Sheet 15

 A Book of Lies

          Once upon a time there’s a stupid girl who’s stupid enough to take whatever it is that is handed over to her by a complete stranger. And because that girl is stupid, they can now live happily ever after.

          The end.

          Lady Ji Ae smiles at the parchment in front of her, twirling the fountain pen in her hand. “Stupid, stupid Narra...” she mutters.

          There’s a knock on her door, the lady hates having her alone time interrupted, though as custom dictates she has to smile and be polite. She hates this world, all this politeness, this fake loyalty. The world of books is not as pleasant as everybody thinks it is.

          She prefers the unknown; she’s used to the heartache, the never ending failures. But now is their turn.

          There’s another knock, this time the lady answers, “Come in...”

          A girl she’s unfamiliar with opened the door, she wasn’t aware that they’ve acquired new lady’s-in-waiting. Or she could be one of the many highborns that was brought to accompany the princess after the marriage.

          What are they doing here so early?

          “Lady Ji Ae, I’m Kim Ji Won of the Flower Kingdom. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you! I’m rather new and the servants speak very highly of you.”

          The new girl smiles brightly at her. Lady Ji Ae tries to find anything wrong with this visit. She herself has no royal standing; she’s just a distant cousin, no one is obligated to pay her a courtesy visit. The girl at the door tilts her head, aware that she’s being scrutinized.

          “I apologize, I’m being quite rude. Do you wish to come in?” Ji Ae directs her to one of the chaise chairs.

          Lady Ji Won shakes her head. “I actually volunteered to send you a message from a knight named Ho Won?”

          She waits, keeping her face neutral.

          “He wishes to speak with you. He says he’ll be waiting at the blue room...”

          “Is that all?” What does that knight need from her? She can’t have anyone be suspicious of her so she decided to oblige.

          “Yes. Lady Ji Ae? Should I you to him? Not that I know where the room is. I mean, I’ve never seen the blue room... I’ve never had the chance to look around...”

          “Come with me then, I’ll give you a tour of this wing before we head to the blue room...”

          Her guest’s face positively lit up, she hasn’t seen anyone so endearing in a long time. She shakes her head; it’s not good being attached. She knows everything will end eventually. This is a temporary world, she reminds herself, nothing is permanent here.

          “Lady Ji Ae?”

          “Let’s go...” Ji Ae stands up, taking the sheet of paper with her, crumpling it as she reach the door and tossing it to the waste bin before leaving her room and closing her door tightly.

          The lady named Kim Ji Won chatters as they walk around the lady’s wing, commenting on the draperies and the furniture. She hasn’t encountered anyone this enthusiastic; the castle is too quiet at times. It’s a welcome change.

          They arrive at the blue room, Ji Ae promises to show the new lady-in-waiting the rest of the castle the next time they meet.

          As soon as Lady Ji Ae entered the room, Kim Ji Won discretely hides in an alcove, pulling out a parchment from the back of one of the portraits. She writes then folds it into a crane, putting a hand over the other she whispers a spell making the paper crane in her hand disappear.

~0~

          Lee Ho Won phases back and forth, stopping every now and then to tap his finger on the prince’s mahogany table.

          There are strange things happening inside the castle that he’s not able to understand. The prince’s visitors he couldn’t trust, the seemingly useless search for the missing princess. All this just because they want an alliance that has been considered fatal a couple of centuries before.

          He’s a man of action; peace has been acquired by war ever since he can remember. He’s been trained for it and now he’s relegated to stand still and deliver worthless reports from inadequate people.

          Since he can’t seem to get a grasp on anything that happens right now and the news that comes to him is most likely filtered. The ladys-in-waiting probably knows more things than him. Gossip isn’t a good source of information, but he’s willing to take whatever he can. He needs to find his answers.

          “You wish to see me?”       

          “Yes... Have a seat, Lady Ji Ae...”

          “I have things to do, so I trust this won’t be a very long conversation for me to think a chair would be necessary.”

          “I’m concerned that the castle is being flocked by the prince’s distant cousins and their visitors.”

          “There’s a missing princess case that you’re supposed to be presiding over, I don’t suppose looking after the visitors is required of your post.”

          “Yes, I don’t suppose it is. But keeping the peace is required of me so I am doing my job...”

          “What do you want from me then?”        

          “Information only those who like to dwell in corners know about.”

          “I do not gossip like the servants.”

          “Of course you don’t but you’re also not as innocent as you pretend to be. I have my eyes on you, on all of you distant cousins.”

          “Suit yourself then.”

          Lady Ji Ae left as quickly as she can and Ho Won is left with nothing to start his search with. He’s intent though to have eyes and ears everywhere, finding the princess is essential, knowing who’s keeping them from finding her is also important.

~0~

          The attic is left as it was the last time he has been here. He has his grandmother perform magic for him every single day, something they can’t continue doing. Deception is not something that he’s an expert on. He still doesn’t have a clue where she is though the last thing his friend have mentioned is a book event, funny how every little thing that happens to them always involves a book.

          He guesses it would always be that way from now on.

           There wasn’t any note or messages, she just disappeared, however he’s sure that this has everything to do with the current Anta that they’re dealing with. The sooner he finds that Anta’s whereabouts, the better.

          Well since he doesn’t have an inkling as to where to start his search so he decided to go back inside the book to find answers. Without a Narra he’s stuck with deciding on his own, he has gotten pretty used to having someone decide things with.

          Standing up to get the music box from the shelf, he spots the girl’s sling bag on the same spot it has been since three days. He’s not in the habit of looking through someone else’s belongings but desperate times and all that.

          For someone who’s so small her bag is pretty heavy, almost certainly heavier than she is. He needs to remind himself to buy her a sturdier bag after all of this. Kind of like a farewell present since she would be going back to Seoul as soon as her vacation is over. Judging by the number of times they’ve put daily life on rewind and supposing that everything was kept on its normal phase, she’d be here a full month. He sighs, here is such an odd term to use when she isn’t anywhere near ‘here’.

          The bag’s contents are mostly books, an old, very tattered journal of sorts, keys and a pouch of what he thought would contain girly things that turned out to be an assortment of pens. He goes through the bag and finds out an assortment of more odd things, but there is something that’s missing...

          Her mobile phone.

          If he’s lucky enough it should be with her wherever she is.  He chose to send a coded message instead of calling just in case someone else is in possession of it.

          He waits a minute to receive a response, if he doesn’t receive any he’s going to proceed with his plans.

          His phone beeps. Looking at the screen, he lets out a sigh of relief. He’s not sure yet if the message came from her but he’s about to find out.

I hate old books. They are full of lies.

          The message is vague and he knows it’s far from the truth. There’s one way to find out. He calls her number only to be answered by an unexpectedly automated sounding woman.

          He stares at his screen, trying to see if there’s a hidden meaning in the message he received. He’s sure there is since the other plausible answer is not an option he wants to think about.

          Old books, this place is swarming with old books and a few hundred that could be about lies and deception. He needs to narrow it down and fast.

          Sung Gyu goes back to look inside Soo Jung’s bag, it makes sense to look there first. She might have one in her possession. If not, he has an entire evening to spend to look through the catalogues.

          All four books inside her bag are contemporary, the only other thing he hasn’t check is the journal. He doesn’t want to touch it, it’s something personal.

          He knows he has a few other options but he needs to cover all his bases. He looks at the journal again, grits his teeth and opens it.

The Ancient Book of Deception

          He laughs out loud; Lee Soo Jung has found a way to amuse him yet again.