After Heti and Baldwin left, only Gawain and Duchess Victoria remained in the study—Amber had been there at first too, but the second Gawain announced that official business was over, she vanished. By now, she had probably darted into the nearest tavern, and if she had not stepped on a mousetrap along the way, she was most likely hugging a beer mug and chugging away.
Victoria returned to Gawain's desk, curiosity seeming to flicker in her eyes. "Do you have any other instructions?"
"Have you forgotten what I mentioned to you before?" Gawain smiled, rose, and opened a small cabinet beside his desk. He took out a sturdy yet exquisite wooden box and handed it to Victoria as he unfastened the clasp on its lid. "Returning it to its rightful owner."
Victoria immediately guessed what was inside the box. She drew a soft breath and solemnly lifted the lid. A thick book with a mottled, aged cover and yellowed, slightly curled pages lay quietly upon a velvet lining.
The ink on the book had long since dried, yet the moment she opened the lid, Victoria still seemed to catch a faint scent of ink—perhaps it was an illusion, or perhaps it was the lingering smell of the chemicals used by the restorer who had repaired this ancient volume. A slight change seemed to pass over her icy, expressionless face, and her crystal-like eyes revealed a complicated mixture of emotion and joy.
"This is... the travelogue our family lost so long ago..." she murmured, as if speaking to herself.
"This is the restored Modir's Travels," Gawain said with a nod. "It had originally been haphazardly pieced together by a terrible editor and bound together with several other damaged books, but it has now been restored. What remains inside are only the