When Hippolytus heard the empress saying these words, he began to feel very sorry for himself, because he had never been in a situation like this before. Young as he was, he joined the empress, serving her up tears instead of advice and aid. But he begged the maiden to bring him the sword that was in the sitting room, and plucking up his courage, he said:
"Here I shall become a martyr before Your Majesty, and deliver up my spirit."
At that instant the empress heard no noise whatsoever, and she said to Hippolytus:
"Go hide in that sitting room, my son. I will delay them, and you can escape with your life."
"I wouldn't abandon Your Majesty even if they gave me the whole
Greek Empire four times over. I will give my life and everything
I have before I leave Your Highness, and I beg you to kiss me as
a token of faith," said Hippolytus.
When the empress heard these words her pain increased, and with the increase of pain she felt her love increasing. As she heard no noise at all she went to the chamber door to see if she could hear soldiers or some other bad sign. Through a small crack in the door she saw the emperor and the doctors discussing her illness, and she realized that there was no danger. She ran back to Hippolytus and pulling his ears, she kissed him hard. Then she said:
"My son, by the great love I have for you I beg you to go into that sitting room until I can make up an excuse for the emperor and the doctors."
"My lady," said Hippolytus, "in all things I will be more obedient to you than if you had bought me as a captive, but don't ask me to leave here, because I don't know if they will harm you."
"Don't worry," said the empress. "It's not what Eliseu told me, at all. There would be a great uproar in the palace if it were."
Hippolytus quickly went into the sitting room, and the empress got back into her bed and had the doors to the chamber opened. The emperor and the doctors went to her bed and asked about her illness and how she had spent the night. The empress answered that her headache and the pain in her stomach had not let her sleep all night long, and she had not been able to rest until the stars in the sky had disappeared.