Lis froze, he turned pale:

“D… do what you want… N… Nik, just don't touch her face yet, please.”

“Why? Do you still want to open her? Show?”

“No, no…”

“Then all the more let's decorate her face!”

“Please, Nik, no, she already has a pierced nose and lip.”

“But these are very small stones, they are almost invisible.”

“They are noticeable.”

Nikto shrugged his shoulders:

“Okay, whatever you say. I don’t insist, I just suggested.”

And Lis’ face showed a clear relief:

“Maybe later she will wear the traditional jewelry of married red women.”

“Do you want to marry her again when we take over Ore town and you become king? Now according to the Rite of the reds?”

“Yes.”

Karina knew this tradition and saw a crescent-shaped jewelry on red women. Made of gold, richly decorated with patterns and precious stones, often with fringed chains and beads at the edges, it was threaded through the nasal septum with a bow and hung under the nose with a wide sickle-shaped plate, obscuring the lips and lower part of the face. There was a clasp on the back wall of the jewelry, if desired, it could be passed through specially made punctures in the lower and upper lips, fastening them together like a pin, preventing the submissive woman from opening her mouth.

Skillfully crafted by jewelers, the jewelry, of course, were very beautiful, but still reminded Karina of a slave muzzle.

Through the dense fabric of the cape, she couldn’t see the expression on Lis’ face, she just silently listened to their conversation, thinking that her life was over, with absolute indifference. Let them do whatever they want with her body, she belongs to her husband, she is in the hands of her beloved, and nothing else is needed.

Slowly, stumbling and tangled in the long hem, she followed Lis. In the living room she silently sat down at her place at the table. She didn’t see the expressions on their faces, only vague spots, didn’t really see what was on the table in front of her. Her father was here, but he said nothing. They didn’t address her and didn’t say anything to Lis, he talked to everyone as usual, apparently believing that his wife should look like that. And at the moment Karina resigned herself.

“How are you feeling? How are you?” Nikto asked.

“Everything is all right,” answered Lis, “is your holiday coming soon?”

“And it already took place,” Nikto answered him as if nothing had happened and looked around them with a mischievous look of his bright eyes. He looked like he was laughing at them in his soul, making fun of their confusion, and the expressions on the faces of Lis and Kors genuinely amused him.

“What?!” Lis literally choked on wine.

“The holiday has already been,” Nikto repeated, continuing to have fun, “a lot of guests came from distant worlds too. I myself didn’t expect it,” he slightly shook his light tousled head and, as usual, made an involuntary movement, touching the rings in his nose. “Do you remember, Lis, I told you and Karina about my friend, whose ancestors came from the world of insect-like creatures, and she had four arms.”

“About the spider?” Specified Lis.

“Yes.”

“This can’t be forgotten.”

“Well. There were too many beings, and from such worlds too. I decided that you cannot go back to your normal life if you remember them. It's still not for people. And I erased your memory.”

Lis, Vitor Kors and Karina froze.

“And… and how much time has passed?” Lis finally managed to squeeze out of himself.

“Lis, don’t worry about the Fort, we will return to the same point in time from which we left. I promised, in your world, not a day will pass.”