This chapter opens with a soliloquy by liana. She tells us that she's sorry that she didn't tell the lady infirmary that she was having an affair with the prince's mistress. liana says that if she were in liana's place, she'd be ashamed to be in the company of such a woman. She says that she wouldn't be able to go on living the way she does now if she had to hide her love for the prince from the ladies in her social circle. She also says that even if the prince liked her, it would be a blot on his record if he chose a woman like her. If liana were in her place , she says, she would whip up all the candidates who the prince doesn't like and make them give up on the world. If she were liana, she tells us, she "would be so ashamed to die" that she would "slide clack" to her next life and "just give up" on this world. She adds that it's better for her to pretend to be their friend than to make enemies of the princes. She's glad that she has liana because it would make her sad to have to "suffer only sigh" . .