Favourite Room

By the time dinner was over, Blanche and Franz had retired for the night, leaving Alec in the hands of his two nephews.

Kieran scoffed, flicking his braid over his shoulder. He left his brother and 'uncle' behind, still unaccepting of their relationship. Their mother clearly wanted them to 'bond' or some nonsense, which he wasn't willing to entertain.

Dietrich scratched his cheek, embarrassed at his brother's obvious reaction. "Ah. Looks like Kieran still can't accept it. My apologies." Unlike me, was the unspoken words.

Truly, Dietrich was quite easy-going, going along with his mother's sudden whims. He had adapted to it remarkably well, going with the flow without much awkwardness.

Alec didn't say anything. After all, to him, Dietrich was the one with the stranger reaction. Just how in the world was he accepting it this quickly?

"So, uncle, what do you want to do now?"

Alec's eyes widened slightly. He didn't think that Dietrich would still call him that when Blanche was out of earshot. Wasn't he embarrassed?

Dietrich seemed to know what Alec was feeling. "If I ever slip up in front of mother…" he trailed off, a shiver going down his spine.

Alec felt puzzled. Just what would Blanche do that was so terrible he would react this way? Blanche had been nothing but doting to him so far. Just how different could it be from the way she treated her own children?

"Will you show me around?"

Dietrich perked up. "Yes, of course."

The resulting smile he received made him feel like his understood more where his mother was coming from. The boy was truly a ball of sunshine and flowers. How did such a little angel exist in this world?

Not good. Dietrich felt like he was slipping down a slippery slope. Would he end up just as doting as his mother was acting? Combined with the fact that he still felt bad that their family was receiving half of that dragon scale from Alec, he really couldn't feel anything less than affection.

Dietrich and Alec set off down the hall, Dietrich quite literally showing him around door to door.

Following him around like a duckling following its mother, Alec was a constant presence at Dietrich's side, peering into the various rooms as the other opened door after door.

It was quite amazing that most of the rooms were in use, considering how many rooms this place had.

Dietrich explained. "The Rothschild Family Mansion doesn't only house our family, though exclusive usage belongs to the main house, we still retain rooms for the branch members to store their things should they wish it.

"They meet up with us once every five years. In fact, they should be coming around any time now. Most likely tomorrow, if I'm not wrong. It's why Kieran and I are back."

How peculiar. What exactly was the point of leaving them a room for each of the branch family to use? They only met up once every five years.

The uncle and nephew duo reached a heavy-set door that was made out of glossy wood. There were gilded edges of gold and ivy spiralling on the door.

Alec looked at it curiously. "What's this door?"

Dietrich grinned. "This door. Is the library. Personally, this is my favourite room in the entire-"

Say no more, Dietrich.

Before Dietrich was able to complete his sentence, Alec was already opening the doors to enter.

With a plush carpet under their feet, the room full of books seemed to stretch on for ages. The smell of books filled the room, causing Alec to light up.

Alec grabbed Dietrich's shirt. "Dietrich, I can read the books here, right?"

Dietrich felt like he'd been shot in the heart from the sheer cuteness emitting from Alec, clinging onto his shirt. Why wasn't Kieran ever this cute?!

"Dietrich?" Alec tilted his head.

"Be my guest."

Alec immediately let go of Dietrich's shirt, not even realizing that he'd done it. It seemed as if Alec had been picking up more and more habits that helped him blend in more unconsciously.

The System was in book heaven. The sheer number of books that filled this place was enough to make him happy for a long while. Even in the clan compounds, where he was able to browse to his liking, had more restricted books that were off limits to him than there were that were available.

Though he always itched to head towards the second floor, there was always an elder that manned the desk. Not only that, he suspected that there was an array on the staircase, which was why he never tried. Even his uncle didn't give him permission to go up, let alone the elder.

Alec's eyes were practically sparkling as his eyes devoured the titles of the books on the shelves. There were so many different kinds that he almost wished that he could just camp here endlessly for months before he finished reading everything.

The books, sorted by genre, were well-kept, preserved by numerous runes that he made out, hidden in the spines.

Dietrich watched as Alec moved around the family library, practically glowing with happiness. Dietrich actually hadn't planned on letting him into the library, since there were some restricted texts that would spell a bit of trouble for their family should it ever get out.

What he didn't expect was the way Alec grew on him during their little exploration of the house. He hadn't felt this curious and carefree ever since he'd been a boy.

Alec's eyes caught on a book that stood out from the rest. With a pitch-black cover, and no title, it looked like the book didn't belong amongst the other rich covers in the library.

Without any hesitation, Alec grabbed it. What else could this be but a forbidden text? It was almost as if the author of the book was trying to make it easy for whoever it was to guess it.

Alec waited for Dietrich to hurriedly stop him, but when he didn't, Alec smirked a little and started reading for real.

Dietrich startled slightly when he realized that out of all the books, the one Alec picked was the few 'forbidden' texts that were hidden. He wondered just how Alec was able to see past the various runes that had been inscribed in the book to make it appear normal.

Dietrich debated whether or not he should get Alec to put the book back, only to shrug lightly in the end. After all, it wasn't forbidden because it contained any dangerous information or anything.

Just that… hmm. Well. To put it bluntly, it was because the royals from the previous couple of generations was a degenerate who wielded his power and authority without a care of the consequences.

The book was a journal their ancestor had written about his findings and the exploration of the various Societypes.

The next generation of royals made a move to appease the Rothschild house after so unceremoniously burning every mention of their ancestor out of their books, trying to make up for the previous generation's fault. This was, in part, the reason why the Rothschild family still stood so strong even today.

Dietrich picked up a book himself and started, both souls in the library losing track of their time.

Alec was completely engrossed in the book, which should really have been an indication that something was about to go wrong.