Diamante | SVT

XXVIII

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The consistent tap of quill against paper was heard within the silence, being surrounded by shelves twice as tall as he is with books of old and new. The smell of paper hits his nose unpleasantly, he never liked staying in a library nor his study room, but if he leaves, then all of the time looking for his betrothed would go to waste.

Mingyu slumps on his chair lazily, turning the pages without even reading. Eyes scanning the small letters of the old book he holds, not bothering to understand it.
He pushes his glasses up when it slipped for the nth time and looks at the person sitting adjacent to him.

Wonwoo pays him no mind, continuously writing on the paper then back at the book. He scrunches his nose in a way when he finds a particular word and notes it down, huffs at the page, murmuring something gibberish. He taps his fingers three times when he tries to remember something, eyes lighting up when he does. The omega would sometimes takes his glasses off and squints at whatever was written, brushing his hair out away when it covers his eyes. He would lean sideways if something interest him and laughs as quiet as possible. He didn't even glance at his way yet, too immersed in the book.

No. Mingyu is not observing him nor he is upset that his betrothed is ignoring him over literature. Closing the book down, he stands up and takes it back to the sixth shelf. He skims his eyes on each cover, almost every book was the same as back home in their library but he wasn't interested in any of those. As if a sort of punishment, he's announced to someone who loves books more than anything.

The alpha strides back to the chair, noting that he had stopped reading yet busy writing something. "You're done?"

Mingyu blinks at the sudden address to him, "Uh, no. I wasn't even reading it."

Wonwoo hums in reply, and looks up to him. "Can you move over here? I have questions to ask you if that's alright with you."

The omega never have seen someone move so fast as the alpha did, in a snap, he was sitting besides him, placing his forearm on the table to lean on. "Sure. What is it?"

Wonwoo covers his face with the paper, laughing behind it. "The glasses don't really suit you, Prince Mingyu." His hand moves on its own, taking the glasses away and putting on the table. "Better."

He turns back to the paper he was holding, not seeing how the alpha was gaping at him. "I'm intrigued about magic, that's what I have been researching on for the past hour."

Mingyu picks his jaw back, blinking at him, "Why? Don't you have magic too?"

He shouldn't have said that, Wonwoo's expression hardens, his smile was gone, eyes turning cold as he glares at him. "No. I don't. For some reason, people like me don't."

"I- I didn't know. I'm s-sorry. I thought your magic was reading or something? Like you can read really fast? S-since you finish books like its breakfast." Mingyu stutters, not looking at him. Wonwoo could imagine his ears drooping, whining sad noises at his angry owner. 'He acts like puppy, seriously. How cute.'

The omega sighs, fixing his glasses upright,
"Your magic, is that you can control water, right?"

Mingyu nods and makes a show of waving his hand in the air and opens his palm to him, showing water in his enclosed palm, "I can pull water out of thin air and also turn my self into one. But being near a source is better."

"Source?"

"Source is like our magic origination, through the source, you can train to be able to control your magic. It can be anything and anywhere."

Wonwoo nods, face may be stoic but the interest twinkling in his eyes could be seen. "The nearer to the source the more powerful you become?"

"Uh-huh. For example, the rain, I can also absorb the water from plants and on the ground. Being in the ocean, too. When you're near the source of your magic, it makes one feel light-headed and as if you can do everything but one must have immense focus and concentration to do so."

Wonwoo blinks at him, "Have you tried controlling the ocean?"

The alpha leans back on his seat, eyes closed. "I've tried once. It was difficult, its like my whole body was buzzing as my magic tries reaching out to its source. I was a wreck that day that I almost fainted. Not to mention, I can't concentrate even if my life depends on it."

"That's ..." Wonwoo tries to word his thought, staring at his betrothed. "troublesome."

"Very much." Mingyu mumbles, moving closer a bit to the omega. "More questions?"

Wonwoo glances down at his paper, "What about the others?"

"Seungcheol hyung's magic is fire. He can find source anywhere, also believe it or not, hyung trained inside a volcano." Wonwoo halts writing, looking at Mingyu with wide eyes. "What? How?"

"That's what they told me. Junhui hyung has ice, his source is similar to mine. He can use water and make them ice. I've heard hyung trained during winter." Mingyu cranes his neck to the side, feeling it stiff and sore. "Seokmin and Hansol had it easy. Air and earth can be anywhere. Chan doesn't have a source since his magic has no origin." Mingyu casts him a look, "For Soonyoung hyung, I don't really know how he trained nor his source."

"Electricity?" Wonwoo guesses as the alpha shrugs in response. "I've read this in a book before, that magic is inherited. Is that true?"

Mingyu looks at him with a raised brow, "That's very obvious, Prince Wonwoo. Why did you ask?"

The omega ignored his question and asks another, "Who did you inherit yours?"

"That's easy, from my Father. Its stated in the books that magic is --" Mingyu wasn't able to continue his sentence when Wonwoo stands up and rushes out of the library. The alpha stares at his retreating figure, dumbfounded on what he said that may have offended the omega. He picks the paper and was about to follow when someone spoke.

"It's best if you leave the Prince be." He turns his head and sees the Prince's attendant, leaning against the bookshelf.

"Doyoung-ssi, how long have you been there?" Mingyu sits back and looks at the paper full of the omega's neat handwriting. There was nothing wrong written there. "It doesn't concern you, Prince Mingyu. Its something Prince Wonwoo has to deal on his own." He doesn't know why but there was this eerie feeling creeping in his spine with the way the attendant gazes at him. Doyoung leaves him be a while later. Mingyu stays seated, mind wondering where he went wrong.

Wonwoo stops running when he was sure he was away from the library. He walks and walks until he reached the end of the seventh hall where the family portrait is hanged. He furrows his eyebrows, he couldn't stop thinking about it.

'I know. I know magic is inherited. Its written in the books that magic is inherited from their fathers.'

He stares at the portrait long and hard, 'But why? Why isn't he and his brothers born with magic?"

The omega gazes down at his hand, opening and closing it, as if something might happen. 'Why haven't we inherit Father's magic?'

Wonwoo blinks, a sudden realization hitting him, he glances at the portrait, eyes trained on their Father's.

'Father's magic?'

Now that he thinks of it, never in his life he had seen it nor his brothers. They didn't even ask, he didn't show it, even their Mother does not know when he asked her about it.

Wonwoo lets out frustrated sigh, 'What is Father's Magic?'