Lucien and Lyra remained standing in front of the cartography table. The old map still lay spread beneath the afternoon sunlight streaming through the library's tall windows. The faint shadow that had appeared earlier was now clearer. It was neither writing nor a map illustration.
It was an embossed seal deliberately hidden behind a layer of paper.
Lyra examined it through a magnifying glass while Lucien held both sides of the map to keep it from shifting. Several seconds passed without a word.
"Do you know what emblem that is?" Lucien finally asked.
Lyra slowly shook her head. "I've never seen an emblem like this before."
Lucien looked at the seal again. Its shape was fairly simple, like an open book. A seven-pointed star rested above it. There was no writing. No mark that could explain its origin.
"Just a symbol," Lucien murmured.
"That's exactly what's strange." Lyra lowered her magnifying glass. "If this really is an official seal, it should have some identifying mark."
"Like a name?"
"Or at least initials."
Lucien nodded slowly.
He had seen seals belonging to kingdoms, museums, and even other libraries. Almost all of them included a name or a symbol that was easy to recognize. This one was different. It was as if it had been deliberately designed so that only certain people could understand its meaning.
Footsteps echoed from the aisle.
The librarian who had been making his rounds stopped in front of the cartography room. "The library will be closing in ten minutes," he said.
"All right, sir," Lucien replied.
After the librarian left, Lyra carefully rolled up the map again. "Continue tomorrow?"
Lucien nodded.
"We'll continue tomorrow."
They returned the map to its original place before walking out of the cartography room. They barely spoke as they made their way toward the library exit. Each of them was busy thinking about the symbol they had just discovered.
That night, Lucien once again covered his desk with history books. He opened several encyclopedias on ancient emblems used by various kingdoms.
He turned the pages one by one, but found not a single clue.
He tried searching for the emblems of ancient libraries. Still nothing. Even after opening a book on academic symbols from different regions, the result was the same.
Lucien let his body sink against the back of his chair. "What are you, really...?" he murmured, staring at the copy of the symbol he had drawn in his notebook. The longer he looked at it, the more unfamiliar it seemed.
At last, he closed all the books. The wall clock had already passed midnight. If history couldn't answer him... maybe it was time to ask someone else.
The next morning, Lucien went to see Professor Whitmore again. The professor was arranging several documents when Lucien knocked on the door.
"Come in." The professor looked up. "You look like someone who hasn't slept all night."
Lucien gave him a wry smile. "Is it that obvious?"
"Quite."
Lucien took out his notebook and opened it to the page containing the drawing of the symbol. "I want to show you something."
The professor put on his glasses, then took the notebook.
He studied the drawing for a long time. He made no comment, nor did his expression change. Lucien began to hope that perhaps the professor recognized it this time. But that hope faded when the professor closed the notebook and handed it back.
"I'm sorry." "I've never seen this emblem before."
Lucien exhaled softly. "So... we're stuck again."
The professor smiled faintly. "Not necessarily."
Lucien raised his head. "What do you mean?"
"History isn't the only place where traces of the past are preserved."
"What do you mean, Professor?"
"Sometimes history forgets something, or deliberately hides it."
He paused for a moment. "But manuscripts usually don't."
Lucien fell silent.
The professor continued, "If I were you... I'd look for old manuscripts."
"Why manuscripts?"
"Because scribes often leave behind small notes that never make it into history books."
He stood and took a thin catalog from the shelf behind his desk. "The manuscript room contains a large collection that hasn't even been fully studied." The professor handed the catalog to Lucien. "Your answer may not be on the main page, but in the margins."
Lucien accepted the catalog with a nod. "Thank you, Professor."
"One more thing."
Lucien turned toward him.
"Don't go alone."
Lucien looked slightly puzzled. "Because I won't be able to read those languages?"
The professor smiled. "Don't you already know someone far more knowledgeable?"
Lucien immediately thought of one person.
Lyra.
He closed the catalog in his hands. "In that case... I know who to look for."
Lucien found Lyra in the manuscript room. As usual, she had arrived before him. Several scrolls lay open on the table. Beside them were several ancient-language dictionaries, their pages covered with slips of paper.
Lyra looked up when she heard footsteps approaching.
"You came after all."
Lucien smiled faintly. "The professor told me to find you."
Lyra closed the book she had been reading. "Then there must be a new puzzle."
Lucien nodded as he raised the catalog he had just borrowed. "He told us to start with the manuscripts."
"Not history books?"
"He said history sometimes forgets things or deliberately erases them, but language doesn't."
Hearing that, Lyra smiled faintly. "That does sound like something Professor Whitmore would say."
A few minutes later, they were standing in front of the manuscript shelves. The shelves were located at the very back of the library, separated from the general collection. Some of the manuscripts were stored in thin wooden boxes. Others were wrapped in cloth to keep them from being damaged.
Lucien opened the catalog. "Where do we start?"
Lyra looked at the collection list on the first page. "Manuscripts of unknown origin."
Lucien raised an eyebrow. "There's actually a category like that?"
"There is." Lyra pointed to several inventory numbers. "Usually, it means they haven't been successfully identified."
They began taking the boxes from the shelves one by one. The first box contained trade records. The second held a copied genealogy of a noble family. The third contained nothing but a collection of personal letters, some of whose ink had already faded. None of them had anything to do with the symbol they were looking for.
Lucien exhaled softly. "At this rate, we could spend a week in here."
Lyra smiled without looking away from the manuscript she was reading. "Welcome to the world of research."
Lucien chuckled. "All right. I take it back."
They continued their search. Time passed without their noticing. The sunlight that had initially fallen directly across the table slowly shifted onto the floor. Several times, they thought they had found something. But after closer examination, every lead turned out to be another dead end. Until Lyra suddenly stopped moving her hand.
"Lucien."
"Hm?"
"Take a look."
Lucien hurried over. In front of Lyra lay a manuscript smaller than the others. Its main text filled almost the entire page. But along the margin were several lines of tiny writing in ink that was slightly darker.
"This isn't part of the original manuscript," Lyra said softly.
"How can you be sure?"
"The ink and the handwriting are different." She pointed to one of the letters.
"The person who copied this manuscript made their letters more upright."
"And these... are more slanted."
Lucien examined them more closely. At first, he hadn't noticed the difference. But after looking for a while, it did indeed seem as though two different people had written on the same page.
"So... someone added a note here," Lucien murmured.
Lyra nodded. "But this note is much fainter."
She picked up the magnifying glass and began reading slowly. Silence filled the manuscript room. Lucien chose to wait. He knew that even the slightest interruption to Lyra's concentration might force her to start all over again.
Several minutes passed. Lyra lowered her magnifying glass.
"Wow..."
"What?"
"Parts of the writing are damaged."
"Can you still read it?"
"Some of it."
Lucien immediately opened his notebook.
"The first word..." Lyra looked at the manuscript again. "...gate."
Lucien wrote it down. "Gate."
Lyra moved on to the next group of letters. This section was much more difficult; several letters had been eaten away by age. She read it over and over before finally saying softly,
"I can't be certain... but I think it means 'heir.'"
Lucien wrote that down too. Now there were only two words on the page of his notebook.
Gate. Heir.
He stared at the two words for a long time.
"It doesn't sound like a sentence."
"It isn't." Lyra carefully closed the manuscript. "It may only be a fragment."
"Or... we haven't found the right page yet."
Lucien nodded slowly. The two words had given them no answers. But for the first time since the investigation began, it felt as though the mystery had started to speak. Only... in a language they didn't yet understand.