Chapter 49

They were silent the rest of the way to their room. Before Baridi said goodbye, he looked once more

intently into Lyanas eyes. "Be careful, Your Royal Highness. As it stands, I've already lost my king ... I don't want to lose you too."

Lyana nodded moved and then entered her room. Everything was still there as she had left it. Most

of all she had missed her bed. She threw herself on this immediately and enjoyed the feeling of

sinking into the soft feather pillows. The lounger in the dungeon had been so uncomfortable that she

had often just lay awake half the night staring at the ceiling. She had only had her white fur cape to

keep her warm, nothing else had been given to her. So she was all the more pleased when she could wrap herself up in the soft sheets.

Probably she would have just fell asleep if she hadn't heard the door open. She raised her head and saw Alisen walking towards the bed with tears in her eyes.

Lyana immediately jumped out of bed and threw herself in the arms of the maid. Tears came to her

eyes as well. The whole time she had tried so hard not to get emotional again.

"I was afraid that King Ulric would let you rot down there," she sobbed against Lyanas shoulder.

She rubbed her maid's back soothingly. "You don't know your king well then. He would never have

done that to me." She preferred not to tell Alisen that he wanted to kill her directly. She was already

completely dissolved.

As soon as she had calmed down a bit, she was shocked to see what state the princess was in. The

hair was very greasy and matted and the dress and face were completely filthy. In addition, Lyana

suspected that she must stink terribly, even if no one had told her so far. And is this state, she had

confessed her feelings to the king. Well, now it was too late to regret it. But at least she was in

Alisens capable hands again. "I'll let you in a nice warm bath immediately. Then we'll take care of

your hair. A few more days and you could only have cut it off with scissors. But don't worry, I can

manage that much."

Lyana trusted her maid completely. However, she probably wouldn't have cared if she had to cut it

off. She would sacrifice her hair and everything she owned if she could only find a way to stop

King Ulric.

Despite her worries, the warm bath that her maid had prepared for her was very relaxing. She had

suffered a lot in the cold cell, even if the cape had saved her from the worst. The last time she was

down there she had called for the king in a completely unabashed way and asked for something warm. If she hadn't already had her cape this time, he would have just let her freeze until her fingers

had died. Again her tears came and Alisen was buzzing around her completely agitated and tried to

calm her down again. But the tears just wouldn't run dry. So her maid did the only thing Lyana never expected and went into the tub with her. Completely clothed and with a deadly serious expression. From her look the princess could see that Alisen herself couldn't believe what she had just done. They looked at each other for a short moment in silence before both of them burst out laughing and couldn't contain themselves with laughter.

"I'm starting to feel really ridiculous. In my whole life I have never had such a chaos of emotions as

in the past few days ", the princess confessed to her maid with a sniff. In the meantime, she had risen out of the water and dried herself off first before she also helped Lyana out of the tub. "But isn't it nice to get to know these other sides of you? Even if the circumstances are not exactly perfect."

"Well, maybe", Lyana replied and wondered if she would have ever had these feelings if she had

stayed in the sun kingdom forever.

"You're in love with him, aren't you?" Alisen asked softly and in a very understanding tone.

Lyana smiled bitterly. "Is it that obvious?" She let a light coat slip on and then sat on the chair in

front of the dresser.

Alisen began to gently brush her wet hair. "Well, maybe not for the men. But since I myself

understand well what it is like to love someone without knowing whether these feelings are

reciprocated, I have become good at recognizing something like that." Lyana immediately suspected

that this man must be Baridi.

"Of course you have long since noticed that I am talking about Baridi," she said shortly afterwards.

"It's probably my own fault that he doesn't see me as a woman. After all, I keep arguing with him. But only because I never know what to say in his presence, because I'm so nervous."