"Ah... who am I, talking like that? I also hurt my own siblings. I don’t deserve to comnt on them," Archie continued, then opened the first page of the book.
"Arielle... maybe I’m still haunted by the feelings of guilt. It... seems I’ve seen Alexis’ face a few tis."
Arielle stiffened. She rembered that she also seed to see the shadow of Alexis. Archie shook his head to clear his hunch. Now, only he and Arielle were left who were the descendants of King Hugo.
Alexis was long dead. Archie saw it with his own eyes. The man breathed his last before Archie dropped him into the river. There was no way that Alexis was still alive... and had gone all his way to the North.
Archie, who beca a king, was indeed beyond expectation. So far, many people had bet that the throne was fought for by Alexis or Andrea, as the two eldest siblings who ca from the queen’s lineage, while Archie only ca from a concubine. Thus, the past incident still caught the attention of many nobles, and it was brought up during the eting with Archie.
Arielle tried to find another topic of conversation. Archie looked very sad right now. She didn’t want her brother to continue to be haunted by the past and forgot that he was now the legitimate King of Nieverdell. Arielle also didn’t want Archie to abandon his responsibilities as a king.
"Oh, Brother... are you interested in Mount Birwick?" Arielle asked, trying to distract her brother by looking at his book again.
Archie looked down and read the first paragraph of the book.
"Of course. I’ve read this book in the palace library a few years ago, and I want to recall its contents since Mount Birwick is in the far North, right?"
Arielle nodded.
"What I rember a little from this book is that Mount Birwick is at the end of the North. In that place, many mystical and strange creatures live. Mount Birwick also has the highest snowfall in the North, and no one will ever know what lies beyond it... There are too many mysteries there."
"Does big brother know about the dragons?’
"Of course! It was the most shocking story in the whole world. A young king who chased a dragon all the way to Mount Birwick and returned with a dragon’s severed head is certainly great news. Since then, Ronan has received recognition from many people. But Arielle... don’t you find it strange???"
Archie shows a description of Mount Birwick which was so dark with piles of impenetrable snow and various animals that were accidentally seen by the human.
"If the temperature of Mount Birwick is so extre, then how can the animals there reproduce and grow to that size? I an, no one really knows how deep Mount Birwick forest is, but look at the animals in that place... from tigers, bears, deer, dragons, giant snakes, and many others... Why aren’t they completely extinct by these extre conditions? I once argued with Andrea about the existence of a portal to another world located on Mount Birwick."
"Hm... but those animals have quite thick fur, so it’s only natural that they can survive there."
"Andrea said the sa thing, but still... the animals there definitely need an ecosystem to form a food chain in order to survive, right?"
"I didn’t learn about food chains," Arielle said, making Archie rember that his sister was learning different things.
"Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t an to make you clueless. Forget it, maybe you’re right... the animals that live there have a higher survival power than in the forests of Nieverdell," Archie said while stroking his sister’s head.
Arielle hoped that Archie could invite her to have a discussion again, but it turned out that she did not have the sa knowledge as that man. Maybe later in her spare ti, Arielle would learn more about the ecosystems and food chains, so she could talk more with her brother.
And for Archie’s words about a portal to another world. Arielle had the sa hunch. In her dream at that ti, Mount Birwick had a lot of greenery with various colours of flowers. Tall shady trees, and big and strong branches that stuck to the ground so firmly. The land that Arielle stepped on before also had no snow. Just a brown soil that was slightly wet, maybe from the dew.
Rembering that... It reminded Arielle of sothing.
Arielle held her shoulder, which Ronan almost marked several tis. She didn’t know when she was ready to accept it, but she didn’t get any sign from Lord Otis, which confused her. anwhile, several tis, Arielle felt a tingling sensation in her neck, wanting sothing to pierce there.
She needed an answer right now because it was getting harder and harder to resist the urge.
"Arielle? Are you okay?" Archie asked.
"Huh? Yeah, I’m fine. Just a little lost, thinking about sothing."
"Arielle, take a look at this. You’d be surprised at how magnificent Mount Birwick is."
Arielle ca closer and read the paragraph Archie pointed to. It was about the discovery of the lted snow on Mount Birwick. Arielle had already known about it. The one who did it was Lord Otis. Arielle listened to Archie’s various deductions about it attentively. She occasionally chuckled at how eager her brother was to tell her everything the man knew about the various myths and legends of Mount Birwick.
When the ti passed, Tania ca.
Spending ti reading with Archie turned out to be a lot of fun, and when Tania called her for lunch, Archie refused to join in when Arielle asked him if he want to join her or not. He chose to spend ti alone in the library.
Arielle looked back once more and confird that Archie wanted to be alone. She didn’t know her brother well, Archie indeed an introvert person. The only siblings he always play with only Andrea or Annalise.
Arielle wished that her brother soon to be more open her. After making sure Archie are fine, Arielle followed Tania to ca to Ronan’s office.
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