Chapter 119 - Bad News by the Morning

Alexa woke up hearing the birds singing aloud.

'Is there a nest over my head?' In fact, now that she was looking, the Princess realized that the birds were making a racket and flying close to the roof, fro-and-to the support beams.

"Zand," she called, hoping he was there, but it was useless. 'How could he leave us here, and go after I-don't-know-who? What are his priorities, really?' This angry thought made her sit on the bed, determined to go and rescue him wherever he was and hasten the group's departure. But she ended up blinking, astonished, when she saw Magnus next to her.

It wasn't the fact that he was sleeping on the bed, but how he was sleeping. The Prince was crossed on his stomach, at the opposite end of the bed, dressed and splattered as a ragdoll on the mattress. His hair was loose from the braid the First Prince normally wore to keep his top on, and covered his face completely. Even more than a meter away, the Princess could smell the alcohol exhaling from his body.

"You stupid jerk!" she stood on the bed and went to kick him. The Prince barely moved, nor did he m.o.a.n.

'Well, now you really decided to help us. On the first night in a strange castle, you decide to get blind drunk, 'Alexa got more and more upset every time she thought about it. 'While I slept, you were partying, how appropriate!'

But irony wouldn't solve anything, nor nudge him with her foot, the maiden realized.

Dressing hurriedly, she thought she should ask Ulrich and Johannes to keep an eye on the sleeping and hungover Prince while she went to get Romeo herself.

But, as soon as she left the room, Alexa saw a child running down the hall. She was a small child in a nightgown, and frowning, the Princess just asked to be lucky and it not to be a childish shade. She hadn't come across many, but they were always the worst of visions. Not because they're scary, but because it was utterly sad.

But the child turned to face her at the end of the corridor, and those pink cheeks and a gleeful look belied her assumptions. Alexa breathed a sigh of relief.

It was a girl with blue eyes, and a long neck, tousled brown hair at the shoulder. The girl smiled when she spotted Alexa, showing curiosity and fascination.

"Hello," Alexa said overcoming the distance between them. Children were unpredictable and unreliable, so she wasn't used to approaching them whenever possible. But it was common for children to look for her, they used to be intrigued by the color of her eyes, mostly.

"Hello. Did you see my dog ​​Rollo around?" the girl asked, staring at her as if she saw something otherworldly.

"No, I haven't seen your dog, what's he like?" the Princess asked, having a conversation.

"Jennifer's dog is a furry, clumsy and unpleasant thing stinking too much after the rain to stay inside. So he was taken outside. And don't you dare bring him back here!" replied the voice, which Alexa even before turning around knew to be Lady Fairclough.

The girl's mouth made an 'O' of surprise and disappointment, aimed at the woman. Then the Princess wondered, 'if this is Jennifer, then she's Lady Gwendolyn's daughter. But isn't Lady Gwendolyn a widow for over 10 years? That girl is no more than 5 or 6 years old ... '

Not that it was any of her business, of course.

She grimaced at the girl, sharing her feeling of sadness that she couldn't have her pet inside the castle today, and turned to the other Lady. Today she didn't have her red cloak on, and she also looked like she just woke up.

"Is this your daughter, milady?" Alexa asked after greeting her.

"Yes, Jennifer. My eldest son is Rowan. He's not here, but…" instead of completing the information that she herself prompted up, her voice disappeared, lost in some unpleasant thought. Alexa gnawed with curiosity, but she wouldn't dare to be a terrible guest.

Meanwhile, Jennifer approached her, not her mother, and began to examine her as if she were a doll on display. The incognito Princess tried to ignore her.

"My… my friends and my husband, I hope they were a good guest last night," she no longer had to worry about explaining her absence, since the First Prince had spoken of an illness, but she needed to maintain the concern of an married woman. 'But I don't know what it's like to be a married woman. That idiot drank himself to hell, where does he think it can speak well of him?'

"Ahh, it seems to me that men liked Lord von Wuttenfal and his men a lot. Sir Ulrich is a good storyteller. We were all thrilled by the events of the shipwreck, albeit it was tragic." Lady Gwen came over to ward off Jennifer, who was fiddling with the foreigner's dress. "Forgive my daughter, she's very curious."

"She is pretty. Look at her eyes!" exclaimed the girl to her mother, as if Lady Gwen were not seeing, "They look like two violets!"

Alexa was embarrassed, but smiled and bowed in thanks to the compliment.

"They really look like two rare jewels, I've never seen anything like this before," Lady Gwen agreed with her daughter, and glanced at Alexa with a smile on her face,

"It must be because of her beauty and a noble heart that Lady Alexa won the Lord von Wuttenfal's heart."

"The Lord has cat eyes!" the girl spoke excitedly, and the Princess controlled herself not to laugh,

"But his eyes don't glow in the dark, so he's not an actual cat!"

The little girl laughed at her tirade, and her mother gave Alexa an enigmatic look,

"You are a beautiful couple. Have you been married for a long time?"

'Hm, your question was asked in a very casual way, but I bet you are dying to know,' Alexa thought, while quickly looking for a way to answer that. She didn't know whether Magnus had answered the question and whether their answers would be conflicting. If he hadn't lied, it would have been easier.

"Well, we were recently married, actually. And then, my husband took me to this doctor ..."

"Ah, forgive my indiscretion, but your problem is quite intriguing..." Lady Gwen's look showed a strange gleam that Alexa wasn't sure she liked. Jennifer ignored her mother and took Alexa's hand, who had no option but to accept it. Lady Gwen started walking towards the stairs, and Alexa and the girl followed her.

"Our Kingdom's doctors don't know what to do, so my fian ... husband heard about this doctor," Alexa feigned a lapse, walking behind the woman. She hoped he could get rid of Lady Gwen soon and go see her friends, and now she hoped that everyone wasn't in the same poor form as Magnus.

They reached the kitchen and were greeted by the women and men who were already working animatedly. They were welcomed with freshly baked bread and there was milk and beer, ham, and something they called pudding and porridge sweetened with honey. The aromas brought Alexa the memory of her journey with Iain and Jonah Locke. In his memory, it seemed like just yesterday they were discussing hemorrhoids and who was going to get them free food. How they would have liked to have arrived in England!

"Milady," she asked Lady Gwendolyn as soon as the lady of the castle sat down by the table, "Have you ever heard of the Blackrose family?" it was a curiosity that Alexa needed to satisfy.

Lady Gwen paused for a moment with the mug close to her mouth, clearly controlling the bad feeling that the sudden question brought her. With a tight, bitter smile, she commented dismissively,

"Well, it's not like someone with a little brain could ignore them. The Blackrose house sustains our king's power. Why the question?"

"I've met a Blackrose once. Sir John Blackrose, the kni…" before Alexa could finish, the expression of disgust around the woman's eyes could not be ignored, as much Lady Gwen tried to maintain an impassive expression. "Did I say something wrong, milady?"

"Ah, I just felt a sudden headache. I believe that my period is coming, I always feel bad in the morning," the lady dismissed, but her act wasn't convincing to Alexa.

"Don't worry about me," said the Princess, seeing there the opportunity to pick up Romeo with no major problems. "Just act like we're not here. I don't know if His Hi… my husband spoke, but we only intend to leave as soon as we have horses and a guide."

"Ah," Lady Fairclough set her mug down on the table with exaggerated care, and looked at the guest with a slight smile on her lips, while keeping her brows furrowed.

'What will happen now?' Alexa asked herself, anticipating that she would hear bad news.

"My dear, you may not be able to leave as soon as you planned. Perhaps it would be better to talk to your husband. It was a pity that you were not with us last night to understand the whole context."

"But please tell me, I'll try my best to understand if you are patient enough, milady," Alexa replied word for word what Lady Eudoxia taught her when dealing with a more powerful woman who treats her with condescension. 'Never undermine her superiority as long as it suits you. And it will always be convenient for you until you are sure that you can reveal your own superiority and overcome her definitively.'

Surely Lady Eudoxia had a lot of experience and wanted to pass on her knowledge to the girl they sent to her. Her older cousin may not have wanted to die without passing on something to posterity, and Alexa was grateful for these valuable lessons about courtship and people.

"See, your husband caused a… problem at his arrival, and yesterday we agreed on something."

"OH!" Alexa exclaimed childishly, making Jennifer who was sitting next to her jump and cry out in happiness for some reason. The girl did not take her eyes off Alexa even to eat. "Good milady, it is 'ear that my husband will make up for the problems we cause. I just know that he wants to take me to the doctor as soon as possible. But what were the terms for that? "

"He wants to take her to the doctor as soon as possible, it is a fact. But last night he gave his word to help me with something that I need to get done. Before leaving."

'Did he give his word?!' Alexa asked herself internally, drinking her and milk and honey mug in silence.