A woman in a red dress is walking into a doorway

Tentatively, I reached for the door handle--and gasped as the double doors burst open, revealing a brightly-lit room so magnificent it made all the wonders of the castle pale in comparison. The walls were gleaming white marble, hung with tapestries and portraits of men and women so grand they had to be kings and queens. One wall was nearly all windows, tiny panes glittering from floor to ceiling and hung with curtains of crimson velvet fringed with pure gold. The carpet at my feet was as white as the walls, only figured with golden roses and thistles and fleurs-de-lis. I looked down at my shoes, still dirty from the forest, and despaired of setting foot in the room for fear of muddying the white expanse. As if in response, a bolt of crimson velvet, embroidered in gold, unfurled itself out of nowhere and unrolled to my feet.