Chapter 886: Secret Bookshelf

Then Cassius’s expression turned playful again.

"But I have to admit, Commander—I’m a little disappointed."

Ragnora stiffened. "Disappointed? Why?"

"I thought you were a fellow enthusiast. A true collector. But I’ve been looking around your home, and..." He gestured at the visible bookshelves. "All I see are books on strategy, military tactics, and warfare. Not a single romance novel in sight."

Ragnora’s eyes narrowed. "What exactly are you implying?"

"I’m saying that maybe you’re not as dedicated as I thought."

Cassius’s tone was light, but his eyes gleamed with mischief.

"A true romance reader—a genuine, dedicated enthusiast would have at least a small library. A shelf or two, at minimum. But you seem to have nothing."

"So, I’m sorry, Commander, but I simply cannot accept you into the fellowship of romance readers without proper documentation."

The bait was obvious. But Ragnora found herself rising to it anyway.

"Sir Cassius." She said, her voice dangerously calm. "Are you questioning my credentials as a romance novel enthusiast?"

"I’m just making an observation."

"I see." Ragnora stood up, her massive frame towering over the table. "Then allow me to correct your misconception."

She walked toward the bookshelf in the living room—the one filled with strategy guides and military histories. Cassius followed, curious.

"You see this bookshelf?" She asked.

"Indeed I do. Very professional. Very boring."

"Now find the book titled Supply Chain Management for Fortified Positions, third edition, volume four."

Cassius scanned the spines. His fingers found the book quickly enough, a thick, leather-bound tome that looked as though it had never been opened.

"Got it."

"Pull it toward you. Not all the way out. Just..." She gestured. "Just tilt it forward."

Cassius did so.

Instantly, soft click echoed through the room.

Then, with a grinding sound of stone against stone, the entire bookshelf began to move.

It slid smoothly to the right, disappearing into a recess in the wall, revealing behind it another bookshelf.

Cassius’s breath caught in his throat at the sight.

Because this one was nothing like the first.

Where the outer shelf had been all brown leather, this hidden shelf was a riot of color.

Bright spines in pink and red and purple.

Painted covers featuring swooning heroines and impossibly handsome heroes locked in passionate embraces.

Titles like ’Hearts Across the Battlefield’ and ’The Rogue Duke’s Forbidden Love and A Kiss at Midnight.’

There were hundreds of romance books. Easily two hundred books, packed onto shelves that extended from floor to ceiling, every single one of them a romance novel.

Cassius reached out with reverent fingers and pulled a volume from the shelf.

"The Demon Lord’s Gentle Heart." Cassius read aloud, his voice barely above a whisper. "A story about a fearsome warlord who secretly writes poetry and falls in love with a human diplomat sent to negotiate peace."

"Controversial upon release due to its sympathetic portrayal of the demon protagonist." He looked up at Ragnora, his eyes wide. "This is a first edition."

"Signed." Ragnora added, unable to keep the smugness from her voice.

Cassius replaced the book and pulled out another.

"The Captain and the Countess. A naval romance set during the Corsair Wars. Notable for its unusually accurate depiction of shipboard life. The author apparently spent two years disguised as a sailor to research it."

"One of my favorites." Ragnora admitted.

He found another. "Starlight Promise. A tale of forbidden love between a celestial spirit and a mortal blacksmith’s daughter. Widely panned by critics for its melodramatic prose, but beloved by readers for its emotional sincerity."

"I cried three times reading that."

Cassius pulled out book after book and finally, he turned to face Ragnora. His expression had shifted from playful skepticism to genuine, unguarded awe.

"Commander." He said slowly. "I owe you the most profound apology."

Ragnora crossed her arms, looking immensely satisfied with herself—more satisfied, Cassius noted with some amusement, than she had looked after killing three S-class monsters earlier that day.

"You doubted me."

"I did. I was wrong. You are not merely a romance reader..."

He gestured at the hidden library behind him.

"You are, without question, one of the most dedicated collectors I have ever encountered! The hidden mechanism alone—"

He shook his head in disbelief. "You built an entire secret room behind a false bookshelf, Commander. That is commitment!"

Ragnora’s pride softened into something almost sheepish.

"It was necessary. I couldn’t risk anyone discovering my collection. The soldiers would never understand."

"Your secret is safe with me." Cassius assured her. "And honestly, I’m honored that you trusted me enough to show me this."

The words brought a faint blush to Ragnora’s cheeks. She had never shown this room to anyone.

The fact that she had revealed it to Cassius, almost without thinking, spoke volumes about how much she trusted him.

But then she realised about something that was rather peculiar.

"I must admit, Sir Cassius...I am surprised you recognized those titles."

She said softly, picking up a dusty volume with delicate care before going on to say,

"These are not common books. Most of them were banned, out of print, or buried in tiny, obscure marketplaces across the continent. I had to hunt down collectors in secret just to buy them."

"To tell you the truth..." Cassius turned back to the shelf, still marveling. "I’ve actually read most of these, you know. ’The Thorn and the Rose,’ ’The Ocean’s Promise,’ ’The Cursed Heart of Valdris,’ ’The Midnight Garden’..."

He traced his finger along the spines before finally saying like he himself was surprised,

"Actually...I think I’ve read all of them."

Ragnora’s expression shifted to disbelief. "All of them? Sir Cassius, I could believe you’ve read many of them, but my entire collection?"

"I know." Cassius said, scratching his head. "I’m not entirely sure how to explain it either. But I’m telling the truth. I’ve read every single book on this shelf.

A competitive gleam entered Ragnora’s eyes.

"Prove it."

Cassius raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

"Prove it." She moved toward the bookshelf, her fingers trailing along the spines. "If you’re so confident, then surely you can identify any book I choose at random."

The challenge was clear. Cassius’s lips curved into a grin.

"Go ahead."

Ragnora’s excitement was palpable. The giant looked like a child showing off her toy collection to a new friend. She scanned the shelves eagerly, then pulled out a book with a deep purple cover.

"The Enchanted Viscount’s Midnight Confession." She announced.

"Ah, a classic." Cassius said immediately. "The story of a viscount cursed to transform into a shadow at midnight, and the blind heroine who falls in love with his true self."

"The twist at the end, where she reveals she always knew his secret, is particularly moving. I also appreciate how the author subverted the typical ’curse breaking’ trope by having the heroine accept the curse rather than cure it."

Ragnora stared at him in surprise.

"That’s...exactly right."

But she wasn’t stopping there. She grabbed another book.

"’The Ember and the Frost.’"

"A forbidden romance between a fire spirit and an ice spirit. Their love literally creates steam wherever they touch. The climax involves them merging their essences to prevent a natural disaster, sacrificing their individual forms to save their respective kingdoms."

"Very dramatic. Lots of melting."

"’The Rose of Ash,’" Ragnora said, her voice taking on a note of desperation.

"A retelling of a classic legend where the heroine is a gardener’s daughter who secretly befriends a dragon. The dragon turns out to be a cursed prince, obviously."

"The unique element is that the heroine spends the first half of the book believing she’s in love with the dragon’s human form and the second half realizing she fell in love with the dragon first."

"It’s a commentary on true love transcending physical appearance."

"’The Whispering Waves’!"

She was more desperate now.

"A tale of two lighthouse keepers on opposite shores who communicate through signals across the sea. They fall in love without ever meeting face to face, and the entire novel builds toward their first encounter."

"The ending is ambiguous—whether they ever actually meet is left to the reader’s imagination."

Ragnora’s face had gone pale.

Finally, she grabbed the darkest-colored book on the shelf, a thick tome bound in black leather with no title visible on the spine.

"This one." She said, her voice slightly hoarse. "This is the rarest book in my collection! I traveled hundreds of miles to obtain it. I had to negotiate with a private collector in the capital for weeks."

"You can’t tell me you know this one!"

Cassius studied the book for a moment, then smiled.

"’The Night’s Eternal Queen.’"

Ragnora’s breath caught.

"It’s about a mortal woman who becomes the consort of the Night Queen, the ruler of the underworld. The romance is unconventional, even for its time, because it openly depicts a relationship between two women."

"But that’s not why it’s rare."

He paused for effect.

"It’s rare because the subplot involves a thinly-veiled satire of the ruling emperor at the time of its publication. The Night Queen’s court was modeled after the imperial palace, and the Emperor’s fictional counterpart was portrayed as...well, let’s just say ’unflatteringly’ would be an understatement."

"When the Emperor discovered the book’s existence, he ordered every copy burned. Only a handful survived."

Ragnora stared at him with an expression of pure, unadulterated shock.

"You really have read every book." She whispered.

"That’s what I’ve been saying from the very beginning." Cassius replied, spreading his hands. "I wasn’t lying."

Ragnora sank into the nearest chair, looking genuinely stunned.

"How is this possible? Either you’ve read every romance novel in existence, or you somehow broke into my house and read my collection without me noticing."

"Neither of those is true." Cassius scratched his chin thoughtfully. "I’ve only read the books on this shelf. It’s strange, it’s almost like we share the exact same collection."

He paused, a sudden realization dawning on him.

"Commander...where did you get your recommendations?"

Ragnora hesitated. This was personal, more personal even than the admission of her secret hobby.

But looking at Cassius, this strange, impossibly knowledgeable man who had somehow become the first person in decades to truly understand her, she found that the words came more easily than she had expected.

"My elder sister." She said. "Florence."

The name hung in the air between them and Cassius went very still.

"She was the only person in the world who knew about my hobby."

Ragnora continued, a faraway look entering her golden eyes.

"Other than you, of course. She used to tell me—"

A sad smile tugged at her lips.

"She used to tell me I didn’t need to hide it. She said there was nothing shameful about loving stories of romance and adventure, no matter who you were."

"But I was young then, and stubborn, and I couldn’t bear the thought of anyone thinking I was...soft."

She sank back into her chair, her massive frame seeming somehow smaller than before.

"So Big Sis Florence never pushed. She never forced me to be open about it. Instead, she just...made recommendations."

"Every time she visited, which was far too rarely, toward the end she would bring me a new stack of books. She said they were from her personal library, that she’d read them herself and thought I might enjoy them too."

Ragnora’s voice grew softer.

"She was the one who introduced me to the Vinny and Garcia series. She gave me the first volume as a gift on my twenty-third birthday."

Cassius listened in silence. His expression was unreadable.

"We would spend hours together in the garden."

Ragnora continued, lost now in memory.

"Sipping tea, discussing the latest book she’d brought. Arguing over which love interest the heroine should choose. Laughing at the particularly ridiculous plot twists."

She let out a breath that was almost a laugh.

"Big Sis Florence always preferred the brooding, mysterious heroes. I always argued for the kind ones, the ones who were gentle and patient and good."

She looked down at her massive hands. "She said that was very like me."

"Now...she’s gone." She shook her head slowly. "And I can’t help but to listen to have another book reading party again."

Cassius felt a lump forming in his throat.

It all made sense now.

Every single book lining these hidden shelves was identical to the collection resting in the grand library of his family estate because Florence, his mother, had kept a duplicate copy of every book she loved!

Cassius looked at Ragnora, feeling an incredible, invisible thread of fate wrapping around them both.

It was as if his mother’s spirit was reaching across time and memory, bringing two people she loved together over a shared, ridiculous secret.

"She really had great taste, didn’t she?"

Ragnora looked up, surprised by the gentle warmth in his voice, and nodded softly.

"She really did."