188: Divine Power?

Divine Power?

On the other hand, Oriana froze upon noticing the flicker of gold and red within his irises.2

"Your eyes…"

Arlan heard her whisper, as if unsure..

"...changed color?"

As if someone poured icy cold water on him, Arlan was forced back to his senses.  He let go of her chin, averting his gaze from her, and resumed his laid back position in his chair. 

"Bring tea in my study."

Though confused, Oriana left to follow his order. As soon as she was gone, Arlan called for his knight. "Imbert."

"Yes, Your Highness."

Arlan stared at him. "What is the color of my eyes?"

"Blue as usual, Your Highness."

The prince stood up and walked upstairs towards the study, his expression grim. 'Whenever I am close to her, he tries to show his presence. I need to stop him.'

Oriana hurried towards the kitchen. On the way, she was trying her best to calm her heart. 'He always does this. Is it fun for him to do this to me? So close, that was so close.' She let out a shaky breath. 'I need to make sure I'm never alone with him, otherwise, what if he attempts to do more?'

When she entered his study, Arlan was not alone. The palace officials who accompanied him to the conference were with him, and the prince didn't spare her a glance. She placed the tray on the table to pour him a cup. Even after the officials left, Arlan ignored her.

She sighed. 'Not another of his moods.' 

"Your Highness, please enjoy your tea."

Arlan accepted the cup, but said nothing as he continued reading documents. 

Just then, there was a knock on the door and Imbert entered the study. "Your Highness, a message from Megaris. Orian has been requested to check on Her Majesty Queen Seren."

Oriana visibly turned happy upon hearing the knight's words. Her eyes brightened and she looked excited to leave immediately. Arlan had no reason to not allow her. 

"You can leave," he said with a rather dipleased tone. 

"Thank you, Your Highness!"

Arlan threw a glare at her retreating figure. However, she had her back on him and did not see it.

Why was she thanking him, so enthusiastically at that? Could she not wait to go there? Was she eager to leave his side and serve someone else? To serve the Queen of Megaris…who could make her blush with a mere glance?

The grip of his hand tightened around the scroll, causing the paper to crumple. Imbert witnessed his reaction, but he simply bowed without a word and returned to guarding outside the door.

—--

Oriana reached the mansion next to theirs. When she entered the foyer, she found the silver-haired elf waiting for her. He smiled at the young witch who bowed to greet him.

"Greetings, Lord Yorian. I was summoned to check on Her Majesty," Oriana informed him.

Yorian nodded. "Follow me."

As Oriana followed him upstairs, she realized they were not going to the Queen's chamber but somewhere else, the King's study. When she entered the room, she found the King and Queen of Megaris were present there along with Martha. She was taken aback, and her good mood morphed into nervousness, realizing that Seren's health was a mere ruse to lure her to this place. She had been naive. After all, she was not a real physician yet. If Seren truly had some concerns, they would have called for a royal physician of her master's caliber. 

She would not have minded if it were only Seren, Yorian or Martha—as the one she felt most wary of was Drayce. The intimidating presence of the King of Megaris was nothing to jest about. She didn't know that the elf had not kept her secret from the young king. She didn't even know he recognized her to be the same witch from Azures Island.

She bowed before the royal couple sitting together on the couch, forcing herself to be more formal under the gaze of those scary red eyes. 

"The aide of the Crown Prince of Griven pays respects to the King and the Queen of Megaris."

"Have a seat," she heard Drayce say in an inflectionless voice. 

'The King is asking me to sit?' She looked at Martha with wide eyes. The woman was the one she came to for help, her master's acquaintance, thus, of everyone present, the Queen's nanny was the one Oriana trusted the most.

"Please have a seat there, Orian," Martha said, while pointing towards the empty chair opposite to Drayce and Seren.

Oriana did so, but she kept her head lowered, growing more nervous about the reason why she was called. 

Amidst her worry, a soothing sweet voice calmed her nerves. "May I know your real name?"

Oriana lifted her gaze to meet Seren's, finding those purple eyes smiling at her once again. 

"It is more proper that we address you as who you truly are. Orian shouldn't be your real name, right?"

"My real name is simply Oriana, Your Majesty," she replied. "I am but a commoner, and it's nothing that fancy."

"It's a beautiful name you have."

Oriana looked at Seren and from her happily curved crescent moon like eyes she could see this Queen was smiling at her. She could imagine her smiling face without a veil and then thought, 'She must look prettier while smiling.

Yorian found himself a seat as well, his casual demeanor somewhat helping Oriana regain her calm.

"There is no need to feel scared, child," the elf said, "we called you here to talk about what happened today."

"Ah, yes. I promise to keep everything a secret—" 

"There's that, but that's not what I mean," Yorian said, his tone like that of a patient teacher. "I am referring to your use of magic. You must know as well that what you did today was not ordinary."

Oriana gazed at Martha and Seren, then Drayce, before returning her attention to the elf. The atmosphere of interrogation made her hands feel cold. "I-I am not sure how I did it even. All I wanted was to protect Her Majesty and it happened on its own."

"Like I said, there is no reason to be scared, Oriana," the elf chided. "You did nothing wrong. In fact, we are thankful that you did so. Only, matters become more complicated because we discovered the nature of your magic is not as simple as we originally thought. Do you know that what you have used is divine power?"

"Divine power?" Oriana obviously had no knowledge of it. "What is that?"

"Before this, we have told you that you are a witch. You are not a human being, but a supernatural being, right?" Yorian asked.

Oriana nodded. 

"And I also told you that there are various races of supernaturals existing in this world."

She nodded once more. 

"But do you know that this world is merely one of the worlds in existence?" the elf asked rhetorically. Without waiting for her to react, he began to explain, "The world where we live now is called the mortal world, and a long, long time ago, this world gave birth to many races, some capable of wielding magic—those are the so-called supernatural beings.

"Then, there is the realm of divine beings and divine beasts, where the gods and goddesses rule over the laws and balance of the world. They are the embodiment of magic itself, and the power they wield is called divine power.

"In the olden days, those from the heavenly realm could freely walk on the land of the mortals. However, something happened and the realms no longer allow intervention between each other. In the mortal world, the only ones capable of wielding divine power are either descendants left behind by divine beasts, or those with complicated relations with the heavenly realm."

Oriana only blinked in confusion. It was as if she was listening to a bard singing about some nation's religion. It sounded so unreal that she could not believe what she heard. 

"You are saying I possess divine power, so you are questioning how I am related to the heavenly realm?"

Yorian nodded. "You are not a descendant of a divine beast. We need to know why you are capable of using divine power."

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