"This is the third floor? It seems the quantity of books has increased when compared to the lower floors. If I’m not wrong, this also means there’s a high chance I'll find the information I need." Leila arrived on the third floor, a little surprised at the sight.

Contrary to the lower floors, the third floor was massive, appearing to be two-fold the size of the other floors even though, from the outside, it wasn’t at all different from the others. 

This was the first time she ever saw something like this, but it wasn’t too hard for her to guess what caused this... A Space Crystal! 

Even though she was once a hero who was given special permissions and access to information that was unknown to the public, she didn’t know the uses of space crystals. In fact, they were so incredibly rare that she was surprised to see that the academy even had one.

"If I want to use everything I can to escape, I’ll need as much knowledge as I can get. I’ll also need to increase my strength. This will all increase my chances in the end."

As she passed by dozens of rows of shelves filled with books, she didn’t give them a single glance. For her to waste less time searching for the books she needs, she needed to find someone who knew the location of the books she wanted.

She didn’t ask the woman she met on the first floor, as she already knew the woman only knew the locations of the books on that floor. 

Each floor had one librarian, who was usually located in the middle of their respective floors. At the moment, Leila was walking toward the middle of the third floor in search of the librarian.

It took only a few minutes for her to reach the middle. But there wasn’t a single soul there when she arrived.

"Can I help you?" A feminine voice fell into her ears from behind, somewhat startling Leila.

Initially, Leila was still fearful that Zain wouldn’t go with her and instead chose to follow her, forcing her to remain vigilant as she didn’t want him to catch her off guard. But this seemed to work against her. 

Her heart started to race, increasing her fear as she turned around to face the librarian. 

Leila let out a deep sigh upon seeing that it wasn’t Zain. She wasn’t foolish to think he couldn’t change his voice to that of a woman, but seeing that it wasn’t brought relief to her heart. 

She didn’t let her fear bother her and asked, "I’m looking for information on crests, specifically demon crests." 

"Demon Crest?" The librarian repeated, not fazed by the fact that she startled Leila. "I’m a little impressed. For a first-year student such as yourself to want to study crests, let alone demon crests. Please follow me."

The librarian led Leila through rows of books towards a certain section of the third floor that seemed to be about demons. 

For her to escape, Leila felt the need to know about the demon crest on her stomach. She knew it wasn’t an ordinary crest but a strong one that couldn’t compare to other demon crests she had seen.

She would need to learn about all the effects and weaknesses of the demon crest for her to use it to her advantage. If she didn’t, there could be an unknown variable that would prevent her escape.

She realized she had only one chance to escape. If she failed, she knew she would never succeed and become an eternal slave to Zain.

The librarian showed her the row that held books filled with information on demon crests. She left, leaving Leila to search for what she wanted. 

"I don’t have a lot of time left before the next class starts; I’ll have to quickly search through the books for the right demon crest. Unfortunately, there’s a chance that the information on the demon crest I have isn’t here at all." She picked up the book closest to her on the shelf and opened the first cover, looking at the first page of the book.

"Demon Crests of Slavery!" Leila muttered the name. Just the name of the book gave her a bad feeling, but she ignored it.

She turned the page to the second page, which had detailed information about some crests and an image of the crest, but none of them had the same shape as hers.

As Leila went through each page of the book, her expression twisted. In the entire book, there was not even a single mention of her demon crest.

She wasn’t surprised, and she picked up another book and went through the pages, this time at a greater speed than before.

Reading through the contents of book by book and not finding anything that held any worth left her dissatisfied, but not once did she slow down as time seemed to pass.

When she reached the library, she only had a little more than twenty minutes to search, but after searching without luck, she now only had ten minutes left before she would be forced to give up her search.

At the moment, Leila had only finished the row she was on and started her search on another. She still hadn’t found some of the information on her crest. She felt that someone had intentionally left information on her demon crest on this floor, but she kept her hopes up.

It was all she could do. If there was no information on her crest here, she felt there wouldn’t be any information on the other floors, except for the fourth floor, where all the most important information was held.

With only five minutes left, Leila still hadn't found the book. The closer the time became, the more anxious she felt. What if she could not find information on her crest? What would she do? If she didn't even know the unknown variables, could she still escape?

Could she simply let herself become Zain’s eternal slave? Would she just give up and submit to the demon who forcibly took her body and freedom?

Deep within, she couldn’t help but wonder if this was the end of her journey to escape. She clenched her teeth, not willing to accept! She knew she was weak! She knew her chances of escaping were incredibly slim, and even trying was considered almost impossible.

However, even with her slim chance, she didn’t want to accept her fate of submitting to Zain! She didn’t want to waste the single opportunity she was given!

In the end, she increased her speed, skimming through the contents of the books with haste. Even though her chances were low, she wanted to escape! Her will to escape was far stronger than anything she had! Even if she was forced to go against her own morals, she wouldn’t hesitate as long as it brought her closer to reaching her own goals!

Three minutes… She had only three minutes left. With her increase in speed, she went through a book in a matter of seconds, growing closer to the end of the row.

She reached out her hand toward the next book as realization dawned on her that her chances were low. As soon as her fingers touched the book, she felt a strange sensation around her demon crest. It was as if her crest was excited for something! There was something inside this book that her crest was calling for!

Leila picked up the book and opened it, feeling her crest react more and more, which also sent shivers through her body, making her face turn red.

"Does this crest have to react? Can’t I get a break from the demon crest’s effects?" She wondered, glancing at the cover of the book. The book was old, seeming to have aged over the years since its creation and having no name on it.

She opened the book, observing the first page.

What greeted her sight on the first page slightly surprised her. It wasn’t a blank page or much different than the books she had read before, but there was something that was different compared to the other books.

On top of the page, there was a symbol of a demon crest, the same as the one on her stomach. Under the symbol, there were four words written in bold, but powerful, letters.

"Forbidden Crest of Lust!"

Quipit

Here’s a link to my discord for this novel and novels I may create in the future. On there, you can see the character visuals of all my novels:  https://discord.gg/MJXqaWkV9d