceal her guilty expression. Lucas saw through it easily, his eyes began glowing and books hidden all throughout the room began flying out. Lia's eyes widened, some books she had already finished reading, some she completely forgot about. She felt an unfamiliar feeling in her heart for the books that she hadn't yet finished.
"But-"
"Prince Lucas, sir, please..." Lia didn't know if she was even allowed to address him as brother so she chose to play it safe. However, that seemed to anger the boy more. He had never heard of anyone from his family call him sir, was it that hard to say brother?
"You are not to step in the library," he said in a threatening voice. Lia looked down but nodded her head. He turned around and left with countless of books flying behind him. Not even a minute later, Jennett runs in, puffing and out of breath, she asks if Lia was alright after seeing the prince walking out of the door with an angry expression on his face which was enough to scare Jennett. He looked just like his father. No matter how much everyone adored the Emperor as a ruler, he was still scary.
"I'm fine, thank you." Lia replied, sitting on her bed.
"Ah, what's this for?" Jennett asked, looking at the trolly. Lia glanced at it for a mere second before looking back out the window.
"You can have it, I have no use for it anymore." As Jennett left with the trolly, Lia was left with a pang of sadness in her now empty heart. She was all alone again, this time with no fictional words to escape to.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone