Our passage through the inner gate was unhindered, and we were granted immediate access to the Golden Palace. The carriage entered slowly, passing long lines of guards who stood at attention as we passed.

Up close, the Golden Palace shone even more brightly, adorned with stained glass windows and jewel encrusted doors. The grounds were perfectly manicured with a sprawling garden that one could easily get lost in. The carriage I rode in followed a long cobblestone path that led through the garden and around to the back of the Palace. 

We stopped in front of a discreet back entrance that looked like a servants door. A few moments after we'd stopped, the carriage driver came around, opened the door, and bowed deeply. 

“Your Highness, we have arrived,” the driver said reverently, without lifting his head, “May this humble servant be of any further assistance?”

“That will be all,” replied the Second Prince, “We will enter from here and I will escort the Marquis to his room. Return the carriage and horses to the stable, then you can retire from there.”

“Yes, your Highness. Thank you, your Highness.” The man lifted his head so he could bow deeply once more before stepping aside to allow us space to exit.

The Second Prince gestured for me to get out first, so I carefully climbed out of the carriage. The back entrance that the Second Prince had chosen was far less populated than the one in front, with only a few servants scattered about, completing their daily tasks. I could feel their eyes on me as I emerged. 

I could only imagine what they must have been thinking when they saw me. My hair, which had grown long enough to be called unruly, was as unwashed as the rest of me from the journey; my clothes were dirty from travel, and my wrists were still bound in chains. It must have looked as if the Second Prince had brought a common prisoner home for a visit.

The servants quickly looked away when the Second Prince stepped out of the carriage behind me. He lazily looked around at the people hovering nearby, who were suddenly busy with their assigned tasks.

The driver went to depart, but then he turned around to look at me. Our eyes met for a brief moment, and I couldn’t help but notice the pity in his gaze as he said, “Good luck, young Lord. I hope to greet thee on the other side.”

After bidding me farewell with a traditional greeting, he climbed back up to his post and drove off with the carriage.

Having experienced so little kindness in the past nine years, his casual words tugged at my heartstrings a little. It was naught but a simple, careless greeting on his part, but it had lifted my spirits a little.

“Right then, follow me. I will show you to your room.” My spirits dropped again as the voice of the Second Prince interrupted my thoughts. I nodded my head and followed him into the Palace. 

The interior of the Golden Palace was as opulent as its exterior, though far less golden. Everyway I looked I saw ornamental rugs, jewels out on display, gold framed portraits of the Royal Family, and various other pieces of decadent decor. The poor people of the city's slums could have feasted for a year on the riches housed in a single room of the Palace.

Servants passed by constantly, averting their eyes and whispering, “Greetings, Your Highness,” as they hurried to finish their work. None of them dared to look the Second Prince in the eye, but all of them snuck a peek at me as soon as they were past the Second Prince’s gaze. Then they would start whispering to each other while throwing covert backwards glances as they walked away.

The servants in my father’s house had been indifferent to me to the point I questioned my own existence, but I wasn’t sure if I could call this an improvement. 

I wondered if the Palace servants knew who I was. Did they know what I was here for, or was I simply something different for them to look at, wonder about, and judge? I wished they wouldn’t look at me like that. 

Actually, I was quite certain I preferred the indifference of my father’s servants. Better to be invisible than a spectacle. 

We swiftly proceeded through the Palace, preventing me from thinking about it any further.