Princesses, Take Up The Brush

One morning, Professor Heidi informed all the Princesses to assemble at the reception hall for a group lesson at 10 am sharp. All the Princesses were present and accounted for.

Licha wondered, "What will the Professor have us to do for this group endeavor today?"

Leonora answered with arrogance, "Hmph! Who can say?" Whereas Brunia was reading a book and Kaira dozed off on the table beside her.

A few moments later, a voice called out, "My apologies for the wait."

The Princesses turned around to see a painting that looked like Heidi, but it was too attractive, elegant, artistic, and gorgeous to match the real visage of the Professor.

Leonora yelled in surprise, "THIS CANNOT BE HEIDI!!!!!!! IT'S TOO FANCY!!!"

Professor Heidi peeped behind the painting and asked, "Your Highnesses... do you like art?"

Professor Heidi continued, "The subject for today's group lesson is art. With that said, I borrowed these studies from the court painter for your perusal. The painting that I showed you earlier was my portrait."

Brunia commented, "They are captivating pieces to be sure, but..."

Leonora added bluntly, "Frankly, art bores me! Is there any point in studying it?"

Professor Heidi explained, "The royal family has been deeply intertwined with the art world for generations. For a monarch, collecting famous works of art is a symbol of status. Artwork can be used in matters of diplomacy as well. Traditionally, royals support artists by becoming their patrons, commissioning artwork for them... inviting artists to the palace as official court painters, and so on. Behind the most famous artists in history, was the financial backing of aristocrats."

Brunia appended, "Come to think of it, most pieces on display in the national art museum are from the collection of the royal family that reigned 200 years ago."

Professor Heidi agreed by stating, "There are also those who collect art purely out of personal interest, of course. Historical records tell that your father had a great love for art."

Kaira muttered, "Art... don't understand it..."

Professor Heidi said, "I expected as much. Thus, I've invited a special guest who'll join us today. This way, please."

She opened the door to find Prince Adam playing with the palace dog; Shyra. Leonora jumped with glee, rushed over to Adam's side, and squealed with delight, "ADAM!! I MISSED YOU SO MUCH!!"

Adam answered in perplexion, "Huh!? You just saw me at breakfast!"

Brunia asked, "Mistress, why is Adam here, and are these things...?"

Professor Heidi continued, "Yes. You precisely guessed it. Today, to foster an appreciation for art, you will each draw a portrait of Prince Adam. To access your fashion interests, I have some designs that I bought from the Vermillion Unlimited store a few days ago. Your, Highnesses must choose one suit option and draw Prince Adam wearing the same."

Licha screamed, "Professor! How could you do that?! Why didn't you tell me--?"

Brunia interrupted Licha by commenting, after having a brief look at the suit options, "Wow! The Vermillion Unlimted store proposes such creative designs! I'm entirely perplexed on which one I must choose!"

Licha blushed, and she asked, "Wait... you really like them, Brunie?!"

Brunia replied, "Why wouldn't I? The designer has captured the essence of each aesthetic design on the piece of fabric! I would like to meet up with that person one day!"

Licha turned around, thus hiding her happiness on how much her elder sister loved her work, but she was still not confident about confessing the same to her.

Licha took the French design; Brunia fancied the United States fashion; Leonora liked the Chinese clothing, and Kaira chose the German style. But the four Princesses weren't confident in their artistic abilities and thus were skeptical about the same.

Professor Heidi then motivated them by informing, "Prince Adam would choose the best of all paintings that would be displayed in the national art museum for one week."

All the Princesses screamed, "WHAT!?!?!?!?"

Heidi added, "Her Majesty, the Queen has already granted us her permission. It is a great honor, Your Highnesses. Your work will be seen by many more eyes than those in the palace."

All of them screeched, "I WANT TO DRAW!!!!"

She then announced, "You are to begin by sketching, then complete your portraits with watercolor paints. You have three hours, and BEGIN!!"

While the Princesses were drawing, Professor Heidi, "Well... given that they're in their teenage years, they each might produce spontaneous sketches, but this will give me valuable information about their creativity level."

Heidi went over to peep at Leonora's outline to see a relatively distorted stick figure with an unbelievably huge face and eyes that are equivalent to the size of a dot. She was overcome by a crazy desire to burst into laughter but then she pulled herself together and moved onto Princess Brunia's piece.

Well, an academic genius couldn't perform a miracle on her drawing either. The eyes were so out of proportion with the face and the body that Heidi thought that the drawing was cursed. As a result, she got scared and quickly brisked over to Princess Kaira's work.

Unlike the previous two Princesses, Kaira already started to paint her outline. Professor Heidi went over to see that what Kaira was drawing didn't resemble a human's face at all. She could only compare with a distorted alien whose body is like jello and is all over the place because gravity couldn't keep it together.

She then walked over to Licha's painting which was surprisingly a decent piece of work. Professor Heidi remarked, "Princess Licha, I would expect nothing less from you. Considering your ordinary sensibilities and capabilities, this is an ordinarily good painting."

Licha screamed, "Shut up! It doesn't feel like praise if you keep saying 'ordinary'!" She then whispered, "Actually, the real portrait that I've made is behind the couch. If you're interested, have a look at it, but I beg of you, don't tell my sisters. Or else, they will question my ability, and that is related to my job at the Vermillion Unlimited. Truth be told, I'm quite pleased that Brunia really liked my designs. But if you tell my sisters any of this, I swear I'm gonna kill you!!"

Professor Heidi glanced at the actual portrait and was astonished by its quality. She acknowledged, "My Princess, your painting is phenomenal!! I see you really have an interest in the subject, don't you? Your raw talent is overwhelming! I'm truly impressed! Keep up the good work!"

After that, all four Princesses went back to work.

When Professor Heidi briefly excused herself from paying a visit to the restroom, Leonora asked Brunia for her notes that she prepared before starting off with her watercolors. Brunia politely gave her the book and even facilitated her in holding the brush.

Licha was jealous at the sight of this, and she yelled, "Why does Brunie help Leo all the time!? You keep babying her! And you always find fault with me! Give me that book, Leo! Even I wanna see!" Licha tried to snatch the book, but Leonora wouldn't let go! The book then slipped off from her hands, and it went flying into the air and hit an open paint bucket kept on the top shelf! It fell down, and all the paint poured over Brunia, thus angering her!

Brunia took another bucket of paint and screamed at Licha while throwing paint onto her dress, "WHY YOU; IMBECILE!?"

Leonora burst into laughter with tears flashing in her eyes. Licha got annoyed and fling an extra bucket of paint of her! The three of them started throwing color on each other and were laughing and squealing with happiness! Kaira and Adam also joined in the chaos and in a few moments, the entire room turned into a madhouse! Shyra herself was happily rolling in a spill of paint. A few moments later, the Professor came in, wondered what on earth happened while she was away, and gaped with surprise on the chaos in front of her.

Licha commanded, "EVERYBODY ATTACK!!!!!" Before Heidi could dodge them, she was covered with color in no time. Several minutes later, it began to rain outside, and all four Princesses, the Prince, and the palace dog went out to play!

Heidi looked at them and thought, "These children are always a handful! But it is a fact that they love each other a lot and they would always stick together. My Princesses, even if your paintings aren't perfect, you've exceeded my wildest expectations today by eventually understanding that art is about feeling strong and reflecting your happiness and creativity, not your drawing skill. Enjoy your lesson, my girls!"