The Emperor left his study for the first time in a long time to take a walk in his garden. The man settled down in an open gazebo, deciding to catch his breath and meditate, but suddenly his peace was interrupted by the sound of heavy breathing from above. Raising his head, the man saw a girl in a mask jumping from branch to branch towards the exit of the palace. Unnoticed, he reached the gate, where the girl stopped. She gracefully jumped onto the gate and sat down, swinging her legs in the air. When the Emperor's patience snapped, the man slowly walked out of the shadows.

—“Who are you and what are you doing here?” — his voice was anxious — “Don't test my patience and go away.”

Nervously clenching his hands into fists, the Emperor realized that the problem was not with the girl. It was a dream.

—“Ah, I see. Now shut up.” — the man irritably spat out, tucking his hair back.

As soon as the emperor turned to leave, the girl jumped off the gate and approached him, drawing him into a dance. Surprised by the girl's sudden change in mood, the emperor still decided not to resist and let her lead him. The man tried to remember the most important thing about her, her eyes.

After a while, the emperor woke up from his sleep, with a strange feeling of loss. He was too strongly affected by the stranger from his dreams. The following week, the emperor invited the prince of the eastern lands to a friendly duel. Everything was going well, only the “prince” came in a mask, and his eyes were very familiar to me. Rushing forward with a wooden blade, the emperor knocked her to the floor and held her in place.

—“Without a doubt, it is you, the girl from the dreams. So this is what the emperor of the east tried to hide from me. He has no heir, only you are the princess.” — almost smoothly, the emperor tore off her mask, exposing the girl’s face to the cool air — “Why do you have to follow your father’s lead and pretend to be a man?”