Chapter 61
“You finished the last one I gave you, didn’t you? I’m sorry, I should’ve thought of it sooner.”
Raelin offered a faintly guilty smile. Seeing how happy Kiara looked now, it was obvious she’d run out of the old one some time ago.
“You could’ve said something earlier… I would’ve made sure to have one ready for you.”
“It—it’s just so valuable…”
“Well, this is the palace. Even if it’s hard to get, surely we can manage something like this for you. Honestly, the fault’s mine for not thinking ahead.”
“N-no, no! It’s only natural you wouldn’t think of it. I mean, I can’t even read properly! A slate would’ve been more than enough… a notebook is far too much for someone like me…”
Kiara quickly waved her hand, looking almost scandalized at the guilt written plainly across Raelin’s face. Raelin nodded slowly, a curious expression replacing the regret.
“So that’s what it was. I always wondered. I mean, you couldn’t read or write, and yet you were always… scribbling something.”
Back when they first met, Raelin had assumed Kiara was little more than a lost child — frightened, fumbling, and blank as new snow.
But one day, she’d seen her crouched by the hearth, charcoal in hand, scribbling furiously across the cold stone floor. Raelin had thought it nonsense at first, just idle scrawl.
“…It was the middle of winter. The stone tiles by the window were freezing, but you were completely focused, like you didn’t even notice. Then I looked closer, and…well, it looked like writing. That’s when I asked the steward to bring you a notebook and some pencils.”
She remembered it clearly: the way Kiara had lit up, near bursting with joy, stumbling over her thank-yous like a child with too-big shoes.
“Oh, and thank you again. Truly.”
Kiara’s voice was softer now, steadier. There was a subtle clarity in her words, a hint of progress. She smiled faintly as she reached over to the corner of the room and retrieved a well-worn notebook preserved carefully in the nook where the table used to stand.
With shy pride, she handed it to Raelin, who flipped it open and immediately gasped. Every inch of the cover was crammed with tiny, meticulous script.
“Oh, just look at this! Why didn’t you say anything earlier? You nearly used every corner of the thing!”
“But I—”
“And those scribbles from that day — you were calculating something, weren’t you? You were designing this, weren’t you? So it was for me, too!”
Back then, it had only been two days since she’d given her that first notebook. Kiara, who had stayed up late scribbling away at something, greeted Raelin with a face full of joy.
‘Raelin! Water—hard—no more!’
At first, Raelin had no idea what she meant. She puzzled over it for a while, until Kiara brought the notebook right up to her.
Only when she saw the pulley drawn inside did she realize what Kiara had been trying to say — that she wouldn’t have to fetch water the hard way anymore.
“…Do you remember? That was the first time you weren’t afraid when I came by in the morning.”
“I thought… you might be a stranger. Until then, no one had ever come to see me every day.”
As Raelin drifted into reminiscence, her voice tinged with nostalgia, Kiara responded and blushed.
In moments like that, she looked just like a young girl.
Raelin smiled warmly. But when she had first seen Kiara’s notebook, she had been completely taken aback. She couldn’t decipher the writing, but it was clearly not the clumsy scrawl of a child.
What struck her most was the detailed diagram of multiple pulley wheels, perfectly proportioned and precise.
Just that drawing alone proved Kiara was no amateur. She had a mind far sharper than Raelin had assumed. Perhaps even… a witch.
With curiosity sparkling in her eyes, Raelin asked,
“Now that I think about it, I’m curious. What are you planning to write in this new notebook?”
“Oh… Honestly, I hadn’t really thought about it.”
Kiara tilted her head, sinking into thought.
The truth was, she hadn’t expected to receive a notebook at all, so she hadn’t really thought about what she would write in it.
As Raelin watched her thoughtful expression, she clapped her hands together as if struck by a good idea.
“Oh! Then, Lady Kiara, would you like to visit the library?”
“The library?”
Kiara looked up at her, eyes wide. For someone who couldn’t read, it was an unexpected suggestion. But Raelin continued, undeterred by her puzzled reaction.
“Yes, the royal archives! You may not be able to read yet, but who knows? You might find something interesting there.”
The royal archives? That meant a place with lots of books, surely.
Kiara perked up, glancing curiously at Raelin. She’d always liked books.
But then, her gaze dropped back to the new notebook in her hands, and her expression soured slightly. What good were books she couldn’t read?
And besides, Ael had told her not to go out.
‘Right. That mage… Maeve, was it? The one from the knight order — he said he was researching how to sever a bond in the royal library, didn’t he?’
She tilted her head again, this time with more purpose.
If the royal archives were that library, then maybe… maybe she could help with Maeve’s research while he worked?
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