Chapter 160 - Tickles

As she sneaked back to the tower, Alexa thought about what she knew about the witches who were close to Cordelia. Apparently, the missing chaperone was Catalina, but Alexa reproached herself for not remembering her face. She was one of the novices who had come from the convent where Cordelia studied for years, and arrived with Sister Ludovica, and another novice named Elke. They came to replace the chaperones Cordelia had lost in the villa incident.

It meant that Cordelia knew them, or at least, had followed the wishes of her mother, that impeccably Christian looking matron. Alexa knew it was very difficult to know if the old chaperones had died in the villa as victims, or had fled. Or even, if they had died like the witches her friend Locke had sent to hell, as they so wanted.

If Father Agnello's theories were right, and Cordelia was an important piece in a ritual, the connection with Princess Letitia, should be in older women. The true leaders of the Cult.

It was scary to think a Christian convent housed a cell for a necromancer cult.

Sister Ludovica, with her leadership attitudes even when dealing with a Princess, seemed to be the key piece of that puzzle. 

Alexa turned around, halfway to the tower.

There was something important, too. The poor ghost Nerissa twice tried to alert her. Nerissa knew who they were. They had killed her for knowing who they were.

And if Alexander saw Cordelia's mother entering Alexa's room last, before she and Charlotte found the unfortunate maid, surely Cordelia's mother was one of them.

Finally, there was the strange feeling that Prince Gutard knew part of it, or at least suspected the connection of de Wits with the witches.

'But why did he let all this happen?' It was his question.

At that moment, Lex wanted to find Nerissa, and rubbing her hands lightly, the Light Bearer called her, with a small flame. 

It was not right to use light to invoke a Shade for selfish purposes, such as obtaining information. This in fact set precedents for necromancy, and Alexa didn't want to make this mistake.

It was little more than the light of a small candle. Maybe Nerissa wouldn't come, if she didn't want to. Alexa however did not want to wake up all the other ghosts in the castle, who were mostly malicious and demented. But, truth to be told, despite what Helga said, about the ghostly activities, Lex noticed things calmed down a lot.

The Light Bearer had to do this a few times, until young Shade came. Nerissa had already turned a little gray. Her face gradually lost its expression.

"Nerissa," whispered the Light Bearer, "I already know who killed you. I want her to pay for her murder, but I still don't know how. You don't have to wander around with your secret anymore. It's time for you to leave this rotten castle. Because she will soon pay for her horrendous crime."

For a moment, nothing happened. The torches on the walls flickered hard, and Alexa heard a small, almost imperceptible noise of something falling on the floor.

Nerissa disappeared before her eyes before Lex could do anything.

"No!" Alexa exclaimed, irritated, unable to prevent the disappearance of Shade. Bending down immediately to look for the object that fell, and using her own flame as a light source, Alexa groped the floor until she felt a little ball that rolled when the princess inadvertently touched it.

'A pearl ... Uhn, no. A rosary bead, shaped out of black mother-of-pearl,' Alexa examined the small object between her fingers when she stood up. Black mother-of-pearls were unusual. No doubt the rosary would have belonged to a nobleman.

Sister Ludovica wore a wooden rosary around her waist, and Alexa had sometimes seen Cordelia's mother's favorite rosary. And it wasn't black mother-of-pearl.

How to find out what was Nerissa's new clue? Alexa was sure she was close to unveiling the reason for the death of the maid.

Perhaps a person could help find out who had a mother-of-pearl rosary.

°°°

"Why, mon chér, I really didn't expect visitors tonight ..." Charlotte Duvignes purred, opening the window for the 'Purple Mask' to enter. 

Lex had been knocking on her second-floor's bedroom window for some time.

The masked prince was freezing because, of all nights for trying to enter a married woman's room, it had to be when heavy rain fell on Holstein.

Unfortunately, the ambassador's room was a long way from any secret passages Lex knew until then. The princess found it risky to cross some public areas that were usually full of servants, this time of night.

"Do you have a cloth so I can dry myself?" Lex asked looking around as soon as he was inside the room. The room was different than the Prince had imagined. It was less luxurious and even looked a little deflated. Charlotte wore a peignoir that let her know that she, like many noble people, slept without clothes. And he stared at the mysterious masked man with a smile on his lips,

"Should I be happy that you know where my room is? Or should I be concerned?"

"We are allies, so don't worry too much. I don't even intend to delay, but… Your husband?" only then did Lex remember that for Charlotte to be Ambassador Duvignes' wife, there must be an Ambassador Duvignes. 

And he was not there. The princess did not remember seeing the man and had forgotten that she could have come across him when looking for his wife in her own room.

"Bertrand is where he usually is on Fridays ..." she sighed, and then smiled, reaching for a towel in a trunk and coming towards him. "But don't worry about it, mon cher… We can talk calmly. Fridays are Bertrand's lucky day."

"Um, so does your husband like to play?"

"I can't blame him. Being an ambassador in Holstein is strenuous work," replied the woman.

Although Lex reached out to take the towel from Charlotte, the Frenchwoman ignored it and used the soft fabric to dry her neck,

"Let me do this. We spoke briefly last time. Do you have a message for my master? Or is your subject specifically with me?" 

"Actually yes. My business is specifically with you, Lady Duvignes," Lex wished very much to remove the damp mask from his face, but he preferred not to. Although he perceived the woman's obvious intention when trying to touch her face.

Charlotte was a bold woman, different from most nobles, and also very intelligent. The Frenchwoman might not be sure of the masked man's identity, but she had good leads. But seeing the face would give him certainty and an advantage that Lex couldn't afford yet. Not without first fully trusting her.

"It's all right, I can dry myself ..." Lex tried to pick up the towel but Charlotte was quick to brush the cloth away.

"Well, tell me what I can do for you ... Besides preventing our noble hero without identity from ending up sick and revealing his presence with the cough of a dying man..." She rubbed the cloth gently over his hair, and she began to untie the strings keeping Lex's jacket in place with her other hand. "You must take off that wet shirt, let the clothes dry in the fireplace for a moment ..."

"Oh, well, Lady Charlotte, that's not necessary and ... stop! It… tickles!" when the lady's hand slipped under the Prince's clothes and groped his belly, or rather Alexander's belly, the lady's fingers on the taut belly skin caused a hilarious itch. Lex shrunk and curled his torso instinctively, but the French lady just giggled,

"Oh! The Masked Man has a smooth and sensitive belly after all! Is it tickling? So cute! Don't worry, it won't kill you!"

"Lady Duvignes!" Lex had never seen a woman with fingers this fast. Even Helga, who was so skilled in helping with the Prince's clothes, wouldn't have been able to rip off Lex's jacket in a matter of seconds, while threatening with tickling!

"Ready! Your beautiful mask is in place! Isn't what matters?" Charlotte pouted, and her honey eyes flashed when she pulled away. The lady put the clothes as promised by the fireplace guard. Lex resisted the temptation to cover his n.i.p.p.l.es and started to stretch his fingers, a little tired from the climb. Charlotte had a purpose with all of that, and it certainly wasn't just bedding the Purple Mask. Or was it?

As a spy, perhaps that service was among the eventualities of the job.

Lex didn't know how Alexander's body would react to the female stimuli of a beautiful woman like Charlotte. All he knew at the time was that his mind just felt very uncomfortable and his feelings for Charlotte didn't change a bit.

"Sit in the chair by the fireplace. Let's have some wine and talk," the French lady waved her hand, pointing to the furniture, as she went to a sideboard to get the wine and two glasses.

"Actually, I think I'm going to get straight to the point, so as not to disturb your sleep," the warmth of the fireplace was cozy, and undoubtedly Lex would like some wine to appease his thirst, but he knew he shouldn't.

Even with his refusal, Charlotte poured a glass of wine and handed it to the masked man. Lex sat down and the Frenchwoman sat across from him,

"You are a determined and straightforward man. I appreciate that and many other things in your personality. Let's go to business, now that you're comfortable and warm ..." she sipped from her cup, staring at the masked man. 

Lex imagined that ordinary men would feel attracted to her beauty and her seductive ways, but right now all the Second Prince wanted was his shirt back. "Look at this bead. I want to know what noble this object belonged to. You might know," Lex showed her the black mother-of-pearl bead. Lady Duvignes took the small object delicately and rolled it between her fingers, against the candlelight,

"OH! Yes, I know who it belonged to!"

Lex smiled,

"Great! And who is it?"

"I could exchange this information, my masked friend. For a small favor ..." The suddenly sly voice and the way Charlotte leaned towards the mysterious figure in front of her, subtly revealing her cleavage, made Lex gasp.

"...! Well! And what do you want?"