Chapter 35

Chapter 35

Nora's POV

I couldn't anticipate what his reaction would be, so when he said "wow," I simply found myself waiting anxiously to say anything. Then, as I waited for him to berate me with questions, I could see them in his eyes already. The most important of which, and the most pressing, was "why." He definitely wanted to know why I would have so many questions all of a sudden, and why I would want to know so many things that didn't seem to be important and that I was naturally supposed to know all on my own.

I laughed a little as I waited for him to speak. He looked at me like I was losing my mind, but when he spoke, the words suggested the opposite.

"I'll take a guess," he started. "I think you have dementia or something," he suggested, raising an eyebrow.

I didn't know whether to claim the sickness or not because it might actually be a kind of valuable excuse for me right now.

He shook his head. "Well, whatever, why am I even asking?" he said, as if he didn't expect himself to understand either way. "Come along, I will take you to the things you requested for."

I could hardly believe my ears. "Are you some kind of librarian?" I asked him apprehensively, not knowing how he would know where the books are located.

"Well, let's say I've been here a couple of times," he said. "And I know some places where you can find the books that you are looking for. In addition, I know the librarian, and I can easily get him to find the books without asking too many questions."

I smiled. Okay, if that was the gain that I got from this, then it wasn't that bad. It seemed to be an exchange of some sort. I exchanged my feelings and my honest thoughts for him to give them to another without that person asking questions. Although he asked questions, he didn't ask too much, and he wasn't pushing me to answer. When I thought about it like that, this was indeed a better solution for me.

He started heading in a certain direction and I followed patiently. Before long, I saw an old man with flowing white beard. Well, I had to admit this was pretty much part of the image of the librarian that I had expected, so I wasn't quite surprised to see him like this.

"I see you want to refresh your memory," he said, smiling. "I'd rather you had come here sooner," he suggested.

"For many reasons," I said. He shrugged automatically.

He turned to look at me. "Oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't notice you earlier," he said, bowing to me.

"As the queen is fine," I told him simply. I was simply glad that he wasn't asking any questions. If I was the one asking, then he might have had a couple of words for me, but now that it was Jake asking, he seemed to be pretty okay with it, and that was exactly what I wanted.

I waited for the books I had requested, and there actually was a huge pile. "Oh my, it's about a hundred!" I told Jake, my eyes widened in fright and terror. I wasn't supposed to go through so many books even if I wanted to.

He laughed a little. "You asked for it now, didn't you?" he questioned.

I bit my lip. Indeed, I had asked for it, so I shouldn't complain. I got exactly what I requested.

He frowned, looking at my expression of pain and anguish. "What is it? You aren't willing to read through them?" he asked me.

"Just... it's too much," I told him in reply before shaking my head. "Thank you so much, however. I will try my best to read all of them."

"Don't you have better things to do with your time?" he asked me.

I frowned. Yes, I did have better things to do with my time, but what choice did I have? I needed to catch up on common history. If not, I was going to make a fool out of myself, and the mistakes I was already making would get even worse with time. I was going to keep on asking stupid questions. So it was best I asked all the questions now. Best I asked all the questions to inanimate objects like the books before me now so that they would answer, and I would no longer be ignorant as I seemed to be to everyone around me. They would not find out my secrets from spending ten minutes with me because that was definitely going to end up with a lot of trouble.

"I understand what you're saying," he said. "But you really have to read through all these?"

"No thanks," I said. Somehow, I was no longer willing to get any help from him because these were becoming too many favors, and I was starting to wonder if there might be a catch that I wasn't sure about now that would come to bite me later. I shouldn't keep on taking so much help from him because I didn't know what I would need to pay back, and I wasn't willing to give whatever I was required as remuneration for all the help he had given me.

He laughed a little. "What are you afraid of? Tell me what you want to know. If you want me to fill you in on the latest happenings, you simply have to say so and I'll do it."

I looked straight at him, recognizing that he was already pretty aware of my ignorance and there was nothing I was going to say to change that fact. If he knew, I could simply trust him and tell him everything because there wasn't any point in hiding it. I wasn't quite sure, but somehow, for some reason, I decided to take my chance. Despite the issues and the odds against me, despite the problems that I was risking, I made up my mind.

"Alright then, if you really want to help me, I am willing," I told him.

"Well, have a seat," he said.

The librarian suddenly spoke up, glowering at us as if he had been listening to our conversation. "No talking in the library," he said sternly.

I thought to myself, suddenly realizing we couldn't continue this conversation here. Not just the librarian, but any other person that showed up would be able to see what was going on and tell that I had a big problem. What would I say if the rumor went around that there was something wrong with the Luna and she suddenly seemed to have lost her memory and needed filling in? The smartest thing for me to do was to not let that kind of rumor go around in the first place, and the only way I saw myself doing that was by absolutely leaving here to a more private space. Jake already knew, and I should let it only be Jake that knew and not any other person.

"Alright then," I said, looking at him. "Come, let's go somewhere else and talk."

The librarian was nodding in approval. "You can't talk in the library," he said. "People are trying to read."

"Of course," I told him. "Thank you, good sir."

With that, I left all the books and went with Jake. We arrived at the door of the library where he suggested that we should go to the garden.

"I have a better idea," I said, looking at him closely. "Follow me."