Chapter 25

He then looked skeptically at the wolf who had closed his eyes clearly enjoying the soft stroking and mumbled to himself. „Guess I should remind this guy of it himself." Then he left her alone.

She ontinued to stroke the wolf's fur sadly. She knew, of course, that he wasn't a pet. Still, it was difficult to say goodbye to this pleasant warmth. But at some point she finally had to tear herself away. "Wake

up, Alesh. I have to go back to the castle."

As if the wolf already knew that she meant him by that name, he opened his eyes and lifted his head. Yawning, he got up and jumped out of the sled with one jump. Lyana was a little more careful.

She didn't want to slip like she did when she arrived a few days ago. Alesh watched her carefully with his yellow eyes as if to make sure that she gets out safely.

As soon as she was sure that she didn't have a dangerous sheet of ice under her feet, she leaned

down to the animal again and stroked its head. The wolf put up with this for a while and then ran

back to his pack.

She watched him go back to his territory with the others.

"Beautiful animals, aren't they?" Baridi suddenly stood next to her. "It's really impressive how quickly you have won the trust of this wolf."

"That wasn't special," Lyana tried to downplay the whole thing. "He's just a good soul and used to

people."

A smile spread across Baridis face. "He's actually the most suspicious of all the wolves. King Ulric

found him three years ago as a puppy in the forest. His paw had been broken and he had several

cuts on his body. To be honest, I didn't think he'd survive."

Lyana looked at the valet in astonishment. "Then ... His Majesty nursed him back to health?"

Baridi nodded. "Nobody but him knows that much about wolves. He loves these animals, even if

you may not be able to imagine that."

"No, I think so too. I saw it myself today." It was impossible not to notice.

Baridi offered her his arm and Lyana accepted with thanks. "Then you probably noticed that this wolf also trusts him very much," Baridi continued while they ran into the castle. "So far, however, King Ulric was the only one whom the animal trusted, everyone else has to be very careful with him. So you can see that that makes you something special, Your Royal Highness."

Lyana would not have expected that, but there was indeed some pride in her. She would have loved

to ask Baridi more about Alesh and the other wolves, but they had already arrived in front of her room.

The valet said goodbye with a slight bow and then walked away. Lyana, however, entered her room,

in which Alisen was already waiting for her. Her maid was putting away her clothes when she noticed the princess. "There you are. I'm eagerly waiting to finally get you out of torn dress."

Lyana looked down at herself, confused. Only now did she notice that her dress had a big tear in the hem and it was full of dirt. That must have happened when she was pushed to the floor. Too bad, it was a really nice dress. However, now she had completely new clothes to make up for it. "Is it absolutely necessary to change my clothes for dinner?", She asked carefully. She was already quite tired and moving was always so laborious. But her maid showed no mercy. "Are your trying to drag me down? The king could dine with you again this evening. You should look as pretty as possible there."

Lyana would have loved to reply that the king had already seen her in this state, but she didn't.

Besides, she didn't want Alisen to be accused of not fulfilling her duties. Though she was kinda surprised by her attitude. She seemed to be getting comfortable with her and Lyana actually liked

that.

So while she was enjoying the warm bath that her maid had prepared for, she was already looking

for the right clothes for dinner. Lyana had to admit that the bath was really good for her. It had been a really long day and, despite her cape, quite cold. Unfortunately, this one had also suffered from

her fall. But Alisen had promised her to get it clean again by tomorrow.

Lyana got out of the tub sufficiently warmed and went back to Alisen. She was just checking which of the jewelry would go best with the dress. "I will wear the king's necklace," she made the decision for her maid.

"Of course," she hit her head with her hand. "How could I have forgotten that? And it will certainly

go magically with the light purple of the dress that I have chosen."

She quickly helped Lyana to dry off and then went straight to work. Alisen had perfect timing. As soon as she was finished, there was a knock on the door. Lyana hurried to open it to Baridi. But to their great astonishment, it wasn't the valet standing there, but the king himself.