"Where should we put these books?" Liam queried, carrying a couple of books with ease.
Anasthasia nodded, strutted near the wooden nightstand—a touch of red varnish had glossed over the charred surface, and edges made of alloy steels glinted anew. She tapped her fingers on the table.
"This table should do."
"That's relatively small if you want to place them all on that table." Levi peered sideways, eyebrows furrowed from the space.
"Well, I can place the rest from the bed over here." Anasthasia sat on the side of her bed, hands patting the spare area.
"Are you pulling an all-nighter?" Michael moved towards the nightstand, carefully placing the towering books. Liam followed and left Levi to the spare bed.
"Why not?" Anasthasia anchored her palms on the bed, crossing her ankles as she glanced over Michael, who seemed calm as he cracked his knuckles and stretched his neck.
"You need to rest, seriously. Why are these books so important to you?" he berated.
"Do you think I'm the type of person who knows of the current events?" Anasthasia replied, rolling her eyes, "Cut me off some slack."
"With these books that we brought here, I think I can tell you just as much." Michael gave a light shrug. He cocked his to the side, informing her about Levi, "He's a licensed scholar, a higher rank at that."
"Licensed scholar?" This perked up her ears, which had shifted her head towards Levi, standing calmly by the side.
Levi nodded, agreeing to her concern, "Licensed scholars are no different from those from licensed magicians, except for the fact that they gain access to magic-utility facilities and whatnot."
From the front, seeing books of varying sizes, Liam probed after he rubbed his chin, "Are you sure about this, Ana? They might contain false information."
Her eyes glinted cold. "She can try, I'm sure she would make a wise choice." She scoffed after that, "I have been so lenient even after what they all did."
"I'd do the same," Michael affirmed, narrowing his eyes.
"Since we are all here, we can try to see it now and allow us to help you by verifying the information." Liam held up his palm while he looked at Levi.
"That's a nice suggestion—" Michael concurred as he adjusted his sleeves but stopped by the twins' advances.
"We can do this ourselves, Your Highness." Levi frantically adjusted his glasses, and Liam bobbed his head.
With everything happening in front of Anasthasia, she sighed as she pondered to herself, 'I'm glad Lucy insisted we should eat dinner first.'
"I hope Lucy hasn't overfed Fried."
"I'm sure she knows the limits." Liam cleared his throat.
'I hope so too, that foolish dragon—on the side note, he won't bother me for riches anytime soon.'
"That's fabulous." She took the parchment that slipped in between the books on her side. She moved out of her bed and crouched on the floor, unfurling the long parchment that contained various shapes, lines, and labels she knew nothing out of it.
"This is only a partial piece of the world map." Levi lowered himself, one knee on the ground as he pointed to a particular star while muttering, "This is the Navarre Kingdom."
"Oh, so here it is then." She squinted her eyes. "What about the…" Her voice trailed off as she forgot how they called the place.
They all turned their attention to her; she gave them a nervous glance and raised her brows.
"The place where I encased myself in an iceberg." Anasthasia's voice turned soft as she averted her gaze.
"Valley of death!" Liam gasped and crouched as he pointed the area further south of the star symbol. "It's here, Ana."
Anasthasia peered, and a tide of memories swirled into her consciousness, a rolling fog that distorted her thoughts.
"Ana, are you fine?" Liam wondered out of concern.
"I'm fine. I'm just feeling a little dizzy." Anasthasia wiped the beads of sweat off her forehead.
'Then, don't tell me the Prismatic Empire is around in this area?'
Seeing her sucked in a cold breath, they looked at each other and shrugged. That said, they could only await her response.
It didn't take long for her rattling voice to resound the room with her hands that moved with tremors, "What—about this area?"
Levi gulped before he continued his speech, "That place is called 'Perpetual Evergarden,' that is one of the world's natural wonders—" He stopped when he heard Anasthasia sniffed softly.
All of them panicked when they saw how her tears shimmered in her eyes, slowly trickling down her crimson flushed cheeks. However, they all calmed down when she blurted out in awe.
"Such a beautiful name…" Anasthasia croaked, and she tried to wipe them off. Timely, Michael reached out with his black handkerchief, which she took with grace and used for her convenience.
"It is." Michael conceded, glancing at the twins with his familiar gaze.
The twins stammered, and hands flailed to the side, looking cranky, "That's—right! It's—a wonderful place—we can go there—if you want!"
"I agree with Brother, we—can arrange—"
Despite all these, Anasthasia shook her head for different reasons. "I'm alright, and I love the name, that's all. I do want to visit but not now."
"Tasha…"
"I do, but there are things that matter at hand. Those can wait." She giggled right after giving out a tearful moment.
'A beautiful place, huh… A name that struck so deeply on my soul. The Prismatic Empire that turned into desolate lands sprouted to a beautiful wonder? I'm having mixed feelings about this.'
Anasthasia never stopped wiping off and closed her eyes as she thought the last words that escaped on Edward's lips.
'Survive, Anasthasia…'
"Thank you so much for this handkerchief; allow me to return this when it's all cleaned up." Anasthasia's lips beamed a hearty grin at Michael, which garnered her a curt nod.
Her voice dropped to a whisper, "Now to the next part…" Hence, her eyes flickered over the book beside her and grabbed it, grazing her fingertips over the leather cover. The dullness on her blue hues honed to bright gleam as she read in silence.
'This is it.'
Smiling, she opened the book, and the smell of musty and mossy wood assaulted her nose. Eyes darted over the page that caught her interest, and this gave her a smite of eureka.
"Right, why didn't I think of that?"
Clasping her hand, they furrowed their eyebrows as they couldn't predict what she could have thought in mind.
"I have a special task for the three of you." She smirked and flinched, right off the bat, in their spot.
They all started to move—they all ran their hands through their hair and carefully tied to a ponytail. The twins began to roll up their sleeves, got to the books, and checked every detail and information that Anasthasia needed.
Anasthasia wasn't an exception, crouching, she tucked a lock of her blonde hair behind her ear as her hands waltzed between the leather pages. Her eyes moved, left to right, fast enough that they couldn't catch up to her momentum.
They all started to panic how she seemed playful and went on her shenanigans, but noticing her indomitable focus, they all startled and got to things they needed to do per her suggestion.
"Tasha, aren't you just blatantly looking for the kingdom's state of affairs?" Michael skimmed through the leather pages without glancing back at her.
"Is it?"
"You're looking for technology, magic, clothes, business, so on and so forth—"
"Sure thing, If you can search and open the useful pages to read the passages, I'd appreciate it." Anasthasia ended without gazing at them.
"I could have easily formed connections for you—"
"That's why I don't want such, and it's better to see for myself."
Michael rubbed the underside of his chin, drawing a thin line on his lips. "Do you think so?"
"There's always a tendency for public figures to be biased, much more as part of royalty residing in the kingdom." Flabbergasted, she closed her mouth as she sealed from enunciating shock in her voice.
"Well, I can assure you I'm impartial when it comes to that." Michael let out a hearty chuckle and gave a thumbs up.
"That's true."
From the tidy room, Anasthasia spent a couple of hours; thus, it became a hot mess. Books that towered systematically already found themselves scattered on the bed, nightstand, and even the floor. Pages, by and by, slowly occupied the polished floor.
'This is a sea of books! How long have we been here?' Anasthasia pondered heavily in her thoughts.
With their cooperation, Anasthasia read quicker than ever before. She took a glance at the topic that bewitched her eyes. In return, this brought back her energized self.
'That's wonderful they have thoroughly advanced their technology and magic—'
The next line creased her brows, reading it word by word, '—They can't be trusted—, —the kingdom is in danger—!'