Chapter 34

That wasn't what Lyana had hoped to find out, but it was nice to see Nara talking so lively. As it turned out, there wasn't a single servant who disliked the king. "May I ask how you got here?"

As soon as she had asked that question, the expression on Naras face darkened. "I was originally a slave from another kingdom. When I was seven years old, I was sold and smuggled into the Ice

Kingdom."

Suddenly Lyana regretted her question, she hadn't wanted to awaken bad memories. "Forgive me,

you don't have to talk about it," she interrupted Nara. But she only waved it off. "Don't worry about

me. It may not be a nice past, but I've learned to live with it. I was ransomed from my slave contract

and offered to work here or to return to my homeland. I was only sixteen at the time, and after years

of abuse, I saw it as an opportunity to earn enough and only return to my old kingdom later on.

Then year after year went by and in the end I stayed. Before I knew it, the castle became my new

home and the other servants became my family."

The princess was very happy that Nara was happy after all. Still, something was preoccupying her.

"Was King Ulric always the way he is today? After all, you must have known him as a child."

Now something strange happened. Nara suddenly looked as if she felt very uncomfortable. She

cleared her throat and led Lyana into the next room, which turned out to be the library. "Sure, he's

always been good to me. He may not be the happiest person, but he doesn't harm anyone unless he

has a reason to."

Lyana rubbed her neck absently. She couldn't really agree with the attendant on this point. Since she

did not expect to get more information on this topic, she decided to change it. As she did so, she saw the key ring in Naras hand. "Are those all the keys to the locks? Seems to be a lot of responsibility to me."

The attendant agreed. "That is probably true, but I am very proud of it."

Lyana nodded and looked around the library. It was really big and the bookshelves reached up to the

ceiling. The princess wondered how many of these books King Ulric had read.

When her gaze reached the back of the library, she noticed that there was another door. At first she

thought there must be a door through to the room next door, but then she remembered that there was

no door in the hallway that could lead into another room.

"Nara?" She asked as she pointed to the door. "What kind of room is that back there?" Again Lyana could see that she also felt uncomfortable with this question. "There is nothing else there. Just some

old paintings. We should go on now." Nara turned to go when Lyana stopped her again. "Nara! I want you to open this door. If I am asked to examine your work, then this room is part of it as well."

She did not like speaking to Nara in such an authoritarian way, but she saw no other option.

Prisoners or not, she was still a princess and ranked well above her. Even so, she still doubted the

effect of her words. She might as well go to the king and first ask if she could open the door for Lyana. The conflict on the servants' faces was clearly visible.

Just as Lyana was expecting her defeat and wanted to apologize for the harsh words, Nara suddenly

gave in. "Well... please come with me." At first Lyana thought she had misheard, but Nara actually

went to the door and so she hurried to follow her.

The princess could hear her heart pounding loudly, she was so nervous. She didn't even know what

to expect.

Nara had only spoken of old paintings, there could be anything on them. But her hesitation led her to suspect that it might be the paintings of the royal family that Baridi said had been removed at the

king's request.

Finally the key was found and the attendant unlocked the door. She let Lyana go first, still looking very insecure. But she couldn't take that into account.

She entered the room only slowly. It wasn't particularly big, but it was littered with paintings and

other works of art. Lyana was so flooded with all the new impressions that she almost felt dizzy.

She had to take a deep breath and then went through everything.

The works of art that stood on the floor were impressive, but of no meaning to them. Her real interest was for the paintings on the wall. Some of them showed the Ice Kingdom, others showed

animals. Still others were portraits of earlier kings and queens.

The greatest of them all showed a man with a kind look and at his side a beautiful woman who looked at him tenderly. Lyana recognized the man's eyes immediately, even if this gentle facial expression was unknown to her. The eyes were the same as those of King Ulric. So this was the former King of the Ice Kingdom. King Ulrics father.