⋘ ──── ∗ ⋅◈⋅ ∗ ──── ⋙

"M— my lady?" Marise blinked in surprise. She was holding onto a tray of tea and cookies, and was currently trying to weave her way towards me. Halfway there, she almost tripped on a book lying on the floor but, somehow managed to balance herself in time without spilling a single drop of tea.

"Ooo! As expected of the top maid in the household," I clapped my hands.

Marise turned up her nose proudly and set the tray down on a free area of the table. She turned her head to my surroundings and frowned.

"My lady, are you really going to read all of these books?"

I sighed deeply. When father said that he'll bring all the books he could find, I didn't think that there would be over a hundred of them.

There were stacks upon stacks of books all around the study room, ranging from thin ones to ones thicker than a dictionary. How long is this going to take for me to finish all of them, I wonder?

"I'll handle it," I smiled thinly. It's not like I have a choice. I need to gather as much information as I can while I'm in this world. I can't just simply rely on my knowledge from the novel. There are probably some stuff that the author had left out or was unable to include.

I took the light green hardcover book nearest to me and opened it. The title was displayed in gold and said 'The History of Amaranthea: A Complete Dummy's Guide from A to Z'. I started flipping through the pages, the smell of the paper tickled my nose. I haven't read an actual paper book in ages. I've only used my phone up this point. I kind of miss being able to google stuff up through the internet.

Now I have to manually search for things! 

I cried internally. Oh, how I took my easy, previous life for granted!

By the time I've finished reading one stack of books, the room was already engulfed in a reddish-orange tinge and I could feel the cool evening breeze tickling my skin as it floated through the opened windows.

When did it get so late? I barely scratched the surface of the total number of books in this room. Ugh. I guess I won't be done anytime soon.

"My lady, it's time for your bath. I've already drawn it a few minutes ago"

"When did you come back?"

I thought she had left earlier but I guess I was in such deep concentration, I didn't even notice she had appeared behind me again. Not to mention, she was so silent! As expected of Marise, the top maid of the house.

Standing in front of the white bathtub filled with warm water, I unwrapped my pink robe and placed it on the side.

"Ahhhh," I let out a deep breath, the tension from my lower back was slowly disappearing.

I'll never get tired of bathing. As someone who had taken showers her entire life, I love the fact that I can bathe in a luxurious bathtub every single day. I scooped up the bathwater, a few petals floated on the surface. I guess Marise decided to go for a cherry blossom bath today. Yesterday, it was a lavender bath. Being rich does has its perks, huh? As I leaned back against the cool marble, I reflected back on everything I've learned so far.

As I thought, there are plenty of things I don't know about this world that are outside my existing knowledge from the novel. For one thing, while I know that magic exists in this world, what I didn't know was the fact that each person activates it at a different point in time. Some people even go through their entire lives without activating their powers.

 The author mentioned that Evangeline already had her powers at the start of the novel, which was during the selection ceremony, so I know that this body is destined to have powers either way. But, strangely enough, I don't feel anything within me right now. I just feel like a regular human being. The book said that you can just tell when you have mana in your body hence, I don't need to worry about whether or not I could detect my powers. 

"I guess that means that I'll probably activate my powers somewhere between now and the selection ceremony in December....." I murmured. 

I wonder how having mana in your body feels like. Was it warm and tingly? Or does it feel like electricity running through your skin? I'm feeling kind of excited for it now.

Going from a regular human being to having powers that has the ability to destroy demons? It's dangerous but, I had always been a sucker for novels or shows with a fantasy genre.