276 Tour of the Castle – I
“Brother! Good morning!” Anastasia happily greeted Alexander when he opened the door of the guest room where he was staying at.
Alexander smiled at his sister and then turned his gaze at Caspian who was standing beside Anastasia. He bowed his head to both the King and the Queen. And he greeted both of them, “Good morning, Your Majesties.”
After exchanging some pleasantries, Anastasia looked at her brother and then gestured her hand toward the corridor. And she asked, “Why don’t we start by visiting the throne hall?”
“Sure,” Alexander agreed, and then stepped out of the room.
The three of them walked down the corridor while being followed by a few servants and the maids.
As they were slowly heading towards the throne hall, Caspian mentioned a short history to Alexander. “So far, three Kings have sat on the throne that I am going to show you. My father, my brother, and me. But I have made a few changes in the throne according to my comfort.”
“That’s great to hear.” Alexander looked at the locked door at the far end of the corridor and then asked the current King, “Do you feel some sort of connection with the previous Kings when you sit down on the throne?”
Anastasia widened her eyes a little, knowing that talking about Percival upsets her husband. She quickly took a peek at her husband’s face, only to see his subtle smile. She let out a quiet sigh of relief and looked ahead at the corridor.
Caspian, on the other hand, answered Alexander, “Yes. Sometimes I do feel like I am being watched over by them from the shadows. I like to believe that they are aware of every decision that I make while sitting down on that throne. And that belief somewhat keeps me away from making any bad decision that can adversely affect my people.”
.....
Alexander was impressed to see how respectful Caspian was to the memories of his deceased father and brother.
When the three of them reached in front of the backdoor of the throne hall, the guards pushed the door open. And they bowed their heads when the Royals passed by.
The three of them stood by the huge throne and looked down at the large empty space ahead of them.
Alexander was darting his eyes around the hall with great interest. The throne hall of this castle looked much different than the one in Orsenia. He saw how definite numbers of seats were placed on either side of the hall instead of an empty open space.
The pillars of the hall were huge, and the ceiling was high. He noticed how there were weird-looking creatures carved at the top of the pillars and the corners of the ceiling. ‘Those are some nice wood carvings,’ he thought to himself.
Alexander then finally looked at the throne, which looked really old. “I’ve never seen something like this before,” he mumbled as he ran his fingertips along the armrest of the throne.
Caspian also looked at the throne and said, “It’s a very old style of the throne. Maybe that’s why.”
After looking around at the hall for some time, Caspian then led both his wife and his brother-in-law towards his study room which was close to the throne hall.
“And this is where I normally work on the stately affairs,” Caspian said as he stood very close to the door. He looked around the room and said, “There’s not much to see here though. Just some books and files that I have been working on.”
Since Caspian was standing near the door, Anastasia and Alexander were also standing very close to him.
Alexander darted his eyes around the room and said, “You have a nice place to work in.”
From there, the three of them roamed around several rooms of the central wing of the castle. Caspian obviously didn’t mention the dungeon that was behind the old door of the ground floor.
When they were about to finish the tour of the central wing, Anastasia glanced at a servant and then signaled something to him.
That servant rushed ahead to open the door to the library and a few of the maids also rushed after him to light up the library.
After the Royals reached the courtyard of the central wing, Anastasia took the lead again. She led them all out of the central wing and after walking for a while, she pointed towards the small independent room that came into view.
“And that is one of my favorite places in this castle,” she said with a wide smile on her face.
Alexander assumed that it was the library since Anastasia looked really excited, and was even hopping a little as she walked toward that small room.
‘But it is really smaller than I had imagined,’ Alexander thought to himself. He was also a little saddened, thinking how even that small room full of books would be more than enough for his sister to last her lifetime if she wasn’t cured soon.
Anastasia entered the library and then turned to look at Alexander and Caspian. She then waved at the two of them like an excited little child who was ready to show their new toy and shouted, “Come here, quick!”
Alexander suddenly smiled looking at that childish side of his sister. He then mumbled to Caspian, “Please excuse her child-like excitement. She really loves the books.”
“Oh, I don’t mind seeing her like that.” Caspian also smiled as he looked at that bright smile on Anastasia’s face. And he further replied to Alexander, “And I am aware of her love for the books. She once locked herself up for days in her room when she was angry at me.”
Alexander looked at Caspian with a little concerned look on his face. He couldn’t believe that his sister was capable of throwing temper tantrums like that.
“All she needed to stay inside her room were a few books.” Caspian laughed and then further added, “That was the only time I regretted showing the library to her. I was afraid that she would keep on ignoring me for a very long time since there are endless books in the library, and she had seen them all.”
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