~Chapter 128~
We walked quietly. Khalid led the way, and I followed right behind him.
It suddenly felt like we’d gone back to the old days. Back then, we used to sneak around together like this too…
Of course, it was much harder back then.
Just then, we heard the reading room manager clear his throat outside.
Khalid stopped moving between the shelves, and I was lost in thought—I bumped my forehead into his back.
“Ow!”
“Are you okay? Sorry.”
Khalid quickly turned and checked my forehead. I rubbed the spot and laughed.
“I’m okay! Let’s hurry.”
Ah, my forehead. Did I hit the bone? It was really hard.
I waved my hand like it was nothing, but Khalid looked at me quietly.
“Why aren’t you going?”
“Hold my hand.”
“Huh?”
I stared at his hand in front of me.
“So you don’t bump into me again.”
My head tilted a little.
‘What is this?’
The late afternoon sunlight was shining on Khalid’s fingers.
Holding hands with him wasn’t weird at all.
Because of my magic problem, we held hands often, and sometimes when we had to escape together…
‘But now that I think about it, haven’t I clung to him a lot? Or gotten close to share secrets?’
Suddenly, my face felt hot.
‘What’s going on? Why am I embarrassed now?’
Was it because Khalid looked so neat in his Academy uniform? Or was it because this place felt so peaceful?
“Rubian, what’s your relationship with Khalid?”
“You two are always together, unlike me and my childhood friend.”
Why now! Why did Titi’s words come to mind right now?!
I shook my head quickly. Khalid’s shoulders dropped, looking a bit sad.
“…My hands are clean. Don’t you like it?”
“Huh?”
“You just shook your head.”
“No, that’s not it…”
I grabbed Khalid’s hand, almost stubbornly.
“I don’t mind at all! Why would I? We always hold hands!”
He was silent for a second.
“Let’s go!”
“Are you sick? Your face is kind of…”
“C-could you not look? I told you I have a complex about my face!”
“What are you talking about?”
“Nothing!”
Khalid made a sour face and closed his mouth. Then he held my hand tightly.
“Okay, just calm down and let’s go. I’ll hold tight, so you don’t have to worry.”
“Uh, okay…”
His hand felt a little cool, but steady. We quietly moved through the bookshelves again.
Watching his back in the gray sweater, I thought: whenever the wind blew, Khalid always smelled nice.
‘But do close friends even hold hands like this?’
Does Titi do this sometimes with her childhood friend?
At times like this, I wondered why I never made any real friends in my past life.
I couldn’t lift my face—it felt too hot.
Our footsteps echoed in the silent library, like all the quiet in the world was here.
A cool autumn wind came through the window the manager didn’t close, and Khalid’s hair fluttered gently.
‘It’s hot.’
I took a short breath and looked away.
‘Summer isn’t over yet. That must be it.’
Because… just look.
Even the back of his neck is a little red.
“There it is.”
I peeked out from behind a decoration.
There was a long hallway behind the central stairs. At the end, we found a huge door.
“…It says ‘Old Book Storage’.”
Khalid whispered behind me.
It was a storage room right in the middle of the library.
There was a huge lock on the dark brown door, bigger than both my fists put together.
[Entry Prohibited Except with Permission]
A shiny sign was nailed to the door.
I tilted my head.
“Why can’t people go in? Is it because of the old books? Are they hard to take care of?”
“Maybe. But that sign looks too new for that.”
“Huh, you’re right…”
After what Khalid said, I looked again.
The sign looked shiny, as if it was put up just recently.
Like there was some new reason they needed to protect this place.
“Hm. What should we do…”
I narrowed my eyes at the lock. Should we wait for someone to go inside?
Just then—
“Huh?”
I suddenly stood up.
“Ruby?”
My feet moved on their own. Khalid tried to hold me back, but that wasn’t important right now.
I had to check something.
I stood right in front of the old book storage door.
“Look at this, Khalid.”
I touched the huge lock.
“This lock is really old, unlike the sign.”
“Yeah, but more importantly…”
I looked up. I wasn’t seeing things. There was a strange feeling from this lock…
“Magic.”
“What?”
“There’s magic on the lock.”
Our eyes met.
Just then—
“Who’s there?”
The manager’s footsteps came closer.
“Ah, you’re camp students. Are you lost? This area is off limits. Come this way.”
The manager smiled kindly and brought me back to the children’s library.
The professor seemed to have been looking for me—when I appeared, he looked really relieved.
It seemed like the library tour was over and all the kids were already outside.
“I told you not to wander off.”
“Yes, I’m sorry.”
I apologized politely.
“Everyone else is finished, so let’s go out together. But… who’s that student?”
“He got lost too,”
the manager said, looking at Khalid.
“He’s an A-class student, it seems. How did you get here?”
“I was looking for the nurse’s office and got lost,”
Khalid answered quickly.
The professor looked a bit troubled.
“Mrs. Elaine, could you take him there?”
“Of course. Come with me.”
The manager motioned to Khalid.
Khalid followed without hesitation. Our eyes met one more time.
Just then, a small squirrel shot out. It was so quick, nobody noticed.
“Let’s go.”
“Yes!”
I left the library with the professor.
After that, I toured the rest of the Academy, but my mind was only focused on one thing.
‘Why is there a magic lock in the Babilon Empire’s library?’
My feet stopped in front of a huge lake.
“Now, for our last activity, we’ll ride boats on Lake Reim—another pride of our Academy—and return to the dorms!”
The professor paired us up for boats back to the dorms, so naturally, I ended up in a boat with my roommate.
“Rubian, you disappeared earlier and surprised me.”
Sortie whispered softly.
Lake Reim was famous for its beautiful scenery. I remembered hearing that Void had once gotten in trouble for secretly fishing there.
“Yeah… I got lost by accident.”
“By the way, I think your brothers came to the library earlier. Did you run away because of them?”
“Ah, um…”
I answered vaguely, lost in thought.
‘Magic lock…’
Looking at the blue waves, the thought came back to me.
Who would install something like that?
It wasn’t a simple tool anyone could use…
It was a very complicated magic circle. Which meant—
‘A mage did it.’
But what kind of mage would come all the way to the capital’s Academy and use magic?
“Titi, have you ever heard of a mage enrolling at the Academy?”
“Huh? That’d be famous enough for the history books, right?”
“Right…”
I pulled my knees up again. Sortie just admired the autumn leaves by the lake, taking my question lightly.
Of course, no mage had ever been a student or teacher here.
Not even the staff.
This city, Babiles, never even had an official mage sent here.
‘Then could it be a runaway mage…?’
But why would a fugitive do it? For what reason?
And that storage just kept old books. It wasn’t even a forbidden book section.
Why did it need such strong protection?
‘There’s definitely something in there.’
I bit my lip. Honestly, I hoped there was something—anything—to help me.
My hand reached to my back, as always.
‘I hope there’s a way to get rid of this curse mark!’
So I could finally be a real member of the Zebbert family.
“Rubian, we have to go all the way over there! This lake is huge, right?”
Sortie laughed happily.
I smiled back, ready to nod—
when suddenly, my eyes went wide and I bent over in surprise.
“Ugh…”
