Josephine smiled at Raoul, laying her head against his shoulder as they entered the castle. And this time they were not bound nor in chains. They were not longer prisoners.<span style="font-style: italic">"Madame, your lady in waiting will lead you to your solar...there is a tub with hot drawn perfumed water waiting on you...I will tend to Prince..I mean.."</span>The young woman smiled, nodding and thanking the maid before slipping away from Raoul with a single glance back at him. Her mind and heart were buzzing with everything that had happened, most of it suddenly hitting her with the force of a sledgehammer. Both the good and the bad, the near death experience and the proposal to marry her true love. It seemed this day was the most eventful she had ever had in her lifetime. She followed along behind her lady-in-waiting, smiling at her comments. How charming and sweet of her to compliment her like that. As she got into the bath, she let the warm water soak her dirt and dust caked skin; her cell had been far from clean, not that she had expected it to be. It felt so good to be able to wash up after such a time of mistreatment.<br/><br/>As Josephine finished her bath, she was brought an assortment of dresses; all of which were the finest of fabrics and silks she had ever seen. She chose a<a class="postlink" href="http://www.sharpe-designs.com/images/catDR3063green.JPG">simple green dress</a>out of all the fancy and, no doubt, expensive gowns. Her long white hair was<a class="postlink" href="http://www.imagesyoulike.com/images/bref/32x24/d8310.jpg">pulled back</a>, some braided, the rest left to cascade down her back in waves of snow. Once she was finished being dressed and prettied to the liking of her lady-in-waiting, she was offered a tour around the castle; which she agreed to, and followed woman through the many hallways and up and down staircases throughout the large palace. She was shown the room that had been her parents, and had been left untouched by the past king; he had chosen a different chamber, closer to the study. The room had a large twin bed made of oak, carved so perfectly that she was amazed by the handiwork that adorned it. There was a thin layer of silk curtain, half transparent, that ran around the length of the bed, drawn away at the moment with ribbon and tied to the bedposts. The rest of the room was simple yet elegant, obviously showing that her parents had had no interest in indulging in trivial things for their own wishes. The room invoked so many memories, though they were hazy with long lost time, as she had been so young; it was near a mircale that she could remember this place at all.