Chapter 180 - A Long Forgotten Name

"Yes," grunted Gutard, "The maid who was a thief inside my castle. Who stole the topaz from Alexa's wedding gown when she thought Lady Saskia would be killed during the trip. Why? Did it bleed your heart out of greed, because your daughter wasn't having it? Nerissa... The very maid who had the letter from Marquise Dagmar telling me who Jürgen de Wits' wife really was ... Marquise Dagmar was someone who really remembered the past and all sides very well. Thing I honestly wouldn't remember. All that gold should pay for the girl's silence and send her to England… But she kept the evidence, and you sent henchmen on the ship to kill them both, Alexa and her… "

'Wait! What? Weren't the killers on the boat for me?! Were they for Nerissa, in first place?!' Alexa was amazed at the revelation, and even more impressed that Gutard was listening to all of Greta de Wits' false confessions and whimpers, while he had already unveiled the maid's murder.

The princess had not been thinking in the last few days about the evidence she found in Marquise Dagmar's room, in the hiding place that Nerissa had on the wall. The letter, gold, and topaz should have greatly intrigued Captain Gunnar, head of the royal guard. And… Greta was someone else, too?

~ Alexa! Are you offended that you're not the only one hated by Holstein?! ~ Alexander looked more shocked than amused, but still, it was a reprimand. Lex was a little embarrassed, because maybe it was true.

They heard slow, dramatic clapping from the top of the stairs, and when Lex turned around, the Prince saw Duke Kurt leaning against the wall, watching everything with a smirk on his face.

"I was really surprised by the person I met at the dinner table last night. It all suddenly made sense. Because, say, Sister Ludovica was an excellent acolyte of the Cult of Diana, and quite talented. Perverted crazy wench, even. But it was just another rabid bitch stoked by the cunning mind behind it all. A woman with grandiose motives and plans, isn't she?"

"Who is she, anyway?" the Second Prince interrupted, moved by the curiosity of both Alexander and Alexa.

"Letitia di Borghesi's most faithful chaperone. Lady Zilda Bartolini," clarified the Duke.

For many, the name might not make much sense.

Alexa remembered seeing this name somewhere1 ...

'Of course, at the Cathedral ossuary! The day I tried to escape Holstein with the help of Father Agnello, I saw that name! So...she faked her own death to get away with it! And… She and Ludovica were survivors from the purge when Letitia and her maids were killed? No wonder they tried to revive their leader, after so many years… Wow… Just… Wow!'

It was frightening that she had spent so many years planning her return, but that alone explained everything that Father Agnelo knew about the Cultists. A fanatical and vindictive acolyte wanting to resurrect the high priestess, and wanting to marry her daughter to the priestess' son, for that!

Wilbert, the butler, exclaimed, "Without a doubt! I recognized her immediately, I just couldn't say it to Your Highness!" Lex looked at the elderly butler, only now understanding the signals the servant wanted to transmit. Perhaps the real Alexander could understand, but she cannot.

The woman tried to spit at Holstein's Sovereign, but failed, he continued to clamp her jaw with his huge hand, until she m.o.a.ned and bent in pain.

Gutard snarled,

"A loyal bitch, like the bitches of the Bitch Goddess? Is that what all of you are?! Did you regroup far from here to maintain the legacy of that madwoman? Years and years planning what? Resurrect her as the queen of bitches? Not a thousand demons are going to achieve this. You will die like the worms you are. You… You are as crazy as she is, but even worse… For using your daughter and wanting to defile her… Cordelia… That woman made you sin so much…"

His gaze fell on Cordelia, and his expressions revealed pity, disgust, anger.

Cordelia looked at the woman who thought she had another name and another origin, with horror at hearing all the revelations,

"You… were Zilda all along?!"

Cordelia's mother screamed,

"CURSE UPON ALL OF YOU! CURSED VON WUTTENFALS! ALL YOUR EFFORT WILL BE IN VAIN, IN THE END! MY MISTRESS WILL RAISE FROM ASHES, WILL BECOME THE QUEEN, NO MATTER WHAT YOU DO! YOUR ROTTEN LEGACY IS FADED TO RUIN AND FAILURE, BECAUSE EVEN IN DEATH, MY QUEEN WILL GET THE REVENGE FOR WHAT YOU DID! DIE, GUTARD, YOUR MISERABLE MONSTER THAT HATES WOMEN! DIE YOU AND YOUR LITTLE BASTARD! HAHAHAH! DO YOU REALLY THINK HE CAN BE YOURS? LOOK AGAIN TO WHAT YOU HAVE DONE MARRYING SIBLINGS! HELL IS WAITING FOR YOU!!!

Gutard turned to Zilda, the actual name of Cordelia's mother, and grabbing her by the hair, he started pulling her towards the main door, towards the collapsed bridge.

Gutard's men dragged the two chaperones out, ignoring their clemency claims.

Alexa didn't want to continue watching that spectacle of horror and violence, feeling a painful sensation in the chest. The witch's last words made her flinch inside her current body, as if it was possible. Siblings, she and Alexander? It was pure craziness… Doesn't it? Yet, a bitter taste came to the Prince's mouth.

~ What is he going to do with Cordelia?! ~ Alexander was incredulous, and they both turned their puffy eyes to Princess Consort, still lying on the floor in the same spot where she was before.

'I have no idea ... I think I'm going to be sick ...' Lex responded, feeling nauseous from what she had witnessed and listened to so far.

~ Will he forgive her?! Is he really going to forgive her?! ~ the true Second Prince questioned in deep shock and indignation. ~ He didn't spare my mother, but will he forgive her?! ~

'Alexander… Maybe he is learning from the mistakes he made. He cannot correct what he has already done, but he may not do it again… 'Alexa could understand the reasons for Alexander's anger, but she thought she could understand Gutard's reasons too. He had recently told her he was trying to be a better person, when they're returning from Duke Konrad's lands.

~ You are mistaken! I don't know if you're just too godly, or a fool! First, Lady Gwen, that monster. Then Cordelia, that viper! Are you puffed up by her words? Are you starting to believe you are a saint, after all?!~ He grunted venomously, and Alexa fell silent.

It was the first time that Alexander showed profound anger, and because he was so closely connected to her, his feelings of frustration, pain, and revolt were even uglier and raw. It was a shock to know that side of him. But this imperfection told Alexa that he was not the fantastic, vague, and unseen creature somewhere far away, but someone real. With feelings like hers.

"Your Highness, you better go back to the room, you look pale and sick ..." Helga suggested, placing a hand on his shoulder.

Lex took the advice.

She could feel waves of frustration and resentment coming from Alexander, and when he realized that Alexa disagreed with him, he no longer spoke to her.

Despite the restless mind, the Prince's body needed even more rest, and Lex agreed to be put to bed without discussion. The Second Prince tried to refuse the sleeping pill, which did not make him sleep, but numbed his body enough to ease the pain. But they spent the next few hours listening to the groans of the wounded and the cry of those who mourned their dead.

When Gutard returned to Alexander's room, he sat down heavily on the edge of the bed, looking awful and in a foul mood,

"Son ... Is it over?"

"I am still here, Your Majesty. But Alexander is with me. I have no idea what's going on right now… I just need to tell you what your second wife told me…" Lex whispered.

Gutard listened to her report in silence, and when she finished, Alexander's father patted his son's knee,

"Hang on. Magnus will bring the damn alchemist, or the potion. Alexa, you have done a lot for us. It won't be forgotten."

"...!" she did not know how to respond, surprised and not knowing what to think of her father-in-law's 'kind' words.

Gutard stood up, saying,

"Let's go back to Holstein. This place is defiled."

Alexa felt the pain in her chest again, knowing that Alexander was hurt and frustrated because Ashgraufelsen, the place where he spent his childhood, had been defiled by demons.

She felt too weak to even try to use the light again, to send the lost souls to the Path. When she felt better, she promised herself that she would come back to do that.

Later, almost in the evening, Lex left with a large group back to Holstein. They descended to the base of the rock by a long ladder stone ladder carved inside the rock, and Gutard carried him all the time. Cordelia was part of the group, and was silent at the end of the line.

Looking over his shoulder, as dusk fell over the impressive landscape of Ashgraufelsen and its broken bridge, Lex saw three female silhouettes hanging from what remained of the eastern portion of the bridge.

The bodies of Zilda Bartolini and two acolytes from the Cult of Diana swayed at a dizzying height. Check Chapter 52, the first mention of this name!