The Moonlight Princess's Fate: A Forbidden Love Blooming in the Royal Capital - The Librarian Without a Light and the Torn Page

The mark on her left hand throbbed again. 　Luna hid her left hand beneath her robe's sleeve as she walked through the castle corridors. Only her footsteps echoed across the stone pavement. Despite the early hour, the hallway was already crowded. 　A group of young nobles bearing moon magic passed in front of her. Pale blue moonstone pendants glowed softly at their chests—proof of "magical aptitude." The moment they noticed Luna, their voices dropped. "…Another powerless one is here." 　They meant to whisper, but she heard them anyway. 　Luna quickened her pace slightly. She wasn't angry. It was just that when this happened every morning, the hallway gradually began to feel farther away. 　She had been born a noble with moon magic. But at fourteen, a magical accident had stripped her of her power. For the five years since, Luna had lived as "powerless"—a noble without magic. Neither truly noble nor commoner, suspended in some awkward in-between. 　But she had to survive. 　That's why she had this job. Librarian at the Royal Castle's Great Library, the "Moonreading Archive." The position required a written exam and interview; the annual salary was 120 gold coins. In place of magical power, Luna had the ability to read ancient languages. That alone was what sustained her now. 　She opened the heavy archive door. 　The smell of books drifted out. A unique scent—ink, parchment, and a hint of dust. Luna loved this smell. Here, it didn't matter whether you had magic or not. "Good morning, Luna." 　When she turned, her coworker Eina was organizing the shelves. Luna returned the greeting, and Eina smiled back—but there was a pause. Just half a second of it. 　Luna walked to her desk with a practiced expression. She didn't think Eina disliked her. It was just that everyone's faces showed they didn't know how to interact with her. (Today, I'll just face the ancient texts. Dealing with documents is easier than dealing with people.) 　Luna thought this to herself and picked up the stack of manuscripts piled on her desk. 　　　　✦ 　The morning's work was deciphering ancient texts. 　The characters written on parchment were in a very old script, difficult to read without practice. Luna moved her pen across the page, writing modern translations in the margins. 　The text contained this passage: 'Moon magic is activated using moonlight as a catalyst. Its specialties are healing, illusion, defense, and mental interference. The practitioner activates it by wearing a moonstone pendant or by exposing bare skin to moonlight. After use, body temperature temporarily drops. Excessive use can lead to hypothermia.' 　Luna looked at her own left hand as she wrote the translation. 　A thin line ran along the base of her fingers. The mark from that day when she was fourteen. It was barely noticeable most of the time. (Hypothermia, huh. That has nothing to do with me.) 　She tried to laugh lightly, but couldn't. 　She moved to the next manuscript—an old chronicle she'd pulled from the neighboring shelf. It was thick and heavy. As she turned the pages, a record from eighty years ago appeared. "The Year of Eclipse," the heading read. 　A major incident when both moon and sun magic had vanished simultaneously for three days. An estimated eight hundred people died in the royal capital of Eltia alone. All equipment dependent on magic had stopped, and the city fell into dysfunction. According to the records, people had spent those three days literally in darkness. 　The Dual Light Covenant—a promise made twelve hundred years ago between the moon goddess Mileune and the sun god Valdis. The world's stability depended on that balance. But eighty years ago, that balance had wavered once. (I wonder if it's wavering again now.) 　Luna pondered this vaguely before closing the page. "You're fast at deciphering, Luna." 　She looked up to see the head librarian, Darius, passing by. A man in his late fifties with graying hair, he had once been a scholar of moon magic. He had a gentle disposition, but his expression changed when discussing ancient history. "The writing style of that chronicle—there are only three people here who can read it. This is your third volume already." "…I'm just used to it, I suppose." 　Darius nodded slightly and returned to the back room. That was all. But for Luna, that was enough. Here, if you could read ancient languages, whether you had magic or not didn't matter much. That was the main reason she kept this job. 　　　　✦ 　During lunch break, Luna headed alone to the back of the archive. 　The restricted shelf section—an area where documents couldn't be viewed without permission. Today was her turn to organize it, and since the other librarians had gone out to eat together, Luna was alone in the archive. 　The space between shelves was narrow, forcing her to turn sideways to fit through. Luna squeezed her body in, checking the dust-covered spines. 　Suddenly, she stopped. 　Between the shelf and the wall, in the very back corner, something was wedged. (What is this?) 　She pulled it out. It was a thin, small manuscript—a few sheets of parchment bound with string. No cover, and she couldn't tell what era it was from. Judging by the dust accumulation, it had been lying there for a very long time. 　Luna returned to her desk and opened it. 　Ancient language. Very old script. But readable. 'Dual Light Resonance—a technique for wielding both moon and sun magic simultaneously. Before it was designated a forbidden art, the dual light priests would……' 　Luna's eyes widened. 　Dual Light Resonance. Using both moon and sun magic at the same time was taboo now. There was even a law called the Dual Light Balance Act; anyone using both magics would face magical seal punishment. Three hundred years had passed since it was designated forbidden. 　But this manuscript was written before that designation. (The rest is……) 　Her hand stopped. 　The next page was missing. 　More precisely, pages that should have been there had been cut out. With something sharp. Carefully. The cut was too clean to be accidental. Someone had deliberately removed these pages. (Why? Who?) 　Luna checked all the remaining pages. But all the crucial information about Dual Light Resonance was gone. 　She took out her notebook and wrote down only the fragments she could decipher. For some reason, she couldn't just leave it alone. (Should I return this to its proper place? But…something about this really bothers me.) 　Luna stood there for a while, holding the manuscript to her chest. 　　　　✦ 　The archive's closing time arrived. 　She heard her coworkers leaving together. "Should we stop by Pale Moon?" "I'm too tired today, I'm going straight home"—their voices faded into the distance. Luna finished tidying up alone and looked out the window. 　The sky over the royal capital of Eltia was stained orange. The surface of the Moonlight River glimmered in the setting sun. On the far bank, in the noble district, she could see the stone buildings of Silvana Academy. An academy for studying moon magic, with about two hundred students. (Everyone's probably in the middle of training right now.) 　The place where Luna should have been before she turned fourteen. If the magical accident hadn't happened, she would be there now. 　She took out stationery from her desk drawer. She thought she'd write a letter to her cousin Aira. Aira was currently a student at Silvana Academy. 　She picked up her pen and began writing. 'Dear Aira. I hope you're doing well……' 　She stopped there. (Writing "I'm doing well" again feels like such a lie.) 　If she wrote "I'm doing well," it would be a lie. But writing "I'm not doing well" felt too heavy. She didn't want to worry Aira, but she didn't want to pretend everything was fine either. 　Luna set down her pen and folded the stationery. She'd do it another time. 　But thinking of Aira made her smile a little. That girl was definitely practicing magic with incredible intensity right now. She had a somewhat scatterbrained side, so she probably wasn't giving her teachers too much trouble. 　With such thoughts, Luna finished tidying up. 　　　　✦ 　Back in her room, gazing out at the Moonlight River from her window, it happened. 　Her left hand suddenly grew warm. (What?) 　She looked down. The mark at the base of her fingers was glowing faintly blue-white. Normally it was just a thin line, but tonight was different. As moonlight streamed through the window, the glow gradually intensified. 　The mark was warm. Or rather—it felt like being pulled, if she had to describe it. (The moonlight is drawing me? But I don't have magic anymore.) 　Her feet moved on their own. 　She left her room, climbed the stairs, then climbed more stairs. Before she knew it, Luna was ascending the highest tower in the castle. The Moon-Viewing Tower—the tallest of the Dual Light spires, standing about sixty meters high. 　Breathless, she reached the summit. (Wait, what am I doing right now?) 　She almost laughed at herself. A nineteen-year-old librarian being drawn to the moon and climbing a tower in the middle of the night. From an objective standpoint, she looked completely suspicious. 　But the view from the tower's peak left her speechless. 　The Moonlight River shimmered silver, reflecting the full moon. The lights of the city on both banks blurred across the water. The white outlines of the Dual Light spires floated against the night sky. From the noble district in the east to the craftsmen's quarter in the west, all of the royal capital Eltia breathed quietly in the darkness. 　Luna placed her hands on the railing. (If my power returned, my family's honor would be restored too. Grandmother's face would……) 　She immediately pushed the thought away. (What if it doesn't come back? Then it doesn't, I suppose.) 　But every time she told herself "then it doesn't," something inside her wore away a little more. She knew this, which is why she tried not to think about it. 　The night wind gently stirred Luna's silver hair. 　Then, a small sound came from behind her. 　A shoe touching stone. (What?) 　Luna turned around. 　There was someone on the tower's summit. 　A tall man. In the moonlight, the silhouette of a knight-like figure stood before her. Long legs, broad shoulders, straight posture. His face was hard to see in the backlighting. But his right arm—even in the dim light, she could see it. A faint golden glow ran across the surface of his skin. 　A marking. 　Luna held her breath. 　Someone else here, at this hour, in this place. And a golden marking on his right arm—that was the sun mark that practitioners of sun magic bore. 　The man slowly turned to face her. 　In the moonlight, their eyes met. "Who…are you?" 　Her voice came out smaller than she expected. 　The man said nothing. He simply looked at her. His gaze held no hostility, yet no familiarity either—only a deep exhaustion that seemed to settle in the depths of his eyes. 　The wind passed between them. 　The silver of the Moonlight River trembled in the distance.

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Episode 1

Name: The Moonlight Princess's Fate: A Forbidden Love Blooming in the Royal Capital
Author: Novelia

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