The very next morning, the royal carriage was there waiting for me.

The high priest walked me out, helping me into the carriage.

“Please learn a lot, lady Catalina. It would benefit us all for you to be able to read the holy scripture,” he said, closing the carriage door.

“I will not fail you, High Priest,” I said back, my eyes looking straight at him as the carriage departed.

He waved wildly, as though I was a soldier off to war.

“We will miss you, Lady Catalina!” He called, chasing after the carriage, still waving. His robes flew against the wind as continued to follow the carriage until it drove into the busy street, unable to be chased.

He was acting as though he wouldn’t see me in months. I would be back by dusk. What a weirdo.

Other than that, the ride there was actually quite tranquil. I enjoyed peace with my thoughts as I tried to remember what exactly happened during Catalina’s first visit to the castle. She ends up horseback riding with Arthur after one of her lessons, though I do not remember if it was this one.

The lessons themselves are scarcely mentioned in the pages of Divine Heart. Mostly, it is what happens before and after them that is what's talked about. The royal lessons are an excuse for Catalina and Arthur to bond, and serve no real purpose to Catalina other than to further the romance plot.

Do I have to follow that plot? I really don’t want to. I get that Catalina needs a happy ending or whatever but I cannot find myself liking Arthur. I thought back to that time at the ball, where my feet moved on their own to Alexandra. I had fully planned to stay on the steps, but something moved me forward. My feet did not stop. Could it be that force moving me forward is making sure the story is followed? Do I even have a choice?

Before I could think for much longer, the carriage came to a stop.

A servant quickly opened the carriage door for me to help me out. He extended his hand towards me, and I took it. I stepped down carefully, letting his hold steady me as my feet landed on the floor.

Once I was out of the carriage, he curtsied for a moment. He quickly raised his head, and turned on his heel.

“Please follow me, my lady,” he said, simply walking into the castle. He did not turn back once to see if I was following along, simply expecting that I was following his lead. I was, since I had no other choice but to attend those unnecessary lessons.

We wandered the halls of the castle, which never seemed to get old. I could stare into the ceiling for hours, taking each deliberate detail on the paintings above my head. Alas, I had no time to do so today. Finally, we had reached our destination. He opened a pair of double doors which lead into the royal library.

The library was a large, open space. It was at least three stories talls, its walls full of latters and bookshelves. There was a staircase to my left, which lead to another level that had even more books. The bookshelves themselves were as tall as the roof could reach. There was no empty space, the shelves jam packed with books. The scent of olden paper filled the room, assuring that the books here spanned centuries.

In the middle of this room, was a table with chairs. It was a long table, with at least 24 seats. In front of the table stood a man. He had long blond hair, tied back in a ponytail. A strand peaked out, resting on his face. He was wearing a navy suit and a ruffled collar. He held a book in his hand, and he smiled warmly upon seeing me.

“Lady Catalina,” he called, curtsying for a moment, and then looking back up at me.

“I am your tutor, Sir Spearelet. I am a royal scholar from the Academy,” he introduced, angling his head down. He then lifted his head, his brown eyes staring into mine.

“It is an honor to serve the saintess,” he smiled, clapping as he changed the subject.

“Now, please sit down. Let our lesson begin.”

For the next hour, he would go on to try and teach me how to read. It was incredibly boring. It might have posed some usefulness if the people here spoke some sort of typical fantasy language. Instead, I am stuck learning standard english. Granted, they used some old-timey way of speaking, but it was still very much understandable. It felt like I was in English class again, stuck reading old classical novels that I would never even think about again.

I played along, pretending to sound out words.

“Now my lady, please try and say the full sentence,” he asked, looking down at the book in front of me.

“Once upon a time-” I said, slowing down my words and purposefully dragging them out.

Spearelet stood up, slamming his hands down on the table. The table shook, the waves of his force reverberating softly. I jumped back, eyes wide.

He stood there for a moment, his head angled down and I could only begin to trace back what I had said to figure out what I did wrong.

He lifted his head, staring me dead in the eyes, eyes narrowed dangerously.

“Lady Catalina, you are a prodigy,” he exclaimed, his tone completely serious.

What? All I had done was read the first four words. I had not even finished the sentence!

“None of my students have ever been able to string together the sentence as flawlessly as you on their first try. It must be the blood of the saintess running through your veins!”

He could not be serious. Either he taught children or he was just flattering me.

“Oh, I’m not a prodigy,” I replied, shaking my head.

“Don’t be so coy, lady Catalina. A brain like yours has not been seen in centuries!”

If anyone heard him they would think I had found the cure for cancer.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

“My lady, please read the whole sentence.”

“Once upon a time in a far away land.”

“Yes! Magnificent! You are such a fast learner,” he gushed. He placed his hand over his heart and closed his eyes.

“I am so lucky to have such a smart lady to teach,” he sobbed, tears falling out of his eyes.

“This is nothing to cry about, Sir Spearlet,” I said, eyes wide. Why is he crying?!

He sniffled, wiping away his tears.

“My lady is too humble.”

He managed to get me to read the whole page without crying, and by then my time was up.

“I will return with more challenging books, my lady. A mind like yours can’t simply be wasted on fairy tales,” he vowed, leaving the library.

I’m debating whether or not I should really dumb it down next time. I can’t be both a saintess and a prodigy.

I looked towards the door, realizing I had the library to myself. I grinned, standing up as I walked over to one of the shelves. It would be wonderful if I was able to find a book about the saintess I’m supposed to be a reincarnation of. I reached for one of the books, a deep emerald green which caught my eye.

Before I could even read the spine, the doors of the library burst open.

I glanced back, wondering who would make so much noise in the library. A familiar set of golden hair and eyes greeted me back. Of course it was Arthur.

His eyes landed on me, raising an eyebrow and clearing his throat.

“Ah, it’s you, Lady Catalina.”

“Greetings to the sun of the empire,” I said, curtsying.

“Rising sun. I am not my father,” he corrected, shaking his head.

I’m still getting the hang of this, you know.

“Sorry, greetings to the rising sun of the empire,” I greeted again, head still in curtsy.

Hearing no complaints this time around, I straightened up, smoothing over my dress. He walked towards me, stopping in front of me. Arthur towered over me, his shadow looming over. He looked down at me curiously, noticing the book in my hand, before snatching it.

“What’s this?” He asked incredulously, as though he’s never seen a book before.

“A book,” I replied, stating the obvious.

He frowned, shaking his head.

“Didn’t you just get done with a lesson? Why are you so eager to read?”

“I want to get extra practice.”

He put the book back, sliding it into the shelf.

“This one is probably too difficult for you anyway,” he shrugged nonchalantly.

My tutor would have you believe otherwise.

“As soon as I heard you were done taking your lesson, I came looking for you. I figured you would be bored and want to spend some time with someone,” he said, as if he was doing this for my benefit.

Who said I wanted to be graced with your presence?

“I’m leaving soon. The carriage is probably out waiting for me,” I said, trying to get out of spending quality time with Arthur.

“Nonsense! It can wait,” he said, shaking his head.

“Let’s take a walk in the royal garden. It is especially scenic this time of year with all the foliage.”

And so, he turned around and walked towards the door. He reached the doorway, and stopped. He turned around and looked over his shoulder, his eyes meeting mine with an expectant look. He was actually checking to see if I would follow, unlike the servant from earlier.

I sighed, seemingly with no other choice but to follow. He led me down some winding hallways until we reached a door. He opened the door, not bothering to hold it open for me. I caught it just before it closed, following behind.

The garden was indeed quite pretty. It had blooming marigolds and sunflowers sprouting from the ground. Tall trees covered both sides of the pathway, all with falling leaves in an arrangement of colors. Reds, yellows, oranges and browns spanned as far as the eye can see. Many of the trees still kept some of their leaves, though the majority were now on the ground.

“It is pretty, isn’t it?” Arthur said, breaking the silence.

I nodded in agreement, head turning wildly to take in all corners of the garden.

“It’s beautiful,” I gushed, mouth slightly agape.

“This is one of the best times to see it, before all the flowers wilt to the ground with the winter cold.”

A cold gust of wind rushed by, rustling the leaves and catching my hair. I shivered slightly, though Arthur kept walking forward.

“Did you not have a lesson today?” I asked, wishing he did so I would be safely in my carriage instead of out in the cold.

“Yes. Swordsmanship. It ended early today, though,” he replied with a shrug. He cleared his throat, then began speaking again. “I figured that this being your first time in the castle for a lesson, you’d want someone to cheer you up.”

“It must be depressive…learning,” he added, shaking his head in horror.

I shrugged in response.

“It’s not terrible.”

Who am I kidding?

He paused, halting his step. He turned around to face me, his warm golden eyes narrowed.

“I’m sorry about what happened at the ball with Alexandra. I don’t think I properly apologized,” he said with a sigh, brows furrowed.

“It’s not your fault,” I said simply.

He sighed again, placing his hand on his forehand.

“I know, but I know she won’t apologize so I might as well take responsibility.”

“I didn’t take offense to it. Don’t worry about it.”

He removed his hand and sighed once more, this time in relief.

“That’s good. Father told me I should apologize on her behalf. I’m glad you aren’t too mad about it,” he said with a small smirk.

Before we could say anything else, a royal servant ran up to us.

“Lady Catalina!” He called out of breath, stopping in front of us. It was the servant from earlier, his face now a puffy red from running all over the palace looking for us. He leaned his hands on his knees, catching his breath for a moment before looking back up at me.

“You have an invitation,” he wheezed, meekly raising his hand as he held out a letter.

Arthur snatched from his grasp, opening up my correspondence and reading it to me.

“Lady Catalina of Opal, you’ve been invited to my tea party tomorrow afternoon. It would be a pleasure to have you there, signed Lady Meridith of Antebellum,” Arthur read, turning to look at me.