Royal Academy Diaries II

The Strongest Princess ⚜ Ch. 4

As much as she enjoyed weapon and combat training, she was really in attendance at the school for architecture. There were so many ancient temples and buildings back home that she wanted to learn how to preserve so that they could be enjoyed for another thousand years. 

In part because she was quiet, and also being one of the few girls in a school of boys made things rather lonely. And so to keep herself occupied, she sometimes took to studying the castle in her spare time. (When she wasn't practicing meditation with her sword.)

One day, she found herself going back to a little window. She hadn't been able to figure out where it led to, probably part of a hallway, but yet it wasn't matched on the other side of the building. And so, in desperate boredom, she tried to determine where the window to nowhere actually looked in on. 

She wandered the east side of the castle, looking for the narrow window. Maybe it looked in on an office at the back of a classroom? Possibly even a closet? It was always dark, so maybe it was covered by a bookcase.

Growing bored of considering the same possibilities, she found herself wander into the library. At least there weren't any sword fights happening on the tables (it had been known to happen). With a sigh, she started searching for something interesting to read.

Quietly, she read the titles aloud. "Military History, History of Arms, Generals of Persia... The Huns and Warfare, The Fall of Rome..." She sighed. The next book didn't even have a title. 

Curious, she pulled it off the shelf. This one was about fortresses, and it had pictures. On a whim, she decided to look for other books with no titles, just to see if there was anything more interesting like this one. They were hard to find, and she had collected a grand total of three when she spotted one on the top shelf. She put the others down on a bookcase and climbed the ladder. Standing on her toes, she tried to reach the title-less book, its spine all scratched and worn. With her fingertips she managed to get ahold of it.

Satisfied with her collection, she climbed back down the ladder, but heard a strange clinking noise. She stopped, hoping it wasn't the ladder itself.

The noise stopped. She quickly climbed the rest of the way down, the noise only getting louder. With a puzzled look, she shook the ladder.

It rattled, but was quiet. But as she put her next book onto the pile, the clink sounded again. Curious, she shook the book.

Something was inside it.

Looking around to see if anyone was near, she opened the old book with no title. She bit back a gasp upon seeing a pair of keys inside.

They were covered in a thick layer of dust, so no one had used them in many, many years. There was no note, no hint as to what they unlocked. 

But with a grin, the princess was determined to find out.