A couple of days later, Aeliana recovered from her cold and returned to her lessons with Madam D’Aramitz and every day she continued to improve. Aeliana felt proud of her improvement, working harder to continue improving.

And when she was free, she would either stay in her room or play with the twins. She tried her best not to bump into Leon or Claud. 

Today she didn’t have any lessons with Madam as she had an important meeting to attend thus, she was free. The twins were busy practising their swordsmanship with their teacher so Aeliana headed over to the library.

She walked around the library looking at the genres attached to each shelf. Thanks to her lessons with Leon, she was now able to read books that had a higher vocabulary. She grabbed a book she hadn’t finished and sat down on a nearby seat.

She flipped through the book until she stopped at where she had remembered reading from. The library was silent with the sound of pages being flipped every so often. Aeliana read the last page before closing the book shut.

She stretched her body before heading to the shelved to find another book. She looked around before grabbing a book which caught her interest. The previous book she read was about magic but this time the book she had chosen was the geography of the Alston Dukedom.

“Oh my, are you learning about the geography of the Dukedom young miss?” Aeliana heard the voice of the librarian, Loran.

“Hello Loran, yes the book caught my attention.”

“I see, well if you’re looking for more books that are closely related to this book, I have a few more at the top of my head at the moment.”

“Oh it’s alright—”

“Wait right here young miss, I’ll find them for you.” Loran without waiting for another second, left before returning with a bunch of other books.

He placed it on the table and smiled brightly at Aeliana, “Here you go young miss! These are just a few but I hope they will be helpful for you.”

Aeliana looked at the stack of books before awkwardly laughing, “Thank you very much, Loran. I’ll be sure to look through the books you have recommended.”

Loran’s face brightened even more at her words, “I’m glad to be of great service young miss! It’s been so long since I am able to recommend books to someone. The last time I recommended books was so long ago I can’t remember! Well, then again I’m already in my fifties so it’s quite hard to say haha! Oh! However I do remember recommending some to Lord Alston though I’m not sure if he did come to read it since he’s working very hard and…”

Aeliana didn’t take the librarian to be a chatty person. She didn’t know what to do so she listened to him continuously talk until he finally left her to read.

She opened the book, reading the table of contents before flipping to the first page. After a couple of minutes, she was fully immersed in the book, reading the information given mixed with a few pictures of the location.

She continued to read until she felt a presence sitting opposite of her. She paused and looked up. Sitting opposite her was Leon. He had his left arm resting on the armrest while his right hand flipped the pages of the book. He didn’t look up at her but spoke in a rude tone,

“What are you looking at?”

“Uh..nothing, sorry..Leon.”

“...hm.”

‘So awkward..’

Aeliana shook her head and looked back at her book. The part she was at talked about the different kinds of crops that were only able to grow in the dukedom and not in other territories. 

“You’re reading that?” 

“Huh?”

Aeliana got startled by Leon’s voice. She gazed up to see him staring at her. He had a cold look on his face as he waited for her response. She hurriedly held up the book and showed him the title. He hummed in reply before tapping his finger on his book.

“The lessons must have helped you greatly since you are now able to read those books.”

“Oh..yes, I am able to read books with harder words thanks to you.”

“Hm, keep it up.”

That was the last thing he said before closing his book and leaving the library. Aeliana raised an eyebrow at her first brother’s actions but didn’t take much into consideration, going back to reading her books.

Minutes later, a maid came in and placed down a tray of cookies and a cup of milk. She stared at it before calling out to the maid,

“I didn’t ask anyone for these.” she said with a confused look.

The maid smiled and replied, “Lord Leon has requested them for you.”

“Brother has?”

“Yes my lady, I will be taking my leave now.” the maid bowed and left.

Aeliana’s eyes fell on the cookies and milk. Pondering for a moment, she reached out and ate one. Her eyes brighten as the sweetness bloomed in her mouth.

She continued to read while enjoying the snacks. She couldn’t help but wonder if she had grown a bit closer to Leon after all the time they spent together in the library. 

***

Leon was in his room, reading another book as usual. As he finished a book and was about to read another, he heard hums coming down the hallway.

Frequently, he could care less about this sort of sounds however this time, his curiosity had peaked slightly. Following it, he opened his door. Aeliana was humming to a random tune down the hallway before disappearing from his sight.

He knew she was going to the library as that was the way to the library. He went there often that he would reach the library with his eyes closed.

Leon closed his door shut and returned to reading his books however his mind at times wandered back to Aeliana.

His only sister and the one that was left behind once his mother passed away from giving birth to that child. He fluttered his eyes shut, recalling his mother’s words;

“Leon my dear son,” she started, staring down at her round stomach in a loving manner.

She had a warm smile plastered on her face although it was pale and had obvious signs of fatigue.

“Always remember to take care of your brothers and your new sister when she comes, okay?”

Leon fluttered his eyes back open and slowly got up from his chair. He left his room and quietly headed to the library. The door was slightly ajar, enough for him to look inside. Not too far to the right, he saw Aeliana listening attentively to their librarian ramble on. She had a smile plastered on her face and nodded at times.

Not long later, the librarian bowed and returned to his work, leaving her alone with her book. Leon gazed a bit more before deciding to return back to his room. He furrowed his brows and shook his head; why was he suddenly so interested in his sister, the one he had been giving a cold shoulder all these years?

Then flashbacks to the days he spent his time with her came to his mind. The time when Aeliana hugged him was vivid in those flashbacks. He gazed down at the book he had in his hand and pondered for a solid minute before walking inside the library and taking a seat opposite of Aeliana.