The setting sun which spread its golden light first, started appearing red as the evening began to fall. the light from the sun remained no longer stronger as before with the passing time.
The hall, which looks empty, is not empty at all. The wall of the hall has so many compartments, inside which so many books are decorated in order from bottom to ceiling without any space.
That hall is the hall of the library, with lots of books.
There are so many books arranged in the self of the library, and the bottom rows are filled with children's fantasy books.
There was the large window in the hall beyond which the green forest was being adorned. With the sun's light on the days, it appears lovely. However, as dusk approached, gloomy aspects that were not seen during the day began to emerge.
There was the face that was being reflected on the glass of the hall, terrified and pale, holding a book in their hand.
The appearance was not properly visible at first on the glass due to the sunlight. However, as the evening light falls, its true form spring.
It was beautiful blue eyes which have the texture of jewels, which were staring at the forest continuously without flinching.
It was Minella.
She was eerily still, peering through the glass while holding the book in her hand. She had a terrified expression on her face.
The book she was holding was not normal at all. As her eyes scanned the book after picking it up, she got a terrible feeling.
Because the book she was holding didn't have a title.
Out of curiosity, she opened the book just to confirm its content.
There were a ton of her kingdom's hidden secrets inscribed there that she was unaware of.
"What is this ?" why I have never heard of anything from this at all." With her fluttering lips, a whisper escapes as her hand slowly turns the page.
She was soon reminded of an incident from her childhood.
It was around the time when she was around twelve.
There was a kid whose name was Andrew, with whom she and Raina used to play. He was kind and one year older than Minella. He always brings sugar candy for Raina and Minella because his father works in a sugar factory.
However, he was born a commoner, and the commoner in the kingdom doesn't get treated well in the kingdom. Minella was adopted into a noble family back then. Though all people typically treat him like any other commoner young child, like ignoring him. Raina and Minella don't ignore him just because of his birth. Due to the fact that Raina and Minella were both born as commoners, they are able to relate to the suffering experienced by children who are born in the kingdom as commoners. It is why they are kind to him and play with him every day.
Those three used to play in the forest since it was the only location where there was peace and they could do anything they pleased.
They usually play with him in the evening, around 3 pm, after Minella gets done with her studies.
Even though Raina and Minella were both adopted into the same noble family, Raina truly has little interest in studying. Even though Raina was adopted three years prior to Minella. As a result, her family does not compel her to study at all.
Because she has complete freedom to do anything she wants, she also pays little attention to her studies.
However, Raina enjoyed reading fantasy novels, which also required knowledge and a basic vocabulary, so she occasionally tried to go to class with Minella. But she couldn't understand anything while studying with Minella, so she begged Minella to teach her basic words so she could read her books.
Minella agreed to let her teach the words in her free time. That free time is when, when they usually play with Andrew.
Andrew also liked to learn new things and wanted to read books.
so Minella agrees to teach him the basics too.
Both of them started learning from Minella as they played in the forest.
But one day, Andrew all of a sudden stopped coming to play with them.
Due to this both of them became worried and went to his house.
As soon as they entered his house, they became shocked because everything in the house was broken. Even the ground of the room was broken.
They had a really bad feeling about the event, so they asked about Andrew from his neighbor.
But all of the neighbors said the same thing.
"Andrew and his family left the town in a hurry."
"And they bring with them only essential things."
Even though all of the folks said the same thing, it was really difficult for Raina and Minella to believe their words.
So they told their mother about the event.
Hearing every detail from her kids, her mother's face turned grim.
She held Raina and Minella in her arms and embraced them tightly.
she talked in a little scared voice, "Nothing happened dear at all."
"As the townspeople said, he and his family leave in a hurry, so you both don't have to worry at all."
There was a faint glint of fear on the face of her mother, which Minella noticed, but she remained silent and followed her mother's words.
Soon, an entire year has passed, and both Minell and Raina have forgotten about Andrew.
But one day, while they were both sleeping in their rooms, Minella found heavy footsteps in the house, running all over the mansion. She jumped out of her bed and then walked towards the door.
But once she opened the door, she fell down on the ground because of the heavy smoke beyond the door.
The whole house was on fire. Most of the workers were already dead due to the burning.
She dashed into Raina's room to check on her.
Thankfully, her room didn't catch fire at all.
As she opened the door, she found Raina snuggling near the bed out of fear. But once she saw Minella, she ran towards her and hugged her tightly.
She even screamed, "Thank God Minella, you are safe." and cried like a baby.
She was really terrified, but the sight of Minella gave her some relief.
It was then that the room door opened again. Her mother appeared beyond the door.
She was relieved to see her children safe, but her relief did not last long.
As she hugged her kids, the ceiling of the mansion fell on the floor, and it was just above the place where they were standing.
She pushed her kids away from her in order to save them from getting buried under the ceiling, but she was not able to save herself.
As she pushed away her child she got buried under the ceiling rubble and fainted.
The kids who got pushed away from her also fainted because of a sudden fall.
Soon, the knight of the kingdom came running to save the people, and both of them were saved. They even pulled their mother from the rubble after calming the fire.
The mother those children witnessed was almost dead with bruises all over her body.
She painfully signaled her kids to come closer to her hand. And then she whispers in their ears." I think I won't be able to take care of you two kids anymore." with a forced smirk and added further "If I die today, then you two go to the palace and meet Henna and tell her my name."
Both of their faces turned grim as they heard their mother's voice and started crying as they gently embraced her in their embrace.
She forcefully lifted her hand as she patted her kids, saying, "She is a good person. She will take care of you two well."
She embraced them around her as she was lying on the ground, lifted in their laps as she said, "And also promise me something."
The children were sobbing bitterly as they watched their mother die in front of them.
They nodded in agreement with their mother's words and said, "We promise, whatever you say, mother."
"Then promise me you will not let anyone know about your reading and writing skills after meeting Henna." She said in soft whisper with her barely coming voice, "You will live like an illiterate."
"OK!" her mother screaming whisper commanded last time.
Both of them put their mother's hand on their cheeks as they screamed, "OK mother, we promised," with their crying faces.
With her final breath, she turned to face Raina and muttered, "Raina, promise me that you will always look after Minella."
she passed away while they were both holding her.
'When my mother died, we cried all day and didn't let go of her body for the rest of the afternoon.
Now I understand why Mother instructed us to live as illiterates and what happened to Andrew.'