The valet looked at her with a sigh. "You are not to blame. You are a young woman who has been
kidnapped into a foreign kingdom and doesn't even know what kind of story she got caught up in."
Lyana didn't dare to ask, but she just couldn't hold back. "Baridi, who is the woman with the silver
hair?" She noticed how he winced for a moment, but he quickly recovered. "I wish I could tell you about it. But everything turned out differently than I had hoped. It will be better for you to know as little as possible."
"But Baridi," began the princess pleadingly, but the valet interrupted her with a pleading look himself. "It's only for your best. Please believe me." He bowed and then disappeared through the door. Again Lyana was alone and again she hadn't got a step further. She might even have lost Baridis trust.
She was slowly getting a headache from this whole thing. But she couldn't stop thinking about it either.
My heart. That's what he called her. For some reason she had a feeling that it should tell her something, but she didn't know why. She lay back in her bed and tried to sleep. The next day would be better for sure.
Actually, she would like to go back to the garden to look for further clues, but when Baridi left, she saw the guards in front of her door. King Ulric took his punishment really seriously.
Fortunately, tiredness overcame her very quickly and this time she didn't wake up again until the next morning. But even there it went on just like the day before. No Alisen came and the guards in front of her door were still there. Baridi alone paid her a short visit at lunchtime and in the evening to smuggle some food into her room.
When she asked him how long the king intended to punish her, he couldn't tell her anything more
specific. Maybe the next day or maybe in a few weeks.
At least Baridi had brought her a book to keep her occupied. But when she wasn't reading it, her
mind kept drifting to the woman with the silver hair. She chased her even in her sleep.
In her dream they were both standing in the hallway of the castle. The woman wore the pink dress and the rose jewelry. Her eyes looked at her sadly and her mouth moved, but nothing came out.
Lyana asked her what she wanted with her, but she couldn't hear her voice. Then suddenly they were in the garden and Lyana saw the king under the tree. The woman was back too. Around them the tree spirits. "Help him." Suddenly she could hear her voice clearly. "Help him." Over and over again she repeated these words in a beautiful, yet so pleading voice. That ended her dream.
So she spent the next day thinking about this encounter. If she didn't get out of this room soon, she would go insane. But she was lucky, when her door opened that afternoon, not Baridi but her maid
Alisen entered the room.
So happy to see this friendly face again, Lyana fell right around her neck. Alisen returned the hug with tears in her eyes. "Oh, Your Royal Highness! I thought they wouldn't let me be with you anymore. How pale and skinny you look, that must come from the fact that no food was brought to you."
Lyana laughed. "Don't worry, it wasn't much, but Baridi could at least smuggle some food in for me. Now tell me, can I leave the room again?"
Alisen nodded happily. "You are allowed to eat in the dining room this evening. In the kitchen they are preparing a feast because everyone is so happy about it."
That was really touching, but she felt a bit queasy. "And the king?" She asked hesitantly.
"King Ulric will not attend the meal." Her maid looked depressed at the floor, but quickly found her smile again. "Don't worry, he's currently very busy, but he'll definitely be dining with you again soon."
He was very busy? Was he preparing for his revenge on the Sun Kingdom? If that were the case, there would probably be no more "soon". The thought hurt her more than it should have and she tried to turn her attention to something else. So she suggested Alisen that she could run a bath. She hadn't really taken care of herself in the past few days.
The warm water was really good for her. Lyana concentrated solely on the warmth that completely
enclosed her. For a short while it went really well, but then she thought again of King Ulric and how warm it had felt when she had leaned against him on the horse. Immediately she was overwhelmed by a wave of sadness. She wrapped her arms around her legs and cried softly, without even knowing why.
By the time Alisen came back to wash her, her tears had dried and the remaining evidence had
disappeared in the bath water. Fortunately, her maid didn't notice her little breakdown and washed
her hair, chattering happily. At some point Lyana noticed that Alisen talked about Baridi quite often.
It seemed like she was just ranting about him, but she felt like there was something else. Could it be that her maid was interested in the valet? Baridi was probably almost twice as old as Alisen, but that wasn't exactly unusual. He also looked very young and good-looking.