I refused the crown prince's proposal because I'm gay!

Chapter 19

"It's like someone poured scorching lava into my skull," Blanca mumbled tiredly, her hand rubbing against her temples. "I really should've tried to sleep."

For the past few days, the appearance of creepy shadows dancing across my ceiling has increased, guarding the gates of the dream realm. These shadows have appeared before but never this consistently.

"Honestly glad I didn't need to assist Mother in her preparations for her impromptu banquet," Blanca click her tongue in annoyance, "If I have to put up with her constant nagging and judgemental glares all day on top of those damn waltzing shadows appearing during the wake of night, I'd sooner tear out my eyeballs and stuff them into a jar."

Swiftly passing through the maze of well-kept carpeted hallways that were given as a gift to the family a couple of years back, Blanca stopped at an embroidered oak door preserved by magic, which was instilled by mysterious carvings that only responded to shadow users. Behind this door is currently her private library within the Lefereve household.

This private library, reserved only for shadow users, was about two stories tall. Each wall is supported by rustic pillars, made of oak and gold. There are no windows, only projections of what would've been there; the outside world, as well as multiple wind crystals used for ventilation. A comfy lounge on the first floor was fully furnished with couches, a small coffee table, and a grand piano as its centerpiece. On the second floor, a large desk can be found along with the surrounding area, lined by rows upon rows of shelves reaching from the ground up to the ceiling, with accessible ladders running across. In the center is a tall massive lectern that holds a scroll of equal size, which catalogs any and everything within the vicinity.

After opening the ornate door, Blanca lets her mind relax as she takes in the familiar scent of inks and books. She then rushes up the stairs, her heels clicking with each step, to the centerpiece on the second floor. At the lectern, she scans through the massive scroll, her fingers carefully gliding through the content for documents that might help her situation.

Her face lit up and noted all that caught her eye, she immediately manifested her shadow, and with a wave of her hand, she gave her instructions. Her magic swiftly ran through the shelves on the first floor picking out all related content, then spiraling up the pillars and proceeding to search the second floor. She sat down in the lounge tapping her fingers against the arm of her sofa chair, waiting impatiently for her delivery service.

Her magic wisped by and landed onto her palm, as it spiraled and danced to a string of rhythms. Blanca blinked and shook her head unimpressed, lazily tossing a sphere of darkness onto the large coffee table. Her shadow bursts upon contact with the polished wooden surface, revealing piles of items, ranging from books and ancient scrolls to maps and other assorted artifacts and items.

Blanca frowned at the mess. She picked up a silver chain that connected to a spiky black amulet with a skull decoration. "This is..." Blanca recalled seeing a drawn image of this item on a random scroll when she was younger. An amulet that allows one to see and experience what another person is currently doing in real-time. Perfect for stalking. All that is required for the artifact to work is a piece of the victim's hair. I don't even want to know who this belonged to previously.

Because only members who had integrated the shadow into their magic can enter this room, the duty of tidying up the place ultimately fell onto her. Blanca doesn't blame the original villainess, as the noblewoman who has never seen a speck of dust before, naturally without servants tending to the restricted room, she would've never dared set foot into the library that had not been touched in over decades.

While she was cleaning, she found everything to be quite... "useless." Blanca rolled her eyes, tossing the amulet aside. The shadow below her feet jumped up and snatched it with its vine-like features, sinking back into the ground to return the amulet to its proper place.