Chapter 5 - I Read With My Eyes

Dylan clenched his hand into a tight fist under the table. Sir Crane and David were both deceiving Carol, and he could tell. He could see it happening right before his very eyes. He saw how his older brother had intentionally knocked the wine glass onto the floor earlier, causing it to spill onto the floor with a sweep of the back of his hand.

‘How dare he…!’ Dylan seethed to himself. He bit down hard on nothing, the muscles of his jaw becoming pronounced in fury. He couldn’t bear to stay here casually having dinner when his mind was filled with disappointment, the sting of David’s betrayal, and hatred for Anna.

Although he knew it was rude to do so, Dylan slid his chair back in the middle of dinner and stood up. The sound of the chair sliding over the floor was audible.

“I’m sorry. I don’t feel well after smelling the food, so I think the four of you should have dinner without me tonight,” Dylan said. An abrupt apology.

Then, he left the dining room.

***

‘Go to the library and find a book that interests you,’ David had ordered, so Anna left for the library on the fourth floor.

Usually, only David ever made use of it, so when Anna knocked on its door, it was only a mere courtesy on her part. Without waiting for an answer, she opened the door right away.

Once Anna stepped inside the large library, she inhaled deeply, taking in the scent of all the neatly aligned bookshelves. The smell of old paper and ink made her happier, and she smiled while navigating through the maze-like rows of literature around the room.

‘What book should I choose today?’ Anna mused, humming to herself contentedly. 

David’s order meant she could pick whatever piqued her interest. It was an order that he issued as a favor to her once a week, and it all began sometime in the past, when she had been cleaning his room. She couldn’t control her curiosity and had secretly started reading a book that had been left on the table. When he caught her, she thought he would yell at her for touching his belongings without his permission. However, he told her that he had already finished that book, so it would be fine for her to take it to read for herself. In return, she had to read through the whole thing and bring it back to him personally.

It took Anna a whole week to finish reading the book. She visited David’s room once she did to return it as he had commanded.

He stopped her as she was leaving. “How did you read it?” he had asked her.

“Huh? I read it with my eyes,” Anna answered honestly. The fact that she gave such a simple and senseless answer made him laugh aloud in surprise, but at the time, she was just nervous. She was having a conversation with the first son of the Kilner family, after all. She had no idea what made him laugh as he did.

Afterwards, she shared her interpretations and understanding of the book with him, and they developed a closer relationship. Sometimes she would ask for explanations on passages that were too profound or deep for her to understand, and everytime she did so, he would take care to explain things to her amiably, never appearing annoyed by her inquiries.

Ever since then, Anne had stopped believing the rumors about the Kilner family members claiming they were misers or tightwads cheap with their money.

Anna stretched her hands toward a book with a cover that proclaimed its title to be ‘Yayok’. 

“Is that a novel?” she wondered.

Although she didn’t know exactly what yayok meant, the high quality of the book’s black hardcover and the gold stitched lettering intrigued Anna immensely. A new book never ceased to make her giddy with excitement, so she opened the book and turned around immediately to read it, moving as if she were being chased.

Whump.

As soon as she turned, however, her hand bumped into the arm of someone behind her, making her drop the book.

“I’m sorry,” Anna quickly said, bowing her head low in apology. She bent down to pick up the book, but the person she bumped into grabbed it faster than she could.