Prince Elliot walked down the great hallways of the royal library. The staff who were working inside made a reverent bow as he passed by.

Elliot simply waved back at the courtesy as he continued striding down elegantly on the red carpet that leads to the reception desk.

"Good morning, Your Royal Highness. As always, you're early," a middle-aged man standing behind the desk placed his hand and bowed his head in front of him.

"Good morning Gunter," Elliot returned the gesture. "I have come here to pick up my research papers in the secret room as I have made a fascinating discovery about the principles of heat that can potentially debunk the most famous theory in the science of cold, the Ether theory."

"Ah the Ether theory," Gunter repeated at the familiar word. "A dominating theory in the science of cold. Discovered by one of our renowned scientists, Doctor Ether."

Elliot scoffed. "Dominating theory in the science of cold, you say? Saying that there is a unique weightless fluid that flows from in and out of an object is nothing but a false imagination. You must be wondering why. Because I conducted an experiment yesterday disproving it. Did you know that heat is generated by mechanical work? I have a theory that there are these very tiny particles that exist in every substance oscillating rapidly depending on the temperature. The hotter it is, the more excited the particle is, and the colder it is, the slower the particles move. You can try it out yourself by rubbing your hand vigorously."

A stiff smile spread across Gunter's face. He has been a librarian for the royal library for twenty years and has read more books than him. Yet, he can't visualize what Elliot is pointing out inside of his head.

Still, he rubbed his hands together vigorously as instructed by Elliot. Seconds later, he felt a heat warming up on his palms to the point it became unbearable for him to continue.

"It started to get hot, Your Royal Highness."

"Right? It is because the moment you rubbed your hand together, the particles in your hand started to move faster which caused the temperature to rise on your palm," Elliot explained. "Now, can you imagine the Ether flowing into your hand when you were rubbing your hand?"

"No, Your Royal Highness. To be honest, I can imagine the principle of your theory better than the Ether theory."

"I'm glad that you understand."

Gunter smiled, impressed at the prince's intelligence.

"If I may, Your Highness, you seem to be fixated on debunking his Ether Theory. May I know the reason?"

"Because it's incorrect Gunter," he flippantly replied. "And it must be corrected before ignorance takes over and affects the progress of science. If you can give me the key to the secret library, I'll disprove it in front of the professors at the University of Swabia tomorrow with facts."

Gunter sighed and handed him the key. Once Elliot received it, he immediately left without a word.

Reaching the door, Elliot inserted the key into the hole and turned it. The door creaked as it opened. Inside were several shelves, each one holding many volumes of books. On the right side, a row of shelves held a wide variety of scientific writings, his personal favorites, and on the other side contained literature and history. In the far-end center of the library, there is a desk with a pile of papers resting atop it.

Elliot smiled as excitement bubbled up within him. For him, this is a haven. While his two older brothers are busy fighting with one another to gain favor from their father, he is cooping himself up inside here.

Elliot has no interest in competing for the throne. In fact, if he were to choose between studies and the crown, he would not hesitate to choose the former.

The reason? He just didn't like it. He would rather spend his time expanding his knowledge rather than stay all night behind the desk working on diplomatic affairs. Especially when the gained knowledge can benefit the country.

Elliot walked up to the desk and just as he was about to sit down, he heard a thump coming from one of the aisles.

Elliot furrowed his eyebrows and decided what caused such a noise. He arrived at the aisle where the source of the sound originated. On the floor, there was a thick book with leather bindings with golden letters inscribed on its spine.

"Odd," he uttered.

With a glance, he can tell from the appearance of the book alone that it didn't belong there in this aisle or any other part of the library. After all, he hadn't seen it ever since he started coming here.

Elliot had this strange cognitive ability to be able to memorize everything that he had seen, read, heard, smelled, and tasted.

He bent down and picked up the book. One thing he noticed is the weight of the book. It was heavy as if he was carrying three thick tomes. He dusted the dust off the front cover and then began to scan the title.

Unfortunately, the words printed on it were written in some sort of ancient language. So he gave up reading the title and flipped the front cover instead.

As expected, since the front cover is written in an alien language, it would be the same for the contents. Letting out a sigh, he closed the book—

"Hmm?" Elliot raised a brow.

It won't close. He applied more force and the book cover didn't budge.

"What's happening?" his heart started to beat fast at the encounter with the supernatural. Well, if he can't close the book, he can just throw it off.

He tried throwing it but the book didn't fly as intended. He tried shaking it off from his hands but the book won't move as if it was glued to it.

Suddenly, the pages of the book started flipping violently followed by a blinding light being emitted from the pages.

The light engulfed him, yanking his being into a spiraling hole of the abyss.

Elliot screamed at the top of his lungs, hoping that someone would hear him, and rushed towards his location to save him. However, no one came. His body continued to plunge into an abyss.

He can't see anything but he can feel that he is falling down. He doesn't know what's happening to him but it is certain that when met with impossible circumstances, their minds would go blank.

Ten seconds later, he was met with a dazzling sight. He quickly stood up and raised the back of his arms over his eyes to block off the blinding light.

"Hmm?"

Elliot looked around and noticed that he wasn't in a library. Instead, he found himself in an alley of a city, a very loud city produced by something he can't tell.

In front of him, there were light, and people passing by. It seemed to be the end of the alley.

Elliot walked over to it. With one last step, his eyes widened.

"What in the hell is going on here?" Elliot asked himself aloud inwardly. The place around him didn't look like a town or a city of any places he had visited. In front of him were vehicles that weren't drawn with horses or any kind. Buildings with a height that pierced the clouds, and the strange outfit of the people.

It was not long after that the people around him were looking up at him strangely and inquisitively. Their faces, it's different. Flat faces, slanted eyes, and wide noses. It's strange, is he in another country?

Suddenly, he felt a pain drilling his temple. The sensory overload and the oddities are making him sick. The air in the city is astringent, making the headache even worse. Just when he thought that everything would go black, someone pulled on his arm.

"Are you alright, Mister?"

He said something but he couldn't understand what he was saying. Is he really in another country? If that is so, how? What mechanism allowed him to magically transport from one place to another so instant? No, that is not the important question right now, he must talk to the person who caught him and collect information.

"Where am I?" Elliot spoke in his native language and hoped that the stranger would understand it.

"Ah! English…"

He's glad that the stranger was able to understand him. This would make things easy for the two of them.

"Yes...I'm a foreigner. Where am I?" He repeated his question.

"You are in Tokyo, sir," the stranger's words trailed slowly.

Tokyo? He had never heard of that place before.

"Wha...what country?" Elliot stammered.

"Uhm...Japan, sir, you in Japan."

"Japan?" Elliot's brows crease together.

What's Japan? Is it an undiscovered country in the world? No, that's impossible, there's already a world map available and he is certain there is no country named Japan. Also, it would be impossible for the world to not notice the strangeness of the city, especially the contraptions moving along the road. So, is he in another world? The cursed book transported him here?

Little by little, his condition is stabilizing. He took a deep breath and tapped the man on the shoulder.

"Thank you, kind sir, I think I'm feeling well now."

"Okay sir, I leave you here now."

"Wait wait!" Elliot stopped him by the arm, startling the stranger.

"What?"

He needed to confirm something. If he's really in another world then the man in front of him wouldn't know anything about his country.

"Have you heard of a country with the name Kingdom of Swabia?"

"Swabia?" the man tilted his head to the side. "I don't know, sir," he waved his hand dismissively.

So it was true! He was transported to another world. Wait, that's not how it works! He can't just ask one person and take it as the final conclusion. He had to ask more people and should they have similar answers, then—.

"I see. Thank you for the help, kind sir—"

"Ahhhhh!"

Suddenly, a girl screamed near him, causing him to jolt back startled and flickered his eyes to the girl standing in the middle of the road. Frozen as if encased in ice. A speeding carriage is going to run her over.

Without hesitation, Elliot dashed towards the girl. He didn't know why he did that but his actions came out of instinct. As soon as he reached the optimal distance, he jumped and threw his arms forward, and wrapped them around her protectively as the momentum of his body pushed her out in the nick of time.

They landed on the ground, rolling along the asphalt, and were halted when his body crashed into the gutter. Before he can even process what happened, he found the girl he saved on top of him, staring at him wide-eyed.

Her face was as symmetrical as a flower and as perfect as a sun-kissed rose. Her long black glossy hair flowed down her face like a waterfall, tickling his skin with feathery touches that made him shudder with pleasure. Her pink lips parted slightly, and he caught a glimpse of her white teeth and the plump cushion of her bottom lip. Her pale skin shimmered under the sun like the finest porcelain and was covered with a sweet scent of lavender perfume.

This girl is beautiful, Elliot mumbled internally.