The Cursed King

Before the two of them knew it, they arrived at the proud University of Summeria and the two ladies stepped out of the carriage. It was beautiful and consisted of several tall and large buildings that looked like they reached the tip of the skies.

"Castile is densely populated and several people, even outside of Summeria visit here to acquire the services that we proudly offer to those who seek to learn and study, among others."

Lady Rose Goodwin recited all of the information as if she knew all of them by heart, and it was something that Elise couldn't help but admire. 

The people that Loriel knew were truly talented.

"Of course, the university is not only what I'm referring to, Your Grace." Lady Rose smiled and walked forward. "We are also the proud holders of a body of knowledge that most kingdoms can only dream of."

Elise raised a brow, but immediately got what she was implying. "A library?"

"It is not just any kind of library, Your Grace." Lady Rose looked offended for a moment. "I am referring to the one and only Archelaus Library that many scholars, wizards, students, and others seeking knowledge come a thousand miles away for."

Elise frowned and remembered something. "Wait. I thought that the Archelaus Library was close to the royal palace?"

The two of them traveled for nearly an hour to get here so it was strange to say that it was close to the royal palace. 

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Lady Rose smiled and finally arrived outside with extremely large double doors. There was a huge line of individuals all waiting and going through some guards before being allowed to enter the premises.

Both Elise and Lady Rose were allowed to skip the long line and entered the room.

Room wasn't even a proper word.

Elise looked up in awe at how high the walls and how far the ceiling was and amongst them all were the numerous rows of bookshelves that looked like they could crush an army beneath them.

"This is…?"

"The Archelaus Library is quite huge and is divided into two sections. One near the university as we are now and the other in the royal palace as you said," Lady Rose explained.

"How many books do we have?" It was dizzying trying to even count the ones Elise could see in a singular shelf.

"This library boasts a total of a million and two hundred thousand books, Your Grace."

"A million and… that's about six hundred thousand books per section?" Elise paused and was in awe at the sheer number. "I can't imagine how many librarians are asked to take care of the books so they remain in pristine condition."

Even now, Elise could see numerous people wearing long robes and also scurrying about the rows between the bookshelves. 

All of the people in uniforms seemed like they were busy with an abacus and checking records.

"It's a prestigious job, Your Grace." Lady Rose nodded. "Especially as some have tried to steal books in the past, such thefts are really troublesome so large people are employed."

"That is amazing," Elise couldn't help but say.

"Indeed it is, Your Grace."

"Of course, one can take a rest among the tables and chairs provided here and wherein," Lady Rose motioned to what seemed to be thousands of available places for readers to sit in.

"...and if they wish to borrow or have a place to study in privacy?" Elise asked.

"There are countless available rooms where the teachers conduct their classes here and are also viable options for meetings and other conferences and assembly purposes."

"Um, does Loriel come here?" Elise couldn't help but ask. 

"Ah, His Majesty?" Lady Rose paused and looked at Elise. "Hmmm…"

"Does he not come to a place as wonderful as here?" 

"He did, Your Grace. When the king of Summeria was younger, he would frequent this place and even get lost as a child." Lady Rose smiled a bit. "It wouldn't be a surprise to hear him cry about it either. He was a crybaby."

There was a certain look of fondness on Rose's face that Elise couldn't help but notice. 

The two of them really had been childhood friends and it gave Elise mixed feelings now. Even though Elise had seen a good portion of Loriel's life on the crystal ball, she was younger than him by several years and missed a good chunk of his childhood. 

Elise wanted to know more of what he was like even if it meant asking Lady Rose Goodwin.

"Yes, I think I recall my mother-in-law telling me that," Elise said at last. "Loriel is so different now than when he was younger. I can't help but wonder what changed all of that…"

The expression of Lady Rose's face changed at Elise's words and she stiffened a bit. 

"I think that it is up to His Majesty to tell you personally, Your Highness. It is not my story to tell at all and I'm only here to help you understand Summeria as a kingdom."

"What?" Elise blinked and didn't get what Rose tried to say.

Did something that changed Loriel's personality from meek to how he was today? 

But Lady Rose Goodwin was already moving on and discussing other details and aspects of the library from the different kinds of books available and other things of importance. The topic of Loriel's childhood was not brought up again.

Even though the rest of the hours spent together were mostly informative and even somewhat boring as compared to what Lady Rose implied earlier, Elise was grateful for the lady's assistance.

"Thank you so much for accompanying me today, Lady Rose," Elise said.

"It is my duty as your lady-in-waiting to accompany you, Your Grace."

"I know that, but even though you could actually just make me do other activities that aren't actually as helpful in learning about Summeria… you brought me here to Archelaus Library. I learned a lot today." 

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From Missrealitybites:

I am a huge fan of Alexander the Great. And one thing I remember about him is that the biggest library in the world was located in Alexandria, a city named after him. It is the inspiration for Archelaus Library.

The Alexandria library had two sections and boasted over a million books in its collection. Unfortunately, it was burned down during the war between Julius Caesar and his enemy, Pompey in 47 BC.

Now, we could only imagine the wealth of information that was destroyed together with it.