This chapter opens with a sound coming from the door of the palace. It is the sound of a family's act. The sound comes from over here, where the girl is awake. She asks the prince why he is there. The prince tells her that he pretended to be the bandit and kidnapped her here. She admires the prince's clap. He says that he thought he'd meet her when his father, the Emperor, left with his wife. Dodo was only 12, and has been following the prince on the battlefield ever since. He seems wild but in fact he is pure, passionate. What he lacks lacks is nothing. He will become the iron hat king who frightens the court, the prince says, but only if he is dead. He tells the prince that he thinks too highly of him, and that there is no inevitability between the two of them. He adds that they all learn from their mistakes, and he promises that it will not happen again