The Library

"What about we walked around so that I can show you around the castle?" Irene said as she stood up and hinted to Ayana to follow her. Ayana nodded her head as she stood up and then walked alongside Irene as the woman walked out of the dining hall.

Now that Ayana was more refreshed, she could see every detail of the castle that she overlooked last night. From the look of it, she could guess that the one who built the castle must like everything beautiful. Beautiful in sense that the place was timeless. Although there were a lot of changes inside the castle, Ayana could picture what everything looked like before the renovation.

As they walked around, Ayana started to realize that the castle was actually bigger than how it looked. There were more than hundreds of rooms and four towers surrounding the main building from the four corners. That was what Irene said but Ayana could see that there was this special tower that was separated from other buildings. 

At a glance, that tower was like an abandoned building because it looked old and there was a sign that the tower used to be connected with the main building like the three other towers. Without the windows in that tower, that place appeared like it used to lock someone inside. Ayana shudders a little when she imagines a monster that makes a strong pure blood vampire lock down the whole tower just to imprison the monster.

Irene kept explaining as they walked to several areas. She also told Ayana many things about the castle.

From Irene's mouth, Ayana started to know that this castle used to be a home for Seraphina Winter, Luca's aunt. She was a rare genius in all fields and one of the last pureblood vampires in Atlan. She was Luca's father's younger sister. Unfortunately, she died just a few days after Luca was born. She was too weak and didn't have the chance to meet her first nephew. Her death made Luca's father become the only pureblood vampire left.

Irene also told Ayana about the rumor among the servants that since this castle was designed by Seraphina herself, she created some hidden stairs and even floors that would lead to a room full of treasure. Unfortunately, this rumor cannot be proven until now since no one had found the hidden stairs.

This castle was abandoned for a while until Luca decided to live here again. He moved right after his coming-of-age ceremony. It seems like he wanted freedom and moved out, away from his parents as soon as possible.

Even though the castle is enormous, Irene said that this was the tiniest castle the Winter family owned.

After hearing Irene's words, Ayana started to get curious about how big the other castles the Winter family owned.

Irene then brought Ayana to the library in the main building. The library was gigantic since it covered three floors. Each floor was filled with bookshelves full of books. Ayana almost couldn't see the wall since it was almost concealed by the book.

Ayana's feet were itching to step inside and walked around the place, but she waited patiently behind Irene while praying that she would enter the library, unlike every other room they just passed by.

Irene must have seen something in Ayana's eyes that she then walked inside the castle after looking at the girl's face.

"You must be astonished by the number of books in this library, right?"

Ayana nodded her head excitedly. Now that she was inside, her eyes quickly roamed to several books that looked interesting. 

Ayana took one book from the shelf out of curiosity and opened it. It wasn't long before she realized that this book was so old.

"This book was older than me," Ayana commented then put the book back in its original place.

"You are right. And this library was filled with that kind of book. Just imagine how difficult it is to clean all the books one by one," Irene commented calmly.

"Did you clean this place?" Ayana asked with disbelief. Irene did not appear like someone who would clean all the books in this library. She did not look like someone who would do the dirty work like cleaning a room.

"I did not personally clean the book, but I was there and watched the maids and almost a thousand people cleaned this place. They work so hard that just watching them clean everything makes my body sore," Irene explained.

"I see," Ayana responded as she nodded her head. It was more believable now.

"I still remembered how bothersome this place was, especially since Luca wanted us to treat this old book like antics. He did not want us to throw anything as long as it was readable.

That boy is really stubborn. He really did not hear what I said at all although I am the one to help him renovate this abandoned castle," Irene lamented, shaking her head.

"I remember hiring almost a hundred people just to clean the books and place them in order. That was one of the most frustrating things I saw in my life. I would rather join the expedition to Zone C rather than tidy up all this book," Irene sighed.

"All the books look interesting. He was right that this needed to be treated carefully," Ayana said as she ran her fingers on some of the books.

"Books are great, but rather than spending money on old books, I think cheaper eBooks are better since the content will be the same." Irene disagreed.

Ayana wanted to retort back, but then she realized that they have different values about books. Although eBooks are cheaper and practical, she would love to feel each page and the smell of the book. Looking at the screen for a long time also tired out her eyes. Just thinking that she would have to read an eBook after doing her job or research on her laptop was really frustrating.

Looking at this gigantic library makes her realize the similarity between her and Luca. Maybe both of them love books and enjoy reading, maybe she could be friends with the man, maybe the man was not bad because hey, he enjoyed reading books, or all of this is just a camouflage to deceive someone.

Ayana shook her head. She should not jump to a conclusion. She did not really know anything about Luca besides he is handsome, strong, and rich.

"It seems like you love this place, but I advise you not to come to this place too often when Luca is around. It would be easy since Luca is usually busy with his mission. Although when he came back to the castle Luca would mostly spend his time in the library since this library is also his office. He doesn't really like it when other people touch these books," Irene's voice decreases the fondness Ayana's had for Luca that increased just several minutes before.

'You shouldn't show me this library in the first place so I would not come here,' Ayana thought inwardly.

Irene chuckled amusedly when she looked at Ayana's face. The girl's disappointment must be clear on her face which made Irene react that way.

Irene found Ayana's miserable expression funny. This was the first time Irene saw another emotion on the girl's face. She always appeared expressionless without too much emotion like a robot but seeing this kind of face made Irene realize that she was just a normal 19-year-old girl.

"I show this place so you can avoid this place when Luca is around," Irene said as she was able to read Ayana's thoughts.

Ayana still wanted to spend some time in the library that smelled like old books, but Irene dragged her away since she needed to show her another place. Ayana didn't really have the mood to look around anymore since she wanted to walk around the library.

After walking for a while, Irene stops at the end of the corridor to the west tower. Ayana looked ahead and found the odd tower in front of her. The odd tower that she had been quietly observing as they walked around the building an hour ago.

The tower detached from the main building. Now that she looked closely at the tower, it was even more clear that the people who used to live here totally destroyed the area around that tower, creating a detached tower from the main building.

'From the look of it, they rebuilt the main building around the tower it feels like they tried to seal something inside there. Definitely not a monster, but like infectious diseases or black magic.'

"It's weird, right? It kind of makes you uncomfortable," Irene said then looked at Ayana's face.

"This tower is where Luca stayed when he got back," Irene mentioned calmly.

"It makes sense now," those words just slipped out of Ayana's lips as she nodded her head.

Irene blinked as she turned to look at Ayana. There was something in Ayana's tone that sounded like an insult that made Irene frown deeper. She observed Ayana's face; she looked innocent and calm.

Irene did not know how she should have reacted now facing Ayana's innocent face. In the end, she sighed and decided to just let this go. She then looked at Ayana and said carefully, "I want you to avoid this area unattended. I know that you are married to Luca, but he did not really like to be around humans. He should familiarize himself with your presence first."

Ayana nodded her head again.

"Just don't approach him carelessly and don't meet him alone," Irene warned her with a serious expression.

Ayana nodded her head once more. She felt that her neck was sore since all she did all morning was nodded at everything Irene said.

"But what would be the worst thing that could happen to me if I meet him by myself?" Ayana asked. She was curious why Irene reacted this way and warned her hundreds of times that it was important for her to avoid Luca. Her first impression of him was not that bad. He looks calm and rational. If he did really hate humans and could not stand humans like what Irene had told her all day, he was actually great at hiding that.

"He actually likes to make pranks and is a bit rude. I am afraid he would do something that hurt your feelings," Irene tried to find an excuse rather than honestly saying that Ayana might be killed if she crossed the invisible boundaries.

Ayana tried to suppress the amusement that pulled up the corner of her lips. She tried to imagine the handsome and cold man she meets at the wedding making a stupid prank on her and she can't. 

"Luca mostly hangs out in the west tower and the library every time he comes back, so I recommend you avoid those places. If you want to read something, you can ask the maid or steward to find the book you like to read. They will ask permission from Luca whether you could borrow the book or not," Irene gave the nth warning after they left the library.

'What a stingy man!' Ayana cursed inwardly but nodded her head. She could not help but start to paint Luca as a stingy man who would not want to share his book because of Irene's warning. 

Irene looked at Ayana with a worried expression. She just can't help worrying about her. Although Ayana looked weak and innocent, there was something about her that made Irene worried.

She really hopes this girl did not intend to experiment on what she said about Luca. Luca doesn't appreciate a woman who seduces him, especially a human. There was a time when Luca killed some maids because of some trivial matters.

Irene was unbothered about Luca's killing act at first, but after dealing with four more dead bodies, she realizes that she had to do something.

She was responsible for finding workers for the castle, and the incident of the missing maids made people avoid working in the castle. Irene had a hard time finding work for the next few months and it made her think back to Luca's indiscriminate cruelty.