“Ah yes.” Sajedene spoke, nearly cutting his sentence with her cold tone. “There you go again father, speaking about ‘your way’ that seems to be the ‘only way’ for you. How blind can a man be?”<br/><br/>Still, she followed him without protesting because she knew it was much more beneficial to be able to talk back to him than to be shut up in the rudest of ways. He guided her over to Daishoga and she wondered what her foolish father had in mind. Sajedene had her answer relatively fast as he opened the cage and then ordered the guards to put her in the cage. “Gladly, father, gladly!” She said and pushed the guards away from her. “I don’t need to be forced. I’d sit in a cage with this man at any time. In fact, I’d say his company is much more enjoyable to yours and that traitorous wizard.” And with that, she forced the most unpleasant of smiles on her lips before getting inside the cage.<br/><br/>Her father delivered his speech and she seemed mildly amused. He clearly didn’t see that he was only putting her in a better position. By now he should have known who his daughter was and what kind of things she was capable of. No other princess would have had the guts to spend every single night outside the castle, in the company of a lower class young man, except Sajedene. She just couldn’t bring herself to care, not until her father would remove the blindfold from his eyes and start realizing what was actually happening in the world around him. And when someone like her didn’t care, there were very few things that stood in her way.<br/><br/>“You might as well bury me in the cage right now then.” She announced to him. “I’m not about to agree with your nonsense. Never. Mark my word.”<br/><br/>Well, well. It looked like their father daughter relationship was now nearly beyond repair. But hadn’t that always been the case? With no mother around, Sajedene had never had anyone to really look up to. Her father was no admirable king and the thought of ever seeing him return on a throne sent shivers down her spine. She had mourned her people and asked for forgiveness from the dead, hoping they would see that no man was black or white. Daishoga was not entirely evil, nor was Sadero entirely good. And as for herself? Perhaps she was a bit of both.<br/><br/>It hadn’t been that long since her last time in a cage. She recalled her arrival to the Emperor’s castle vividly and still remembered the fear and hesitation, even the anger she had felt. But that had all changed very fast when she had been faced with facts instead of the fiction she had been brought up with. Sajedene adored Daishoga, but inside the cage she sat opposite to him and avoided contact. She was ashamed of herself and the lie she had told him right from the start. Now he knew. And because of her, he was in his current position of misery. It was heart-breaking when he looked over to her and she could see the anger in those black eyes. What she had done to him couldn’t be mended with an apology or explanation. She was at loss with words, feeling as if she had betrayed him, even though she hadn’t.<br/><br/>“Whatever you think of me, I’ll accept it.” She spoke to him quietly. “I shall give no explanations to you. No excuses. Nothing can mend this. I won’t even apologize, because what good will that do? What will it change? Just know, that if there is someone you should hate, then let it be me.”