CHAPTER 40: CONTROLLED KNOWLEDGE

In the garden of Kinten villa, Anna sat on a black wooden chair and slowly sipped tea from the white porcelain teacup she held in her right hand as she questioned White, who stood behind her.

"White, how much do you know about the runes?" Anna asked, her tone full of curiosity about the runes.

"Not much, Miss Anieal," White answered truthfully.

"I see..." Anna nodded and continued.

"Then tell me everything you know."

White nodded as he began to speak.

"Hmm... Runes are characters that allow one to impose their will upon the world to produce results that they otherwise should not be able to... such as creating fire, water, air, ice, and more from nothing... They also allow us to form barriers, create enchantments and similar phenomena." White paused before continuing.

"Also... runes are often said to be the language of gods and creation... because it allows us to do things out of what’s considered ordinary."

Hearing that, Anna raised an eyebrow in curiosity.

"Is that so?" she questioned, intrigued by the ’The language of gods and creation’ component.

"Many believe so," White said, his tone indifferent.

Anna felt something was amiss with his behaviour today, but she didn’t pursue him about it.

Anna nodded as she questioned.

"What do you think?"

"An unawakened’s opinion doesn’t matter when it comes to the mysteries of the awakened," White replied with a bitter smile.

Hearing that, Anna frowned; however, she didn’t reply to him and just sipped her tea in silence.

Azor was a strange place, even though it was always covered in the blanket of moonlight; the day-time and night-time could be easily differentiated by the way people, birds and other living beings of Azor functioned.

Azor is unusually beautiful, and Anna wanted nothing other than to travel around and know more about this place. However, she was too weak to do that.

That’s why she could understand White a bit. However, she knew that soon she would be able to travel around the world without any issue, but White was different. He was unawakened; thus, he had his limits. Even if he was stronger than a Seeker, he was still just a human—albeit a strong one.

Anna had mixed feelings about this after all, she knew how talented White was in the art of combat and assassination. He was so talented that he was the third-ranked spy, even though there were many seekers within the ranks of the spies of the Starborne family.

They remained silent for a few moments before Anna finally broke the silence as she stood up and spoke.

"You should go back for today," Anna said authoritatively.

White looked at Anna and bowed his head as he spoke.

"As you wish, Miss Anieal."

Anna nodded and began to walk towards the entrance of the villa.

White stood there as he looked at the departing back of Anna and turned around to leave.

Anna walked through the hallway as her steps echoed within the lavender-blue walls of the villa. Soon, she stopped in front of an old-looking wooden door; the door had golden engravings on it, which gave it a luxurious look. Anna pushed open the door and walked inside.

As she walked inside a room with multiple shelves filled to the brim with books, many were old, and many were new. The room was illuminated by the crystal-like chandeliers hanging above.

Anna walked towards the centre of the room, where an old man with white hair and a few black strands had donned a servant’s uniform. He was focused on reading a book, so he didn’t notice Anna.

Anna walked forward and tapped on the clean wooden table, which had a few books and ink vials placed on top. The old man put down the book he was reading and turned towards Anna. When his eyes fell on Anna, he hurriedly stood up and bowed towards her as he spoke.

"Miss Aeliana."

"Sir Librarian." Anna, too, greeted him with a small smile and nod.

"Why are you here, Miss Aeliana?" the librarian questioned as he continued to bow. He had a confused look as he looked at Anna.

"What? I can’t come to my brother’s library?" Anna questioned back, her tone had unhidden amusement to it.

"O-of course you can," the librarian hurriedly replied as he broke the bow.

"Haha! I was only teasing you, Sir Librarian." Anna said with a slight chuckle.

Hearing that, the librarian straightened his back as he questioned.

"What kind of books are you looking for?" the librarian asked as he took out a bundle of paper that had the list of all of the available books within the library.

Anna turned her head as she looked at the shelves filled with books and finally spoke in a curious tone.

"I was looking for books related to runes," Anna said as she turned to look at the librarian.

"That..." the librarian spoke as he put down the bundle.

"What’s wrong?" Anna spoke with a raised eyebrow.

"There isn’t any book related to runes within the library," the librarian said as he grabbed the book he was reading before.

Anna, confused by the librarian’s words, asked

"How can that be?"

"The books related to runes are under the strict control of The Star Council," the librarian said as he looked at Anna.

"I see..."

’That does make sense. People must’ve called it ’The language of gods and creation’ for a reason, and if I am not wrong, Star Council doesn’t want runes to be studied upon that easily,’ Anna thought.

"I see..."

After saying that, Anna turned and left the library. While moving through the hallways, Anna fell into deep thought.

’Should I learn runes? I don’t know if I am even suited for them.’ Anna questioned herself, but no answer came to her mind.

’I’ll talk with my brother about it.’ She finally decided to ask Damien about it, as he knew more about the runes or anything related to midnighters than White.

Anna then put her thoughts to the end of her mind and went to train as usual.