When Arenim entered the second princess's living room, he felt pity for the girl—first, because the room was poorly furnished, and second, because Mai'ya was crying, curled up beside the sofa while scratching one side of her face. "Please, help me," the second princess begged.
Arenim approached and took the little princess's hand, guiding her until Mai'ya stood in front of him. "Your Highness, I will take a look at your face," the high priest announced without asking for permission.
Carefully, Arenim moved the princess's hand away and looked in shock at her small face. "By the Lunar Trinity!" he exclaimed, stepping back slightly. Around Mai'ya's left eye, several blisters had formed, and in an attempt to get rid of them and the pain they caused, the second princess had scratched her skin until it bled. The high priest looked at Madelaine. "You, explain to me what happened to her," he ordered, pointing at the maid.
"My lord, the princess went out for a walk after lunch, and when she returned, she had a bruise around her left eye," Madelaine replied promptly. "We have some medicine for injuries, and as I was taught, I applied some to the injured area. But after a few minutes, blisters began to appear on the princess's face," the maid's voice started to tremble. "A-and then the princess said she was in a lot of p-pain and started scratching the wound." She stuttered more and more. "I-I don't know w-what to do anymore, my lord. No o-one dares to help my p-princess."
Letting out a sigh, Arenim turned to Saphira. "Well, thank you for accompanying me here," he said. "You may return to your duties now, Saphira." Then, he placed his free hand over Mai'ya's wound and recited a mantra. A blue glow emanated from the high priest's hand as he chanted the spell.
As Arenim's healing magic touched the princess's wound, he could sense something wrong with the residue left by the medicine on her skin, and this surprised him. Not wanting Saphira to find out that someone had likely sabotaged Mai'ya's medicine and end up reporting it to the king, Arenim decided to keep this information to himself for now. Once the mantra was complete, he lowered his hand. The second princess's face was finally healed.
"There, now that you're healed, let's begin our history lesson," Arenim said. But looking around, he couldn't find a proper table to place the study materials on. "Well, it seems we'll have to use magic to summon some furniture for your studies," he said, smiling at Mai'ya. The little princess's eyes sparkled when Arenim mentioned using magic. "Are you a sorcerer too?" Mai'ya blurted out in admiration. She thought that priests only had healing powers.
Laughing at the little princess's awestruck expression, Arenim made several hand gestures and recited incantations. When he finished, there were more furnishings in the room. He had summoned a desk, two red upholstered chairs, a bookshelf, and a writing board. "Well, now we have the furniture, but we're missing the study materials, aren't we?" he asked, and the princess nodded in agreement.
Then, with a snap of his fingers, the high priest made the materials they needed appear, which included books, papers, and writing supplies. "Very well, now we're ready for the lesson!" Arenim exclaimed with satisfaction. "Sit down," he said to Mai'ya, pointing to one of the chairs. "Tell me, have you learned anything about the history of our world?" he asked her.
"I started learning about the origin of our world's name," the princess began, sitting in the indicated chair. "I learned that Orhyan was the name of the first morph created by the lunar goddesses, and that before our species existed, the world was dominated by creatures we now call amorphs, because they didn't have a defined form," she continued. "And... that's as far as I've learned, my lord," she finished with sad eyes and a flushed face.
"I knew the second princess was forbidden from taking magic lessons, but I didn't imagine they had stopped the other lessons as well," Arenim said, looking at Saphira, who had not left even after being dismissed by the high priest. "Perhaps, 'milady,' you could clarify this situation for me," he said, pronouncing Saphira's title with angry sarcasm.
Under the purple robe she was wearing, Saphira's body trembled. Her former master had never used such a tone with her before. She ran her hand through her brown hair, and her eagle-like yellow eyes went on alert, the fair skin of the sorceress's face turning red. "Ahem," she cleared her throat, "Indeed, the prohibition should not have extended to the princess's other lessons," Saphira admitted. "I will immediately punish whoever is responsible for this mistake." Saying this, she turned and left the room and the princess's courtyard.