“Oh, Your Highness, please don’t call yourself a servant,” Isabel said. “We are YOUR servants. It would be a great honor for me to give a few lessons to our country’s future ruler.”
“Thank you. It was a pleasure meeting you and talking with you, senhorita,” said Afonso with a friendly bow.
It was also a pleasure to meet you, Your Highness,” Isabel curtsied.
“In that case, I will leave you with Fernando. I’m sorry, but I still have much work to do before tonight.”
Isabel curtseyed silently with a welcoming smile as the prince hurried away.
After meeting Isabelle, Afonso was in a good mood for the rest of the day. Later in the evening, he decided to visit his brother.
“Good evening, Fernando,” Afonso said as he entered his brother’s chambers. He noticed from Fernando’s face that he wasn’t happy with his visit.
“Oh, I’m sorry I interrupted you,” Afonso said. He noticed the papers on the table and the quill in Fernando’s hand. “I didn’t realize you were doing your homework so late.”
Afonso came closer to the table, looked at the papers, and exclaimed, “Oh, this again! More poems? Are you so enamored by Isabel that you write poetry at night?
“I can understand you, though,” Afonso continued. A person like you admires beauty and all sorts of art and cannot stay indifferent toward such an attractive and skillful dancer. I admit I was wrong when I doubted her indescribable angelic beauty. You were entirely correct. I even felt a bit inspired talking to her.
“You are not jealous of that, are you?”
“Isabelle is so beautiful that any admirer of beauty would experience what you felt when talking with her,” answered Fernando. “I have nothing to be jealous of, Afonso, because she treats you as respectfully as she treats me.
“I must tell you, though,” he continued, “that Isabel ended up in the palace because of me. It was I who first noticed her on stage. And it was I who told Duchess Isabella who my choice was. Therefore, although you are older than me and will be higher in title when you are king, I have the right of superiority to close relations with Isabel.”
Afonso answered: “No one disputes that, Fernando. I only asked her to teach me a few lessons so I could get to know her. I am not interested in having a relationship with her like what you wrote about in your poetry.”