"Go on," Hilde urged, intrigued now.
"There had been times when the Prince disobeyed… because it was not an order he himself would have given to others. I believe that that was the inner compass he had followed, Princess. If it was something his conscience would not allow him to ask of anyone else, he wouldn't do it himself, no matter who was asking. Because of that…" Inge paused, and when he continued, his grief could be heard in his voice. "We might not have always liked him, but we had put our complete trust in him."
Several moments of silence passed in which the man composed himself.
Then Hilde broke it. "So Dieter kept to his own truth, allowing no external force to taint it, no matter what." Even before she uttered the next words, she knew she would regret it, but the years of bit
