Never. What could I have been thinking? At this reflection, a different, long-forgotten voice resurfaced in her mind: You were thinking of duty, and honour, and courage, and decency, and all the noble values you have forsaken, you sorry, degenerate excuse for a knight. She dried her eyes, and did her utmost to ignore the cruel taunts of the super-ego she had suppressed for the better part of a century, while applying delicate shades of make-up to her clear, pale skin – another art at which she excelled.
What did it matter now? True, she could not become a princess any more than she could return to being a knight, but if I can do nothing else, I’ll show them all how beautiful I can be. I’ll outshine the lot of them.