Vemra soon excused the servants, and the latter quickly went around doing their daily jobs. In their master’s absence, the servants were quick to obey his orders like he was the butler. Other than the Elder, there weren’t many who were rude enough to disrespect the mage. That, or mad enough.

After making sure that there was no one near enough to overhear, he bowed his head slightly.

“I apologize on the behalf of my master.” Vemra shut his eyes briefly in sincerity. He then sat on the spot Elder Leran was occupying until minutes ago and took a deep breath. The seat looked half empty with the lack of Elder and his arrogance.

“I appreciate it.” Lia finally settled in her chair first time. All this time it felt like she had been sitting on an iron chair in the depths of a dungeon. “It shouldn’t be you to apologize. Or to serve. He is employing a mage under Imperial law. He has no right to treat you or my friends like this.”

“Have you ever heard the saying ‘might makes the right’, my lady?” Vemra leaned back, one hand on the armrest, the other on his abdomen. “Man of his stature hardly follows the law.”

“I know.” Lia’s face soured. She knew that was the case but it being the truth didn’t make it any more bearable. Though no one was brave enough to oppose a direct order from the emperor, people of great wealth and stature often bent the rules and the regulations according to their wishes.

“Still, it saddens me to see a mage pouring a glass for a guest. Especially when you are in pain.” Lia took another sip from the glass.

“What pain?” Inni asked, oblivious to Vemra’s flinches as he poured the glass.

“His arm.” Yel barely made out the words, munching on a pie. Lia sometimes wondered where all that food went into the skinny guy. Even looking at him eat made Lia full.

“It seems like I worried you for nothing. That must be the reason you whispered before. I am fine. Just fell from an old ladder trying to reach a high shelf in the library. Nothing to worry about.”

Lia didn’t believe Vemra. A house as rich and prestigious as the Elvia wouldn’t hire an underqualified mage who can’t govern his body and lessen his pain. If the man still flinched occasionally, the source of the pain had to be a magical one that directly hurt the soul which can’t be dealt with by numbing the limb or the injury. Or the injury had to be so great and painful that numbing it was not an option, as suppressing the pain would cause the limb to lose function.

In either case, Vemra was hiding something.

Inni’s face soured, though it was not because she too realized Vemra was hiding something. She just didn’t like seeing people getting hurt. Lia could remember the times when Inni wanted to heal people and ease their pain like her elder sister Luena. It was hilarious to see Inni when she realized her fire only burnt people, unlike Luena’s flames.

“If only the guests were always as esteemed as you are now.” Vemra sighed.

“You sure about that?” Inni glanced at Yel who was licking the crumbs off the last plate.

Vemra laughed as if he meant it with his whole heart. “Yes.” He continued. “Especially if we consider you are here to save us. Could you tell us more about this particular thief? The Elder wasn’t exactly interested in that, but I suppose it could be handy to know a few things about him if he is stupid enough to break into the mansion.”

“We know only a little about him. He calls himself Viran and has a disfigured body that resembles that of a Quatî. He uses an illusion spell to disguise himself.” Lia left out the parts about his clash with the Archmages and the artefact.

“Hmm…” Vemra scratched his chin, one eyebrow raised in inquiry. “And... do you happen to have any intel on what exactly he wants?”

“A necklace!” Inni jumped, her amber eyes shining with the mention of jewellery. “One that was recently bought off an auction.”

“That narrows it down.” Vemra continued. “But rest assured, it is in a place that no one can enter or exit alive without my knowledge.”

“Nice.” Yel joined after he finally got satisfied with the state of the plate. If Lia didn’t know better, she could have taken them as newly washed. “Looks like it is going to be easy.”

“I hope so.” Vemra agreed. “I was wondering…” He continued. “I rarely leave the estate so I don’t meet with other mages a lot but I would think two apprentices from such houses would have… more well-known master guiding them. Yours is…” Vemra tried to find a polite way to describe Lad. “Quite peculiar. How long have been under his tutelage?”

“Oh. It has been only a few days.” Lia answered. “We parted our ways with our previous master and her holiness Levise herself appointed him.”

“Yeah.” Yel giggled. “But our previous master parted his ways not only with us but also with other things.”

To this, Inni’s face soured again as she remembered Lia mutilating the man. He had it coming but still, it was gross.

Seeing Inni’s reaction, Vemra decided not to ask further questions about the previous master. “Your new master must be quite talented then. I hope I could learn a few things from him in this short while, but I don’t think that would be possible without finding him first. What do you say, would like to have a tour of the mansion as we looked around for him?”

***

“How long have you been here?” Yel asked Vemra as they walked the great maze of a corridor that lay on each floor. From a quick calculation Lia had made, there had to be almost a thousand rooms.

The real question is what they are doing with all these rooms? Lia thought as she inspected the door of a room. All the doors were the same, dark wood, a relief of the cat etched onto the door, polished, and dusted to the best.

The walls were of white marble in contrast to the doors, just like the endless rows of pillars that stood two meters in distance. The ground was covered with a soft red carpet.

“I have been under Elder’s service my whole life.” Vemra showed a broken smile. “Since when he wasn’t an Elder but just the young master.”

“What about this place?” Lia continued. “It looks too big to be a mansion.”

“The mansion too, has been in the service of the house for a while, but it is a lot older than me and even the House of Elvia. Some of the records left in the library make me think this place worked as a part of a bigger complex that encompassed the whole upper floors of the hill that belonged to Saint Rever himself. It was probably a glorified inn for his friends.”

“Hmm…” Yel scratched his chin as he looked at one of the marble pillars. Like all, there was a little figure on top of the pillar, holding the ceiling up on its back. Each figure looked different. Some were young men clad in armour, some were old priests in robes. He could see monks, a stone worker with his chisel, a pregnant woman, and a little girl.

The one he was standing in front of was different from the others. It was a set of three young women, whose bodies were intertwined into one like braided hair. Three sets of arms carried that pillar’s share of weight and they bore a scar on their bare chest.

“I have this weird feeling that you are just looking at bare breasts. Not a work of art.” Inni laughed as he bumped her fist on Yel’s shoulder.

Upon the fist bump, Yel woke up. “What?” He realized he hadn’t been listening to the others. He was captivated by the triplets.

“What good is in teasing if you don’t listen to it?” Inni sulked.

“I’m not sure why but I don’t regret not hearing.”

They kept on walking as the two bickered and Vemra occasionally told them what the room inside was upon being asked.

“Vemra?” The end of the word rose in pitch like a question were to arrive. “What are these statues anyways?” Yel asked.

“Do you want an honest idea?” Vemra stopped in front of a door, double the size of the others. There hadn’t been doors for a while, this had to be a great hall the man was leading them to.

“Of course.”

“I have been thinking about it for a long while and I have no idea. I suppose we have to ask the Saint himself.” Vemra laughed. “What a shame Lord’s blessing to Rever wasn’t eternal life like he bestowed Levise. But I suppose there is some good in his death. If Rever were to live he wouldn’t like our House owning this place.” He opened the door he stopped in front of, and a large hall welcomed them.

Long rows of bookshelves, full of endless sets of books, a giant map of the empire was painted over the ceiling, parading Vaella’s reconquest with Rever on the southern continent.

Revera had fallen before the desolation of Nevra. Vaella alongside saint Rever retook the continent and build the civilization anew. That was the reason why Rever founded the city of Whitepeak. In fear of another invasion from the sinful devils.

The map had a few differences, of course. At the centre, where the Lake Vitae which housed the capital city on an island was nonexistent. There was a tall mountain in its place.

The dogma told that when Vaella killed the last dragon with the help of Saint Aran, he also destroyed the dragon king’s nest which was the Mountain of Maesna. The crater later was filled by nearby rivers and streams, turning it into the great lake it was today.

“This is the great library of our house. Currently, the home of a stunning number of roughly twenty thousand books. Working with a lord who likes to collect things has its own perks I suppose. There are books and diaries left straight from the Saint himself and his retainers though they are quite hard to decipher.”

“I can understand.” Lia’s eyes shone. “Could I see some?”

“Of course.” Vemra agreed and Lia took a short stroll between the aisles, unlike the other two that waited at the door and looked at the giant map above and the mystical beasts painted on it.

The first few books she picked were diaries and notes of travellers and biographies of important people. She saw an aisle dedicated just to the Reverî rulers and the Elders, generation by generation. She took the last book that was put there, one that was a lot newer than the others. The only book to have the cat of Elvia rest on the hard leather cover. The life of U’tua, the father of Elder Leran.

Lia quickly swept through the book, going through the notes and handwriting from U’tua combined with the work of a meticulous scholar. Of all the wealth and glory depicted in the book, what piqued Lia’s interest was a series of letters from U’tua to her long-dead sister and little brother. The man had kept writing to them even after they lost their lives in an assassination attempt at U’tua himself.

She could understand the pain. She wished she couldn’t have. Losing a loved one was a wound that never completely healed. One that left scars. Lia’s eyes still often looked for her sister in the crowds of people. Like she was only lost and trying to get back to her sister. Irene was watching her from the other side, Lia was sure. Walking with her in each step.

People reacted differently and used different ways to cope with pain like this. Her elder brother Victor renounced his father, blaming his incompetence for the little girl’s death. He abandoned his right to the throne and left the palace to become a rider in Arym. Her second elder brother Balderan closed himself in his room, rotting away amidst books and studies that prepared him for the throne and their father lost touch with the world, becoming the cold and calculating ruler he was today. Her mother Daphne fell ill. Just like Lia. Once a mighty mage she was, yet her power devoured his very soul. Her death soon after Irene’s pushed the family even more apart.

Lia often talked to her sister whenever she felt down. Writing letters, she could understand. She set out to the Academy in Levise’us. She refused to stay in that palace that was the husk of what she once called home and sought power to live a life of justice and honour, a life she would show to her sister who was watching her from heaven.

Realizing she was no longer looking at the book, she left it at the place she took it from and kept moving around.

She looked at a few encyclopedias, a few grimoires and lots of tales and legends. She looked at a few religious books. They were mainly about Saint Rever, his deeds, and virtues. The lack of Vaella in the manuscripts intrigued Lia but it was understandable for the man to have a separate life before he and after he met the almighty.

After going through a few more books, she looked around to see what the others were doing, Lia was the only one losing herself amidst the books. Yel had found an ornamental sword hung onto the wall and was busy trying to pull it out. Inni was at some paintings around the aisles. The painting was really hard to miss. A Reveran man in similar clothes to Leran and more dignified air. U’tua it must be, Lia thought.

Vemra was... Looking at her, holding his wrist behind his back. The tiredness that slouched his back was almost lost in his straightened posture.

“Anything to your liking, princess?” He said with a newfound joy in his eyes.

Is he going to ask for something, or is he just happy to see someone interested in the books? Lia asked herself.

“I suppose it would be hard to impress someone of your stature with a collection this small. Especially if you had seen the imperial one.”

“I’m afraid I haven’t seen it. Not all of it. Parts of it are sanctioned. Most people are prohibited to enter.” Lia’s face soured as she heard the princess, but she didn’t show it on her face.

“What a shame. I suppose it is a nice thing that you came by. All these books but only a pair of eyes to feast upon them. Sometimes I fear they are wasted on me.”

“I know that feeling.” Lia rested his hand on the hilt of his sword. Sometimes she thought of that too. Had she not been born to her family, she would neither have the talent for magic nor wealth to wield her sword. “Don’t be that harsh to yourself. Keeping them safe and secure is a feat enough.” She said as if she were ensuring herself instead.

The sword is not for me, she continued, this time, silent. It is to enforce Levise’s and Empire’s laws.

Vemra smiled with his lips tightly shut, briefly exhaling through his nose.

“Your house is going to be under attack, Vemra. This no time to relax and smile.”

“Oh, sorry. I just couldn’t help. I wasn’t expecting someone… this committed.”

Vemra continued after Lia’s silence. “I may not leave the estate often, but rumours travel and mouths talk.”

“And what do they tell of me?”

“I wouldn’t dare to speak of them in front of you.”

“Because I am the daughter of my father? Do you fear the wrath of a royal? I assure you my father doesn’t care about me enough to punish people.”

Vemra contemplated for a while, deciding on which word to pick.

“The emperor does not scare me, young lady. I refused simply because it would be rude.”

“That’s… something new.”

“Yes.” Vemra smiled as he reached out for a book. “One doesn’t expect to find something new in this old library, right?”

The book he picked from the poetry aisle had a green hardcover with a crimson rose outlined by golden threads in the middle. The skin was slightly torn on the edges and the pages of the thick book.

“What is that?” Lia asked.

“I’d give you a real rose but I’m sure the Elder would lash out at someone for the missing flower in his garden. The book, however, he wouldn’t notice.”

“Thanks for the gesture.” Lia put the book back in its place. “But I would know. I came here to make sure Elder’s belongings stayed here.”

“In that case, you are free to take it. That one is actually mine. Left by a friend. I thought it would help or at least entertain. Sorry for the rose part, I just couldn’t help but make that joke.”

Lia contemplated for a while. She wanted to take the book, she was curious; even though the corny line Vemra told made her feel like he had ulterior motives.

“Please.” Vemra raised her brows, tilting his head to the left. “I am not going to say I wasn’t expecting a blush but I assure you it should be helpful in your journeys. It also has some recipes and spells in between poems.”

“Hmm…” Lia thought for a while but in the end, she decided to take the book. “I guess I could accept a gift from our host.”

“Of course, you can. You could also watch the library.” Vemra continued with a smile, content that Lia took the book. “I’m sure you understand their true value. If I were to steal anything here, it wouldn’t be the jewels.”

“I doubt our thief has the same insight. Could you perhaps show us the treasury room?”

“Of course, my lady.”