The door creaked when Dorejamus stumbled back in. "Child," he sneered, "there's another wretch at the gate, can he go any further, or shall I officially appoint him as the moat fish food?"

Tilliante waved that he could make his entrance, much to the disappointment of the starving carp who swam expectantly around the castle. Although so many men had climbed the long spiral staircase to the tower room, without success, the beauty still felt that she should give everyone a chance. She crawled to her feet and assumed a stately posture in front of the window, ready to blow the visitor's socks off with a smile alone.

Leo blinked his eyes quickly, took a deep breath, and slowly counted to five. He had ordered Robert to wait with the two horses. He thought it would be a better idea if just one of them would talk to the Baron's beautiful daughter. And beautiful she was. She was more beautiful than the sun would ever be, but when he saw the broken look in her sea-blue eyes, he realized that here was not a princess to be conquered, but a little, weepy girl who needed someone to hold her close and tell her that everything was going to be all right.

'I am Leo Niel, candidate for the throne of His Majesty Lodehart and this is my first assignment.'

Tilliante nodded. Leo scratched the back of his head thoughtfully, then began to walk slowly around the room. She was small but beautiful. He loved the golden dressing table with the large oval mirror, the wooden chair along it, the dark brown beamed floor, but especially the bed. It seemed as if the twinkling fairies with their magic fingers had made it personal. He would love to stay here for a night or two, but he realized that this space must be stifling if you hadn't been anywhere else for three years.

And then, as his heels clacked to the floor, something began to dawn on him. Neither he, Leo Niel, nor the tough Jack Bulton, nor any of the hundred other men who had been here, nor any of the brainteasers could put an end to this whole tragedy. There was only one person who could do that. Leo looked at his reflection, his face hidden under the brim of his hat, and he made an important decision.

"Dear brain teaser, if you have nothing against it, I would like you to wait outside the door for a while." Leo decided that the tower door would be thick enough to prevent eavesdroppers. "I'd like to tell Tilliante something in person."

Dorejamus was already shaking his head when the Baron's daughter nodded to him encouragingly. This young man, barely fatter than her father's little finger, looked anything but threatening. The old man reluctantly moved to the door.

"Don't worry, sir, if anything happens to her, you can make fresh head soup out of my head and that of all my relatives. I won't touch her with a finger, I promise." Partly reassured by this promise, Dorejamus shut himself out.

Leo swallowed, stood directly in front of Tilliante, and took off his lumberjack hat. Then, with one stroke, he pulled the rubber band out of his braid and shook off his wavy brown hair. Then he took off his chocolate brown coat and unbuttoned his white shirt. It slid off his shoulders onto the wooden floor.

The beautiful lady at the window didn't know where she had it anymore and clung to the bed in shock. She put a hand over her mouth to suppress a cry that had just not escaped. Because in front of her was not the young man who just just paraded thoughtfully through her tower room, but a young woman with an almost mischievous smile on her mouth. Tilliante stared at the white undershirt with the little roses that the visitor was wearing. It was tight enough to clearly see her narrow waist that transitioned to her feminine hips and the slight curve of her breasts. Her soft pink arms looked just like Tilliante's, and she had an equally long gooseneck. Without the hat, a handsome face with dark eyes appeared, rimmed by long eyelashes. Her auburn locks completed the picture. They caressed her forehead and curled around her ears. The woman laughed.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

"So," Her voice sounded a lot higher, and Tilliante realized that she had probably been speaking in her lowest voices the whole time.

She kicked off the equestrian boots and tripped to the dressing table where she began to comb out her locks extensively with Tilliante's brush.

"So." She said again. 'That's quite a surprise, isn't it? That male king candidate turns out to be a damn woman.' She fished a few brown hairs out of the brush and let them whirl on the floor. 'I come from Amargo, the shadow part of Yths where surviving with only one meal a day is no exception. When my youngest sister died of some horrible disease because no doctor ventured out into the streets, I had had enough. I was going to show those rich stinkers of the court something! And so I dressed up as a man and took part in the auditions. Wow, I was in the running.'

She put the brush back and looked straight into the Baron's daughter's eyes. "Now, Tilliante, I'm not going to tell you what a great plan I have in store to make you talk, no, because you're the one who's going to bring this whole tragedy to a successful conclusion. Because you're languishing here until people think that Tilliante's voice lives on only as a legend, stubborn as you are! And your father, however, keeps his arms tightly crossed as he frantically tries to keep the lovers out of his garden. Your stepmother, I've heard, took all your things after you left. She washes herself in your bath and eats from your plate. And Mr. Sugar Freeze doesn't give a damn whether you sing or not, if he ever needs a woman as sweet as his chocolate pastries, there are plenty who will happily dance in his throne rooms, filled with marzipan. But while you and your father are stubborn, your Henry almost dies of loneliness in his chilly dungeon. And that's why you, and only you, need to take action and speak up!"

Tilliante was breathing heavily when the woman in front of her finally began to scream, so violently that even a frightened Dorejamus did not dare to enter to save the Lady. "You've got to run as fast as you can with that ball gown, hurry to your father's castle and solve all this stuff! Tell him that you love him but that you have the right to choose the one you love just like him! Explain to him that Henry only looks devilish on the outside, but that he is very brave (and a little foolish, Leo thought to himself) to defy the Acorn witches to make that fantastic bed you are now clinging to! Free your sweetheart from his prison and convince your father of his dignity! If necessary, let Hendrik carry you all over the country with you on his shoulders to show how much he loves you! Declare that the sugar freeze is only interested in treats and that your dad doesn't want you to get as fat as he did! In short, dear Tilliante, open your mouth, you are the one who has to take matters into your own hands, just like I do to give the inhabitants of Amargo a valuable future again! Only you can change this because your father is too conservative for that! You, you!'

Leo suddenly realized that she was pointing with a trembling finger at the baron's daughter, who was now turning as white as the color of the shirt that lay crumpled between them. Tilliante threw her hands theatrically on her chest as only noble ladies can do and shouted 'Oh my goodness!'

Leo was so amazed to hear the beauty's warm voice that she lowered her piercing finger. She was shaking all over her body.

"Oh, my goodness!" cried Tilliante again, opening the window to gasp for air. "Leo, you're right!" She turned around and her ocean blue eyes were wide with dismay. "How long I've been crying here, while my poor darling at the bottom of a dungeon is trying to keep himself alive! What am I still doing here?' Immediately Tilliante rushed at Leo and threw her arms around his neck. She pressed the young lady tightly against her as tears rolled down her cheeks. "Thank you," came a choked voice. She pulled away from the embrace and took Leo's head in her hands. "I'm going to my father's castle. I ask Dorejamus right now to send a carriage and a bunch of horses so that I can leave."

"I have two horses and a companion with me," Leo said. 'We can easily look after one horse together. For the time being, only a few people have permission to ride through the Leafy Forest. The coachman will be delayed a lot."

"Brilliant idea, get dressed, I can hardly wait!" cooed Tilliante.

Leo smiled. "But keep this," she pointed to herself, "a secret for a while. I still have a number of tasks to accomplish and even Robert, my companion, doesn't know anything yet."

Tilliante nodded and smiled gratefully. "You have my word and that means a lot after three years of silence."