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chapter-3
Nikoletta stared at the closed door a long time after Argrave had left. Her mind was disturbed by a thousand thoughts. She had not interacted with her cousin much at all. He was the bastard of the royal family, and she the sole daughter of the Duke of Monticci. Even if they were both in the Order of the Gray Owl, there had been little occasion for them to interact. The only situation she recalled was three years ago when she was seventeen.
That said, he was nothing like she remembered.
Previously, he had been a reticent and awkward teenager. Though he had the same tall, skinny body that made one question if he was starving himself, his actions now had a neat dignity. Perhaps some of that awkwardness remains, Nikoletta thought as she recalled him banging his head. It was oddly endearing, though.
She shook her head to get out of her stupor, and then turned to the documents Argrave had delivered. She’d still yet to verify if it was truly what she’d lost. She tore off the neatly wrapped strings and pulled off page after page, checking if everything was as she remembered it. After she had got to the end of it, her knees buckled and she collapsed to the table, chuckling.
“It’s all there. It’s really all there.” She kept laughing like a maniac for a time as she felt the burden of the world lift from her shoulders.She had been in a desperate panic the past few days trying to recreate this. Now, her cousin, whom she had only dislike of and firmly believed to be someone of ill character, had simply handed it to her.
“I don’t get him,” she said aloud.
Was he trying to win her favor? Certainly, as the daughter of Duke Enrico, Nikoletta was someone worthy of befriending for material gain. She always kept that in mind for all of her interactions, and it had saved her much heartache throughout the years.
I suppose it doesn’t matter now that I have this. I just have to be cautious of him in the future. She looked at her papers with a smile. Though… maybe I could get Mina to do some investigating… Nikoletta stood again. She had a month of free time now that she had her dissertation back. Perhaps she didn’t need to take Argrave’s word. Perhaps she could find out the truth of the matter on her own.
“Fine. Need I remind you that keeping an eye on me is wholly different from bothering me? You can watch as much as you like, though I would prefer it be at a distance… and silently.” Argrave turned around and walked into the central room.
He questioned briefly if he was being rash, but Argrave did not expect to have much conflict or interaction with Elias in the future. Their differences were difficult to set aside. He could only avoid him.
Innumerable stone platforms floated over a very long drop. They had symbols inscribed on the top, and a strange purple light bordered them. If one were to try and jump, they’d find intense winds barring them from moving beyond the door. Instead, one would turn into the right and input where they intended to go into the keypad-like interface.
Argrave pressed the button for the second floor, and with nary a sound, all of the stone platforms in the room began to shift. If this had been the game, he would have been holding W, pushing his character forward against the barrier while waiting impatiently for the platform to appear. Now, it was all rather wondrous. Elias stood a fair bit behind Argrave, watching with brows furrowed.
The stone platform appeared, and the barrier barring him from walking forward fell away with an audible pop. Argrave stepped on the platform. His shoes suddenly seized, and he found his soles stuck to the platform. Then, the platform began moving downwards, twisting around the innumerable other platforms—some empty, some containing other students or wizards.
It was a trivial thing, perhaps, but it was nonetheless thrilling to Argrave. With his previous issues forgotten, a smile rose to his face unbidden. Above, Elias had also boarded a platform. Argrave’s smile faded a little, and he shook his head on the route to the library.
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