Arielle’s eyes t her rabbits who were watching her with interest.
"If my hand burns, I’ll tell them that I accidentally fell into the fireplace," said Arielle after convincing herself that it was the most reasonable reason if her hand hurt later.
Arielle slowly extended her hand. As her hand was in front of the fire, she pulled it back in horror.
"What if I didn’t actually touch the fire at that ti?" asked Arielle, trying to convince herself that there was no way her body was immune to fire.
Arielle could still feel the warmth that the fireplace exuded.
"I have to find sothing..."
Arielle went around her room looking for sothing to burn first. She opened her drawer and found a small candle in it. The girl then lit the wick.
"Okay, now I’m going to touch the wick. if I don’t feel the heat, I’ll try to touch the fireplace."
Arielle took a deep breath, then exhaled slowly. "Here we go."
The glow of fire reflected in her black eyes. Arielle was so focused on seeing the small fla on the candle that started to burn in front of her. She stretched out her index finger. With her eyes closed, she touched the tip of the fla.
Pssst...
Her nostrils twitched when she slled the smoke. Arielle opened her eyes and saw that her index finger was still touching the wick of the candle, which had been extinguished.
Her heart skipped a beat. She did not feel the scorching heat when the wick of the candle touched the tip of her index finger. Just a normal warm sensation.
Arielle lifted her index finger, and there was no wound on it. There was not even a red mark caused by the burning wick of the fire.
Arielle tried to calm herself down.
"Impossible. This could be because the fire is too weak. Maybe everyone can do it too if it’s an ordinary candle wick," said Arielle, trying to calm her pounding heart.
Arielle was back facing the bonfire in front of her. "Ah, no... What am I doing? I have to go to sleep soon."
Arielle called off her experintal plan and left the journal belonging to Priestess Unor near the bonfire. The girl allowed the bunnies to join her on the bed and forced herself to close her eyes to fall asleep.
***
In the morning, accompanied by Tania, Arielle helped Sasha to stretch his muscles, so that boy could improve his condition by doing a simple exercise. Since leaving her room, Arielle could see the palace looked busier than it used to.
The maids walked faster than they should, and from her place she could see many people standing in front of the Blackthorn palace, waiting for the palace guard to open the gate.
"A few years ago I used to join the line with my foster mother," said Sasha who rested beneath the tree while looking at the crowd of Blackthorn palace.
"Oh really? What kind of problem did you share with His Majesty?" asked Arielle, quite interested in Sasha’s story."
"I don’t know. I was too young to rember it, and I was left outside the hall because the guards forbade unauthorized persons to enter the hall."
Arielle nodded. She had promised to visit the hall and stayed in the shadows to see the procession. She was also curious about what issues Ronan listened to every month.
After accompanying Sasha, she attended the morning blessing led by Priest Jill. As usual, Arielle would choose the back seat, so no one would recognize her.
After the morning blessing, Priest Jill approached Arielle to welco the arrival of the princess to the North.
"Good morning, Your Highness. Nice to see you again." greeted him in a friendly manner.
"Good morning, Priest Jill. Nice to et you, too. How have you been?"
"I am perfectly fine, Your Highness. I hope you are in good shape, too, and I’m sorry to not be able to greet you in person on the day you arrive here."
Arielle waved her hand. "Please don’t mind. Yesterday when I arrived I imdiately rested in my room, "said Arielle so that the man didn’t feel guilty.
"Are you waiting for Priestess Elis?" asked Priest Jill. He let Arielle walk ahead of him.
"Not really. Wouldn’t Priestess Elis join His Majesty the King in the palace hall?" She asked back. She wanted to make sure because otherwise, she couldn’t use the opportunity to ask about her hand which might not be burned by the fire.
Arielle and Priest Jill walked out of the blessing hall through the inner palace pathway and t several small children who were learning how to use mana. She looked at the Frostberry tree with no single fruit attached to it, which ant that the Frostberry harvest season was over.
She licked her lower lip which was a bit wet, longing for the sweet and slightly sour sensation of the Frostberry Fruit.
"Will the tree not bear fruit anymore?" Arielle asked Priest Jill.
"The Frostberry season is over, Your Highness. It will co again next year, in the middle of the year when Northendell’s temperatures is a biiiiit warr than usual."
Arielle chuckled lightly at Priest Jill’s explanation because the temperature in Northendell almost never raised.
"I’m going to miss eating the Frostberry from that tree," muttered Arielle, looking at the Frostberry tree that was already showing its fruit.
Now it was Priest Jill’s turn to chuckle. "I’m sorry, Your Highness. However, the Frostberry tree in the garden is sacred, and His Majesty the King forbade everyone to eat the fruit from that tree. The fruit that fell to the ground would be left untouched."
Arielle suddenly widened her eyes in surprise. "We... are forbidden to eat Frostberry fruit from the tree directly? But ... I’ve been to Frostmount Village where people harvest directly from the tree and I also tasted it," said Arielle panicked.
"Ah... that, it’s fine then. The point is this tree itself. Because this is the first Frostberry tree that Priestess Unor planted by combining several mana techniques in the frozen ground of the palace."
"Oh, this tree is... sacred?" Arielle asked. She was more surprised.
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