The Vampire King's Possession
Chapter 604. Rummage

Chapter 604: 604. Rummage

Mauve’s hands were killing her, between holding the lamp to the books on the shelves and pulling out books and putting them back, she wasn’t sure which was more exhausting.

However, that wasn’t the worst part; she had not made any progress in her search. She wasn’t even sure what she was looking for at this point.

She wasn’t trying to learn spells on her own, but at least she was hoping to find a book about magic, yet she had gone through at least three sections, and not a single book held anything on that matter.

She wondered if it was written in the old tongue, the one Louis said he couldn’t teach her, and that was why she couldn’t find it.

She just thought it didn’t make sense that there wasn’t any book written that told about the history of magic, or was she searching in the wrong section?

Mauve placed the candle on the ground, grateful for the candle holder; otherwise, she would have been burnt several times.

The candle had melted significantly at this point. It was a thick candle, so it was still big enough to last the rest of the night. However, the melted part was enough to hurt her skin, but the holder prevented that.

She sat on the ground with the books that she had pulled out. She would have to return them, but she needed a break. She still found it odd that she didn’t know about magic until Louis. It certainly existed; there was no denying it.

"Arrgh!" she yelled, ruffling her hair. She wasn’t making any progress. Would she really have to wait until Louis decided he was ready to put her through?

She stood to her feet once again and placed the books back in their position. If she couldn’t find a book about magic, she would have to settle for some spell books.

She wasn’t going to try anything; it wasn’t like she could read it properly in the first place. She was just going to check it out. Any extra information at this point was appreciated.

Done with replacing the books she had pulled out in her desperate search, she headed to a familiar section. This was a section she had rummaged through in the very first days she had arrived at the castle. Hopefully, the spell book she had checked at the time was still there—the ones with all the wrong herbs.

Louis had taken the spell book away, the one he had taught her to read, and knowing him, he didn’t return it so she couldn’t check it out herself. It was a good decision because there was no way the spell book would be in the library, and she wouldn’t try it again.

"Found it!" she muttered as she pulled out the book from the shelf. Without hesitation, she rushed to the desk ready to delve into the book.

She wasn’t going to read anything out loud to prevent any mishap; rather, she was going to see if she could comprehend the contents now that she knew what it was.

The candle made a soft clank as it came in contact with the table. She pulled back the seat and got comfortable. The book was thicker than she recalled, but other than to show Louis, she had gone through the pages since that night.

She winced, wondering why she hadn’t thought of this before now. She concluded that it was mainly because she didn’t think she would be able to gain anything from it, but she couldn’t help but ponder how she got to that conclusion without checking. She flipped the book open, recognizing the first lettering. She brought her finger to it as if tracing the words would help.

Mauve jerked at the sudden sound of the door opening, and she almost spilled the melted wax onto the book as she kicked the candle over.

"Yikes!"

She hurriedly picked it up, grateful that it missed the book; another inch closer and she would have been fighting to scrub wax off the book. At least now she only had to worry about the table.

While trying to clean up the mess with the candle, she had less time to hide the book, and by the silence that followed after the door shut, whoever it was, was coming closer.

She closed the book shut and tried to hide it under the desk when a loud voice said, "Don’t even bother."

Mauve slowly turned around to look at Louis with a smile plastered across her face. "Louis," she called out exaggeratedly. "I didn’t know you were here."

"Has anyone told you you’re a terrible liar?" he asked as he walked even closer.

"That’s my lie," she mumbled.

"Just because you caught me once doesn’t mean you can catch me again," he mumbled and stopped next to her. "You’re so predictable; I just knew given enough time, you would be here doing something wrong. Especially since you have nothing but your thoughts to keep you company."

"You see, you get it. At this point, I am going to lose my mind."

"Don’t admit to your wrongdoings so readily," he replied.

"What do you mean? I haven’t done anything."

"Then what is that?"

"This?" She asked, not looking at the book but keeping her gaze on his face. "I just thought it looked familiar."

"Of course, it does. You looked for it," he replied.

She shook her head. "I was just checking my favorite shelf to pick a book when I found it," she smiled.

"What a coincidence, right? You decided to check a spell book simply because you saw it; it wasn’t any preconceived plan, you just happened to see it."

"Fine, you caught me. Happy now?"

"Let me have it," he replied. "We had an agreement that you are so casually breaching."

"No!" she said and grabbed the book from the table before he could reach for it.

He gave her an unimpressed look. "What are you doing?"

"Listen to me for a second," she muttered, clutching the book to her chest.