Father's Footsteps

The Mask of Deception

𓆩⟡𓆪

The loud silence in the palace library, the only sound was the rustling of scroll paper and breathing. A young white haired boy sat on one of the many chairs in the library, his fingers skimming over the words and symbols written within the scrolls. There were various other scrolls all unravelled and thrown aside. The one he held had the beautiful colours of elemental masters, and words written about the heroes of Ninjago — The Ninja, and the horrible villains those heroes have fought — Dangerous Myths of Ninjago.

"Prince Lloyd!" A loud and stern voice echoed out in the library. Lloyd flinched, his previous thoughts vanishing as he looked up from the scroll. "Mister Hutchins! My apologies. I didn't hear you call my name, sir. I-I was-"

"Looking through the scrolls of Ninjago history and legends, again." The man sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose when he spoke the last part of his sentence. He wore a gold helmet, and a beautiful gold-dusted walking stick. He had an eyepatch, and Lloyd knew he would never get to learn what adventure Mr. Hutchins had to get the eyepatch he wore today. The rest of his clothes were the traditional green to represent the Jade family.

"Yes. Uhm, exactly that." Lloyd placed the scroll down beside the other ones. Mr. Hutchins walked over. Hands behind his back as he looked over all the scrolls Lloyd had strewn out. Along with the one the prince had just placed down. Mr. Hutchins read the text written in ink on the scrolls, his brows furrowed as he read. "Old tongue, it's been a while since I've read scrolls written in this ancient language. You can read this?—" He kept his eyes trained on the scroll, speaking again and getting Lloyd's attention.

"Just a bit, I can read enough to understand more than half of it." The prince looked at the older man, as if he was thinking about something before he spoke again. "I don't reclaim teaching you to read such text, nor the Emperor and Empress. The other staff don't have the qualifications to teach you either. Who was it?" His tone had the ring of failure. Failure to check all the staff working for the royal family, and he knew this could get in serious trouble. His face begged to differ, as emotionless and trained as any other guard. "Wha?— No. I researched it on my own, like what the fffff-..." Lloyd let his lips seal and his word trailed off before he could even finish it. Mr. Hutchins gave him a stare only his adoptive parents would give him. Lloyd cleared his throat, he looked away before he felt like he was going to crack under the sudden harsh gaze. "What else would I be able to do in this palace? I'm as bored as I was every day for the past few years." Mr. Hutchins sighed, clearly already stressed with the fact the young prince is able to read such sacred texts, much less a close-to-forgotten language.

"Why are you even researching such texts? Villainous myths? Ninjagos heroes? Lloyd, what kind of obsession have you picked up now." Lloyd huffed a heavy breath, he turned to pick the scrolls up, Mr. Hutchins placed a hand on the scrolls Lloyd tried to grab, stopping the young prince from going further. Lloyd didn't look at him, instead he kept his gaze on the scrolls before him and the hand stopping him from moving them further. He could pull the scroll away with such ease, he knew the limit to his strength was close to none.

But he'd be ratting himself out. And he knew Mr. Hutchins wouldn't be able to stay quiet.

"Because I'm bored. What else?" He tried to pull the scroll again, he felt it budge a bit, but it didn't leave Mr. Hutchins hold. "Because you're bored? Lloyd, come on kid, I know you enough to know that's a total lie." Lloyd groaned, annoyed over the fact he was being read like an open book. He didn't have anything in his mind to tell Mr. Hutchins as a lie. He was cornered and he didn't like that.

Lloyd blinked and a sudden idea came up. Wouldn't be the best he could make up but something is better than nothing. "Mr. Hutchins, I promise you I'm seriously bored. I've read over half the texts in this library, and they looked interesting so I decided to learn how to read it!" Mr. Hutchins gave him a stern look, and Lloyd looked at the older man staring straight back at him.