The narrator falls asleep in the forest and dreams that he is engaged to Princess Flavia and lives in the castle at Zenda. In his dream, he is about to kiss the princess when he is woken by loud voices. Upon waking, he sees two men looking at him - Colonel Sapt and Count Fritz from Tarlenheim. They explain that they serve the King of Ruritania, and as another man emerges from the trees, the narrator is shocked by how similar they look. The man could have been Rudolf Rasendiel, and the narrator realizes he could have been mistaken for Rudolf, the King of Ruritania.