In the library

Bella, glancing at the phone, noticed the caller ID displayed "Unknown." Her curiosity mingled with a hint of annoyance. Steve, holding the phone, exchanged a quick glance with her before answering.

"Hello?" Steve spoke into the phone, his tone a mix of professionalism and curiosity.

A mysterious voice on the other end sent a shiver down Bella's spine. "I know what you're up to, Steve. Your little romance won't stay a secret for long."

Bella, eyes widening, looked at Steve, who remained composed but concerned. "Who is this?" Steve demanded.

The voice chuckled, "Let's just say I have my ways of knowing things. Keep playing with fire, and you might get burned."

The line went dead, leaving an unsettling silence in the room. Bella and Steve exchanged a puzzled look.

"Who could that be?" Bella asked, her mind racing with possibilities.

Steve, his expression tight, replied, "I don't know, but we need to be cautious. Someone is watching us."

… … …

For a while, Arella wandered around here and there in the castle, but then she suddenly remembered the incident from yesterday and decided that it was best for her to not roam around so much, lest she runs into a certain someone.

Back home, she had the habit of reading often, so she decided to pay a visit to the library in the castle and spend some time there.

Sylvia looked around in awe as she slowly walked towards the library.

In the light of day, the castle really did look marvelous, especially the exquisite designs on the stained glass skylight.

Light passing through those glass panes was brilliantly reflected, and it was a sight for the sore eyes.

Arella gulped nervously, feeling a bit overwhelmed by the extravagant luxury around her.

She soon reached the library, where she thought the presence of books might comfort her, but unfortunately, she was once again wrong to assume so.

The enormous chamber doors of the library were open and the library itself was breathtakingly huge. It might even occupy one-fourth of the entire castle

Arella stood at the entrance, her mouth wide agape.

When she paid close attention to the chamber, she noticed that the library stretched all the way from the ground floor to the top floor of the tower.

In other words, one entire tower of the castle had been fashioned into a reading library.

Arella felt like she was a kid in a candy shop as she craned her neck to her left and right, taking in the complete view.

No matter where she saw, there were neatly stacked books.

To someone like Arella, this was heaven on earth.

She was sure that Prince Bellovet personal library was at a completely different level when compared to even the Kingdom's famed public library.

The young woman felt a sudden surge of energy and she started hurriedly exploring the enormous bookshelves standing tall like giants.

Just the ground floor alone had at least twenty such tall bookshelves which stretched all the way to the ends of the chamber.

There had to be a thousand books or more on just a couple of these shelves.

There were books about the history of the Kingdom, books about magic, and even books about gardening and the various plants and herbs. The list was truly endless.

There were also some books written in languages that Arella had no knowledge about.

There were more than plenty of choices for her to choose from, but Arella directly headed to the section labeled Magic.

As a commoner, she never had any access to these special books. And although many people believe that magic doesn't exist, she believe that it does.

She had always dreamt of becoming a mage, just like the ones that save their kingdom from the grip of the evil Nam.

So naturally, Arella was curious.

She wanted to read and know the contents of an actual book about magic.

She hurriedly glanced at the various book titles, at least whichever she could decipher.

Luckily, it didn't take long for her to pick out a good book, something named 'Magic"

She smiled lightly at the name and quickly opened it up.

"Lesson 1 - Know your ability by trying to show it!

The woman's brilliant blue eyes sparkled and she subconsciously began reading things aloud out of excitement.

"Hmmm… So just like air, one should be able to breathe in and breathe out. And if your body shake, then you are a magical creature!"

Arella excitedly shut the book and sat cross-legged attempting to sense the world energy around her, whilst breathing in and breathing out at a steady pace.

She did this for a few minutes.

And then a few minutes.

And again for a few more minutes.

But unfortunately, all she did was simply breathe puffs of air in and out.

"Damn it." She scrunched her face out of frustration.

But she wasn't too disheartened. After all, she was just trying this out for fun.

She already knew that she had absolutely no magic at all and hence couldn't sense any power from within her."

But she had never been upset about that.

Some are gifted. Some are not.

Arella didn't dwell too much on such a finite thing.

She always believed that no matter what cards we are dealt with, the win or loss ultimately depends on the player.

Such maturity in a young girl was uncommon but she had lost both her parents at a young age and had to grow up in a house full of strangers who called themselves her parents' distant family.

Back then she had blindly trusted them, but in the end, they had mercilessly sold her out.

Tears spilled from Arella's eyes without her permission as she dazedly looked at the worn-out book on her hands.

Small salty drops started falling like flower petals on the pages and Arella hurriedly tried to wipe them off, lest the book get damaged.

She still hadn't quite grasped the temperament of the master of this castle, Prince Bellovet, but she didn't want to test it out by ruining one of his books.

So she quickly tried to salvage the wet page.

Unfortunately, her tears had irreversibly made the crispy clean page dirty and soggy.

*Damn it.* Arella bit her nails nervously.

The damage was already done. Now there was no route of escape for her, except to hide it somewhere in the back.

And she needed to do it quickly!

She turned around in panic and tried to quickly shove the book far back in when suddenly a pair of legs appeared in her peripheral vision.

Arella's heart sank as she instantly knew who that was. She recognized those familiar black boots, perfectly clean and shining.

She hesitantly removed her hands from the book and gulped nervously.

"Gr… Greetings, your highness." She mumbled under her breath, quickly standing up to bow respectfully.

Standing right beside her, leaning casually on the bookshelf, was the tall and handsome figure, the man who owned her.

Unlike her flustered actions, the person in front of her didn't respond immediately.

Bellovet took his time. His gaze was impassive but there was a hint of a subtle smile on his face.

He slowly bent down and picked up the book which Arella had tried hard to hide.

"Hmm... Interested in magic, are we?" His deep velvety smooth voice tickled Arella's ears.

She slightly nodded, praying for him to not notice the ruined pages.

"Do you have any magic?" He asked. His gaze was fixated on the woman in front of him, eying her from head to toe.

Arella again nodded. "No, your highness."

"No magic huh? Interesting. Do you know the meaning of your name, Arella?" Steve slowly spoke, enunciating her name, syllable for syllable.

"Umm... No, your highness." Arella had never thought about something like that.

"Your name, Arella, meaning "messenger from God" or "angel," its a girl's name of Hebrew origin. It's a form of Aurelia, which you might recall is shared …."

Arella nodded again, not knowing how to react. Why is he interested in my damn name? She cursed her bad luck.

Bellovet let out a cold chuckle. The woman in front of him was clearly terrified of him.

She looked like a frightened little kitten, who was begging to be pinched and teased.

He was too tired to notice it previously but the girl's features were quite exquisite. She had an innocent pure charm about her.

It was very much to his liking.

Bellovet leaned in a bit more closer, pinning the poor woman against the wooden bookshelf.