Peace Maker - Chapter 220

It was a fancy room, yes. But most of the rooms in this palace were already fancy, some of them so ornately decorated that a ball could be held there. At least that’s what Adia felt. She had a feeling she was right, she was almost always right.

She plopped down onto the couch and laid down on it for a second, resting her head on the armrest with a smirk on her face. “Did he really think I wasn’t going to lay down on this?” she muttered with a light chuckle and closed her eyes for a few moments before they flew right back open and she stood up from the couch.

“Gosh you’re lucky that my conscience is much higher these days than back then,” she huffed, brushing the couch with her hand as she brushed her own pants, “I wonder if it’s like expensive or anything- probably is… I hope I didn’t ruin it by laying on it..”

She looked down at the couch for a few moments before shrugging, “Nahh,” then she turned to surveil the room before letting out a big sigh and grinning, “where to start~”

She walked over to the bookshelves and began walking down, reading the titles of the books as she walked. “Looks like we’ve got a royal bookworm in the palace~” she mumbled to herself as her fingers ran on the bookshelf’s edges. She paused when something caught her eyes and pulled closer to inspect it. “Fingerprints…”

She hesitated for a moment as she reached out to pull out the book, her eyes looking over the room curiously as if she was looking for watching eyes. She was, but there was none.

Slowly she pulled out the book, her eyes running over it for a moment before looking at the fingerprints and laying her own finger over it. “The royal bookworm isn’t the only one with their heads buried in books these days, is he?” she muttered to herself as a playful smile crossed her face. “Boris reading novels?” she asked to the air as she skipped back to the couch, pausing for a second before she sat down and then walked back to the table beside the bookshelves and sat down.

‘Damn that boy for telling me I can’t even sit now I want… It’s only a couch for goodness sake,’ she mumbled as her face twisted in annoyance before she turned back to the book and smiled, ‘then he won’t mind me peeking to see what type of books he reads as revenge right?’

Her eyes looked at the title of the book and read it out loud, “Forest Green…” she read, a chuckle leaving her lips soon after, “what is this, a book about colors?”

She looked down at the author of the book. “Charolette Aarvi. Aarvi… isn’t that the last name of the prince?” she commented, her eyebrows rising, “so the prince likes to honor his family members huh… that better not be the reason why he has this book though. It better be good.”

She flipped to the middle of the book and trailed her fingers down the pages to a random paragraph and started reading. It was a weird way to read, she was well aware but it was a good way to test out if the book would be good or not.

She liked to start from the middle and read just a few lines. If she kept on reading unconsciously, then the book was good. If she gets disinterested soon after, then it was probably not going to be a good read for her. Of course, she could always do this at any place in the book but the middle is where things have usually been established and there should be some kind of plotline in motion and near the climax of the book. If the climax of the book wasn’t compelling or unique, then what was the point of the book?

She leaned back into the chair and began reading the first sentences. Then the next paragraph, then another, then another, and finally when she was just about to read the second page, she slammed the book shut and let out a long sigh.

“D-did someone put magic in this book or something?” she stuttered, a shudder running down her back, “there’s no way a book like this should be so compelling…”

She placed the book down on the table and covered her face with her hand. “What genre is this even? A mashup with romance, fantasy, drama, thriller, or even sci-fi?” she mumbled looking back at the book. “Wow… I was so clueless haha…”

The best part of the book was not the fact that it had some amazing fight scenes or such. It was just weird… almost like the author knew a reader would go straight to the middle to read. It was written in a way in which she was completely lost as to what was going on, but she wanted to keep reading and had this pending feeling that if she read more, she would understand more. Even bigger was the urge to go back to the beginning to learn the story in its full.

“My gosh how can god be so mean?” Adia huffed as she stood up from her seat and picked up the book, walking to the spot she pulled it out of. She had noticed the ‘3’ on its side showing that it was the 3rd book in a series. “First he gives them blessed genes…” she muttered as she followed Boris’ fingerprints, her eyes looking for the golden line and the author’s initials on the spine of the book, “…then he gives them money and a royal bloodline…” She pauses at the end of the bookshelf when she sees the golden one.

She scoffs as she pulls it out. “And now even talents? One of them is a genius writer? What are the others? A warlord? a perfect king? maybe even a godly artist or even more,” she reads the book’s title and smiles. ‘Ash Grey…’ “I wonder what our dear Dominic would be.”

She walks back to the table and sits back down onto the chair, flipping open to the first page of the book. “Let’s see what this series is going to be about~” She was about to start reading when out of the corner of her eyes, a silver gleam caught her gaze.

She looks at the gleam then back to the book and then back up the gleam and lets out a little sigh. “Well it’s not like he’ll be back anytime soon, let me see what that’s about.”

She stands up from her chair and walks towards the silver gleam, her hand grabbing it from its position on a shelf. “A scroll,” she comments as she takes it back to the table and sits down, rolling the scroll out.

At first, confusion rolls over her as she tries to identify the figures on the scroll but soon after it registers in her and an ‘ah..’ leaves her lips unconsciously. “A map of the war site in which the Prince should be at right now. She looks over to the left and it takes her a second to recognize the surroundings. “The section between Avrevia and Aucacia itself.”

She looks to the right at where the war is supposed to be taking place and she tries to remember where it was. “Ah… the kingdom occupied by the Akito Clan. It’s been there for a while too but they slowly lost power and now they are almost invisible on the map…”

She continued looking at the map. “I’m guessing the war is outside the outer wall of the kingdom, far southeast where the Akito Clan is,” she commented, “it’s a pretty back area out there, one the Akito clan is well versed in. I’m glad the army was able to win though just is a bit concerning as they might be hiding somewhere… just waiting for an attack when their guard is down…”

“A concern that is mine too…”

“Right. I hope the supplies sent over to the royal army are enough and that they are well healed to take on an unpredicted attack if it were to- huh?” Adia paused, a shiver running down her back as she realized her comments were answered.

She turned around immediately, her hand moving to her back up her suit to an item hidden in a compartment in the back of the suit.

“Who is it-” her words came to a stop when she laid eyes on Kalmin, a sigh immediately leaving her lips. “Oh it’s just you…” she hunches over and takes deep breaths, trying to stabilize her breathing from the jump scare.

When she was feeling less unsettled, she looked back up at Kalmin and raised her eyebrow. “Are your footsteps silent or something? How did I not hear you come in at all this whole time?” she questioned, ” and why are you standing there so quietly, it’s kinda creeping me out…”

“You were too invested in the map for you to notice me even open the doors,” Kalmin muttered, his eyes staring straight into hers with a stoic expression on his face.

“Oh.. uh ok then,” she chuckled anxiously as she touched the back of her neck.

They stood there silently for a few seconds, Kalmin’s gaze completely locked on hers. Unmoving. Staring, watching her every move. She was sure even her breathing was being examined by him with those empty, muddy brown eyes. She changed her stance slightly and raised her eyebrow.

“Hey, did anyone ever tell you that you’re a bit creepy?” She asked, leaning against the table, her two hands bent back to hold on to the sides of the table. “You just stand there watching for long periods of time. I’d be damned if no one even once told you that it was off-putting.”

“You,” Kalmin called out, taking a step towards her.

“I have a name you know?” Adia spat back, standing up straight and crossing her arms, “you’d think someone I’ve been working with for almost a year now would know that.”

“That map,” Kalmin pressed, coming closer to her to a point where his shadow started to inch up her figure.

“Speak in sentences, not fragments,” Adia retorted.

“That map, you seem very comfortable in reading it,” Kalmin smiled, his figure looming over her.. He was so close now that she had to lean back. “How do you know those places?”