Thief

After two minutes of standing alone in the library, Icarus finally decided to go after Julian. He wanted to know exactly what his friend was up to. He had initially wanted to ignore everything, but curiosity had gotten the better of him.

"Where's the book?" Icarus asked the moment he was within earshot. Julian turned to meet his approaching friend, his brows arched in confusion.

"What book?" He returned.

"Don't play games Julian, the book you were reading back at the library, where is it?"

"What do you mean? You saw me return the book, didn't you?" Julian replied as confused as the man before him. He knew that Icarus would go to find the book afterwards, his reaction had not been the best, and that was exactly why he didn't try to pull any more tricks. He had been studying soul multiplicity, a forbidden magic that allows one to divide their souls into several pieces. His initial plan had been to divide his soul in half, and have one of it inhabit Icarus's body.

However, Icarus was strongly against this plan. Julian knew he was killing himself by splitting his soul into different pieces, but at the same time it was a good technique to ensure reincarnation. As long as one's soul essences remained in the physical realm, their consciousness could be summoned to inhabit whatever object or human the soul had latched onto.

"It's not in the library.." Icarus revealed, and Julian's eyes widened in shock. Only he, leaders of the noble families and the king were allowed in the forbidden section of the library. Even cleaners had to get permission before they cleaned the place. Since there was nobody from the noble families around, and neither of them had taken the book out, it could only mean one thing, somebody had stolen the book.

Without hesitation, the two raced back to the library, each step echoing the confusion and fear within the two.

It was just as Icarus had said, the book was gone, and the maids and guards around denied seeing anybody else besides the two of them enter the restricted section. Icarus fought back the urge to dismiss all of them, but he too had been oblivious of the thief. He had seen Julian return the book, and just a few minutes later, it was gone. He and Julian had been in the library at the time the book was stolen, and somehow neither of them had caught a whiff of the thief.

"How is this possible? And right under our noses..." Icarus lamented as he ran his finger through his hair. Never in his time as king had he ever been robbed. Sure, some maids get greedy sometimes and try to steal his jewelry from time to time, but they are always caught. But this time, this thief, something was just wrong somewhere.

"Inform the guards that exit outside the castle is prohibited from now until I say otherwise. We cannot let this criminal get away, there's no telling how much he had stolen." Icarus ordered and Julian immediately left to carry out the order. He returned to the shelf to look for clues or something that might lead him back to the culprit, but all his efforts were fruitless. Even with his magic, he failed to find the littlest unnatural thing in the vicinity. And after one full hour of searching without results, Icarus returned to his room.

The entire castle was in chaos because of this thief, and all the guards around had begun an intensive search around the entire place. As he walked to his room Icarus wondered what the thief might want in a book about souls. He suspected that it might be a demon at first, but after learning from Julian that the book was about souls, he canceled out those suspicions. Demons didn't have souls, unless they were offered one, he couldn't see the use of the book to a demon.

If it wasn't a demon, then it certainly was somebody inside the castle, or perhaps an intruder? This was the first time such a thing was happening, and trying to think up its cause, or who had done it was very difficult.

Isabelle was already awake when Icarus entered the room looking distressed and lost. The commotion outside had woken her, and ever since then she hadn't been able to force herself back to sleep.

Icarus shot her a suspicious glare, not because he suspected her, but because this theft had happened the very day he freed her friend. Was this their plan? Was Isaac Homer responsible for the theft? Icarus knew Isaac was strong and had potential, but somebody like that could never outwit him, not this badly. But even at that, he didn't hold back with his questions.

"Did your friend steal from me? Was this some sort of plan that you two had?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about. Isaac is not a thief, and why would we jeopardize our safety by stealing from you?" Isabelle replied with a bold facade. She suspected that Isaac might be the thief too, but he had been in the dungeon since his arrival; she doubted he even knew the way out of his own room. There was no way he could have possibly snuck past Icarus and Julian to steal a book in the library.

Icarus considered her answer, he didn't think they were capable of pulling such a feat either. He pulled his suspicious eyes away from her and focused on the most dangerous part of the situation. The mere fact that he couldn't track this thief even after he had committed an obvious crime scared Icarus. There was no telling how much this thief might have heard, there no was no telling how much he knew, and it was terrifying. He had no idea who this thief might be, but Icarus was sure of one thing; he was going to find this thief, and he was going to make him or her spill everything they knew.