14 Arielle Can't Read

Arielle was painting when someone gently touched her shoulder from behind. The girl immediately stood up to greet Priest Elis.

"Is there anything I can help you with, Priest?" she asked politely.

Priest Elis smiled gently then shook his head. "I happened to be on my way to the Blackthorn Palace to meet His Majesty the King. I saw Your Highness sitting alone in this cold weather."

Princess Arielle just smiled awkwardly while shifting her body slightly so that Priest Elis could not see the unfinished painting.

"What are you painting?" asked Priest Elis kindly.

"Ah, just a view of the Blackthorn Palace."

"It's very beautiful, Princess. Uhm… by the way, who is this man?" Priest Elis pointed at the figure of a man who was standing behind the window where King Ronan worked.

Arielle scratched her head awkwardly. Her face was flushed red with embarrassment, "That is… uhm… His Majesty the King…."

"Oh..."

Priest Elis unhurriedly watched Arielle's figure silently. In this close distance, he couldn't feel her mana flowing. He mastered the use of heat and light mana, so if anyone around had their mana stream open, he would definitely be able to sense it.

"Your Highness… Can I see the palm of your hand?" asked Priest Elis, holding out his hand while asking Arielle to put her hand on his palm.

"What for?"

"I just wanted to see the mana stream that you have."

"My mana?" Arielle clasped her hands in front of her chest, feeling doubtful. "But… you said my mana stream hasn't opened yet?"

Even though she was overcome with doubts, Arielle still placed her hand on Priest Elis' palm. Priest Elis touched the midpoint of the palm with two fingers of his left hand. Arielle patiently waited.

"Hmm…. it's strange," said Priest Elis slowly.

"What's strange?" asked Arielle curiously.

"When you were at the Cathedral a few days ago, after you shook my hand, I felt like I was being energized with new energy. From a book that I have studied, it is stated that if two people have the same type of mana, then both of them can share their mana through touch."

Arielle furrowed her brows, not understanding.

"At that time, I was flowing light mana into my body so that Your Highness could see the light emanating from my palm. And I continued to activate the light mana flow until you shook my hand. After that touch occurred, the light emitted from my palm became bigger, which means my mana has been replenished or added."

"Maybe it was just a coincidence?" Arielle furrowed her brows.

Priest Elis smiled, then closed Arielle's palm.

"We don't know anything yet," replied Priest Elis ambiguously.

"Oh, have you ever read a book about the five elements of nature? If you are interested in learning about mana, that book might be suitable for beginners."

"Thank you very much, Priest! I-I really want to know more about mana… It's just…" Arielle spoke in a doubtful tone. Priest Elis remained silent, waiting for Arielle to continue her words. The girl then lowered her head, embarrassed. Her face turned even redder as she whispered, "I-I'm not good at reading."

"Pardon?" asked Priest Elis. He wondered if he heard her speak correctly or if there was some trouble with his own hearing.

"I'm not very good at reading," whispered Arielle again, slightly louder.

Priest Elis blinked in surprise. A princess who can't read? That was very surprising to know.

"I-I never entered formal school due to some circumstances."

"My apologies, Your Highness."

"I-it's nothing! Priest, you don't need to apologize! Even though it's embarrassing, that's my situation so… you need not feel guilty."

There was an awkwardness between the two. Luckily, there was the sound of heavy footsteps approaching, so the two didn't have to stand still in awkward silence for long.

The King, His Majesty Ronan D. Blackthorn approached them and made both Priest Elis and Arielle bow their heads in respect.

"Go back to the Cathedral. I'll talk about your report tonight," said Ronan, and immediately Priest Elis resigned.

Arielle was still standing where she was. She felt strange about Ronan's attitude. He acted especially cold today.

"Is it true that you can't read?" asked Ronan, surprising Arielle.

The girl looked up quickly to see a plain white mask and a pair of red irises were staring at her intently. Arielle immediately lowered her head nervously.

"Y-yes, Your Majesty," she spoke in a really low voice. "It's true."

"How is that possible? You're a princess, right?"

How was that possible?

Well, Arielle grew up without any formal education. She just learned about basic royal manners from Tania. However, she was never given a proper education. She didn't even have access to enter the royal library, as it was where Prince Alexis studied with Queen Rosalie's other children.

Ronan looked at the canvas in front of him then took a few steps forward to see Arielle's handiwork. He wanted to know the result of the girl's efforts after sitting in the cold for hours.

After seeing the color strokes that were so soft and thorough, Ronan could see Arielle's painting ability was above average. That girl was very talented.

"You learned to paint but didn't learn to read or write?"

Arielle bit her lower lip, feeling hurt by King Ronan's question. Even though she knew the man didn't understand her condition as the forgotten princess, the man's words seemed to demean her because she couldn't read and write.

Ronan turned his gaze from the painting to Arielle because the girl never answered his question.

"What is Your Majesty doing out here?" asked Arielle and diverted Ronan's question earlier.

"Huh?"

"I thought for the past few days, Your Majesty the King has been avoiding me, but why have you suddenly appeared in front of me again? I think approaching a royal prisoner would only be a waste of Your Majesty's time. Therefore, I beg you to excuse me."

Arielle brought the canvas and folded the easel back. No one knew what made her so brave to leave a king alone in the garden. However, Arielle's heart was quite hurt when the man insinuated that she chose to learn to paint rather than read and write.

Arielle laughed wryly. She got annoyed, and she stomped her foot in frustration as she made her way back to her room. She never chose what she wanted to learn! She learned to paint because this was all she got! Nor was it a gift from the king or queen of Nieverdell!

"He's lucky to be born as the only heir to the throne," Arielle grumbled to the empty wind.

Ronan didn't know how her siblings ousted her to the point of prohibiting every teacher to teach her!

If only Tania was able to read and write, Arielle was sure that her maid would teach her too!

Once she arrived in her room, Arielle sighed in annoyance. She looked at the painting she made earlier. She clicked on her tongue and took out black paint. She harshly rubbed her brush on the figure of the man standing behind the window.