I looked at her in the eyes and began to explain to her in a low voice.
"After we leave the castle and get enough away, then we will find a safe place and change clothes. I will wear yours and you will wear mine ".
Brielle frowned. "I will stick out like a sore thumb in your princely clothes."
I laughed softly. "My clothes will be fine for you, don't worry about it. We will take with us the plain dresses that I have, and that a girl of noble origin would comfortably wear ".
"Okay. What are we going to do next?" Brielle asked.
"Well, as I have created it in my mind, you will play the role of a noble woman, and I will be your handmaid."
Brielle's eyes widened. "You will be my maid?!" she shouted and looked at me in fear. "Is it ever possible? Are you sure?"
"Calm down. Yes I am sure. Can't you see it? It will be the perfect disguise for me. You will be safe, no one knows you ".
"Okay. What are we going to say when we are going to ask for a place to a ship? Who are we supposed to be?"
"Hm .., we will say that you are widowed lady and that you just want to leave here".
"Only that? Won't it arouse suspicion?"
"I don't know." I exhaled in frustration. "I have never traveled by ship. I don't know how things work."
"Don't be disappointed, Kira. We will find something better to say. I would suggest better to focus on finding a way to get out of here first. "
"Yes, I agree, you are right."
For a start, we gathered everything we should have in mind for the functions of the castle.
So, to get in and out of the castle, there was one door to enter or leave. The enormous wooden door-bridge goes up and down with the help of a huge mechanism that when you turn the handhold, chains are wrapped in it to open the door and vice versa to close the door.
Men did this job with great force, so it was certain that it would be impossible for us to open the door alone. They should open it for us.
Also, even if we could open the door, there was always a guard whose job was to check who enters and who leaves the castle.
The big issue was how we would be able to open the door for us without any suspicion and be discovered.
We talked for hours, but we didn't find a solution that we were sure would really work. The attempt to escape had to succeed from the first time. We wouldn't have a second chance. If they found out, Brielle would be kicked out of the castle, and my stepfather will lock her in my room until the wedding day. Only to get married would he let me go out. And that would be the worst and most undesirable ending for me.
I looked outside, and it was already dark.
"I'm going to get you dinner," Brielle said suddenly. "I must not neglect my duties."
"Okay, go." I agreed and smiled. "But eat something too," I added as she opened the door. She nodded at me, came out, and closed the door behind her.
After I finished my dinner, she helped me take a bath and put on my nightgown.
"Thank you, Brielle. Go and rest now. We will discuss about the plan again tomorrow."
"Okay, my princess. As you wish. The truth is that I am really tired. Good night," she said, covering me.
"Good night, Brielle. Rest well."
The following day, Brielle entered my room with a big smile and full of excitement. Her eyes shone with joy. "I hit on a plan!" she announced cheerfully to me.
I sat up in bed, surprised. "Really?! And what is that?"
She hurried to the low table and put the water she was carrying. In her haste, a little water spilled on the floor.
"Oh!" She exclaimed. "I'm going to get a cloth to collect the water."
"Not now! Later." I stopped her. "First, I want to tell me what have you thought, don't keep me in suspense." I growled impatiently.
"Okay." She approached me and sat next to me on the bed.
"Last night when I went to my room to sleep and lit the candle, my gaze fell on my mother's cart."
"Cart?" I asked her, puzzled, and wondered what a cart has to do with our problem.
"Yes, it is a cart that my mother made with her own hands. In this cart she had loaded her things and came to the castle ".
I couldn't bear it and asked. "What does all this have to do with our issue?"
"I will tell you. Be patient. This cart, as my mother explained to me, is a little different from an ordinary cart."
"Which means?"
She approached my ear and whispered, "It has a secret free space quite large actually."
I raised my eyebrows, but then I understood. There I would hide to get me out of the castle! I smiled broadly.
"But how do you get out of the castle? You know you need written permission from the king, right? "
I looked at her with wide eyes: "Brielle? This is it!"
I climbed down the bed and started jumping for joy.
"All you need is a good excuse," I explained.
"Okay. I will tell the clerk to write in my application that I want to visit my aunt, my mom's sister ".
"Do you have an aunt?" I wondered. Neither her mother nor Brielle had ever told us about her.
"The truth is that yes, I have. My mother had a sister. My mother hadn't seen her since their parents kicked my mother out of the house when she got pregnant with me."
"I understand," I said. "I am sorry."
"Me too, but let's stop talking about all these sad things. I will go to the clerk to complete the application and I hope to have an answer soon ".
"I wish that too. Otherwise, I'm doomed," I murmured as Brielle had already gone out and closed the door behind her.
By the time she returned, I had washed and sat in my favorite armchair waiting for her, drenched in my thoughts. Would we be able to get out of here in time? Now I was beginning to feel the walls of my room crashing me. Every day I woke up, my room seemed smaller than it was the day before.
A few years ago, this castle was full of love and joy, it was what I loved more than all the places I have been, and now that love and happiness are gone, I have come to hate it with all the strength of my heart.
I hoped everything went well, and we managed to get out of here as soon as possible.
I waited a long time when Brielle finally came in carrying my breakfast tray. Just in time, my stomach started to complain loudly.
"Well?" I asked her when she entered, although the smile that was etched on her lips had given me the answer I was hoping for.
"Okay, I made the request. The clerk told me that in a few days I will have my answer."
"Great!" I exclaimed. "Now we can only wait, but at the same time we can prepare the details of the plan."
"Of course. We don't have time to lose."
In the following days, while we waited for the answer, we made sure that Brielle carried some of my clothes and some pairs of shoes to her room, along with some other things useful to a girl of noble origin. She had gathered her own things too, so we were ready. I would also take my jewelry with me because we would need money. I had no money, so I would sell the jewelry at the first reasonable opportunity I would meet.
On the fifth day, Brielle entered my room happily waving a piece of paper she was holding in her hand.
"I have got it, Kira. I have got my permission."
My heart started beating fast, listening to the news. I got up abruptly from my seat and ran to her. "Really? Let me see."
"Here it is," she told me and handed me the paper to read.
It was written that Brielle was allowed to visit her aunt, but she should be back in the castle in three days.
"Wonderful!" I shouted and grabbed Brielle in my arms, full of joy and relief together.
"When can we leave?" she asked me when I left her free from my arms.
"Tomorrow."
"Very well. Make sure you are in my room tomorrow early in the morning. We will leave from there," she told me.
"From your room?" I asked her while I was thinking about something.
"Yes, is there a problem?"
"None, I was just thinking about putting on your clothes before we left. I will be hidden anyway."
"Sure, no problem. I will have them ready for you."
"Nice!" I replied, looking forward to tomorrow.