Roxanne quickly switched to her premeditated open-thinking mode.
"I believe she might have noticed already," she said, recalling her sister's comment a while before.
It was a relatively quiet evening. Each couple - and trio - went to a different part of the castle and made the most of the unexpected day of coexistence organized by Joseph.
At night, only the four colored fiancées remained there, and the rest went to sleep at the inn, again at the suggestion of Joseph.
When they were all in bed and silence reigned, the girl in red and Alan met once more at the front door.
"I'm not following you," he excused himself.
She didn't say anything and began to walk in the direction of the familiar hill.
"Is it for fear… why you still dress in red?" Alan asked her, after some minutes walking beside her.
"Why is it that you become so chatty in these night encounters? You seem so different."
The young man stuck his hands in his pockets and frowned.
"I don't know. It must be part of my human incongruities."
She looked down at the worn out comfortable shoes Adelle had given her, which she was tremendously grateful for.
"On the one hand, it is for fear. No matter how convincingly I preach in front of Celeste that there's no curse, deep inside I feel as yielded to it as the four girls that have stayed in the castle. I've been wearing this colour all my life. Giving up the habit is not easy."
Alan admired Roxanne's frankness.
"But it's not the only reason?"
She instinctively passed her hand over the red satin of her bodice.
"I want to be free," she proclaimed. "And I won't be if I feel obliged to take off these clothes."
She stopped and turned to face Alan.
"This probably doesn't make any sense to you, but you see… I like this colour! I'm sure if I'd been given the chance to choose, a large proportion of my clothes would be in these tones. Hating it now would be as imposed on me as the obligation to wear it. Do you understand?"
"I think I do," he answered, while he nodded.
"If I need time to try new things, I don't see what's wrong with taking it. I don't want to prove anything. I just want to leave behind life as I now know it and see what else I find."
"That's most sensible," said Alan. "I think both your mothers would have every good reason to feel very proud of you."
Roxanne's curly brown lashes blinked repeatedly and then she began to climb up the hill again.