This chapter's epigraph comes from a conversation between the princess and the fifth prince. The princess tells the prince that she is afraid of death, but she is also afraid of losing her lover. The prince asks her why she is so loyal to him, and she replies that it is painful to be loyal to a prince who has lost his arms and legs. She says that if her lover sees her with missing limbs and arms, she will never again be able to woo him. She tells him that she tried everything she could to win the prince's heart, but that she came up empty-handed. She accuses the prince of helping a condemned criminal escape from the court. She threatens to have the prince denounce her, and the prince says that he will rip out her tongue