"So the prince is engaged, huh? An arranged marriage with the political benefit. I remember from the history lessons that it was quite common among nobles to have their marriage arranged beforehand, it is still happening among chaebols in Korea too. Although it seemed like a laughing matter to Raphael, Dorian was definitely not happy about that. I wonder what that Lilith is like, maybe she is not a good person or something? Well, I guess no one can really be happy about their life being decided like this, not even the noblemen."

After my conversation with the prince and his guard, I had lunch in the kitchen and then met with Raphael again on the training grounds to finish the examination of the rest of the knights and try out some exercises and workout routines. Although it took us almost 5 hours to finalize the examination, the training plan, and write down all the necessary equipment that had to be prepared, we both felt a sense of great accomplishment and pleasant tiredness.

- To be honest, miss Yoona, I'm impressed. I have never seen a woman exercising so much, not being afraid of sweat or the way she looks when she moves like this. Your physical endurance is remarkable as well!

Raphael smiled at me and offered me a towel to wipe my sweat.

- Well, people praise the ones who exercise a lot in the world where I came from. It is also quite common for women to exercise daily to stay thin.

- Here women just do not eat anything if they want to be thin, that's rather disturbing.

For some reason, I looked up at the palace's windows and fixed my gaze on the window on the second floor. There was a person sitting on the ledge, holding a bunch of papers in their hands. The training grounds were too far from the palace to be able to distinguish people in the windows but I knew that that person was the prince. He probably recognized me too and waved briefly at me. When I waved back, he put down the papers and stared at me for some time.

"Was he watching us train? I wonder what he's thinking about when he looks at me?"

I looked at Raphael, he was lying on the ground, his eyes closed.

"Now that I'm looking at him like this, he is quite a handsome guy, those foreign looks are extremely fascinating."

I lifted my head once again to see Dorian, but his window was already empty.

"Still, Dorian is indeed the most beautiful man I have ever seen."

- What are you thinking about that your face is so red?

Raphael's words brought me back to my senses. I placed my hands on my flushed cheeks and sighed very loudly.

- I guess I'm still hot from all the exercising.

The dinner was served in my room and once I finished eating, Aurora came in to take the dishes.

- Aurora, is there a library in this palace?

She looked at me all surprised and scratched the right temple of her head with her finger.

- Why of course, the library is next to His Majesty's office. However, the biggest library is of course in the first prince's palace. His Majesty Prince Luther is quite a reader!

- Really? Can I go there?

- Oh, I'm afraid you will need special permission signed by a member of the royal family to do that.

I rummaged in my pockets and pulled out a piece of paper Dorian gave me this morning after I took his measurements. I handed it to Aurora and asked,

- Is this what I need?

- Yes, you can use this permission to enter the palace. But Yoona, it's getting late already, are you sure you want to go there today?

I took back the permit and looked outside the window. It was indeed getting darker outside, but I wanted to check something before I forgot all about it.

I changed my clothes into one of the sets brought earlier by the tailor and set off for the other palace. It took me approximately 30 minutes to get there by foot, which was definitely less than I expected. Although the guards were reluctant to let me inside at such a late hour, the permit signed by Dorian was like a VIP pass that opened all the doors for me.

A very rude butler lazily explained how to get to the library, his gaze followed me until the very moment I disappeared from his sight. I did not blame him - I suspected it was rude of me to come by so late and uninvited, but I was curious and bored to the point that I was actually quite open to some kind of resistance at least from somebody.

The library was indeed grand - it was a huge and for some reason, a very drafty room, stacked with shelves, books on each and every one of them. The books were actually just everywhere - on the shelves, on the floor, on the windows - it would have been hell to try and find a book you wanted there.

- God, how am I supposed to find anything here without any help?

- What kind of help do you need, exactly?

I did not expect somebody to be in the library at that hour. The voice belonged to a man, I turned around to see who was talking, but I couldn't see anyone.

- Uhm, excuse me?

- I'm up here.

I looked up, trying to follow the direction the voice was coming from and noticed someone covered in a big blanket, sitting on top of a wide bookshelf. The man put the book he was holding in his hands on the shelf and descended using the ladder. He came closer to me and removed the blanket from his head. It was a tall pale man, his face was so white, that one would think he had never seen the sun in his entire life. His hair was as black as Dorian's, it was long, down to his shoulders - part of it covering the left side of his face. The eye that was visible was green, the same emerald green the Empress has, a dark circle underneath it implying a great number of sleepless nights the man had experienced. His face was expressionless, I couldn't tell what exactly he was thinking about me at that moment.

- So, what are you doing here?

- Uhm... Well, my name is Yoona, I am prince Dorian's trainer as of today. I came here to borrow some books on religion, if possible.

The man looked me up and down with his emerald eye, turned around, and started walking.

- These three shelves right here are all books about religion. Do you have anything specific in mind?

I examined the number of books on each shelf he pointed at and scratched my head awkwardly.

- What about the religion of the Arcadian Empire?

- Are you a foreigner by any chance?

- Oh, how did you know?

- Even a dog would know about the religion of Arcadia, it was safe to assume that you are an outsider.

"So does he think I'm worse than a dog or something?"

He looked at one of the shelves for a while, then picked a thick book with a red velvet cover and handed it to me.

- Here, this should be enough.

"Geez, how many pages are here? You can kill someone with this book."

- Is that it?

I pressed the book to my chest and smiled.

- Yes, thank you! Can I stay here for a bit? I used to work in a bookshop, I feel kinda nostalgic, hehe.

- Sure, just don't make any noise.

The man covered his head with the blanket again and started walking away when suddenly it hit me.

- Excuse me, but who are you?

He stopped, uncovered his head once again, let out a tired sigh and turned around.

- I'm Luther Dio.

"LUTHER DIO? As in Luther Dio the Crown Prince? What the hell?!"

I kept looking at him with my mouth wide open, completely bewildered and speechless. Luther stared back at me for a while and then sighed again.

- Close your mouth, your drool is harmful to the books.

- I'm... I'm sorry, I had no idea!

- You had no idea that dampness destroys books? You said you worked in the bookshop.

He raised his visible eyebrow slightly and tilted his head.

- Well no, not that, obviously not that! I had no idea you were the Crown Prince. I still don't know much about people here, I'm sorry.

I tried to rectify the situation by smiling as neutrally as I could, but it only made me feel more awkward and embarrassed.

- You can relax, I don't really care about my title, especially here. You can continue talking comfortably with me.

- Oh... Then thank you, I guess?

- Yoona, was it? Your name.

He walked up closer to me again and stretched his hand. As I still hadn't come back to my senses completely, I did not know whether he wanted me to shake it or kiss it.

- You might be ignorant but don't be mannerless at least. Shake my hand.

- Ah, s-sure, of course!

I shook his hand energetically forgetting that my grip was actually quite strong. The Crown Prince flinched and pulled his hand away, shaking off the pain I had just caused him.

- God, I'm so sorry! Damn, I just keep messing things up in front of you. Are you hurt? I hope I didn't break anything!

He covered his mouth with the hand I had just shaken and started laughing.

- Gosh, you are quite a woman, miss Yoona! It's okay, I'm not particularly strong so this happens to me a lot.

'Now that I think about it, despite his body being covered with the blanket, his hand was indeed quite bony and tender, I guess he is just as Raphael described him.'

- Anyway, why are you here so late? Was getting a book about religion that important?

He sat down on one of the windows' ledge and pointed at the spot next to him, offering me to join him. I hesitated for a moment but decided that it was ruder to refuse the Crown Prince rather than sit right next to him.

- Well, I was actually bored and wanted to get something to read and maybe practice writing, but once I heard that you had the biggest library in the whole empire, I got quite curious, so here I am. I honestly did not expect to meet Your Majesty here so late.

- It is my library, after all, so why was it so surprising? And I told you to talk casually to me.

- So what should I call you? I call Prince Dorian, well, just Prince Dorian, do you want me to call you Prince Luther then?

A faint smile appeared on Luther's face, he nodded slowly.

- Sure, I like it. You said you are Dorian's trainer, what exactly do you do?

- Ah, I am in charge of his physical training, I am helping him and his knights to get in shape for the war! I am... Ariana's disciple.

I said it with a little bit too much enthusiasm, but it still excited me a lot to say that I am finally able to do what I always wanted even under the false pretense.

Prince Luther looked at the book I was holding and tapped his fingers on the window ledge.

- I see... Well, I hope you achieve great results, miss Yoona, Prince Dorian would surely appreciate some divine help.

He smiled at me again with a smile that was neither happy nor sad, this man's face was a real mystery to me.

I noticed an unusual amount of light outside despite it being so late already, I turned my body to take a better look when I suddenly pushed the window open behind me. A sudden blow of the wind surprised me so much, that I lost my balance and started falling right on the Crown Prince. The next thing I knew was me leaning over Luther, who was lying face-up on the broad window ledge, his shoulder-length hair scatter in all directions, revealing his whole face. When I finally realized what had just happened, he pushed me away, jumped to his feet, turned away, and pressed his hair back to his face.

- Miss Yoona... I think it's time for you to leave. And you'd better keep your mouth shut.