21 — Second Lesson

"Who's this?" Zahra inquired, raising an eyebrow as she stood in front of both of them.

"Fiona, this is her highness, princess Zahra. She is my student, Fiona Laurence. She is the person I told you I would bring with me today." Owen spoke, introducing both females to each other.

Fiona nodded, bowing to Zahra once again.

"Ok, enough with all this." Zahra sat on the couch facing them, inclined against the couch.

"What we gonna do today?" She asked.

"Today, we will prepare a workout routine for you, Your Highness," Owen spoke, pulling out a few sheets from his bag posed on the table in front of him.

"What?! W-workout?!" Zahra gasped, sitting up straight.

"Yes, Your Highness. Don't worry, I will make sure it's not too hard yet effective," Fiona smiled. "After all, I'm the one in charge of this from now on."

"No, no. I'm not doing this."

"Your Highness..." Owen looked at her with pitiful eyes. "You told me you would do anything unless it involved you not having any snacks."

"What!" Zahra exclaimed. Then, she remembered what she said yesterday.

"Indeed. You told me you would take your classes properly." Owen continued, realizing Zahra had remembered what she told.

"Oh, shut it. I'll do it." Zahra rolled her eyes. "But don't blame me if it doesn't work. A lot of people tried before," Zahra cracked up.

Fiona and Owen nodded at the same time, giving Zajra a faint smile.

Owen found himself feeling a bit anxious about Princess Zahra, as her upbringing differed from that of the other noble ladies he had instructed in the past.

Despite her somewhat childlike manner of speaking and behaving, he also noticed that she was incredibly intelligent. These conflicting aspects left Owen uncertain about his ability to fulfill the queen dowager's request.

"I need to get you to change your clothes. These clothes wouldn't be good for you to wear while exercising," Fiona stated as she made a sign to a maid who was standing in front of the door with her hand.

The maid entered the room with haste, her eyes wide with concern as she worried that the princess might have gotten into trouble with her teachers.

The thought of the queen dowager finding out about the princess's misbehaviour filled her with dread, as she knew that the consequences could be severe.

If the queen dowager discovered what had happened, the princess could very well be at the mercy of the queen dowager's punishment. The queen dowager's punishments were very brutal.

"W-what is it?" The maid hesitantly asked.

"Get a T-shirt and pants for the princess," Fiona ordered.

"The... size?" The maid asked.

Zahra, with a wry smile on her face, shifted her eyes towards the maid and gently tilted her head to the left, her eyebrow raised.

"The same size you used for my dresses," She scoffed. "This palace is filled with dumb people," Zahra mumbled loud enough to be heard.

"H-however the sizes change depending on the type of clothes—" The maid was interrupted by Fiona who raised her hand, halting her from speaking further.

"Just go. Do as the princess said. Use the same size for her T-shirt and pants," Fiona said.

The maid nodded and bowed to Zahra before exiting the study room in a rush.

A few minutes later, Zahra had changed into the clothes brought by the maid.

"This is..." She turned around in front of the mirror uneasily. "It's so weird. My whole body is being... wrapped around this so tightly." She sighed. "Do I need to wear this? Can I get another size at least?" She turned around, facing Fiona.

Fiona shook her head with a smile on her face.

"No, Your Highness. Pardon my rudeness, however, this is the best way to motivate you to work hard to fix your figure. If you lose a little bit of fat, then you can walk around more freely in this attire," She pointed at Zahra's outfit.

"And I'm sure you're more excited than me to be able to show everyone that you can also be a dignified young lady just like your younger sister," she added.

Hearing about Layla, the conversation between Layla and her crossed Zahra's mind. She needed to do this so other people wouldn't look down on her like her own family members did.

Zahra nodded and walked outside where Owen was waiting for both of the young ladies.

Owen was standing in the yard where he had planned to train Zahra.

"You're here!" He exclaimed upon seeing the two female silhouettes approaching him.

"Yep! I'm all set!" Zahra exclaimed. "What should I do?"

"Well first, we will start with a little bit of workout," Fiona spoke, taking the lead.

Owen gestured with a nod and a step to the side, creating more space for both of his students to work.

He had the intent of allowing Fiona the opportunity to lead a lesson on her own. Even though the topic was related to the princess's education, he had confidence in the teaching he had provided Fiona over the years.

"As people say, if you learn the hard way, you learn faster. And Princess Zahra is one difficult case. If Fiona can teach her properly then surely she will be an amazing teacher in the future," Owen told himself.

Fiona began the session by starting with some gentle stretching exercises to ensure that Zahra wouldn't wake up sore the following morning.

Following that, she instructed Zahra to complete three laps around the entirety of the palace grounds.

Despite Zahra not being accustomed to such physical activities, she decided to heed Fiona's guidance and give it a shot.

As she moved, the discomfort of her outfit was overshadowed by the encouraging words that Fiona had told her earlier.

Zahra, determined to conquer her challenge, muttered to herself, "If I can do this, then... this dress won't bother me so much," as she picked up her pace and pushed herself to run faster.

Gasping for air and feeling the burn in her muscles, she ultimately collapsed to the ground on her knees after completing three laps around the massive yard.

Fiona joined Zahra on the ground and exclaimed, "Good job! That was amazing, Your Highness!"

Grinning with fulfilment, Zahra responded, "Thanks!"

Owen, ever the proud instructor of both young ladies, praised Zahra and Fiona with a respectful tone, "Good work, Your Highness. And you too, Fiona. You have done well as well by making your student confident that she can achieve her goal."

Owen extended both of his hands to his students to help them up.

With a gentle smile, Zahra declined Owen's assistance and rose to her feet independently.

Fiona followed Zahra and stood up on her own, proud of her first student achieving her first goal on the first day of their teaching journey.

"Why didn't you take my hand?" Owen raised his eyebrow.

"Because..." Fiona looked around, unable to say the truth. She couldn't possibly let her instructor's hands get dirty.

She knew Professor Owen cared little about such matters but she paid extra attention to make sure she wouldn't disrespect him in any way.

"Cause, you will fall too," Zahra burst into laughter.

"What?!" Owen exclaimed in disbelief. "Your Highness! Trust me I'm in good form despite my grey hair!"

"Sure, sure," Zahra nodded her head, looking at Fiona who was trying her best to not laugh.

"You can laugh," Zahra approached Fiona and whispered beside her ear.

"Your Highness! I could never!" Fiona panicked and quickly covered her mouth with her hands, putting on a poker face.

"No respect for your teacher!" Owen sighed and walked back into the palace.

"Oops," Zahra followed Owen.

"Princess Zahra! He misunderstood me!" Fiona sighed, rushing to catch up with Zahra and Owen.

"It's all good! Don't worry," Zahra smiled. "I was just messing around."

"Messing around? Should I remind you that you are learning to become a proper young lady and not becoming worse than you already are? Who laughs at their teacher like this? It's so rude!" Emera exclaimed, stepping closer to Zahra.

"You asked me to learn. I'm learning. It's just been two days! I won't learn everything in just two days!" Zahra yelled, rushing upstairs.

Once she reached the first floor, she turned her back.

"Fiona, tell Professor Owen that we will continue the rest tomorrow," she shouted loud enough to be heard by Fiona who nodded and bowed at her before leaving.

"This old hag is so fucking annoying! If the teacher doesn't mind, who are you to talk to?!" She muttered to herself.

Once she reached her bedroom, she opened the door of her bedroom and slammed it behind her.

"Anyways, I should take a shower and change," she sighed.

A few hours later -

"Princess Zahra," a deep, manly voice called out as a knock echoed through the room.

Startled, Zahra swiftly spun around to face the door, curious to discover the visitor's identity. She contemplated for a moment the silence between the knocks.

She realized that the door remained shut. In the few days she'd been in the palace, it was common for a servant to open the door promptly after knocking, especially when bearing snacks or a meal.

Moving cautiously, Zahra made her way to the door and gently swung it open.

Her eyes widened in shock as she laid them on the figure before her, causing her to audibly gasp.

"You?!" She blurted in disbelief.