Chapter 67 - Donkey Ears

The corner of Alexa's mouth twitched in satisfaction when she saw that her words had left Prince Magnus more than alert. His intense gaze strayed to her immediately, and it sent flames in her direction!

Prince Gutard raised an eyebrow, and said in a tone between slightly surprised by Alexa's daring, and amused by his son's scare,

"Very well, Lady Saskia. This is your granted right, after all."

Before Alexa opened her mouth to utter her sentence victoriously, Blue Eyes grabbed her arm with a firm grasp, and interrupted the maiden's speech,

"My stubborn pupil is a victim of her own euphoria, my Dear Sovereign Prince. Lady Saskia means that she would like to have a word with you to deal with this matter in particular!"

"Well, it is more appropriate that way," Prince Gutard rose promptly. Alexa was confused by the cleric's meddling, but understood that she had made a too risky move. Then the maiden just swallowed her words and followed the group that withdrew for this conversation, amid the excited buzz of Holstein's court.

Magnus approached her, as they went to the Royal Office,

"What are you doing?" he asked with gritted teeth. But Father Agnello didn't even let Alexa answer him, entering between the two ostensibly and remaining as a shield for the maiden.

As soon as they entered the room, Prince Gutard turned to the maiden,

"You are right. Soon they will be a family and I want you both to let go of resentments. I will allow you to define Magnus' punishment, within the rules I have already established. However, once this sentence is fulfilled, both must act honorably with each other. I will not tolerate any intrigue and disagreement anymore. What do you have in mind, milady?"

The assertive tone left no doubt of the promise behind those words, and Alexa nodded, demonstrating that she understood. Then, looking up proudly, she said,

"Donkey ears."

"What ?!" Magnus was offended, but his father held up his hand for him to shut up.

Alexa continued, without looking directly at the target of her revenge,

"Yes. Donkey ears. Your Highness exposed me in a shameful and ridiculous way, in front of the most important people in this kingdom. I can barely raise my face in shame. Thanks to Prince Magnus' misjudgment. If he acts like an ass, he must walk like one through the streets of the town."

An awkward silence fell over the room, and Alexa thought if she had gone far beyond what was expected.

As a bewildered and flushed Prince Magnus glared at the maiden, Prince Gutard began to laugh, pointing at his eldest son as if he had never heard a better joke in his life.

Alexa also laughed, delighted.

She would have her revenge.

°°°

Magnus laughed, delighted, while Alexa looked with disgust at the landscape in front of her. At the entrance to the valley, there was a sign painted saying "Fröidenvig", and following the dusty road, Alexa was sure she could count the roofs of the tiny village.

"This is cheating!"

"As my cousin noticed, you specified every detail of my ordeal, but you never mentioned that it would have to be in the capital," Magnus quickly counted the houses,

"It's a town, technically. It has exactly fifty houses, a chapel, and a mill."

"How could Father Agnello favor the Prince in this way?! I thought you were my friend!" Alexa turned to Blue Eyes for the tenth time during their journey to reach Fröidenvig, still furious and with the feeling of having been betrayed.

"Why, I did not favor him, on the contrary, I kept everything neutral and within the law," replied the man of God, quite serene.

"Don't think it will stop me, I will let every inhabitant of this village know that His Highness is a donkey," she muttered under her breath, intending to be threatening. The herald and the guards who accompanied them looked away, pretending not to hear the conversation.

"Yes, yes, don't forget the chickens and the geese," he scoffed, getting off his horse. "Let's start from here so that the sheep will also know."

Alexa got off the horse too, upset by Father Di Borghesi's interference, subverting the Prince's sentence to the point that it had become almost nothing. Magnus started to take off his travel clothes and keep only his underwear tunic and trousers, as it suited the punishment. Alexa frowned, resented by the fact that the Prince was acting as if it were all a joke he had invented himself. The Prince's valet handed over the sign of shame, with shaking hands. The Prince read one last time, and closed his eyes in agitation, waving the item at her,

"You are lucky that these people cannot read! This is not exactly my crime!"

The maiden laughed wickedly, at least this much she had managed to infuriate him,

"There is always someone where least expected, Your Highness!"

She reached from her saddlebag to the huge donkey ears made for the Prince parading his shame. "Here's what you're missing. I have a mirror here too, if you want to know what it looks like," she teased with a sly laugh.

Seeing the ridiculous props made the prince lose some of his false good humor and boastful manners. But the Prince couldn't get away from it. The guards were there not only to protect them, but to overwatch if, at the last moment, the First Prince would refuse to serve his sentence.

After Magnus put on the donkey ears, with the help of the priest, Alexa tied a rope around his neck, where the sign with the description of his ridiculous crime was hanging.

The procession then started, led by the herald, who went ahead swinging a bell and calling everyone to come and see Lady Saskia's Donkey. She came solemnly, on foot, 'pulling' her donkey, the sulky Prince Magnus, right behind her. Following the parade, the priest on his horse and the guards entered the tiny town.

The only road did not take long to walk, but apart from some children, there were not many adults at that time of the morning in the village. Everyone should be busy working and living their lives. They just went by some seniors who have had little curiosity, and some laundresses who laughed at the humiliated poor nobleman, not figuring they were laughing at the First Prince.

Unexpectedly, some people came to ask for the priest's blessing, and to request spiritual care. At that location without a resident priest, Blue Eyes presence was most interesting than some weird shame parade. And the townsfolk screwed down the procession to get the Priest's assistance for their matters.

At first, Alexa was outraged that her much-desired moment of reckoning was so lessened, but then the maiden started dragging Magnus and introducing him to the animals, as he had jokingly suggested,

"Look, Mr. Duck. This gentleman here, well, he's a complete idiot. An ass actually. Do you recognize those ears? He uses them only occasionally, but he should always use them, you know? Mrs. Pig, show your piglets this perfect specimen of Donkey that I have here. Watch out! He's one to buy a pig in a poke!"

"You have a prodigious mind, Alexa. What else? Look over there, that ram looking at us. Are you going to slander me to him too, 'Your Ladyship'?" Magnus was laughing heartily, because his ordeal no longer made any sense.

"Don't think I won't!" she made him follow her to the pen, entering the field,

"Come back, sheep! Come and meet Mr. Donkey!"

But of course, Mr. Ram apparently did not like Mr. Donkey, and soon they both ran from the furious animal, who did not want intruders in its territory. Magnus helped Alexa to climb a tree and climbed right behind. Just in time to avoid the ram's horn in his rear.

"You crazy! See what you did?!" he scolded her, laughing. The huge ram just walked away and hit its tough head against the tree again, trying to knock them down. The soldiers would have a hard job to rescue the two nobles from there.

"We wouldn't be here if it weren't for you ..."

Alexa was talking, but she was surprised by the kiss that the Prince stole from her, on top of the tree. It was brief, but it caused the same feelings as before. Magnus still had an expression of satisfaction and ecstasy on his face, when he justified, with a smile,

"Today is the last day I can do this."