Chapter 108: Farewell, for now

Vincent and Felix followed me down to the library. It had become my home for a few days. All I had done was read books, eat and sleep. I had to suck up all of the knowledge available in this library.

Seeing the library, they both were astonished. They both had never come across such an ancient relic. Their value cannot be summed by gold or silver. It was a priceless asset.

"You must've learnt a lot, huh," Vincent says from across the room.

"I've read as much as I could. All the books are a codex. All of the knowledge is supposed to be passed down to us from our ancestors."

"It's strange," Felix voiced from another corner. "I had never heard of such a place in the world, let alone the empire,"

"Perhaps it was meant to be hidden, only to be found by the right person at the right time."

There are many predictions and foretelling books. They truly are all codexes, meant to be read by us.

Lucky for us, we have access to all of it. No one has heard of it. I would like to keep it like that.

This library is more or less a time capsule. It has vast knowledge hidden away, only meant for the right person.

Such a find is not for me to study, I have to get others to work on it.

I stepped into the middle and saw Amelia sleeping on the desk. She was sound asleep. Vincent and Felix had gone in two separate directions, becoming lost and consumed by the various books that lay in the dust.

"Be careful with all the books," I told the two. "The pages are flimsy and can be easily torn,"

"What are you planning to do with this?" Felix asked.

"I wish for scholars to study all of the writings,"

Felix came out with a book in his hand. The book was not like any ordinary one, however. It had a black cover with a goat's head in the middle.

"What's that?" I asked Felix.

"You tell me, librarian," He opened it and began to flip through it.

I walked over to see what it is. Though what I saw was nothing less than a shock.

"F-Felix… This is an occult book…" I spoke, struggling to speak.

His hands trembled as he looked at the sketches. It was a book that had many rituals and symbols drawn.

I took the book out of his hands and closed it. My heart raced as I looked at the carved-out goat's head in the book.

"What happened?" Vincent came running out.

"We found a cultist book," I said, showing him the book.

His face turned pale upon seeing the book.

"Goodness!" He shouted in horror. "Cast it into the fire!"

Vincent dashed towards me, his hands reaching out for the book. He was horrified to see the book

"No! Wait!" I protested against him, dodging his sudden charge. "No matter what the book contains, it must be preserved!"

"Preserved my ass!" He trembled. "That book is cursed!"

Vincent continued to run at me, trying to take the book away, Yet, I wished to protect the book for many reasons.

It was obvious that cults and rituals were a common practice, though unknown on a surface level. Most of it was witchcraft done by witches and wizards deep underground or in dark forests.

But, to have a book that talks about black magic in a library full of knowledge, it must have a reason to be here.

"Damn it, Artorius!" Vincent growled. "Throw it away!"

"Vincent! Enough with your childish tantrum!" Felix voiced his concerns.

Felix realised that the book was valuable. It has something that we must know.

"Vincent, stop it," Felix said calmly. "There must be a reason to the book,"

"Ugh! It's too scary!" He cried out in fear.

I opened the book once more, trying to read the contents of the book.

It talked about how to summon demonic creatures and perform necromancy. Everything from the chants, the sacrifices and the symbols needed to do the ritual was put into this codex.

"Wait, this is strange," Felix said while pointing at a sketch.

"What about it?" I asked him curiously.

"This… symbol…" He whispered. "It's familiar."

Suddenly, he turned around and began to walk away. He left me bewildered as he walked away at a fast pace.

I walked behind him to wherever he was going. He walked into the shadows and pointed forward.

There was a table, one I had not seen before. It had the same symbol drawn on top of it.

It glowed in a green hue, the light was dim but it lit up a small portion of the surrounding.

"How have I not noticed this!?" I exclaimed and dashed towards it.

It had a few ingredients on it as well. Becoming curious, I opened the book to the same page.

The book talked about potions. This was black magic alchemy. Certain potions can be made on this table.

As I read further, I realised that it was a one-of-a-kind table. It was made who knows how long ago. Made specifically for black magic. Possibly left here to be used whenever it was found.

The table was huge as well. It was perfect for the old generation of humans and elves to do black magic with.

"This is a potion-making table," I turned to Felix and announced. "This is used to make potions,"

"Potions?" His jaw dropped. "Potion crafting had become uncommon a century ago!"

"What caused it?" I asked, curious about the reasoning.

"It was deemed unholy and cursed by churches. Potions were made with the help of black magic, thus making it occult and damned.

"Papa… what's this commotion going on…" Amelia suddenly voiced into my head.

"We found a cultist book," I began explaining. "It seems that black magic was performed in the past, not surprising but still an interesting phenomenon nonetheless,"

"Ooh! This is interesting!" She said joyfully. "Let me see!"

She came running down the valley of shelves and climbed onto my shoulder. Her eyes were enticed by the large table.

"So this is where potions are made?" She asked in childish innocence.

"Yes, we can make potions using this,"

Felix tried to read the book with me but he seemed confused.

"How are you reading this writing?" Felix scratched his head. "This seems completely different from our language.

"What do you mean? I thought this was a proper spoken language,"

The language indeed looked different. But to me, it came naturally–As if I had learnt this at one point.

Suddenly links between certain moments fell into place and I realised why I know this language.

Mori mentioned that he had blessed me with the ability to know the language of this world. It helped me stay in character with Artorius and speak fluently.

Perhaps it was out of his imagination when giving me such a blessing, or curse. To me, it was a golden blessing.

This makes me trilingual!

Felix, now confused beyond his mind, shook his head and sighed. "I cannot understand this language, but as long as you do,"

"So what have you been reading this whole time?" I asked.

"I didn't read anything, I was trying to figure out how you were reading these… scribbling lines,"

Vincent, who was absent in our discussion till now, came up from behind and poked my shoulder.

"What is i-" I whipped around to be greeted with shock.

"Hey," Vincent's voice came through from a helmet he wore on his head.

The helmet covered his face, leaving only a gap for his nose and eyes. Large goat-like horns stuck out from its forehead, giving him an intimidating aura that I had never seen.

"Where in this world did you find this!?" I exclaimed in shock.

"Did I scare ya?" He giggled. "It was laying around in a corner,"

The library, which I thought was just a time capsule for codexes, was far more interesting.

ALEXANDER'S POV

"Young master, the carriage is ready," Windson barges into my room and notifies me.

"Finally!" I exclaimed. "Time to head home!"

"A quick reminder, your wedding is in two weeks," He said with a wide smile on his face.

"DAMN IT!"

Feeling frustrated, I scratch my head vigorously and storm outside my room.

After the entire tea party was over, Lady Iris triumphantly announced the marriage between Olivia and I

Olivia, being ecstatic, brought up the date of the marriage.

Philip was also pleased with the news. He was ready to see his eldest daughter be married off. Yet, I didn't expect him to rush the date and say two weeks from today.

Though I had succeeded in our plan, I felt frustrated. Something was off. A terrible feeling grew in my chest.

Windson followed behind me as I walked down to the foyer. At the doorway, Olivia awaited me, wearing a rather normal yet elegant dress–the colour was a dazzling blue.

"Ah, darling!" A wide smile went across her face.

"Olivi-"

She ran towards me and nearly tackled me to the floor. She held on tight one last time.

"I'll miss you a lot," She said softly, whispering into my ears.

I wrapped my arms around her waist, squeezing her into a tight hug.

"I'll miss you too, dear," I whispered back.

Strangely, Olivia begins to shed tears. They ran down her face and met my shoulders as she softly wept.

"Are you crying?" I laughed softly. "You can't be serious!"

"N-no…" She muttered through her tears.

She dug deeper into my shoulder and wept. I held onto her and tried to calm her.

"I'll be gone for only two weeks," I told her. "I'll meet you again for our wedding,"

After a small amount of consultation, I managed to calm her down enough. She wiped her tears away and pulled away from me.

"Stay safe., okay?" Her voice broke as she tried to speak.

"You too," I told her, walking away from her.

Windson waited for me at the doorway, keeping up his uncanny smile.

He followed behind me as we walked to the carriage. "An unfortunate farewell," He jested.

"Princesses can be overly emotional," I sneered. "Can't believe I'll have to deal with that for the rest of my life."

"You brought it upon yourself, young master,"

I sigh and shake my head "If I had options, I'd have gone for those,"

Windson looked at me with a raised brow as I stepped into my carriage.

"Are you unhappy with your marriage, young master?"

I was taken aback "Not at all," I reassured. "But I do think it's too early."

He chuckles and smiles "It's fine. I'm sure everything will go as planned."

Windson closes the door and climbs onto his seat. The carriage begins to move as I take my seat.

I look back out of my window and watch as the carriage drives away from the palace. Olivia stood at the door, watching with a melancholic smile.

We made eye contact and waved one last time. Her smile widened as she waved.

It was one last goodbye.