After a while, Alexander broke out of his daze. He stared blankly at Brandt, not knowing what to say.

Before he could think of something, Brandt spoke, "Master Alex, you must be unfamiliar with the renovated house. Let me put your luggage away and have the staff prepare a meal whilst Ana guides you around.”

Not giving the two any time to respond, the old butler immediately disappeared.

Alexander and Ana looked at each other. Awkward and not knowing what to say.

After a few seconds, Ana broke the silence.

“Master Alexander must be curious about the house, yes? Shall we go to Master Cillian's office?”

Alexander nodded.

***

Through the expansive corridors, Alexander and Ana walked in silence. She kept at least two arm lengths away from him and only spoke when they passed by an important room.

“This is Master Cillian’s trophy room.”

The unfocused Alexander was still looking at the well-decorated hallway made up of alien/foreign materials ignoring her explanation.

‘How much did Cillian spend to purchase these materials to renovate the house. I reckon at least 10 to 20 million pounds.’

Ana stood still, looking at him. More memories of her and Alexander's inquisitive childhood resurfaced.

‘Come on, sit on my shoulder and see what they are doing,’ little Alexander suggested whilst lowering his back.

‘But, their clothes are thrown across the ground. They are obviously going to sleep. Why are we peaking at them?’ Little innocent Ana asked back.

‘That’s obviously not snoring sounds. If we catch them doing something wrong, we can blackmail them for more pocket money,’ little Alexander justified himself.

She quickly stomped these memories out and regained her composed expression.

After a while, he apologised, and they went in.

***

A resplendence hall welcomed him. Rows upon rows of strange and unique items lined up in an organised manner. They were placed on black metallic pedestals and protected by slick glass covers with golden plaques below detailing their information.

Ana gave Alexander a moment to enjoy the sight of the brilliant private museum hall. Before providing him with an introduction regarding items of high importance to the Eliot household.

Stunned by the sheer majesty of his family's accumulated wealth, Alexander nodded and followed Ana.

“This jagged stone in front of us is the first item humanity managed to bring out from an Astral Gate. Before Astral-capable ships and Astral-insulation capsules, men in Astral-suit have to hope that the items they picked up don’t disintegrate. On Master Cillian's many missions, this was the first item he successfully brought back.”

“Collectors from around the world valued this rock at 5 million pounds.”

“This iridescent floating blue gem is an alien power core. Master Cillian based the modern antimatter power core on the working of this gem. Most of Eliot Industries' main industrial complexes are powered by a bigger version of this gem as it is more efficient and safer than ordinary antimatter reactors. Its code name is MA2070-1. The boys at the lab called it a derelict reactor.”

“When discovered, they are instantly purchased by Eliot Industries. The basic price for a gem of this size is 500 thousand pounds.”

“The two items on my left and right are fossils of ancient plants and creatures. For the plant, I forgot its name.”

She looked at the plaque beneath the item.

“Ah! It's called the Longevity plant. From the plant's fossilised records, the guys at the lab managed to extend a person's telomeres. Seeing the potential application of this fossil, Master Cillian only kept one as a trophy and transferred the rest to the research lab.”

“The giant head fossil was called Big Head by Master Cillian, who only kept the head as a trophy. Through studying cell division in the genetic records of this creature, the lab guys managed to suppress the creation of cancerous cells in humans.”

“These two fossils are considered priceless by the medical industry. That’s why the labs housing them are heavily protected.”

…

Enchanted by Ana's stories, Alexander didn't notice that they had arrived at a different section of the private museum. The items presented here were placed on larger white metallic pedestals.

Ana stopped her steps.

“We finally arrived at the classified section. I apologise in advance as I won’t be able to give you more information than what's stated on the plaque.”

Alexander tilted his head in confusion. Yet, she resumed walking.

“This sword is called Damocles.”

“This is a fossilised hand.”

“This is a vial of Master Cillian’s concentrated blood.”

“This is assumed to be an alien terminal.”

"This is a rock embryo.”

“This spear is called Cain.”

Alexander snapped back for a moment.

“Did you just say there is a vial of my brother's blood in here?”

Ana confusingly replied, “I didn’t stutter, didn’t I? Yes, Master Alexander, Master Cillian’s concentrated blood is stored here.”

“Why would he even store his blood here?”

“I’m sorry, Master Alexander, as I am not allowed to tell you more about it. If you are interested, please consult Lady Emilie regarding the procedure to access these items.”

Alexander was totally confused. However, he quietly followed.

…

Finally, they arrived at the grandest exhibition. A gigantic pod hoovered peacefully above a calm pond surrounded by pillars of white metallic steles.

The pod was large enough to fit two adult males and seemed still operable. Its hatch opened, waiting for its owner to return.

Around the pod, white and black metallic lotus glided smoothly above the tranquil water.

As Alexander walked closer to observe, he collided with a transparent glass protector surrounding the exhibition. Alexander moved his hand to feel the glass.

From the touch of his hand, golden lines spread out and formed a sentence.

“To my beloved. In memory of the first day that we met.”

Alexander looked back to ask Ana about this exhibition. Yet, from afar, she just shook her head.

***

After the exciting viewing, they returned to the expansive hallway. After a few minutes, they arrived at another important door.

However, this time, Ana didn’t come close to the door. She stood a few metres away and introduced it.

“Ahem, this door. Erm. Is Master Cillian's private trophy room.”

Thinking it was his brother's other hoarding room, Alexander twisted the knob and opened the door.

Ana's face instantly flustered red breaking her calm and professional look. She looked away and covered her face with her hands.

Not noticing Pandora's box he had opened, Alexander turned back and looked at her. An image of a little Ana standing there covering her face overlapped with the current Ana appeared in front of Alexander.

‘I don’t want to go,’ little Ana refused.

‘Come on! It will be fun. Aren’t you curious what’s in there?’ Little Alexander asked.

‘But the sound that came out of their room is weird,’ little Ana muttered whilst peaking at him from one of her hands.

With dormant memories playing in his head Alexander instinctively grabbed her arm and dragged her in.

With her hands covering her face, Ana was helpless against his sudden pull and followed him in.

***

The room was even more resplendence than the previous trophy room. It resembled a medieval throne room.

A giant golden throne sat radiantly at the end of the hall.

Illustrious tapestries decorated the hall.

Smooth black stone brick layered the flooring.

Life-like mannequins populated the room. Some were wearing medieval dresses; some were wearing amour; some were in their lingeries.

Even for those wearing clothes, their clothes were extremely risqué and barely covered any delicate part of their bodies. And all of them were female.

Alexander's face instantly turned red, not knowing how to respond to this situation.

Ana, who was peaking from her hands, could no longer repress those memories.

‘Let me down! Let me down! I don’t want to see it anymore,’ little Ana struggled on little Alexander’s shoulder.

‘What happened? Are they fighting?’ confused, little Alexander asked.

‘No … they … they are doing weird stuff together. Let me down! Let me down!’ Little Ana hit Alexander to let her down.

***

Ana slapped her face to regain her calm.

Quickly, she grabbed Alexander by the collar and pulled him out of the room. Using her back, she immediately closed the door behind her.

“Sigh”

“What … What is that room?” A flustered Alexander barely regained his calm to ask.

“That … It is Master Cillian’s ‘Private Trophy Room’” Barely managed to calm herself, Ana replied.

“I know. But what is the purpose of that room?” Alexander reiterated his question.

“It’s for his private hosting and storage of special gifts.”

“Huh?”

“The female mannequins sometimes wear items left behind or purchased for that event. Master Cillian also made them carry the gifts he received. Hence, making it looks like they are paying tribute to their king.”

“You … You … You have been inside before?” He stuttered for a bit before managing to get his words out.

“No .. Wait, ok! I accidentally entered the Arctic theme room a few years back. Ok! Don’t misunderstand!” She vehemently denied dropping her professional tone.

“Wait, there are more?”

“Yes! There should be 10 to 15 more rooms like this scattered across the chateau.”

“How do you even differentiate them?” Finally regaining his calm, Alexander stood up.

“The plaque on the side of the room will write ‘Special Trophy Room’, and the door’s pattern is more vivid to represent the theme of the room,” she turned back and traced her hand on the fleur-de-lis patterns carved on the door.