The Vampire King's Possession
Chapter 644. Incompetence

Chapter 644: 644. Incompetence

"Huh? I thought you didn’t want to see me," she said as she reluctantly stepped in.

"Why wouldn’t I want to see you?" Louis asked condescendingly.

"You just asked me what I’m doing here," she said, walking past him.

"It’s a reasonable question," he replied as she moved in front of him. "You should be resting. Two nights ago, you were literally bleeding out your hand."

She raised her hand above her head with the inside of her arm facing backward to show him she was all healed up. "It has closed up, and there will only be a scar left in a few days. Also, I feel fine. I think I’ve given enough blood and I’m pretty much used to it now. No need to act like it’s the end of the world."

"I’m glad you’re nonchalant about it," he said as he moved around the desk while she sat on the nearest chair. "But it could have gone horribly wrong. I’m glad you’re alright."

"Oh, look at you being so nice," she teased.

Louis shrugged. "Regardless of how it seems, I’d prefer if you remained alive for as long as possible."

Mauve glared at him. "You just had to ruin it. I expected nothing less. Whatever, I’m here to resume our lessons."

Louis looked at her as though she was out of her mind. "Completely out of the question. First off, you aren’t completely healed. Secondly, you’ve exerted so much energy in the past couple of days. I’m not going to put you through more strain."

"Strain? The spells don’t even work," she responded. "And I don’t think it would be right to stop practicing. What if we were getting closer and now I took this much of a break and we have to start from scratch?"

"I’m very sure that’s not how it works."

"If you knew exactly how it works, we wouldn’t be in this dilemma," she replied.

"Harsh words won’t get you what you want. I’m not going to humor you."

"You’re just making excuses at this point. With the way we are going, I’m not going to learn anything," she said and glared at him.

"Fine," Louis said, standing up from his seat. "Since you’ve decided to run your health into the ground, I shall let you. After all, it isn’t my duty to stop you."

"Yippee," she said, clasping her hands together.

"Don’t be so happy. There will be limits on how many spells you recite. Don’t do anything reckless. Just because I’m giving in doesn’t mean you can do as you like."

"Yes, Louis. Now bring the books," she said, her eyes glimmering with excitement.

"At least pretend to actually listen to what I have to say."

"I am listening," she said.

He glanced at her, shook his head, and disappeared through the shelves. She watched him go before turning her gaze to the desk and resting her head on it as she waited for him.

"What do you think Jael’s reaction would be if he found out?" Mauve suddenly asked.

"What’s with the sudden question?" Louis asked, his voice holding confusion and worry. He sounded further away from her but still loud enough for her to hear.

"I don’t know," she mumbled to herself. "I was just curious." Her voice here was louder and back to normal.

"Well, stop being curious."

"Hmm," she replied, closing her eyes.

Louis was right though. She knew Jael would be horrified. She wasn’t scared about herself. Yeah, he would definitely be mad at her, but she was more worried for Louis. He would definitely get in trouble, and she doubted Jael would be the only person they had to worry about. If magic was just lying around, how come she hadn’t heard of it before now?

"Mauve," Louis suddenly called.

"Yeah," she responded grudgingly, raising her head from the desk.

"Did you perhaps take a spell book and not return it?" he asked.

"What? No. As much as my impatience is killing me, I know you won’t let me practice reading the spells if I should try to seek out more information on my own."

"You’re definitely right, and as much as I want to trust you, the evidence says otherwise."

"What evidence?" she asked, getting to her feet.

"I can’t find it," he explained.

"What?" Mauve asked, heading to where she could hear his voice coming from.

She walked there to see him high on the ladder Jael had said she shouldn’t climb and still hadn’t since that day. He had a book under his arm and was barely holding onto the ladder as he scanned through.

"That’s so high up, there is no way I would have taken it from there," she cried.

"I know," he said, starting to come down. "I was checking for another spell book."

"Did you find it?" she asked.

"No, it’s not there."

"What? Where could it have gone? Do you think someone is on to us?" she asked in horror.

"What are you talking about? Would you not panic? I doubt it. At first, it was the first spell book, but that’s not the only one missing. This," he said, pointing at the book he was holding, "is the last spell book we used. You have been majorly reading from this book for a while now."

"Okay?"

"It’s exactly where I left it. I didn’t try to hide it because I know you wouldn’t go against our promise. It wasn’t hidden in the slightest. If anyone knew about this, they would have taken this one first. Something is wrong."

"So if someone didn’t take it, you think something else happened?" she asked.

"Yeah," he sounded absentminded.

Mauve wanted to ask more questions, but she knew that wouldn’t help. She didn’t understand the situation or what he was saying, so it was best to let him handle it.

Suddenly, he opened the book and started scanning through the spells. "I did tell you I didn’t know what these spells could do, right?"

"Yes?" Mauve said, wondering what he was getting at.

"What if there was a spell to shuffle things?" he asked.

"What?"

He pulled his gaze from the book and looked at her. He shook his head and started to speak. "I have no idea which it could be from looking at the spells."

"I don’t understand what you’re talking about."

"If you take a step back," he started to explain. At this point, Louis was brimming with excitement. He walked backward and gestured for Mauve to do the same.

"I don’t see anything weird," she mumbled.

"Exactly! Nothing seems to be missing. If a book had been taken out of that shelf, there would be at least more space and some indication, but it looks just right."

Mauve’s eyes widened as she glanced at him. "Are you saying it changed location?"

"Exactly!"

"But that’s not possible; the spells aren’t working."

"What if they were, but we didn’t know because we had no idea what it was."

"And whose fault is that?" she asked with a glare.

"I do not deny my incompetence, but right now, I don’t completely think that’s a bad thing."

"Don’t be proud of your mistake."

"It’s not a costly one," he said, glancing down and grinning at her. "And it also means you can use some magic. Perhaps not all, but simple spells work."

"What are we going to do now?" she asked.

"Confirm my theory," he whispered. "No one knows the library better than you. Is there any book in a place it usually isn’t? There isn’t exactly a proper labeling system since the library wasn’t made for public use and was just Victoria’s personal hobby, but I’m sure there was some systematic way she arranged it."

"That’s a far stretch. You know the library just as well as I do or even better. You’ve lived here longer."

"That’s more than three decades ago. I’m sure some things have changed. Fine, check the section you are most familiar with and tell me if you notice anything amiss or if the books are still aligned perfectly..." He paused for a while.

"What?" Mauve asked, curiosity killing her at this point.

"What if it’s just the spell books?" he frowned. "That’s too specific. What about books that had been moved recently? That seems more likely," Louis sighed. "There is no way to find out except checking."

"So I should check the section I usually pick out books from and see if anything is missing or replaced?"

"I doubt it would be missing, but yes, check for any abnormality."

Mauve nodded and walked towards the shelf she had read most out of. It wasn’t as though she believed what Louis was rambling about. He sounded a little out of it, but it was probably because he was excited or lost in thought.

She got to the shelf in no time. Mauve’s eyes did a quick scan to ensure her eyes weren’t deceiving her. She knew this shelf well without looking carefully, and she could clearly tell something was off.