A long time ago, a noble family lived in a distant country in Southern Italy, whose heir was the young Princess Katana.
He had very expressive green eyes, light brown hair, an engaging smile and a gentle soul.
Her day was very busy: in the morning as soon as she got up she was surrounded by the servants who filled her with attention and concern, she was helped to choose her elegant but sober clothes, and her breakfast was ready on the silver tray. He preferred a good orange juice and cereals.
At 09:30 in the morning, two nuns arrived, tutors and teachers of literature and mathematics.
Katana was diligent and willing, she did not want to disappoint her parents and therefore she put a lot of effort into studying.
Katana was diligent and willing, she did not want to disappoint her parents and therefore she put a lot of effort into studying.
He spent his afternoons reading a good book, and after reading he went to visit his horse Koltr, an inseparable friend from the age of 16.
Thus, she spent her adolescence serene and loved by her parents. Katana also loved singing, dancing and adored to paint.
She was very feminine, but enough to make herself pleasant.
He had a lot of fun during the gala dinners organized by the queen, he was very fond of socializing with guests, he was very kind and friendly to everyone.
During one of these dinners, at the age of 21, Katana met a charming young man, of unknown origins, who was there at the castle, as a merchant of fine fabrics, friend of a guest of his father.
His name was, Gustav, he was older than Katana, and he exerted an immediate fascination on her. He was German, he was wealthy, he had already entered the heart of the princess.
That evening she was wearing a charming dress: it was in powder pink chiffon, long and gathered at the waist, very soft and slipped to the floor. The sleeves were transparent and curled in place. The shoulders and décolleté were barely exposed. The bodice was all decorated with small pink crystal flowers.
A string of pearls rested on her delicate neck. An antique pink silk velvet cloak covered her.
Strictly gathered hair, and a small rose decorated her head. Its perfume? Rose water…
It was lovely !!!!
Gustav was struck by the freshness that she emanated from her cheerful and delicate attitude.
That evening he gave her a rose from the garden and left. A parchment note hung from the stem of the rose which said: “You are the most beautiful living rose I have ever seen !! ”
She was enchanted by those words and … happily fell asleep.
The next day he kindly asked one of the servants to invite his best friend Selena.
Selena was very beautiful, sweet and sensitive like Katana, they conveyed a lot of serenity to the people around them.
Together, they spent the most important holidays of the year at the castle, and during those days it was a joy for everyone.
It was a pleasure for the servants to hear their voices, their songs and see their clothes fluttering through the long corridors of the castle.
It was beautiful!
That afternoon he wanted to share his happiness with Selena.
She was very excited, she wanted to tell her every detail.
He began to describe the clothes he wore: a black velvet jacket with two large buttons, a strictly white silk shirt, with a scarf-like collar that went around his neck and at the end made a bow. Velvet trousers with black and dark burgundy bands, short to the knee and gathered.
Black leather boots and a gold ring with an amatista worn on the little finger. Her brown hair was long and tied in a ponytail. His brown eyes. Her deep gaze and her engaging smile. “There will be a separate flowerbed in my garden, where I will plant a rose and name it Gustav,” Katana told Selena.
Selena was struck by Katana’s happiness, but she wanted to get involved a little less, she wanted to be a little more objective than Katana, she didn’t want to immediately encourage her friend towards a stranger. Selena was much more thoughtful than Katana, and for this they complemented each other.
At the same time Selena didn’t want to turn off that happy moment of her friend.
However, he decided to meet this young man to get to know him better.
“Okay,” Katana said, “as soon as I see him again, I’ll tell him about you and we’ll all meet for tea”.
A few afternoons, while Katana was taking her walk with Koltr, she heard a voice from behind the bush in her park… it wasn’t difficult to understand whose it was, she recognized it immediately… it was Gustav’s.
She dismounted and walked over to the corral and asked him:
“Are you Gustav?”
“Yes,” he replied.
And she: “Why don’t you let the servants announce you and enter? We can have tea together! ”
“I’m sorry, I can’t” said Gustav “I have to go away …
I only came to leave you this silk scarf ”.
She perfumed him and he walked away. Katana insisting said:
“Come and visit me, we will read a book together! “She took the scarf and brought it to her cheek: it was beautiful, in powder pink silk decorated with green floral motifs… it smelled of rose water.
As soon as it was possible, she summoned Selena, who was not very enthusiastic to hear what had happened, on the contrary she took courage and said:
“Don’t trust much. Why from the bush and not from the main door? ” Katana thought a lot about what her friend said; she knew he had said it for her own good … and fell asleep immersed in her confused thoughts.
The next afternoon, while she was in the castle park and thought about everything that had happened to her in the last few days, she saw from afar a girl with a big straw hat covering her face. “She looked like Selena” she thought.
The girl approached her and without raising her head gave her a note. She instinctively took it and smelled it without hesitation, and without having time to ask for something, she collapsed on her legs, the “fake Selena” took her in her arms and carried her close to the castle wall, there two fake merchant gendarmes were waiting, took Katana and put her on a carriage.
That note contained a substance that made Katana swoon.
During the previous night, the two fake gendarmes had created a passage through the boundary wall, from there the “fake Selena” entered.
On the carriage, Katana found herself next to Gustav in disguise … He had kidnapped the princess!
first part
