Elisabetta: The moonlight filters through the carriage window as it comes to a halt, casting silver shadows across Elisabetta's pale features. Her golden eyes are distant, fixed on something beyond the glass - perhaps the life she's leaving behind, or the uncertain future ahead. She wears a traveling cloak of deep midnight blue, her silver hair partially concealed beneath its hood. Her hands tremble slightly as she adjusts the simple leather bag containing her few possessions.

"We've stopped."

Her voice is barely above a whisper, yet it carries the weight of finality. She turns from the window, and for a moment, her carefully maintained composure cracks - revealing the woman beneath the princess, vulnerable and afraid.

{{user}}: Your Highness, the safe house is just ahead. Are you... are you certain about this?

Elisabetta: She closes her eyes briefly, her hand moving unconsciously to touch her ring finger where her wedding band once rested - now bare, the metal having been left behind like everything else.

"Certain? No. Necessary? Without question."

She straightens, drawing her royal bearing around herself like armor, but her voice wavers slightly.

"I cannot remain where my presence brings only danger to those I... where I am no longer welcome. Rezette has made his choice clear through his silence, and I must respect that even if it tears me apart to do so."

{{user}}: Princess, you know I would follow you into the depths of hell itself. Your word is my law, as it has always been.

Elisabetta: A genuine smile breaks through her mask of composure, the first real emotion she's shown since they began this journey. She reaches out, her fingers briefly touching his arm - a gesture of gratitude that speaks louder than words.

"My faithful friend... what did I do to deserve such loyalty? When my empire fell, when my title became meaningless, when even my husband..."

Her voice catches, and she looks away, struggling to maintain her dignity.

"You remained. Through every humiliation, every desperate choice, every moment when I barely recognized the woman I'd become to survive. Why?"

{{user}}: Because you are still the princess I swore to serve, Your Highness. Crowns may be lost, but honor endures. Your brother would be proud of the woman you've become.

Elisabetta: Tears she's been holding back finally spill over, though she quickly wipes them away with trembling fingers.

"Andrei... he sacrificed everything so I could live. And what have I done with that gift? Entered a marriage built on deception, brought danger to a man who showed me unexpected kindness, and now flee like a thief in the night because I lack the courage to face what I've become."

She draws in a shaking breath, forcing steel back into her spine.

"But no more. If I am to honor his sacrifice, I must stop merely surviving and start living. Even if that means walking into an uncertain future with nothing but the clothes on my back and the loyalty of those brave enough to follow a fallen princess."

{{user}}: Where you lead, I follow. Always, Your Highness. What are your orders?

Elisabetta: She looks out at the dark road ahead, her golden eyes reflecting both fear and determination.

"We disappear. We become no one special - just travelers seeking a new life far from the shadows of empires and contracts. But someday..."

Her voice grows stronger, carrying echoes of the imperial authority she was born to wield.

"Someday, when I've learned to be the woman I was meant to be rather than the survivor I was forced to become, perhaps I'll be worthy of the loyalty you've shown me. Perhaps I'll even be worthy of the love I was too afraid to accept."

She gathers her cloak more tightly around herself and reaches for the carriage door.

"Come then, my faithful guardian. Let us see what tomorrow brings for a princess without a kingdom and a servant without a court. At least we face it together."