Chapter 23: Painting

1478 Words
“Are you going to compete this year, Lady Kira?” Katelyn followed Kira who was looking at the platform and revealed an obvious smile. “Look at Lady Valerie, she was already preparing herself for this.” “What’s your guess, Ms. Saige?… Will I be able to win if I compete or become the loser once again?” Kira replied after hearing what was said. “It doesn’t matter whether Lady Kira wins or not…” Katelyn smiled without care, " This examination doesn’t produce great talents anyways… I’m sure your goal is not conquering this event? Am I right?” Kira answered her with a knowing smile. She moved her sight back to the platform where Clovis Morris and her father were sitting. 'Conquering this examination is just an easy task… And I don’t like easy things and my appetite has become so big now because of them… What I want now is conquering the castle!’ All the participating youths will need to draw. 5 people will roam around the tables carrying a wooden barrel where they will be able to pick what talent they will be competing with. When the wooden barrel reached Kira’s table, Katelyn drew first and then she followed. “I picked dance, what about you, Lady Kira,” Katelyn asked after looking at the paper she picked out from the barrel. Kira declined to answer and just showed the paper she had picked out. Written in it was a painting… “Painting?” Katelyn stretched her neck and when she saw the paper in Kira’s hand, she was also slightly stunned for a moment before saying, “Do you know how to paint Lady Kira?” It was a word said with pure concern. Katelyn knew that Lady Kira was talented at medicine, but when it comes to scholarly arts, she wasn’t sure about that. Especially with the rumors circulating that Lady Kira hasn’t studied anything since she was a child. And painting is one of the hardest scholarly arts to compete in. Among all the women in the whole castle, only a few of them excelled in this art… One of them is Lady Valerie, who became renowned because of her painting last year which was entitled, Ethereal Moon. As both of them became silent, Valerie walked over confidently before she smiled, “So, you are going to compete, my dear sister?!… That’s great! What did you pick? Let me have a look so that I can help you come up with ideas.” Kira kept quiet so Valerie smiled as she went forward to take the paper from her hands. “ Don’t worry Kira, everything will be fine. Your elder sister is here. I will help you with this examination. I will always look after you.” Katelyn was just looking at their interaction and found it extremely interesting. With a look, people would eventually think that these two princesses are really on good terms. The older sister takes care of the younger ones and the younger one relies on her elder sister. But no one could escape her intuitive eyes. She had encountered a lot of people because of the business she was managing and these so-called harmonious relationships were too good to be true. Such a thing doesn’t exist, especially in the royal family… If her guess is right, she would use Kira’s stupidity to elevate herself. The more bad Kira’s reputation becomes, the more virtuous Valerie’s reputation will be. Sure enough, when those words came out from Valerie’s lips, someone heard them and immediately started to laugh, “Lady Valerie, I don’t think there’s any use for you to say those things to Lady Kira… I mean, even if you came up with such great ideas for her, I don’t she would be able to execute it.” The person who spoke was Celina Fynn, the daughter of one of the high-ranking officials in the castle. She was also one of Valerie’s strong supporters and followers, just like Morgana. “Celina is right Lady Valerie… Just let Lady Kira prepare it herself. Her talents are far inferior to yours, so your ideas would only become useless to her.” Leslie Abe added with a mocking laugh. She is also one of Valerie’s supporters. This has become a habit for everyone, especially for women. Since childhood, Kira had been ridiculed through and through. Be it from a commoner, she heard a lot of insulting and disgracing words. So, hearing an insult from people from a noble family doesn’t appear any different at all. “Celina, Leslie, stop that. You shouldn’t say that to my younger sister,” Valerie said disapprovingly. “Kira is very hardworking and I know she will keep on working hard in the future as well.” Just then, Valerie opened the paper and made a surprised sound. She looked at Kira and made a joyous cry, “It’s painting! Kira, you picked painting! That’s nice, you have picked the same task I picked last year!” Katelyn looked at Valerie apprehensively. This is not something to be happy about. Knowing that Lady Kira picked the same task Lady Valerie picked last year would be disadvantageous for Lady Kira. Kira had the same thought as Katelyn. In her mind, Valerie must have thought that it would make her more stupid no matter what painting she painted. Valerie won a great honor by painting last year, so having Kira pick the same task will make her painting mediocre. This will again create a big comparison between the two of them. This will make Valerie more outstanding, especially since Clovis Morris is present today. Thinking of Clovis, her eyes darkened. “What are you planning to paint, Kira?” Valerie asked curiously, “Why not I give you some good ideas on what to paint?… It’s a shame that I picked music instead of painting. It would be nice if we had the same task for the examination.” “There’s no need for such trouble, sister.” Kira said coldly, “We know that this is an examination and there are rules and regulations that need to be followed. If my sister came to help me, isn’t it called cheating? The two people involved in such an indecent act would be eliminated. Would sister be willing to do that for me?” When her words were spoken, Valerie’s face changed. Katelyn chuckled slightly, which made Valerie’s fist clench. At first, when Valerie said those words, it would be seen by the people as a sisterly act. It would portray her as a kind and gentle older sister in everyone’s eyes. However, when Kira pointed out the word cheating, it changed everyone’s vision of her. No matter what competition there is, an additional person means an additional opponent. Even if Valerie had a very good relationship with everyone, it doesn’t mean that there were no other people who were jealous of her. Especially since she has been winning this examination every year. There will be some other people who wish for her to fail. So, if Valerie was caught cheating, she would be disqualified, so, the other people would have the chance to grab the top spot. Valerie shivered after she heard those words. Of course, she knew the heaviness and seriousness of it. She turned around and saw that some people were looking at her differently. She looked back toward her sister. However, she saw Kira looking at her with a smile but her eyes were full of ridicule. She knew that either option would only make her look bad. If she would cower and say that she wouldn’t help, it will make her good intentions previously appear to be false. But if she were going to pursue helping Kira, there’s no guarantee that the other participants won’t use that to make her disqualified from the competition. Valerie held the resentment in her heart and she couldn’t help but glare at Kira before she smiled reluctantly, “Since Kira has said so, then I wish you the best for the examination.” Katelyn couldn’t help but laugh hard. She had been trying to keep her laughter to herself, but after what Lady Valerie had said, she didn’t manage to hold it anymore. “I have been thinking of how much love Lady Valerie had for Lady Kira… Thank you for letting me confirm something. This was indeed an eye-opener for me.” In that short amount of time, the people’s vision of Valerie became profound and thought-provoking. This made Valerie’s heart somewhat chilled. Kira could use some words and a few sentences to change people’s views on someone, especially to evoke some emotions in them and make them go along with her words. ‘ Since when did she become so clever?!’ Valerie angrily thought.
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