Chapter 12
***
The reason why it's hard to turn the doorknob even if you don't have permission is because of the man's high-pressure attitude.
A man who shamelessly asked you about your family name or dental history. A man who criticized the teacher who came to teach his sister, calling her a lady.
It was an attitude as far removed from the manners of the great nobility Louise had learned from her mother as the breadth of this empire.
But now he was her employer, and whatever his personality, the wages he offered were gloriously high.
Louise opened the door quietly.
Caius didn't react as she took a few steps into the room.
He didn't even look up, perhaps expecting a visit from a hired hand other than Louise.
"Well, thanks to you, I made it to Melk."
He looked up from his papers only after Louise spoke. Golden eyes sparkled in the chandelier light.
"Ah, yes?"
He smiled sheepishly.
"Were you so grateful that you had to come in person to tell me?"
Louise blinked in embarrassment. Of course he hadn't stopped by to welcome her back.
But she couldn't say no, either.
"Of course, I'm grateful, and I think it's only right that I should come by to say hello................"
"And again?"
She barely restrained her eyebrows from wrinkling slightly.
He had caught her off guard with her performance, but he knew she hadn't just stopped by to say hello.
"Also, I was wondering if I could ask permission to enter the library, as the butler advised me to seek Your Excellency's permission."
Caius sighed disapprovingly.
"The old man, what a fool."
Then he nodded coolly.
"It's only natural that you should be in and out of the library, isn't that your job?"
".................. Thank you."
Louise was about to say goodbye when he suddenly stood up.
"The library is just this side of the room. I'll show you."
If the library was right next door, she didn't need a guide, but she shouldn't refuse her employer's kindness.
Louise watched the man brush past her and storm out of the room, then followed him at a brisk pace.
***
Stepping into the library, Louise's eyes widened as she looked around.
A large room, even larger than her owner’s room, was filled with books.
"Books..................."
Louise gasped slightly as she spoke.
She had never seen so many books at once, except when she was very young. Considering the height of the bookshelves, which reached to the ceiling, there were probably more books here than in the Melk Library.
She had already read every single book in the tiny Melk Library. The thought of finding new books here made her heart flutter.
Only after she had poked her head in and scanned the shelves did she speak.
"I think she’ll like it."
Caius didn't say yes or no.
Louise took a few steps, running her fingertips along the spines.
Politics, humanities, history....... her tongue dried on the tip, eager to flip through the pages.
Then, after a long pause, Louise came to her senses.
"Wow, Emile..................."
Emile, a famous pedagogical textbook, was a book she wanted to read again, but it also reminded her of Miriam.
The reason she had walked into this library.
Suddenly, the man she'd forgotten about made a noise. Louise turned around, startled.
She thought he might have left already, but Caius was still in the library, standing with a copy of the history of Domus, reading, as if he really liked books.
There were books in Domus, too.
Louise, who had never had a chance to use her hard-earned foreign language, glanced over at that shelf as well.
In any case, Caius's concentration was such that she didn't feel the need to speak to him first. Reassured, Louise resumed her search through the library.
First, she must find a book for Miriam. They had been children, after all, so children's books must exist somewhere.
But for some reason, she couldn't find them.
She squatted down to look at the lowest shelves, even in the shadiest of places, when suddenly she heard a voice.
"Is there a book you're looking for?"
Louise was startled by the sudden appeal and lost her balance, falling on her buttocks.
As she struggled to her feet, red-faced, a cool hand grabbed her wrist.
"Excuse me."
He yanked her to her feet in one swift motion.
The unfamiliar body heat receded as quickly as it had come, as soon as Louise stood on her own two feet. The distance was instant, there was nothing to add.
Louise, still flushed, muttered urgently.
"Pardon me, Your Excellency, but I was startled by the suddenness of your voice."
Caius said, almost to himself.
“Such a forgetful person."
Louise looked up at the man, forgetting the ridiculousness of what she had just seen. His words were so outrageous.
But as soon as their eyes met, she regretted it.
There was not the slightest wavering in the golden eyes staring down at her. They glowed intensely, demanding an answer.
Louise's cheeks were now almost as red as an apple.
"No, Your Excellency. I.................. actually quite fond of books, and it's been a long time since I've seen so many of them at once, so I was just excited. Anyway, I apologize for my indiscretion."
He replied in a flat voice.
"It's not the first time."
"Not the first time," Louise bit her lip, puzzled.
Maybe it was the way she'd sat on the floor in front of Miriam's door the first day she'd come for the interview, and she'd fooled herself into thinking that this sprawling mansion was curiously uninhabited.
Louise racked her blank, white brain for the words to say.
"I was looking to see if you had any children's books that might be of interest to ..................Miss Miriam, and I was wondering if you might know where I could find some of your childhood books...."
The man's mouth curved into a smile. He must have found something funny about what she said.
"Contrary to your expectations, I didn't have a childhood of reading fairy tales when I was young. My father didn't have that kind of patience."
Louise had to swallow her unfinished sentence in silence. A nobleman who grew up without a single fairy tale book, perhaps his life wasn't as comfortable as she thought.
"By the way, I'm impressed with how quickly you've gotten to know Miriam."
Caius said wryly.
"If you ever need a storybook, I'll get you one."
"...Thank you."
Louise mumbled, looking at the floor, and he added.
"Well, my mother, who raised me the aristocratic way, would be disgusted if she saw this."
"What?"
Louise lifted her gaze to look at him, wondering what he meant. The golden eyes close by seemed softer than usual.
"When you talk to someone, you look them in the eye, like you're doing now."
The man's voice sounded cruel, somehow, and the voice of her dead mother added to it.
"Louise, when you talk to someone, you look them in the eye."
Louise sucked in a breath of air in anticipation, but then calmed herself.
This was an arrogant man who spoke as if he had his opponent in the palm of his hand, and there was no reason to be swayed by his dismissive, condescending remarks.
"You're right. I'll be careful."
As she looked him in the eye, the man looked away and the corner of his mouth lifted faintly. Then his lips curved into a shallow smile.
The man had an overwhelming air, as if he had stepped out of a painting, but Louise could now recognize when he was smiling falsely.
***
Days passed. Caius opened his eyes familiarly in the darkness.
It was five o'clock without looking at the clock. The wake-up time Ferdinand had set for him when he was seven had become a habit, one he hadn't changed as an adult.
As he dressed, he noticed a few books he hadn't seen in a while. The title on the top shelf was ‘The Fables of Aesop.’ "Ah," he said to himself.
Martin had gotten a children's book. It was for Miriam, he realized, and sooner than he expected.
The last time he saw her was in the library. Her youthful wariness of fleeing as soon as she had accomplished her purpose in her room had melted away when she entered the library.
Her childlike eyes scanned the stacks, she squatted down in her uncomfortable outfit, carelessly nibbled on nails, and eventually apologized with reddened ears.
How insignificant. Not bad for a child whose mother had traded her life for the prince's.
***
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