☀️ Arselia and Akonia

— A-A-A! DAMNATION! — A man named Apeiron Logos continued to resist futilely. — YOU CAN DESTROY MY BODY, BUT YOU WILL NOT CONQUER MY WILL! YOU WILL NOT CONQUER! I REPEAT, YOU WILL NOT CON-QUER!
As the fanatic was being dragged past where Beata and Guion were, he dropped a painting from his hands.
— NOOOOOOOOOOOOO! NO, FORGIVE THIS SINNER, YOUR DIVINE MAJESTY! FORGIVE! FORGIVE! LET ME GO, APOSTATES!!! LET ME GO!!!
Finally, the violator was taken away somewhere out of the couple's sight.

— I wouldn't envy him, — Beata watches the fanatic with her eyes, — I hope they at least give him some Vaseline.
Guion reaches out to the painting.
— Be careful!
— What? Why?
— What if it's cursed?! You'll either touch it or look at it a little longer, and then you'll run around and shout nonsense too!
— Well, what should we do with it? Leave it lying in the middle of the street?
Beata takes off Guion's cloak and wraps the painting in it, covering it completely, touching it only through the fabric.
— Oh, wonderful! Instead of leaving the painting lying in the middle of the street, we'll leave the painting and my favorite cloak lying in the middle of the street!
— Don't make a fuss, — Beata deftly grabs the painting under her arm, — let's go ask someone what this thing is.
— Or maybe we should hand it over to the guards? It's evidence!
— No. If they needed it, they would have picked it up themselves. So let them be disappointed; we'll use this thing to annoy someone else.
— Who?
— Her Highness.
— Yes, Her Highness. If this canvas is really cursed, Her Highness will chop off our heads on the spot. I'm thinking, maybe we should hand it over to a museum? They have so many artifacts there, they probably know how to handle all sorts of strange things. And it's not far from here. And if they send us away, we can go to the art academy tomorrow or ask our acquaintance from Karneol, that little one... Gaika?
— Ayko... Gods, Beata, she's a dwarf. That's very low of you.
— Yeah, I'll try to be above that, — the girl chuckled.
Guion facepalmed.
— Just tomorrow, my work will be even busier. You'll have to run around yourself.
— Oh, forget about you and your work. Wasn't I enough for you?
— Make up your mind, will you? Sometimes you need me to work, sometimes you don't...
Beata waved her hand and headed towards the museum, nodding her head to order Guion to follow.