Surprisingly, the central library of Triciella was flocked with people even on a lazy summer Thursday. Joe adjusted her large, frilly hat to shield her face from the midday sun, and curiously squinted at the crowd. She was still not used to the strange customs of this fantasy world. Fridays to Wednesdays were normal working days. Thursdays, she’d heard from Lucia, was the default public holiday in Triciella. Joe had almost done a double take at this particular piece of information, wondering how on earth had she not noticed this in the two weeks that she’d stayed in the manor.
Maybe living knee deep in luxury was making her more stupid by the day than she already was.
At the heart of the royal capital Riseindel, right in front of the huge Central Library, Joe Stuart stood silently and took a deep breath. The library was a treasure trove of information, a very easily accessible one at that, but finding what she was looking for could very well take days or even weeks. Joe wasn’t sure if she could pull excuses after excuses out of her ass to keep visiting the royal capital, but this was her chance. The first silver lining that could potentially show her a way out.
Lucia and Nero hastily joined her at the base of the long flight of white marble stairs. Mr Rowell had muttered a few words about a shop in some shady alleyway and had disappeared into the crowd. Joe didn’t know the fellow very well, but she suspected that he disliked her to some degree and that he made no effort of hiding it.
Oh, well. No harm done, as long as he didn’t actively create problems for her. She was just an inconvenient guest in this world, after all.
Joe had taken about fifteen steps up the stairs when she heard a commotion.
A large group of young women were huddled in different groups on the top of the stairs, chattering excitedly among themselves. They shuffled around in their expensive petticoats and giggled behind their colourful hand fans. Joe found their object of affection walking away from the main building of the Central Library.
It was a young man, fair-skinned and dark haired, with a red cloak billowing after him as he made his way across the large platform, towards the long flight of stairs. He had a regal air about him, and Joe could see three muscled guards walking stiffly two steps behind him. The young women (all of noble birth, Joe suspected) glanced over at him at various degrees of shyness. Some of them even lined up against the stairs, boldly waving at him.
The man ignored them completely.
Lucia visibly perked up from where she was walking closely behind Joe. She came even closer, all pretenses of personal space abandoned, and whispered excitedly. “That…that’s His Highness Lord Alastair! I can’t believe that we’d see him here of all places!”
As if on cue, Lady Joanna crooned inside her head with a delighted laugh. Oh my! To think that we’d run into Lord Alastair today!
The name sounded familiar, but didn’t ring any important bells for Joe. She turned around and voiced her question innocently.
“Who?”
The maid gave her a funny look. “Lord Alastair von Grayford ! That’s the crown prince of Triciella!”
Joe suddenly the remembered hours of boring old lessons about the royal family this and royal family that. Holy crow! No wonder the name sounded disgustingly familiar!
“Oh my goodness! Isn’t that Prince Alastair over there?” Joe could hear the shrill voices of the few ladies that had newly arrived at the library. Another noble woman, who was walking right behind Joe with a flimsy pink parasol, gathered up her skirts and rushed up the stairs two steps at a time. Her escorts visibly blanched, before hastily following after her.
Joe eyed the man cautiously.
He was a strapping, confident man in his late teens, who walked purposefully and wore authority like a cloak. That, combined with his looks and his royal status, was probably what made him seem attractive, Joe supposed. The women were eyeing him like a piece of premium meat. Occasionally, some bolder noble women would approach him coquettishly and gush about how glad they were to see him. He acknowledged a few of them, no doubt the ones from high-ranking noble families, but one could see the exasperation on his face at the constant, unabashed flirting directed at him.
His clothes were expensive, even Joe could tell from a distance. She eyed his gold-laced jacket with mild envy, along with his velvet-red fluttering cloak, and his shiny black leather boots that clacked sharply against the marble stairs.
‘How nice,’ was the first thought that came into her mind.
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‘I don’t want to be involved with this guy,’ was the second.
Don’t be stupid! The voice inside her head scoffed. He is soooo dreamy! How can you NOT want to be involved with him?
Joe considered asking her why she was gushing about someone other than her sweetheart ‘murderer’ prince, but refrained. ‘He is a frigging royalty’, she told the villainess instead. ‘I’d like to avoid mingling with the royalty if I can help it. Nothing good ever comes out of getting involved with them.’
Oh yes, he is royalty. That’s what makes him so irresistible!
‘That’s not important at the moment, dammit!’
Hmm. Not as irresistible as Prince Emmanuel though. The voice said as an afterthought.
Joe scowled. She didn’t expect any help from Lady Joanna in the first place, but that woman’s attitude was way too infuriating for someone who living rent-free in a person’s mind. She shook her head and searched for the prince. To her horror he was directly coming down towards her.
Crap crap crap crappity crap!
The first prince seemed to have taken notice of her, standing dumbly on the stairs. He inclined his head and greeted her with a subtle nod.
“Greetings, Lady Joanna Winsten.” His face was carefully blank and devoid of emotions, as if simply following a cumbersome etiquette, nothing more.
Joe raised her voice up to several octaves and did her best impression of a girly giggle. “Oh my, Your Highness Lord Alastair! It’s a pleasant surprise to see you here!”
The man blinked, and then said in the same neutral voice. “Likewise.”
Translation: I badly want to get out of here, but unfortunately I happen to remember my manners. So please take the hints and end the conversation.
“What are you doing here, Prince Alastair?” Joe asked, and almost kicked herself in embarrassment. What the hell was one supposed to do in a library other than the obvious?
“This is the Central Library.” The prince said, face deadpan. “I can come and go as I please.”
“Ohohoho!” Joe let out a nervous laugh, and secretly hoped that the ground would swallow her whole. “Oh of course you can! It is a pleasant surprise to meet you, nevertheless.”
“I see.”
“I’m soooo glad to see you, Lord Alastair.” Joe batted her eyelashes, and looked up at him coyly. “Such a nice weather for a casual walk, isn’t it? I suppose you couldn’t join me for a cup of tea this evening?”
That seemed to do the trick. The prince frowned in discomfort, before quickly smoothening his expression to a blank again.
“I am afraid that I need to be on my way now.” He said with a cold stare. “I have urgent business to take care of.”
Joe fluttered around him some more, making to act she was just as desperate for his attention like all those fawning noble women from before, but inwardly hoped that he’d ignore her advances as well. Thankfully, it went exactly as she’d hoped. He gave her a look of utter confusion, which then morphed into disdain, before he nodded again and went on his way, the guards marching stiffly behind him.
The squeals of the other women followed him till he walked out of sight.
Joe heaved a sigh of relief; that went down better than expected.
Years of hanging out with Gracie and listening to those corny medieval romance stories had given her a decent idea about how NOT to act around royalty and nobility if you wanted their attention. These important-looking men could almost smell rejection. The more you acted like you didn’t care about them, the more curious they got, and higher the chances they would go out of their way to interact with you.
Which was why all the dashing, eligible bachelors of these stories always ignored their squealing fangirls and fanboys (Yes, once upon a time, Gracie had dragged her into the world of what she adoringly called ‘her BL addiction’. Joe wasn’t one to judge, but that was a real pain in the ass.), and yet they got incredibly curious about the normal, indifferent, commoner heroine at the drop of a hat.
Simply put, as long as Joe acted like one of the same squealing fangirls, she would safely land herself in that niche of mob characters, and be ignored completely.
‘Nice!’ Joe thought gleefully, ‘I learnt a funny lesson today. Who knew that all those lovey-dovey storylines would actually come handy? ’
Indeed…. The voice of the villainess drawled inside her head. Today I learnt that there’s nothing more entertaining than watching you trying to flirt with a man.
‘Oh shut up! Don’t sit back and complain if you can’t help!’
Nero, who had watched the entire exchange with the first prince, leaned forward near Joe and whispered conspiratorially. “Nero knows that he’s an important kind of person, but at the same time Nero’s also kind of glad that he went away.” He looked around nervously, “No offence, my lady. But Nero thinks that these important kinds of people are really unpredictable.”
“Same Nero, same.” Joe whispered back, “And no offence taken.”
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The library, it seemed, looked even bigger from the inside than on the outside. Joe wildly turned her head at every step, taking in the sights like a curious child; the (whispered) sounds, the weathered shelves and the tell-tale smell of books at every other corner. The shelves reached twice her height, stacked with old, leather-bound books and manuscripts, magazines and records, and Joe vaguely wondered if it was possible to camp out here for the rest of her life.
It was a magnificent library, a paradise of epic proportions, and her bookworm senses were tingling.
Joe chose a shelf at random and picked up a book. It was a brief political history of Triciella and its neighbouring kingdoms. She stared at the yellowed pages in blissful wonder, looked surreptitiously for people around her, before taking a quick whiff of the book in her hands. It smelled like childhood memories and the cozy, rainy evenings where she would just curl up in her bed like a cat and read the night away.
She flitted through the shelves and through the stacks of books, the tinted glass windows casting a warm glow around the place. History, geography, medicines and herb, culture and cuisine, she devoured them all with as much time as she could afford. And then she came upon a nice-looking, brand new book with rich red leather and golden threads on its hard cover.
She opened it anticipatedly. The title was written in cursive, bold letters: A study of the mating habits of Bubblebirds.
Joe visibly blanched and slapped the book close with record speed.
About damn time. The voice of Lady Joanna drawled in her head. I was beginning to think that you had all but forgotten the reason for our little trip.
‘Ahahaha, sorry about that.’ Joe eyed the book nervously before replacing it in its shelf. She hadn’t felt this happy and simultaneously irresponsible for a long time. It annoyed her to admit it, but Lady Joanna was a right. She couldn’t afford to let loose.
‘Any idea where I can begin my search, my Lady?’
The library was damn big, and now it dawn on Joe how daunting of a task this could be. What would she look for anyways? The travelers guide on ‘How to return to your world from a video game’? 101 ways to break a cumbersome engagement? The secret to a healthy life after 1,054,891 deaths?
Yeah, this was definitely not looking up.
Lady Joanna flipped her hair over the shoulders, looking all smug. You finally look as distressed as you ought to. Hit a wall after all that brave talk? Pathetic!
‘Grrrrrr!’
Don’t growl like a Neanderthal, you fool. I am here, aren’t I?
Joe stood back and crossed her hands over her chest. ‘Well, what should I do?’
Not what, Joe, my dear. The voice quipped with a smirk. Where.
We begin our search from the beginnings of everything: The theory of charms and magic!