Saving the Second Male Lead

Chapter Six

        The slam of the heavy oak doors behind me echoed against the vast dome ceiling of the library, causing the cranky faces of everyone on the first floor to flicker up at me. With a shy bow, I waved my hand as both a greeting and an apology. I looked around the library, taking in the immense building I had entered. There were seven levels, though every level besides the first was more of a rim inside the building, made of shelves on balconies that allowed for the center of the room to extend all the way up.

With multiple floors, each lined with gold decorated bookshelves, it was stories full of stories. In the center of it all was a small circular desk where an old librarian sat. I approached her with a heavy heartbeat, well too aware of the fact that her eyes had been glaring at me from the moment I made an obnoxiously loud entrance. Something about the stare she gave me sent a cold sweat down my back. Her eyes tracked me from behind the book she was reading as I got closer.

As I approached, the title of the book in her hands came into focus and I lost all the fear that had been growing inside of me. With glasses thicker than morning fog, protruding chin hairs on wrinkled skin that made her look like a dried-out cactus, and strands of grey hair falling out of a dilapidated bun, it was the exact opposite of anything I would have expected an old lady like her to read.

The Forbidden Blood Lust... From the title and tacky title font, I could instantly tell that she was reading some sort of... vampire smut. I choked on my laughter, which only made her glare worsen. I quickly cleared my throat and stepped up to her.

"Ah, would you be able to help me find some history books?"

"Be more specific," she responded curtly.

"Um, maybe some about more recent history, in the past few decades. Do you have any about the relations between the dukedoms?"

Without speaking, she pulled out a piece of paper, ripped off the corner of it, and scribbled down the number 273, leaving ink drops from the pen that then wiped onto her hands.

"Here," she said as she held it out with one hand and pointed to an area on the third floor with the other. I gave her a slight curtsy and thanked her before walking over to the spiral staircase in the corner as fast as I could. My hurried pace made my heels click against the marble floor, once again drawing the attention of everyone. With another apologetic wave, I quickly disappeared up the spiral steps in the corner.

After two flights of unnecessarily long stairs, I was on the third floor. Unlike the first floor, there wasn't a formal study area with big lamp-lit desks, only a few red velvet chairs dotted here and there.

"How can they use candles in a building full of kindling? They are playing with fire," I laughed to myself, proud of the joke that no one else could hear. I weaved my way through the shelves, looking for the one that had 273 embossed in gold on its side. Once I reached it, I crouched down, reading the titles of the books on the bottom shelf, and moving upwards. Some of the book spines were in perfect condition, while others were tattered and frayed. I was looking for something that could help me understand what caused the tension between the Alterio's and the imperial family that pressured Lawrence in the original novel. When I first entered the building, I was worried that something that specific wouldn't have been written but given the sheer number of books in the library, it was almost impossible for one not to exist.

"The History of Diplomacy, The Imperial History of Trade, aha, A Recent History of Noble Relations!"

The book was in pristine condition. I pulled it out and made my way over to one of the chairs in a far back corner. Before I opened the book, something on the wall beside me caught my eye. Red circles framing portraits, gold calligraphy beneath each one, and branches connecting them all. It was a family tree.