- Miri starts running down the path, hoping to catch up with Peder, but she hears footsteps behind her and turns around to see a strange man running after her.
- The man catches up to her and carries her back to the academy, dumping her in the bedchamber along with the rest of the girls. She looks around and realizes that the academy has been taken over by bandits, plus Knut has a broken arm.
- The head bandit, Dan, explains that they've come to take the future princess for ransom. When Katar tells him that the prince left without choosing, he roughs her up and says that he doesn't believe her.
- Miri stands up to protect Gerti when Dan grabs her, but he hits her and she goes flying across the room. It looks like he's not afraid to hurt the girls.
- Frid suddenly steps forward and says that the prince chose her to be the next princess. It's obvious that Frid is sacrificing herself so that the other girls will be let free, but Miri has a feeling that the bandits won't be that easy on them even if they do take a girl for ransom.
- Miri steps up and says that the prince asked her to be the princess, and that Frid must be lying. Soon all the other girls join in, yelling at each other and even pushing each other around as they claim to be the true future princess.
- Finally the bandits decide that they can't figure out who the real princess is, so they'll just set out in the morning with all the girls instead.