Chapter 6: Meeting

the night is deep, the bright crimson moon is completely out as the lively city of mylrendell fell into deep silence, only the lanterns can be seen on the roads as well as the medieval houses filled with bright lights, in addition of those family residing inside of it. the M16 started to patrol from the shadow, to maintain the peace throughout the city with Lucas earhart as their leader.

Inside of the castle, where the royal family was living, you could see Cyrus Embers, standing Infront of the throne while holding a red wine glass looking at it with a greed on his eyes. the queen has been sleeping, and only the knights can be seen at the royal hall standing on the side. the candles serve as his lights, as he touch the throne with gracefulness and sat on it as though he's the king. the knights couldn't help but to look at him with anxiousness, and even if this considered as a disrespectful for the current ruler of the kingdom, no one dare to scold him as they know the temper of the second prince, rather.. they knows how dangerous the four princes was.

all of a sudden, Cyrus glances at the back of curtains near him, when he feels a presence there. He smiles and swirls his wine glass with elegance.

"how's my brother.. cain?" he asked him with a hint of intimidation on his voice.

"he's still on the battlefield with the southern empire regarding the newly discovered territory that the eastern merchants found between our borders and them." hearing this, Cyrus seems to have caught its attention. but a few minutes later, he calmed self down.

he just sipped some wine before replying to him. "..I see, what about your side... helena?" he then looks up at the mysterious maid standing on the other side of the curtains with a smile.

".. there's nothing to report for now, as her majesty was being extra- cautious around her. but she's planning something related to the throne. I'll keep watching the queen, prince Cyrus. as for the third and fourth princes, they haven't shown any interest to the throne for now."

after drinking his wine glass, Cyrus stand up on the throne and walk away towards it. "keep eyeing them, especially the fourth prince. he have a potential.. ah, and also.." he look around him, as his emerald eyes who was just full of life earlier turns into a cold one and the bright smile on his face had faded. it as though he turns into a different person.

"cain, make them forget everything that happened here. those who dare to scream or even struggle a little.. kill them."

for the last time, Cyrus gave them a soft smile, but instead of getting amazed by it, they feared him instead as some of the knights started to tremble.

".. after all, disturbing the queen's sleep is equivalent to death, right?"

to live in a better place is to sacrifice every inch of your humanity. that's what he believes.

and that's how the other princes believe as well.

---

On the other hand, somewhere in the forest near in the noxus academy, you could see a mysterious lady looking cautiously around him while holding three stack of papers. As soon as she reaches at the wide space of the forest where there's only one large stone in the center, lots of blue glowing butterfly suddenly flutters towards it as they merge together in one and formed into a young handsome man with sky silver curly hair and blue eyes and white eyelashes. He's wearing a white long flowing robe with loose sleeves and a belt at the waist with different silver floral patterns from it's sleeve and holding a fan while sitting on the large stone with blue glowing butterflies around him that serve as his lights.

That's right, this is none other than Silver, the former librarian of the miracle Library.

along with him was a girl with black hair and blue eyes, wearing a white kimono that reaches on her knees standing behind him.

"Lord silver, here is the data you've been looking for." when silver looked at her, he gave the girl a sign to take the papers from the lady so he just followed her orders, took the papers and gave it to silver as he started to read their names.

'Lucas Earhart.'

'Cyrus Embers'

".. and Raziel Ravenwood. " he grin slightly as they started to check Lucas information first. his rank, his intelligence and so on. He check every inch of its detail as well as Cyrus Embers. After thirty minutes of checking, it's Raziel's turn.

Just as he was about to open it, he squinted his eyes when he notice a lycoris flower grew on the edge of the paper, just then, his eyes widened when he heard the sound of someone snapping a finger so he throw the paper away from him when he realize everything, and step back as the paper were covered by the crimson fire turns into ashes, all of them was surprise as they didn't felt any presence at all.

Not long after, a familiar figure comes out from the shadow. It was a man holding a black cane, a black gothic frock coat and a gold rimmed glasses as he held his palm In front of him and caught the remnants of the paper he burnt and stared at it expressionlessly. After that, he glanced towards the lady's direction and bowed to her gentlemanly with his left hand placed on his chest.

"My lady, according to the rules of noxus academy, disclosing a student's information without their permission is prohibited. and it is the prince's information at that, don't you fear death? or perhaps.." his blue eyes laid on silver's direction, who was just calmly standing there.

"it's because a powerful figure was backing you up which is why you're not afraid of the consequences?" the woman stepped back when he saw the overflowing aura coming from Raziel as he started to get anxious and run to him. Then again, he just stared at her and closed his eyes and connected his mind at Cale And Hera.

'Wait for the woman outside of the forest and remove all her memories related to this event.'

'as you wish, young master.'

after that, he opened his blue eyes before glancing directly at silver as he started to walk towards him, but silver just greeted him with elegance.

"how are you, my dear former customer..? Did the Library we gifted to you took your liking?"

"... Indeed I have."

"as a former librarian, it makes me glad that we fulfill the wishes of our special customer, please take care of the Library from now on. Mr. Raziel Morris." He was about to turn back when Raziel added something that makes them stop.

"but.. it seems like there's something bugging my senior's mind, would you like.. to talk about it..?" Raziel smirked as he placed his index finger on his lips while looking at him, he's not showing his aura yet silver felt a heavy atmosphere from him. so he just shrugged his shoulder to him.

"my soul isn't worthy enough as a payment, you see."

"Ah, you don't need to worry about that, there's something more worthy hidden deep within you, like for example.. " Raziel's poker face turns into a cold one and looks around his body from head to toe as a hint of crimson hues appear on his blue eyes, this made silver gasps in surprise.

"your freedom, your soul, or your.. power, I guess?"

After seeing how his eyes turned into a crimson red earlier, for the very first time, silver felt fear from him, he couldn't help but to laugh at himself. As a former librarian, he knows what that means, but never in his whole life did he encounter that side of his as he always kept calming his self and stopping his self to rely on the powers of the library too much.

And yet.. he just witnessed a person who's on the verge of insanity but still manages to be normal without having any difficulties.

"Heh.. it appears that my junior was quite a shrewd person as well."

".. It's fair trade, isn't it?"

"Indeed it is, however.. I'm afraid I have no intention of making a trade with you albeit my freedom.. I already achieved what's my goal here, after all. Now that I already saw you alive and well, we should probably take our leave by now."

Raziel got surprise when he saw a mysterious white door appears on silver's back with a golden lion doorknob on the center and gold patterns on its side as it opens wide, revealing a black portal with stars on it. Just as silver touches the portal, it slowly suck him, along with the girl beside him, but before they completely gone, Raziel throw crimson butterflies on him as it turns into one of the deck of cards.

When silver catches this and notices the embellished pattern on the mysterious card, he laughs in amusement as the white door closes and gone completely as if nothing happened.

Then Raziel, remember something.

"The deck of cards usually consists of 13 cards with 4 suits ( Hearts, Diamonds, Clubs, and Spades), and then a face card ( king, queen and jack) ranking from lowest to highest. The Library is using these cards to determine the list of people who once made a transaction with them by giving these cards themselves. The higher the rank of the card was, the rarest the trader's soul."

However..

In playing a deck of cards, there's one thing that is considered as a Trump card by many and because it is a Trump card, only the owner of the library is allowed to use this to a person they wanted to invite. But, the owner can only use this two times, no exception.

This is called a wild card. The red joker and the black joker.

"Cale did say that these cards are special but.."

A sudden smirk curve on his lips.

He literally gave one of those wild cards to him and it's the red Joker at that. Means, all the staff in the Library will began to watch every move of the person that was given a red joker, means he was already the library's possession. By the time silver touches the cards, it means he accepted the dangers that will soon befall upon him.

He basically accepts their challenge.

"I guess we will soon meet again, Senior."

---

as soon as Raziel went back inside of the miracle library, he found Cale mixing some drinks on the bar counter while Hera was just standing behind the couches where Raziel often sat.

"welcome back young master."

"hmm.. what about that woman?" Raziel sat down on the couches and took the books he was always reading while asking them.

"she's already safe. Cale also remove his memories so please rest assured." it was Hera who answer his question this time as Cale was busy mixing a drink for the young master. a few minutes later, he's done mixing the drinks before giving it to Raziel, so he just took it and taste the drinks he mixed.

"This tastes good." He praised Cale, so he just bowed to him.

"I'm unworthy of such praise. "

seeing this, he just smiled plainly at him. The library fell into a deep silence and only the sound of the pendulum clock could be heard, the whole place was full of tranquility however.. Raziel's mind wasn't.

He still don't know the reason why did the former librarian show himself out of the blue, and why did he took Lucas, Cyrus, and his information. Which is why, before everything comes into worse, he decided to restrain him by using the Library's trump card and send the red joker. At this point, the former librarian wouldn't get a chance to move freely, as they were eyeing him. Once he makes his moves, Raziel will know his whereabouts.

Raziel already planned everything beforehand.

but it doesn't mean that he could be at ease right now. knowing silver, he will surely find something that could release him from his grasp, he must be prepared for the worse.

"... I met the former librarian earlier in the forest." he said while sipping his wine. the conversation caught Hera's attention. "yet he left immediately without telling his reason what is he doing here and why did he get my records in entrance examination.. so my question is.. do you think it is safe to say that he have an ill intention towards me?" he asked to them with no reaction face and just keep swirling the wine on his glass while crossing his legs. even if he looks quite attractive on that position, the presence that keep lingering around him makes him look rather intimidating and terrifying.

"We've been working with Mr. silver for almost 500 years, he may look like a suspicious person but he's not the type of person who would do such things that might endanger young master life. the best thing to do for now is to observe him." Cale replied politely so Raziel glance at him and smile.

"that's what I thought as well, however..." His soft expression turns into a cold one as he snaps his finger and 52 golden cards appear in front of them and start to float in the midair. These are the number of special guests they want to invite. Then, another two Cards appear below it, It's a white card with a gold pattern. Seeing this is enough for Hera's face to turned into surprise expression, especially after noticing the huge red scratch on the card.

"Young master! That's a joker card.. don't tell me...?!"

Raziel smirks widely, "... it's better to be more careful, right?"

...