Agathe

  Fritz had sent his mother a letter. Because of all the work, she hadn't gotten around to reading it yet. The queen sat in her offid opehe envelope eagerly. She pulled the letter out of the expensive envelope and began to read. Fritz told of the busyhat had broken out in the hospitals. In some cities, citizens pined of an itchy rash that spread quickly and was highly tagious, apanied by fever. Och had even died because no healer came to her in time. heless, Fritz was vihat he could get the situation under trol. The cause of the rash was still unknown.

  The sed part of his letter was much mratifying. Fritz had gotten engaged and wao introduce his fiao his family soon. Pau, as his fiancée was called, had retly taken a job in one of the hospitals and they had met there.

  Agathe smiled. So it wasn't a rumor. Fritz had found someone. He did not write whether she was a witch or not, and what activities she took over in the hospital, but Agathe assumed her to be a witch. Only a few mortals worked in the hospitals. Fritz had certainly chosen wisely. He wao e to dinner with his fia the end of the week.

  Satisfied, she put the letter aside. On her desk was the daily neer she read every afternoon. She took the neer and looked through it. One headline puzzled her:

  'Illegitimate son of a servant cims to be the King's son.'

  Irritated, she read the article.

  The neer reported on a versatioween the king and the young man, that was supposed to have taken p secret, and of which the neer had learned from a secret informant. ed, she stood up and searched for her husband with the neer in her hands.

  Friedrich sat in the library and read.

  "What does that mean?" Reproachfully, she held out the article to him.

  Friedrich raised his eyebrows. "What does what mean?"

  "Read! And then expin it, please!" She was angry. Ahan she had been in a long time.

  Her husband took the neer ahe sdalous article. "Well, a few days ago a young man came to me who cimed to be my son... He wanted me to officially reize him as such. A fraud, of course."

  "And how did he e up with this idea?"

  "Well... He is, apparently, the son of a servant who lost her job a few weeks ago. She was caught stealing. She probably wanted revenge."

  Agathe kly when her husband was lying to her. He hadn't looked at her once. He always did that when he lied to her. "The article says the young man is twenty-five."

  "Does that matter? It's just a hoax... He probably turo the neer himself when I turned him down. I didn't mean to worry you, so I didn't tell you anything."

  "Sure? Twenty-five years ago..." She remembered seeing her husband ing up the staff stairs a few times... How long ago was that? About twenty-five years? She couldn't remember his excuse. There was hardly any reason for him to visit the staff rooms. "I want to meet the young man."

  "Why?" Now Friedrich looked at her. "That's nonsense."

  "We will invite him to dinner. I want to see for myself!"

  "So that the neer has even more to gossip about? Peter is getting married soon. By then the neer fets this little rumor."

  "We will invite him." She wao see the truth with her own eyes. "Oh... Fritz is engaged. He will e to dinner with his fia the end of the week." Furious, she left the library.

  It was a disaster.

  Julia

  Finn was sick. Small reddish dots adorned his left arm aruggled with a high fever. Sophie had already called for a healer because the the academy was out of the house, but the healer wasn't there yet. Marko did not leave Finn's side. The sick wolf y in his bed and slept.

  Where he had been ied, they did not know.

  Leopold had some spots on his hand, but no fever yet. He sat in the living room and drank tea. Julia sat i trying to do her homework, while Sophie looked after the two sick teenagers. "Marko also has spots," she informed Julia. "He just discovered them on his forearms. Whatever it is, I hope we didn't get ied."

  "Where the rash e from?" asked Julia.

  "I don't know. But i few weeks, some of the staff were sick, for which Leopold and Marko had to step in. Maybe it was that rash?"

  "Yes, maybe." Julia put her homework aside. "How do you feel?"

  "I'm fine. I don’t get sick that fast!"

  There was a kno the door to her apartment and Sophie opehe door for a young man. Julia watched the versation from the kit door. "You need a healer?" the man asked. "I came as soon as possible."

  "That's good." Sophie smiled in relief. "The princess's three servants have a rash. I and Her Highness are fine..."

  "Rash?" The healer frowned. "I'd better take a look at it right away. Lately, this has been happening frequently..."

  The healer treated Julia's sick servants and also Sophie and herself, as he assumed that they had also been ied, it was just not yet reizable. When he left, Finn, Marko, and Leopold had no noticeable dots. The healer would e back the day a the treatment, to make sure that they were healthy. This rash was sidered particurly resistant and aggressive. Until then, Julia should stay away from css.

  Leopold

  Finn and Marko were asleep. Marko had curled up as a wolf in front of Finn's bed. They were all exhausted from the bad surprise. He watched Finn turn around in his sleep and mumble something.

  He left the two sleeping people alone a into the kit to make himself a cup of tea.

  The princess had kissed him.

  He had kissed the princess.

  He had wao tell her about his feelings so that she could reject them, and he could trate on his task without a guilty sce. He wao distract her from his pn. He had already worust. Now she should see him as a pitiful, poor, servant in love...

  But things had turned out differently...

  He smiled.

  It had not gone acc to pn, but that should not stand in the way of his project. He would use the feelings of the princess for himself so that she would not arouse suspi. So that she would trust him. So that his pn succeeded. She should believe that he loved her. She should think he was ho. He was able to use this new situation to his advantage.

  There was only one small problem.

  He was really in love with her.

  But the pn had priority.

  His people had priority.

  The future riority.