31 THIRTY ONE: Uncanny Resemblance pt 2

"You are from the House of Women."

The gray-eyed man must have noticed the tag dangling from Esther's wrist.

"Yes, My Lord," she confirmed.

"The hour seems rather late for a young lady from the House of Women to be out," the man remarked.

"This hour was chosen purposefully," Esther explained, keeping her head lowered, "when many will be busy at the banquet halls."

Her response was met with a chuckle from the man.

With cheeks beginning to redden, she wondered what in her answer he found so amusing.

"I would become suspicious of you for such a reason if you had not been so forthcoming with it," the man replied, followed by another laugh. "Now I believe you are simply an honest person."

'"Ah.." Esther's ears began to burn as she realized her mistake. "I merely wish to avoid the crowds, My Lord."

"Yes, yes. Please raise your head," the man acknowledged. "With Lord Hegai's endorsement, I have no reason to doubt you."

Esther looked up to see the man still staring at her, his lips still curled with the remnants of his laughter. Again, she was struck by how remarkably similar he looked to Prince Teresh. His sharp nose and angled jaw made him undeniably handsome--perhaps more so than the Prince he resembled.

Quickly, she glanced away, feeling her face begin to blush once again, which earned her another chuckle from the gray-eyed man.

"I apologize," he said, putting a hand to his mouth. "I had begun to think the palace was full only of snakes, so I find your honesty rather refreshing."

"I-I see," Esther cleared her throat awkwardly.

She wondered if the proper response was to thank him for his compliment (if it could be called such) or accept his gratitude for entertaining him.

"Now then, I shall-" the man nodded to her, suddenly moving past her toward the door, but paused before finishing his abrupt farewell.

"... Are you, by chance, on an errand for Lord Hegai? Are you looking for anything in particular?"

He asked the questions without turning around to face her.

"Actually, I-" Esther stopped.

She had nearly revealed her purpose for visiting the hall of records to this unknown man.

Based on the way others had reacted to her inquiries regarding the deposed Queen Vashti, explaining herself could be dangerous. Especially when she could not fully discern whether the gray-eyed man was a friend or foe.

"Actually," she began again, "I am simply looking around."

"I see."

There was no trace of further amusement in the man's voice, leading Esther to wonder what kind of expression he was making. If only he would turn to face her just one more time.

"I wish you a fair time here in the record hall, then," he went on, snuffing out Esther's wish to see his face again.

"May you be well, My Lord," Esther returned his farewell as the man proceeded to push the door open.

Only as the heavy door closed once again behind him did Esther realize the stack of parchments that had been tucked neatly under one of his arms.

For a few minutes, she stood staring at the door, pondering who the man was, if he was indeed related to Prince Teresh, and whether a person was actually allowed to remove records from the record hall.

Soon enough, however, her curiosity regarding Vashti overtook the leftover curiosity from the unforeseen encounter, and she got to work locating the records from the Golden Hall.

She began searching nearest to where she was and soon found a large stack of shelves, each one filled with neatly bound stacks of parchment. The binding served not only to group certain papers together, but also to label which time frame of records was contained.

Since the records were ordered in ascending order, with decades-old records occupying the uppermost shelves, Esther stooped down to search through the very bottom shelf.

"Let's see.." she hummed, mentally calculating the date on which the events concerning Vashti transpired. "It should have been six to ten months ago."

As she shifted her gaze farther down the row, she noticed a gap between some of the records.

Frowning, she checked the dates written on the bindings of the records on either side of the gap. On one side were the records from one year ago, and on the side nearest to her were records from five months ago.

Esther stared at the empty spot on the shelf in disbelief.

"It can't be.." she murmured. "Wait!"

She gasped as she thought of the gray-eyed man and stack of records tucked under his arm.

As she had not been paying much attention, she couldn't recall perfectly, but she thought the binding color and size had resembled the other records from the Golden Hall. Additionally, the amount he had would have been just enough to fill the gap left on the shelf.

"... He took them."

Esther groaned, hanging her head in defeat.

The records she needed, which had sat perfectly in a line on that shelf morning after morning while she poured through old history books, were gone.

And she had no way of telling when they would be returned, or if they would be returned at all.

As she sunk to the floor in frustration, she praised herself for holding her tongue and not revealing her desires to the gray-eyed man. Now that she knew he had taken all possible records regarding Vashti, she no longer had to wonder whether he was dangerous or not.

Without a doubt, he was.

After a few more minutes spent pouting at her poor luck, Esther rose with a sigh and dusted her skirt. She vowed to check for the missing records each evening, and grab them all the moment they made their appearance.

In a stroke of great fortune, Esther spied the records the next time she visited the hall of records. They were placed back neatly in line with their fellows, as if they'd never been missing in the first place.

However, in a stroke of great misfortune, Esther was still unable to study them.

"It seems our meetings here are becoming regular."

The gray-eyed man smiled down at Esther as she tore her gaze away from the records of the Golden Hall.

"Since you wish to avoid those attending the banquets, and I wish to avoid the banquets they are busy attending."