Aslan rushed to the library to check all the titles listed in the collection. He must immediately burn all books that had immoral elements in them. Aslan didn't want anyone else to read such books in his castle.
However, Aslan could not guess the contents of a book based on its title alone. So, he spent a lot of time sorting through all the books there. Even though he had done the skimming, checking the books in the library one by one required extra patience.
The library door opened and Rosie made Aslan stop what he was doing. The library was not as big as the palace had.
Rosie, who had just entered the library, passed Aslan, who was sorting the books on the floor. It seemed that the girl had cleaned herself up and changed into a new dress.
Rosie tilted her head in curiosity at what Duke Aslan was doing down there.
She looked at a bookshelf near Aslan. Almost all the books had been taken down apart from the two rows on the bottom.
"What are you doing down there, Duke Aslan?" Rosie asked curiously.
Aslan closed the book he was holding and hid it so Rosie wouldn't see it.
"Nothing, just looking for something to read. How about you? What are you doing here?"
"Oh, I was looking for you."
"Me? Do you need something from me?"
"Duke Aslan, did you see the book I was reading this afternoon?" Rosie asked. Aslan certainly knew where the book was. It was in the trash can near his desk.
However, he didn't want to prolong the matter by telling the princess the truth. "No."
"Hm…" Rosie thought for a moment as she rubbed her chin. She didn't really remember what happened that afternoon.
She tried to recollect her memories, starting with her taking Howland and Aslan to go on a picnic together, then his brother and Aslan fell asleep, leaving her enthusiastically reading the snu-snu scene in the novel.
However, because she felt sleepy, Rosie decided to sleep with the two men. She had a sweet dream of doing snu-snu with Duke Aslan, but before that happened, her dream shattered because Duke Aslan woke her up.
Since Rosie didn't want Aslan to see her face, Rosie ran away from the man without looking for her book. It was unfortunate because she hadn't finished reading the most exciting scene.
"Really? But it looks like you gave it to me earlier, but I refused?" Rosie replied a little doubtfully. She wasn't sure what had happened because she was in a semi-conscious state at the time.
"Sorry, Your Highness. I don't remember."
Rosie came closer and sat on the pile of books beside Aslan, watching what the man was doing.
"It's strange. I had been looking for it at the place where we had a picnic, but I couldn't find it. Could it be that the wind blew it into the river?" asked Rosie, to which Aslan shrugged his shoulders.
Aslan felt uncomfortable being watched like this. However, it was impossible to chase her away because Rosie was Howland's sister. He glanced at Rosie, who was sitting quietly behind him.
The man grabbed a book from the stack of books he hadn't checked. He skimmed the contents of the book again.
"Oh! It looks like a good book!" Rosie said, resting her hand on Aslan's shoulder.
The girl snatched the book from Aslan's hand and read the synopsis.
"Oh, it says that this is the most phenomenal book in this century. A forbidden passionate love story that is popular among teenage girls."
Aslan took the book from Rosie and placed it on the pile of books he would burn.
"There is no such thing. It's just marketing for book publishers," Aslan said, but Rosie didn't hear it.
Rosie tried to take the book again, but Aslan held her hand tightly as if forbidding the girl to read the book. Rosie, who didn't want to lose, refused to give up. She gripped the book with all her strength.
"I want to read it," Rosie said.
"No, you shouldn't."
"Why?" she asked, confused as to why she couldn't read the book.
Aslan was kind enough to let her borrow some books from his library before, but why did the man not allow her to read it now? Then, Rosie remembered the book she had read this afternoon.
"Ah, am I not allowed to borrow any more books because I lost one book?"
Aslan shook his head. He snatched the book a little rougher and threw it somewhere else. The first might be his negligence to let the princess read a book that a royal princess should not read. Aslan wouldn't let Rosie read a book like that a second time.
If Howland found out that his sister read adult novels, Howland would be disappointed in him. The man would probably blame him for keeping those immoral books in his library.
Thus, before that happened, Aslan would burn such books from his library.
"What are you actually doing? Are you looking for something to read? If you're looking for something, why do you have to take all the books off the shelf?" Rosie asked, feeling annoyed that Aslan threw the book away when she wanted to read it.
"I'm just wasting my time."
"You have a strange habit, Duke Aslan," said Rosie, who did not understand the man's habits.
Aslan kept his mouth shut. He put the novels that had no adult scenes back on the shelf.
"Do you want me to help you?" Rosie offered herself.
"No, Your Highness," Aslan replied casually, without lifting his head from the books in front of him.
Rosie shrugged her shoulders, letting Aslan do whatever he did. Rosie was getting bored, so she looked at her surroundings. However, she didn't know what to do.
Rosie stood up to have a look. Aslan just glanced, then skimmed the book again.
When Aslan was busy distinguishing between adult books and not, he suddenly felt something heavy on his back. When he glanced back, he found Rosie leaning on his back with a book in her hands.
Aslan was silent for a moment, at a loss as to what to do. If he asked directly, would the princess get away from his back? And if he stood up now, Rosie might fall backwards.
"Your Highness?" Aslan called.
Instead of answering Aslan, Rosie read the synopsis of the novel she was holding.
"Can she melt the ice in his heart? Princess Agathe is the forgotten princess of the South Kingdom, a country blessed with the warm sun all year round. She was sacrificed by her family to become the prisoner of the Northern Kingdom because of the sins of her brother. In the kingdom covered by an eternal snow, Princess Agathe met King Rikkard, a man full of mystery."
And again, Aslan relented. He sacrificed his back so Rosie could read comfortably.