Movira lowered her gaze to her, fingertips brushing aside the damp hair at Seraphina’s temple.
“This is something every woman experiences once a month. Do you remember what I told you back then?”
“…That?!” Seraphina blankly repeated the word echoing word in her mind.
“No… impossible! You’re lying! Even if it’s… that… it can’t bleed this much or hurt this badly!”
“It varies from person to person.”
A faint glow of magic shimmered at Movira’s fingertips. She pressed them gently to Seraphina’s lower abdomen, letting a warm current flow slowly inside. Miraculously, the knife-like cramps eased a little.
“For someone who has only recently changed, the first time can indeed be… more intense.”
Movira’s tone held no excess emotion, but every movement carried unmistakable tenderness.
Seraphina went limp in Movira’s arms, still trembling from the waves of pain.
The magic helped, but it could not erase everything. The dull ache and the cold, sticky sensation beneath her never let her forget what was happening.
Shame, confusion, grievance, anger, all surged together.
Why… why did it have to come now? In front of Movira, of all times… showing such a weak, pathetic side?
Tears spilled again. She couldn’t even control her own body anymore. The despair of not understanding what was happening to her was crushing.
Movira saw the tears but neither comforted nor mocked. She simply wiped them away, one by one.
To protect Seraphina’s fragile psyche, she didn’t even call the maids. She personally prepared hot water, clean clothes, and special medicinal potions with magic.
Seraphina’s consciousness floated like a rag doll, letting Movira do whatever was needed.
Only when she was lowered into warm water, the clinging scent of blood finally replaced by faint floral fragrance, did her scattered mind begin to return.
Something warm had been placed on her abdomen; the steady heat slowly pulled her back to herself.
Looking at her disheveled reflection in the water, a deep helplessness engulfed her.
Finally, Movira brought a small vial to her lips.
“Drink this. It will help.” The command allowed no refusal. “Remember this feeling, Seraphina. This is only the beginning. You’ll have to get used to it every cycle.”
Every… cycle?
Seraphina swallowed the bitter liquid with shaking hands, heart turning to ice.
“Is there… any way to avoid it?”
“There is.”
Movira’s lips curved into a wicked little smile. “But are you sure you want to hear it?”
Seeing that smile, Seraphina swallowed the word “yes.”
“…Never mind.”
After the ordeal, the pain had lessened considerably, but she still had to stay curled in Movira’s arms. The lingering stabs made it impossible to leave that warmth.
After another half hour of rest, the pain finally subsided enough that Seraphina felt embarrassed to keep clinging.
“You… you can let go now.”
“Really? It doesn’t hurt anymore?”
Seraphina nodded weakly. “It doesn’t hurt.”
“All right… but wait just a moment.”
With a shimmer of light, a soft pad appeared in Movira’s hand, complete with thin elastic straps for fastening.
“This… what is this?”
Movira’s eyes gleamed with playful “instruction,” as if she intended to personally complete Seraphina’s final rite of passage.
“Come, my love. I’ll teach you how to use it.”
She leaned closer, clearly intending to dress Seraphina herself!
“No!”
At the last second Seraphina realized what it was. Forgetting the pain entirely, she shrieked and scrambled backward.
Her spine slammed into the cold wall. Burning shame flooded her; her face felt like it was on fire.
Let Movira personally put it on her? No, no! She’d rather die!
That would be infinitely more humiliating than the bleeding or the cramps, like having the very last shred of privacy stripped away!
“I’ll do it myself!”
Her voice shook, but the determination was iron. She thrust out a hand and glared at the pure-white pad as though it were the spoils of war.
Movira raised an eyebrow, mildly surprised by the violent reaction.
But she didn’t tease further. Instead, like facing a bristling kitten, she slowly handed the pad over to Seraphina’s trembling fingers.
“Very well. Since Her Highness is so shy…”
The tone was infuriatingly caring. “Remember to press it snugly, but not too tight, or it’ll be uncomfortable. And the strap goes around like this…”
She even demonstrated in the air, explaining every tiny step in excruciating detail, each word stabbing straight into Seraphina’s nerves.
Seraphina snatched the pad, clutching it tightly, and turned her back. She tried to keep her voice steady, though it still came out hoarse.
“Turn around!”
Movira chuckled softly laughed and, surprisingly, obeyed. Yet Seraphina could feel that amused gaze boring through her back all the same.
Under that invisible stare, she fumbled clumsily, fingers brushing the unfamiliar softness of her own waist and thighs. A shiver ran through her whole body.
The moment the pad touched the sensitive spot, cool softness and faint herbal scent assaulted her senses, reminding her relentlessly of the irreversible changes to her body.
In the dim light, the white pad looked blindingly bright.
Finally, relying purely on instinct, she finished. She yanked her skirts down, burying every trace of discomfort beneath layers of fabric.
“Done?”
Movira turned back only after the rustling stopped, gaze sweeping over the now-neat dress that still couldn’t hide Seraphina’s mortification.
Seraphina didn’t answer. The faint, intimate discomfort never let up.
Once everything was tidied and every shameful trace erased by Movira’s magic,
“Today you have special permission to rest in bed. I’ll have Erasia screen the documents first.”
“No… that’s not necessary.”