Chapter 186 - Troubadour

'Well, I ... I have a friend. She's an artist. A talented one. The best of Holstein!' Alexander justified, embarrassed.

'Really?' Alexander's suspicious attitude made Alexa narrow her eyes to him, or rather, to the Prince's face she was seeing in the mirror, actually. Turning to Fani, the Prince asked, with an angelic smile,

"Both, please!"

'No Alexa! I don't want you to shave!… My God, that sounded so weird! I don't want to shave!'

'Mehmeh… You already agreed to it.'

'No. I was still contemplating it! Agh!' Alexander exclaimed when he saw Fani coming with the toiletries.

"The barber is on the way, Your Highness!" she helped him put a velvety robe on top of the clothes he wore, and right after that, the door was opened for the visitor's entrance. 

Alexa was curious, especially when a tall woman, with pink cheeks and wearing men's clothes entered. Her extravagant outfit was complete with a split-brim hat1 adorned with feathers and a striking cape with white and red diamonds patterns. The red-haired woman still had a decorated vielle2 tied by a strip, and carried a covered basket.

"Your Highness!" she spoke in a sonorous voice, bending her knee and making elaborate gestures that Alexa found terribly theatrical.

She usually had a sympathy for artists, but while Alexander called her a 'friend', the princess wasn't sure if the woman in front of her considered herself his friend.

A moment of embarrassment followed, while the woman remained on her knees, waiting for the Prince's reaction.

Meanwhile, Alexa asked,

'What's her name, anyway?'

'Jette. This is Jette Allegoria. '

'Should I be impressed?' Alexa couldn't resist teasing him. She didn't understand why he was so nervous. At first Alexa had thought Alexander's girlfriend would finally reveal herself, but she could have sworn that the troubadour wasn't a lover of the Second Prince.

"Jette! Jette, Jette!" buying time, as she didn't know how to act, the princess motioned for the minstrel to rise, with a smile. The woman jumped as if propelled by a spring. She was tall as a man, and used to wide moves.

"Your Highness, as soon as news of Holstein reached me, I did my best to return! I'm so delighted to see you! Rumor about your health reached even Manz!"

"Were you in Manz?"

A slight, confused hint showed in the red-haired artist's hazel eyes, but she grinned. Her voice was melodious and naturally loud, for Alexa it seemed to reverberate,

"OH! Don't worry about forgetting! I just stopped by on the way back! I was in old Italy," as she spoke, she took a pear out of the basket. Alexa realized that the fruit was apart from the others. A pear of better quality and appearance. Jette handed the basket to a servant, and extended the pear with another exaggerated gesture to the Prince!

"I haven't forgotten my promise, Your Highness! Northern Italy pears!"

'Hmmm… So this is how you live your life, Alexander?' Alexa whispered, a bit worried by Alexander getting random food from strangers.

'What are you talking about? What's wrong with friends who travel a lot? '

'I'm talking about accepting risky gifts,' Alexa took the pear from Jette's hands with a grin, studying at it from all sides. It was a very well-preserved pear to have come from so far in almost perfect conditions. But Alexa would give Jette the benefit of the doubt.

"Jette, Jette Jette!" the Prince repeated the name as if pondering, and grinning at the troubadour.

'Can you please stop it?' Alexander groaned.

'Stop what?' 

'Stop repeating her name condescendingly! She'll think I'm crazy! '

"Jette! You know I love pears! And my wife likes it too! " the Prince took a greedy bite of the fruit.

The troubadour blinked, a little confused,

"Ah! I heard the rumor when I arrived! So many twists and turns! Wasn't your brother getting married? And who is the Princess? They say she is beautiful as an angel ..." Jette gave the Prince a knowing look, and with a mischievous smile said," They say you even staged part of my song about the Prince and Princess! "

Alexa remembered when Blue Eyes commented on a song made by the bards.

'Uh, do you mind if ... uh, you can excuse me and ...' Alexander seemed to want to push her away, but the princess knew she could easily push him away instead, and not give him the control. Still, amused, curious, and knowing that, after all, the body was his, she yielded the command of the Prince's body.

"Ahem! My wife is witty person, and has a peculiar sense of humor, too. Thanks for caring about my health… I was a little sick, but it's over now!" he ran a hand through his hair, straightening his shoulders and filling his chest.

'Oh, my God! In my face?! And ... Is it over?! I still feel pain! ' Alexa was shocked.

'You were trying to ridicule me, just let me be myself! And pains… I feel them too. But I am a Prince, and a von Wuttenfal. I can't be m.o.a.ning and complaining like a little girl! '

'...!'

"Are you all right, Your Highness?" Jette asked.

"I'm fine. Tell me about your travels!" he went to the window, and when the barber was introduced by Fani, he motioned for the barber to leave. Jette joined him with the confidence and pose of a very self-confident person ... and also of a person who knows she has the strict trust of the Prince.

"Ah, my travels! This is nothing compared to the events in Holstein, in my absence! I can hardly believe that! So much happened in Holstein just after I went across the gates!"

"Yes ... Weird… Things."

"Well, if I were here, at least I hoped I could sing at your wedding!"

Alexander was visibly frustrated with the conversation's route,

"But you weren't, were you? After the walk, we took in the valley, after my father's birthday ... You decided to leave abruptly. You said that my confessor and you discussed..."

This time Jette narrowed her lips for a brief moment, but shrugged,

"Agnello di Borghesi is a difficult and... Tricky man, isn't he? But it wasn't the reason for my trip. There is an important festival, and I went to sing for a Duke's guests, no less!"

"Ah, it just fits your brilliance!"

"Oh, I'm so glad to have your support, Your Highness! Well, unfortunately, I have a problem with that…"

"You can tell, me, please have no reservations."

"Well, it's not like I have something bad to tell about my benefactor. It's just… The Duke graciously presented me in front of his guests with a beautiful brooch ... And later on, his treasurer didn't pay me saying that the brooch was a princely gift, and... And it is! However, loan sharks and jewelry merchants here in Holstein either fail to see the value of this beautiful jewel, or are greedy rats ..."

"Do you have the jewel with you, Jette? I'm curious," Alexander gave a smile which the princess found to be artificially calculated to highlight his charming dimples.

Jette fell for it, blinking a bit before coming out from a state of grace,

"Ah. Yes! I have it with me always, since it's so valuable and beautiful. But of course, only people with eyes for beauty could see ..." the troubadour took a small bag from her belt, and showed the jewel to the Prince.

Alexa wasn't very impressed. It was really a second or third quality jewel. Alexander, though, gasped,

"Oh! It's a fine piece! Can I…?" he asked, reaching for the jewel.

Jette gave Alexander a big smile. Alexa had to admit that, despite not being an especially beautiful woman, let alone delicate, she had a fascinating smile and an attractive personality.

Her husband seemed totally attracted to the troubadour lady, and was behaving in a way Alexa had never noticed him before. He wasn't in his usual talkative and spontaneous behavior.

This caused a kind of jealousy in Alexa.

So was Jette the woman Alexander really wanted?

"I normally wouldn't be commenting, but as Your Highness once said I should be honest… The outcome of my trip wasn't what I expect. I am having difficulties since Holstein has the plague, and even entering the city was difficult ... The usual places are closed, and my creditors are not even in the city ... No one wants songs at this time."

"So accept my invitation this time, Jette. Stay in the castle, at least this season. Besides, I want songs. I will order other songs and you will be safe here..."

"I normally would not accept it, but if my favorite Prince needs a minstrel to distract him, I am at your service!" Jette bowed, with a charming smile.

'Hmmm, don't pay another gold coin for that brooch!' Alexa warned, realizing that Alexander was examining the object again.

'Don't be stingy. You are learning from my brother to be greedy! '

Interpreting Alexander's sudden silence as a bad thing, the troubadour said worriedly,

"I didn't mean to upset you with that question, Your Highness. But as much as I asked, everywhere, I had no answer. Where is Father Agnello di Borghesi? I heard that his page was murdered, and that they are looking for him..."

There was a note of distress in her voice. Alexander frowned, but soon disguised it. The princess felt her soulmate's anguish and embarrassment.

"He's fine… I mean, he's recovering. Someone tried to murder him."

The woman seemed to have prepared herself in advance for bad news, but instinctively reached for her heart. Alexa noticed Alexander's jealousy. It was intriguing because it was not like she was feeling it herself, but just observing. She could only perceive his feelings more clearly. And Alexa supposed the opposite must be true, too!

'You like Jette, but Jette… likes Blue Eyes?! Oh, Alexander! Stop liking those who don't like you!'

'Keep your thoughts on this to yourself, Alexa. Just as I keep mine,' he scolded her harshly.

'Excuse me? There is no way to keep secrets between us now!'

'But there is a way to keep some respect. Pretend you don't know, and we'll remain friends! After all ... What I feel doesn't correspond to what will happen! Don't you know that?!'

'...!' Alexa fell silent, resentful because Alexander spoke bitter truths.

'Let's get divorced, Alexander,' she knew it was for the best, yet she felt a horrible weight on her chest as she agreed with Alexander's wish.

"I'll take you to him, Jette," said Alexander without answering his wife.

The princess noticed how excited and grateful the troubadour was, breaking Alexander's heart even more. One of the iconic German hats seen in paintings and woodcuts is an oversized, brimmed hat with cuts/overlaps in the fold of the brim. They appear frequently in Cranach paintings, for example.The vielle /viˈɛl/ is a European bowed stringed instrument used in the Medieval period, similar to a modern violin but with a somewhat longer and deeper body. The vielle possibly derived from the lira, a Byzantine bowed instrument closely related to the rebab, an Arab bowed instrument.