Chapter 76 - A Dance

The maiden felt the powerful man beside her stand up like a furious lion, but Magnus put his hand on his father's arm, asking him to calm down. It was the First Prince who spoke, in a dry tone,

"Lady Cordelia has been indisposed since she arrived, even missing the parade in her honor. Don't dare talk about the health of Alexander and his wife, as it doesn't concern or affect you. But your daughter's health should be a concern for you, as it is for me since I want a lot of children."

Cordelia's father turned crimson, but kept his chin up. Magnus continued, without allowing him a chance to speak, but this time in a compromising tone,

"It's indeed a fact that I must travel, but I will be back soon. It's a matter of the kingdom that cannot wait."

Cordelia was the one who courageously spoke, despite being the color of a cooked crustacean when calling attention to herself,

"My dear fiancé, this poor lady had the misfortune to go through bad times since she arrived. But I do my best to be a good bride, worthy of the Von Wuttenfal. Allow me, if my father also allows it, to have a word with you before you depart."

Alexa was alarmed by this news. The timid Cordelia asking for the floor in front of princes, and even asking to have a private word with her fiancé? The Princess knew the least of Northern etiquette to know how shocking and daring Cordelia had been. Her father, in fact, looked at her with astonishment, as did Magnus and everyone else. But, turning to Gutard, the Guild Master said, with a flourish,

"Your Serene Highness, it's just that you can speak if there is no impediment or embarrassment. So to the honor not be contested, they could do that in the ballroom if the father grants a dance of his son to my daughter."

Gutard tapped three fingers on the chair, barely swallowing his anger. Magnus was taciturn but narrowed his eyes, looking as disturbed as his father. The role reversal was too glaring for the Von Wuttenfal to contain themselves. But it was Magnus who got up before his father yelled at Hansa's Master in the middle of the wedding banquet.

"I also want to have a say to Lady Cordelia. Let's dance, milady."

Alexa watched the events unfold apprehensively. She'd give a ring on her finger to know what they would talk about. Was it about the night in Magnus' bedroom, and what really happened? Or anything else?

The First Prince came around the table, signaling to the musicians. The couples who were already dancing made room for the couple to join them. By Alexa's side, Gutard snorted, glaring at the couple in anger. Before the music started, the Sovereign Prince stood up, which stopped everything immediately. The herald naturally shouted,

"Your Serene Highness will speak!"

With a wave of his hand, the Sovereign Prince said,

"I'm leaving for the night. Keep having fun, as guests of my son Alexander!"

Only when Gutard left, the room did the party start again. Alexa knew that Gutard did this so as not to interrupt the celebration with an exacerbated reaction against the affronts of the Flemish shipowner. But the damsel figured he didn't plan on leaving things like that after the incident. But now the Princess understood better the power of Cordelia's father and the kind of connections that the shipbuilder and sea trader had in the region. He already acted like a nobleman, the bourgeois just needed a title. With Cordelia's marriage, he would probably get what he sought, as Magnus pointed out.

In the first chords of the song, the man Alexa knew to be Baron Florian invaded the space reserved for dancing, but without a partner. The Baron had in his hand two golden goblets adorned with gemstones, which by the way he carried them, were empty. Approaching Magnus and Cordelia, Florian gave an exaggerated greeting to the maiden, and touching the sparkling ornament on her head with the precious objects, spoke quite loudly,

"Let's dance the Weller, sweet bride!"

Magnus laughed loudly,

"Baron Florian, this is my bride. To dance Weller with the bride who got married today, you have to place your gift under her veil." And with that, he gestured with his hand to the veil that Alexa had worn at the wedding, which was on a stand.

"Hahahaha," the foreign visitor laughed strangely. Alexa got on the edge of the chair. That situation was getting embarrassing quickly. Florian then said, aloud and mockingly,

"I wouldn't do that, I didn't know it would have to be just with 'that' woman. How could I dance with a woman that I couldn't whirl around? She'll get me dirty!"

"But I think you're the one who's drunk, Baron!" even from there, the Princess could see the First Prince's gleaming eyes at the swaggering foreigner. Alexa just wanted to bury herself at this point and never be seen again. Magnus continued, "You'd better not dance with my brother's wife, because you're the one who can't whirl around. You must not dance with either one or the other. If you don't throw up what you drank, you already throw up drunk words, which is the same thing."

"You are the drunk ones. Poor boy, he'll wake up as a father, like a cuckoo. That's what makes another man's bride get married. Only blinds cannot see it!" Florian faced the First Prince defiantly.

Magnus immediately punched the Polish Baron in the face. Florian didn't stand still either, and also tried to fight back. As the men fought in the middle of the ballroom, close friends on both parties rushed to separate them. Florian licked the blood from his lips, looking fiercely at Magnus, and said,

"You'll see that I'm right in a few months!"

Alexa was so irate that she would have flown the table herself if Konrad hadn't been holding her tightly by the wrist. "Leave me, let me go, Duke! I'm going to make this idiot swallow back his words!"

"Don't put yourself down to that, Princess," said Konrad, without letting her go. Even he had a dark, angry look. "Just pay attention, my cousin will not let you be dishonored like that."

She quit struggling, as Prince Magnus spat on the floor in disgust, glaring at the insolent visitor,

"Florian, I'm going to kill you at dawn. Be sure to be on the cliff in the first sunlight, and take your sword, son of a syphilitic wench! You will not offend the Princess's honor and stay alive!"

Alexa's eyes widened.

'A duel?!'