The girl's statement had stunned him. Every week when this day came it always went the same way. They would spend their date playing games achieving very little else. And that girl was now suddenly asking to study together. Felix's mouth was wide open as he was trying to process what just happened.
'Is she joking?'
There was an ample amount of time where he was just silently staring at her. He had waited for the girl to take back her words, but she never did. All the girl was doing was pushing her index fingers together as she waited for his answer.
"Are you serious?"
In the end, Felix had to ask the girl. The doubt in his voice was clear but it seemed that the girl heard something different.
"I-I'm sorry."
The girl suddenly bowed and apologized to him.
'Hoo so it was a joke after all.'
As Felix was just recovering from the unexpected remark, the girl throws another bolt from the blue.
"I wanted us to study together but I guess you'd be sick of studying all week as well."
The girl was serious. Felix barely processed that fact, but what she was saying now was confusing him. He had never turned her request down but it seemed that the girl interpreted his words that way. He needed to act fast to correct her.
"N-no. It's fine Princess. Let's… Let's study together."
"Are you sure it's fine?"
"Y-Yeah…"
Felix was having a hard time accepting that this conversation was happening between the two of them. Hearing him approve of her request, she gives him a smile.
"Thanks for playing along with me Felix."
"Anytime Princess. Anytime."
The girl then stood up and walked towards the shelf seemingly looking through it.
'We're actually going to study?'
Even as he was looking at it happening, Felix was still having a hard time believing it. The girl who used to complain about how strict one of her teachers was towards her, was looking to study of her own volition.
As Felix was on the couch watching the bizarre situation unfold, the girl let out a nervous laugh.
"Haha… looks like there aren't any books here."
It was only natural for that to be the case. After all, they had never studied on their dates before so there was no reason for there to be any books here.
"I'll go ask Kara to go grab us some books from the library."
The girl went towards the doors not even waiting for Felix to respond.
'She's actually serious.'
Still in disbelief, Felix just stared at the girl. After presumably asking her maid to grab them some books, the girl returns to sit down opposite of him. As she sat down and drank the tea from earlier, Felix continued to stare. She looked like a different person to him suddenly. Feeling his eyes on her, the girl looked away blushing.
"I-is something wrong Felix?"
Her words brought him out of his daze. He shook his head, trying to regain his composure.
"I-it's nothing Princess. I was just… wondering what books did you ask Lady Kashina to bring us."
There was a different question that he wanted to ask her, but no good would come from him asking her where this sudden desire to study came from.
"Uhm…"
"..."
"I just asked her to bring us some books."
That was a small blunder. There was no guarantee that what Kara would bring would be the books that they needed for their studies.
"Should I go call her?"
"No need Princess. I am sure that what Lady Kashina brings will be of use. Let us just wait for now."
After a bit of time, Kara came back with a bunch of books filled with fairy tales. The two looked at each other and awkwardly smiled.
"I'm sorry Kara. I should've asked you to bring us books that we could use to study."
"You two were planning on studying?"
Kara was quite taken aback with the notion.
"Ye-yeah."
The girl looked down and scratched her head. There was a small hint of sadness in her voice.
"My apologies Princess. I did not think that was what you meant when you said to go and grab some books from the library."
"I-it's alright Kara…"
The girl continued to stare at the floor. Just as Kara was wondering what to do, Felix threw out a suggestion.
"How about we just move our date to the library then?"
It was a good idea. After all, there was a chance that the things he studied would be different from what the girl studied. With no reason to refuse, it was decided that they would go the library together.
****
Upon entering the library, Felix was a bit in awe at the size of it. He knew that it was gonna be big but he had not expected it to be three stories big.
"The scale is quite impressive. But is there no librarian to manage this?"
"There is none Young Master Laten. The empress merely asks us to keep the place clean and organized."
"Surely you have other duties, Lady Kashina."
"We do. However this is also a part of our duties."
"So… how do we find what we need?"
With no librarian, Felix had thought that even just finding a book that was relevant to their studies would be difficult.
"Well, that depends on what you're looking for. However, the second floor would probably be the best place. Most of the Princess' study materials are there."
"I see. Thank you Lady Kashina."
"Always a pleasure, Young Master Laten."
The two gave each other a bow. As Kara left the two once more, Felix noticed the girl looking down.
"Princess? Is something wrong?"
"I wanted to be the one to tell you."
Her voice was so small that even though he was standing next to her, Felix heard nothing. He only saw the girl's lips move as if she was saying something.
"I apologize, Princess. Can you repeat that?"
"I wanted to be the one to tell you where they were."
"I-is that so?"
The thought that the girl knew where the things they needed were had not crossed Felix's mind. After all, all she would talk about that was related to studying was how strict her teacher was. It was a rude but reasonable assumption that the girl had never visited the library of her own accord. But it was beginning to seem like that was not the case.
"Well, how about you lead the way Princess? This library is quite large. It would be quite difficult for me to find the way."
The girl's eyes lit up at the idea.
"Yeah. Come on, follow me."
"Of course Princess."
The girl had a smile on her face as she led the way to the upper floor where they would supposedly study. Upon reaching the second floor, the girl turned towards Felix. Still a smile on her face but for some reason it seemed a bit more playful.
"There's another reason why we don't have a librarian actually."
"Hmm? What reason would that be?"
"It's better to experience it for yourself. Try and grab one."
"Hmm."
Felix tries to reach out to pull out a book from one of the shelves, but finds that all the books feel like they were glued together. As he pulled harder, he eventually lost his grip and fell on his back with a frustrated expression. The girl giggled at the sight.
"Are you alright Felix?"
"Yes."
Felix stood up and fixed his attire as he glared at the books. Just as he was about to try again, the girl reached out to grab one of them. A faint light came from both her slender arm and the shelf after which she simply took one.
"The shelves and books are enchanted. Nobody can take them off the shelf without the proper key enchantment."
"Not just the books but the shelves as well?"
Felix was a little shocked. Though he was familiar with the concepts of enchantments, he never thought that mere books and shelves were going to have them.
"How long did it take for them to finish enchanting all this?"
Enchanting things took a fair amount of time and skill to do, so for someone to spend the time enchanting every book in this huge library was a bit amazing though admittedly a bit of a waste as well.
"Hmm… I don't actually know. I think dad has mentioned that it took the court magicians around a month to do it."
"Just a month?"
There were either a lot of magicians or a few really skilled magicians. Whichever one it was, it was still impressive.
"Wow. They must have been really good magicians."
"Yeah. They are great magicians."
As Felix was standing there in admiration of others' works, he missed the small dip in the girl's mood.
"Well, Shall we get started? What kind of topics do your studies go over?"
Felix had completely forgotten the reason that they were here in the first place.
"Oh right. Uhm… Recently I have been trying to manifest my mana."
"Already?"
"Yes, my teacher said that since it had already been two years since I awakened, I should be able to at least get to the state where I can manifest the mana. But I have yet to actually do so. No matter how much I try I just fail to bring out the earth mana in me."
"Is that so? Hmm… Earth mana…"
The girl then put the book that she had back on the shelf and went to grab a different one.
"Here."
Felix had thought that she would get a book about earthen magics, but the book she held looked rather ordinary . Taking the book from the girl's hands, Felix was a little confused.
"The basics of magic and manifestation?"
"Yeah, it's the book that I've been reading. Since you said you were having trouble with manifesting your mana, going back to the basics might help us."
"Us?"
"Uhm… I wanted to read it with you."
The girl shyly looked away from him with cheeks tinted red.
"Right."
Felix had forgotten that they were here to study together, so it made sense for the girl to grab something that would both help them in their studies.
"Do you want me to go grab a grimoire focused on earth magic?"
"No, no. This should be fine."
"Ok then. Let's head to the study area on this floor."
"Each floor has a study?"
"Yeah. It'd be a bit of a hassle if what we were looking for was on the third floor and we had to go back down to the first floor just to read comfortably."
"I suppose that is true."
"Come on. Follow me Felix."
The girl once again led the way. She seemed confident in where she was going as if she knew the layout of the massive library. Of course as a resident she should know such a thing. But the girl that Felix saw before was never one to study. So this side of her was quite foreign to him.
"Here we are."
The girl had led him to a small set of tables that oversaw the first floor. As she pulled out two chairs and sat down, she patted the other seat. Sitting next to her, they started reading the book together.
The girl had mentioned that she had read this book before, the same was true for Felix though it had been a long time since then. He was of nobility himself so he too had access to the book in his home. The two silently re-read the book together. As the girl would start to turn the page, he would catch it and finish turning it.
"There."
As they continued to read the book the girl spoke and pointed at something, breaking their rhythm.
"What?"
"There, it's the part about manifesting the mana within someone."
The part of the book that the girl was pointing to was the one that was the most related to Felix.
"Looks like for earth mana it's better to be in an area connected to the earth. So it'd be outside or in a cave."
"Teacher said that too. Though I kind of doubt that. Father already tossed me in a cave and I was still unable to properly manifest anything."
"That… sounds a bit extreme."
"It certainly felt like it. It was disappointing that even after that I still failed."
"Hmm… Maybe you were just under too much pressure."
"Maybe."
"How do you usually do it?"
"Teacher usually tells me to close my eyes and try to move the mana inside me outside."
"Can you show me?"
"Uhm…"
So far, Felix's practice only consisted of meditation so there was nothing to show. But looking at the girl's eyes, it seemed like she was expecting something from him.
"I can try, but please do not expect anything."
And like that, Felix closed his eyes and tried to manifest the earth mana residing inside him. Silence fell on the room as Felix was trying to manifest his mana. Suddenly, Felix felt the girl grab his hands causing him to open his eyes.
"P-princess?"
"It's alright Felix. Relax and keep going."
There was still an expectant look in her eyes. Felix was familiar with such a look as he got them from the people around him. But looking at it closer, her's looked different from theirs. Her's was filled with belief in him.
"Hoo…"
Felix closed his eyes again and tried to live up to the girl's beliefs.