The two cousins chuckled but did not mention anything about allowing the older Counselors in again. Instead, their little group walked out and back into the corridors. This time, Yamino was leading them, while the triplets followed behind. Cessilia was a bit excited to get out of this castle. She found this place a bit sad and stuffy; most of the corridors were bare and the atmosphere heavy anywhere they went. The few people they walked into quietly bowed to their group and disappeared, out of the way. Either the news of an Imperial Princess coming had quickly spread throughout the place, or those people knew they should stay away from the guests; no one talked to them.
“My niece should be in the library,” said Yamino as they arrived at a lower floor. “She is a clever girl and loves reading, she is a bit of an indoor flower, you see.”
“I know someone like that,” said Tessa, smiling at her cousin.
Cessilia smiled back. Perhaps Naptunie could become a good friend indeed... Plus, now that he had mentioned it, she was a bit curious to discover that library. Cessilia had read almost every book she could find in all three of the palaces she lived in, and her grandmother even gifted her several books for each of her birthdays, just so she could have something new to read. In fact, in the Dragon Empire, it was rumored that the Princess’ love for books had multiplied the circulation of books within the Empire and inspired more of the youth to read, as she and her mother regularly donated books to the schools, orphanages, and charities.
However, Cessilia found herself a bit disappointed when they entered the library.
The room wasn’t as big as she had hoped, nor filled with books. In fact, some of the shelves were half-empty and seemed too large for their contents. The old oak wood seemed about to crumble, and the colored leather of some books was standing out too much among the decrepit ones. Seeing the disappointment in the Princess’ eyes, Yassim stepped forward, a bit apologetic.
“Because of the recent war, a lot of the books are now in the people’s private properties rather than in the castle’s library... They became extremely rare and valuable due to many of them getting burned too, so it has become harder to replenish these shelves. They were once filled with dozens of amazing books, my lady. All of the Counselors have been trying to bring more books back, but...”
“There are too many thieves,” sighed Yamino. “Because the books are so valuable, some are getting stolen every week, despite His Majesty putting some guards here.”
“Th-that’s sad...” muttered Cessilia.
Slowly, she stepped into the library first, her green eyes going to the shelves without touching any of those books. This place felt... forsaken. It was as if a few people had tried to take care of it, then abandoned it. There was dust on the shelves, and only the books with the prettiest covers seemed to be properly taken care of. The oldest, ugliest ones had their back covers falling apart and were piling up dust. Cessilia’s eyes were reading one title after another, most of them completely unknown to her. She was still very curious to read each of these books, but her heart was pained when she witnessed their poor state. She grabbed one of the very old books.
“Anyone c-can take a b-book here?”
“Anyone, Princess.”
The voice had come from the other side of the shelf. Cessilia’s green eyes looked in between the books, and sure enough, a pair of dark eyes appeared, with a smile on those red lips.
Jisel was staring at her from the other side, her eyes smiling.
“We meet again, Princess. What a coincidence...”
“...Lad-dy Jisel,” simply said Cessilia.
“I’m flattered you already remember my name, Princess Cessilia of the Dragon Empire.”
She slowly stepped to the side, her red dress floating around her. She was even prettier up close, but not strikingly beautiful. Jisel had a pointy chin, a long nose, and thin eyebrows, and her long, red hair was flowing elegantly over her bare shoulders, showing her collarbones and silver earrings.
“...You were right, Counselor,” scoffed Tessa. “They really let anyone in here...”
“Oh, women are welcome to instruct themselves as well,” said Jisel, “...even the whores.”
This time, the smirk disappeared from Tessa’s face. Jisel looked a bit amused at her reaction, as she had just shown that such insults wouldn’t hurt her at all. It was clear she was used to it, and not willing to take offense so easily. She seemed like a very intelligent woman to Cessilia, but it didn’t change how she just couldn’t like that woman. Her green eyes didn’t hide it, nor did she shy away from the black eyes staring right back at her.
“I am not your enemy, Princess,” said Jisel, tilting her head. “As you probably already know, I am not even a contestant to be His Majesty’s wife. I have no desire to fight you either. ...After all, aren’t we almost relatives? I was surprised when I saw you too... I had heard rumors. That the infamous War God had fallen for a white-skinned concubine... Looks like it was all true.”
Tessa frowned and clenched her fists, annoyed about Jisel’s words. Even if it was true, she didn’t like this woman pointing out their common heritage.
Yet, to everyone’s surprise, Cessilia smiled slightly. The Princess was just as calm and composed as the King’s mistress facing her. The tension between them was obvious, but there was also a clear intent from both women not to let the other get to her. Never had the Counselors thought they’d ever witness such a passive argument... The green-eyed Princess finally stopped staring at Jisel and grabbed one of the old books.
“You were r-right,” she said.
“...About what?” asked Jisel, frowning.
She was clearly surprised by Cessilia’s reaction, as was everyone else. Shouldn’t she be annoyed at the King’s mistress? Yet, the Princess quietly opened that book, her fingers caressing the pages with a very calm demeanor. After a short while, she closed it.
“...You’re not c-competition,” she said, without looking at the redhead.
Those words left Jisel stunned, and Cessilia turned around, ignoring her. Although she was a bit lost at what had just happened, Tessa felt a bit proud of her cousin, and followed her as she walked away between the shelves, leaving her rival there.
She held that old book against her chest, but Cessilia didn’t look at any more books as she walked out. She just wanted to leave this room, and get as far away as possible from the woman that made her uncomfortable. The little group followed behind in silence, the two Counselors visibly awkward. For Cessilia to run into the King’s mistress so quickly was among the worst-case scenarios. Even if nothing major had happened, both old men felt bad for the young Princess. However, Cessilia had acted strangely calm and composed all along, and even her stutter hadn’t taken away her little win over the redhead. She had left her rival speechless and walked away before Jisel could find a comeback. In his heart, Yassim grew a bit prouder of the Princess each minute.
Cessilia wasn’t as composed inside as she appeared to look. In fact, she just focused on walking, sealing and muting her emotions in the back of her mind, until she suddenly stopped, realizing she had no idea where she was.
She glanced around and turned to the two old men who had remained quiet the whole time.
“I’m s-sorry,” she muttered. “Where...?”
“Oh, this way Princess,” said Yamino with an honest smile. “We’re very close!”
Following them silently, Yassim was once again baffled. In just a few minutes, the Princess had gone from a fierce tiger ready to stand her ground against her rival, to now looking like a lost and inoffensive young lady again. Only Tessa didn’t seem surprised at all, and just followed behind with a satisfied expression. Yamino was happily chatting with her about his niece’s whereabouts, but Yassim knew his friend was probably as curious about the Princess as he was. He really couldn’t trust his own eyes when it came to the Dragon Empire’s people...
“Naptunie, sweetie?” Yamino gently knocked on one door.
He slowly opened the door, which led to a very small office. In fact, it was just large enough for two desks facing each other against a window, and another table full of piled-up books, parchments, and broken feathers.
“Uncle Mino!” exclaimed a young woman, almost jumping off her seat. “Look, I finished doing the math on...”
Naptunie froze as she saw that her uncle wasn’t alone. She was strikingly similar to her uncle, with a very round face, very round body, curly black hair, and small eyes. Her skin was very dark too, and she was of a small but large build, with her two high pigtails making her look even cuter. Cessilia was immediately reminded of those baby bear cubs her brother had found once, with her little upturned nose and small, pouty lips. She wore a very simple, long, blue dress, and for jewelry, two large nacre bracelets around her wrists, and similar hoop earrings.
“Hi...” She smiled, sending curious glances toward her uncle.
