«𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐡𝐰𝐚 𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐭𝐬»

𝔸𝕥𝕙𝕒𝕟𝕒𝕤𝕚𝕒 𝕩 𝕃𝕦𝕔𝕒𝕤 (𝟛)

𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝐒𝐮𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐮𝐚𝐠𝐞

Crouching in a corner, Athanasia sat while hugging her book tight to her chest. The smell of books and wood filled the vast library. Visits to the library were getting more frequent, and with those visits meant Athanasia had the luxury of reading more of the thousands of books.

This particular book had been a whole roller-coaster ride for her. It was powerful, it has such a huge effect on her, one that she didn't expect. Despite only starting this morning, she has already read all 44 chapters, 703 pages and all 59,681 words. The book had such a strong hold on her that she couldn't stop reading. And did she regret it?

Not one bit. After completing such an eloquent story, her heart felt empty and she just wanted to reread and reread. It was a romance fantasy, filed with betrayal, despair and much emotion. It was such a captivating book that she just couldn't put it down; every time she tried, she was dying to know the rest.

However, what she wasn't aware of was that her disappearance had caused a ruckus outside of the library. Currently, many servants were, desperately, searching the palace grounds for the lost princess. The last time Athanasia was seen was early morning and since then not a soul had even caught so much a glimpse of her.

Lucas had arrived at the palace and what he didn't expect was to see people running everywhere. He tried to ask what was going on but nobody seemed to hear him. Frustrated, Lucas made his way to find Athanasia - he'd just ask her why the whole palace was in such a frenzy.

Not too long after, Lucas had entered into that same frenzy that the whole palace was in. He had searched the Emerald palace from top to bottom, to no avail. Soon, he left the Emerald palace and started to search the rest of the humongous castle. While passing the library, a thought struck him. Why hadn't he thought of it before?

And he was right. As soon as he set foot inside the library, he could feel the princess's mana and followed it. While walking through the library, he heard small sobs and it was almost as if an alarm went off in his head. He spotted her small figure, and approached her quickly - only to see her wiping her teary eyes. His ruby eyes widened as he examined her whole state: her red puffy eyes, her crouched body that looked to be shaking, her voice that quietly whispered his name.

"Who did this?"

"What..?"

Athanasia was very confused as she looked at Lucas who stood in front of her. His face looked enraged and she was partially nervous that his anger was directed towards her. Hurriedly, she wiped her face of any tears. If Lucas find out why she was crying, she wouldn't be able to live it down.

"I mean, who hurt you, Princess? Who did this? Tell me."

"Wha..look Lucas, I'm fine. Really."

"You don't need to lie. Quickly, just tell me who it was. I'll go deal with them myself." Lucas insisted, though his face was saying he wasn't just going to have a conversation. His fists clenched in anger as he thought of the revolting person that could've made her cry like this.

He wanted to find this person, who dared to hurt her. Lucas was more than furious - it seemed he was ready to kill someone.

"Um..Lucas, calm down. Nobody did anything."

Athanasia explained, nervously. She hid her book behind her back, desperately hoping Lucas wouldn't notice anything. It would be over for her if he knew what she was reading.

"Then why were you crying?" Lucas wasn't convinced at all. To add to his suspicions, she looked to be hiding something. Athanasia sweat dropped at his question. What should she say in this situation?