"Is the flower dead?" Rayah asked curious to know if the spell had worked, waiting to hear a reply from Pearl.
Pearl turned to face Rayah slowly, while Rayah was still waiting to see if the flower died.
"Pearl can you stop being dramatic."
Pearl suddenly brought the flower close to her own nostrils and inhaled it.
"It's still as fresh as the morning."
"Why youu"
Pearl laughed "Okay you don't have powers I see that now."
Rayah folded her arms and rolled her eyes as if saying 'I told you'
"Let's forget about you having or not having powers and go down and have breakfast."
"Thank you" Rayah said showing that she was relieved.
While they were heading to the dining room, Pearl suddenly whispered to Rayah.
"Maybe you're not a witch you could be a goddess. Hmm."
"Pearl !"
"Sorry."
When they reached the dining, Pearl and Rayah saw Queen Lisa and and a young man with curly brown hair already seated.
Pearl wondered who he was and hoped he's not who she was thinking he is.
"Your Highnesses. It's good to see you, how was your night." Prince Siko greeted.
Pearl did not respond while Rayah had a warm smile plastered on her face.
"It's good to see you too. My night was fine and I believe it's the same for Pearl" Rayah curtsied.
"Mother." Pearl greeted.
"Queen Mother." Rayah greeted too before they both had their seats.
Rayah made to leave the vacant seat that was beside the prince for Pearl as he was her Fiance. Instead, Pearl took the seat that was next to the vacant one leaving her no option but to sit beside Prince Siko.
It would have looked like he was being distanced from so Rayah had to sit beside him.
Rayah glanced at Queen Lisa who had a cold expression on her face but she could guess that it was not because she sat down close to the Prince.
"I haven't introduced myself.... "
"Let me do the introduction Prince Siko." Queen Lisa said while the servants were placing dishes on the table.
"Pearl this is Prince Siko of Hali, I have told you about him, moreover I mentioned that he is your Fiance."
Pearl didn't look like she was paying attention at all. She was just focused on eating.
"I'm pleased to meet you Princess Pearl." The prince said as a way of trying to engage in a conversation with Pearl.
"Same." Pearl said uninterested.
'More like pleased to marry me' Pearl scoffed.
"Pearl will come around, you don't need to be bothered if she's not being polite to you. That is just how she is." Queen Lisa said to Prince Siko.
"I am not bothered by it your majesty, I'll try my best to proove myself worthy to Princess Pearl."
"You both will make a good couple and please call me Mother you don't have to be formal with me anymore. You're like a son now that you'll be marrying my daughter."
"Yes Mother." Prince Siko replied.
Pearl felt like she was in the midst of a funny drama. Every word the Prince and her mother just said sounded like a joke to her.
The whole atmosphere in the dining room felt suffocating to Rayah who was in between the said engaged people.
"Let me help you" Rayah heard Prince Siko's voice beside her, so close to her hearing. She felt her heart skip. She wondered what he wanted to help her with.
Prince Siko then stood up making Rayah's heart leap out of her chest, she still didn't know what he wanted to help her with.
While Rayah was still wondering, the Prince passed where she was seated and went over to Pearl.
"No thanks, I can get up myself." Pearl forced a smile. She refused Prince Siko's offer to bring out the chair for her to get up.
Prince Siko still brought the chair out for her anyways. Pearl sighed, she didn't need his help.
"Owww!" Pearl suddenly exclaimed making everyone in the room look over to her direction. She tried to signal Rayah about something.
"Princess Pearl what is it." The Prince asked surprised by the sudden exclamation.
"Pearl?" Queen Lisa called.
Rayah was also trying to understand the situation when she saw that Pearl was trying to tell her something.
Pearl mouthed to Rayah "light" But
Rayah couldn't pinpoint what Pearl was trying to tell her.
"Princess Pearl what happened to you." Prince Siko asked confusedly.
"Oh my god can you see that." Pearl pointed towards the roof making everyone look up. Before Rayah could look up too, Pearl immediately pointed at her own forehead and mouthed "light"
This time Rayah immediately understood and raised her hands to cover her forehead.
"Pearl what is the meaning of this." Queen Lisa said annoyed at Pearl as she was pulling a prank in front of everyone.
"Um, I thought I saw an animal stucked to the roof but it was just the Chandelier. Silly me, I wonder why it is shaped like one
Hehe" Pearl laughed sheepishly.
Prince Siko was stunned speechless, he couldn't make anything out of what this Princess just spewed. He felt she was weird.
The servants in the room also thought the same thing.
Pearl looked towards Rayah and saw that she already had her hands over her forehead. She let out a breath she didn't know she was holding.
"Princess Rayah?. Are you having a headache?" Prince Siko said when he saw Rayah putting her hands over her forehead.
"Um yeah I kinda got one." Rayah lied.
"Oh Rah I'm sorry for shouting that way let's go get you some medications." Pearl said before anyone else could say anything.
" No I did not get a headache because you screamed."
" Okay maybe I made it worse Let's go Alright."
"I'll see you some other time Princess Pearl and Rayah." Prince Siko said.
"We'll see you too. That is if we are not busy with our studies." Pearl said then curtsied before they both left the room.
Prince Siko headed towards the chamber provided for him. He would be staying in the Palace till the dinner banquet where his engagement with Pearl will be announced. A maid approached him.
"Your highness there's a package for you." The maid said.
Prince Siko took a quick look at the package and saw that it still had seal tapes on it meaning it had not been opened. Words have spread around the palace that he was engaged to be married to their last princess so that was the reason he is allowed to have things delivered to him while in the Palace.
"Bring it to my chamber and be careful with it." Prince Siko said and resumed walking.
"Yes your highness."
Rayah and Pearl were both in the library's studying compartment.
Rayah felt something was not right. It took her some time before she figured it out. Pearl was awfully quiet unlike the Pearl she knew.
"Pearl what's up with you, why are you being so quiet or are you just trying to focus on studying?"
Pearl just shrugged while Rayah turned her attention back to her books. Pearl did not still say a word even after several minutes passed again.
"Okay Pearl you can tell me if something's wrong. I can't concentrate on studying when I know something's definitely up with you."
"Thanks for caring Rah. There's nothing wrong I'm just focused on studying right now." Pearl replied.
"Sounds like you're mad at me for something."
"Why do you say so, isn't it normal to be mad sometimes."
"Normal to be mad sometimes?" Rayah raised a brow.
"Yeah just like how you consider having a glowing forehead to be normal." Pearl replied without taking her eyes off her books.
Rayah now realized why Pearl was being that way.
"I thought we're past this Pearl."
"Past what" Pearl pretended not to understand what Rayah was talking about.
"Pearl I'm not a witch or a goddess as you think. I don't have powers either why can't you understand."
"Of course that's exactly what someone hiding their powers would say."
Rayah sighed. "Well you've made up your mind to believe I have some kind of powers. I can't convince you otherwise."
"Rayah don't you understand or do you take me for a fool. A glowing Light coming out your forehead? How do you expect me to believe that you don't have powers, only a fool will."
"I was born with it like I said before."
Pearl sighed as if giving up on the discussion. "Fine" She then turned to face her books but turned back to speak to Rayah as if she just remembered something.
"You have to change your hairstyle. You don't know when that light will come out again. Next time I might not be around you to notify you when that light pops out from your forehead or even if I am, i will definitely not act silly like I did during breakfast or people would think I've gone mad and spread it across the entire kingdom." Pearl said
"I thought about putting on a cloak untill I figure out what to do about it but getting a hairstyle that would cover my forehead is way better thanks for the suggestion." Rayah smiled.
"What can you do without me I know." Pearl smiled back.
"What are you trying to do?!" Prince Siko said with a thunderous voice the maid stopped what she was doing instantly. She became scared.
Prince Siko went and snatched the small box from her.
"I was ju.. just trying to unseal the package for you You... Your Highness."