Chapter 210 - Realization

"Are you crazy?!" Lex spoke loudly, thus drawing the attention of Balbo and also the priests.

'Well, brother-in-law, I think this is a little extreme ...' Alexander murmured.

"You shouldn't even get a divorce! Listen! The clerics out here are biased towards the di Borghesi. If they could get rid of Alexander, they would do it in the blink of an eye! Do you think they are satisfied the Sovereign Prince is ill and the Prince Regent is not who they want on the throne? Unless something irreparably tarnishes the honor of the oldest brother, they will do their best to ward Alexander..."

'I don't want to be the successor, my brother is much more…'

Narses interrupted,

"I see you guys are missing someone here who openly speaks with both of you, with the sole interest of your well-being! You are the Prince Regent now, Alexander! If you do something wrong, they will pet you. It will even embarrass your father, who trusted you. You must show that you are not afraid, and that you have nothing to hide."

'However, Alexa needs to break free from this marriage!' Alexander replied angrily.

"Why?"

'We… We can't be together,' the real Prince partially revealed, embarrassed.

"Narses, stop. It doesn't concern you," Lex looked down, feeling bad about how Narses was pushing Alexander, without knowing all the details. Alexander didn't want to put into words the real reason. Alexander was no fool and knew it already. Nor did she want to humiliate Alexander by speaking aloud.

"Of course it concerns me. I don't want my sister to get hurt. She has suffered enough, Your Highness. She..."

Lex tried to interrupt,

"Narses, please. You don't know..."

Alexa's older brother averted his eyes, and taking a long breath, grunted,

"Well, I don't know. But I know you guys didn't do everything you told your brother-in-law, about this spell that unites you, and about a long journey, a thousand dangers and the like, just for my sister to earn the canonization badge as the Saint Patroness of the Roads!"

'Is he that nosy?'

'Sorry, Alexander. He must be feeling bad since we got lost in Venice. He wasn't like that, I swear,' Lex was very embarrassed.

'He must have had a hard time,' the Prince pondered.

Narses looked away, and continued, as if they didn't know the couple was talking to each other,

"You are concerned with the spiritual aspects of this situation, and that's the most important thing. You're not wrong. However, while your big brother and Alexa are going to Languedoc, mortal enemies are surrounding you, Alexander. You cannot ignore that. Everyone is paying attention to what happens to the von Wuttenfals. After all, what has been happening here? Let me see: a sleeping prince, a demonic cult that caused not only one, but two massacres and some isolated deaths. A battle against the forces of darkness in the central square of the capital. A plague after that. A miraculous princess, a 'gone' prince and the underdog prince taking over as Regent… It's not like you are exactly in a boring year in Holstein, are you?"

"Seeing that way ..." Lex nodded. Trying to look like an outsider, it was all very suspicious.

Narses continued, speaking to Alexander,

"Do you think Duke Kurt is reliable? He may not want the throne for himself, but why was he hidden? And why did he put that woman on your brother's lap?"

'I don't know.'

"Nor do you know the Church needs to show its strength at that moment. They either find a saint, or they find a demon!"

"Should we let them deal with demons alone?"

"Do you really think that man over there could handle the things you told me? No. He only knows how to aim at humans. Alexander, I might be slandering someone, but I think the person calling the Inquisition here was your uncle Kurt. He seems to know them... I would like to hope that it was with good intentions, but I lost faith in humans for a while," said Narses bitterly.

Lex touched her brother's hand, nuzzling it to comfort him for the suffering that, she was sure, Narses had endured through there.

She felt bumps on her brother's hand, and looked down to check. They were long hands, but Narses no longer had beautiful fingers. There were many scars and his fingers were crooked, as if broken many times. They seemed to hurt a lot, just to look.

Her heart ached, anguished at the sight.

Narses turned to Lex, and smiled back, as if saying he was fine,

"Show strength, confidence, and we will try to dismantle the propaganda that has been made over the years. That Alexander is the witch's son and should be feared. People need to like Alexander!"

'But… what about Alexa?' the Prince asked.

"At this point, we cannot deny that Alexa is capable of miraculous things, since there were so many witnesses. The other option would be to let them believe that she's also a witch ... And that is not what we want. But she can't be perfect ... She has to stay married!"

'Narses, listen to me. When my brother and Alexa come back, they can get married. If necessary, I will become a priest so that Alexa is not embarrassed by marrying again. I will leave Holstein forever. They must be a couple, my brother must reign. I owe them my life, and they want to be together! It is not your fault not knowing any of this, but please stop pushing this agenda on us! Your good intentions are only afflicting your sister. '

'...!' Alexa did not expect Alexander to say that, and so bluntly, but he did.

Narses took a deep breath and held out his hands,

"So the other rumor has a little bit of truth. That Prince Magnus is in love with Alexa. He allegedly left because his father married Alexa to Alexander, not him."

"Is that what they say behind our back?" Alexa blurted.

"The castle's servants are an inexhaustible source of entertainment, I would say," Narses shrugged, revealing his sources.

'Yes, he asked to marry her, but my father gave her to me, anyway.'

"Why?"

"He believed in a prophecy," Lex then told the prophecy as she remembered it.

Her older brother scratched his chin, looking sideways at the pair of priests in the gazebo,

"Alexander, why don't you directly question your father about this prophecy? You shouldn't waste any time. Don't even ignore your flesh and blood enemies. They may take a while to reach you, but they will reach everyone you care about first."

Alexa knew what her brother meant. Gutard might not have had much time among the living. And even though Narses' words were harsh, they resulted from genuine concern, and of his life experience.

'I thank you for your words, Narses. We are young and inexperienced, as much as we studied. You know a lot more, and we are lucky you are here to share your experience with us,' said Alexander, in line with Alexa's own thoughts. 'About Alexa, isn't it better to leave everything as it is? Perhaps raising rumors of where she might be?'

"Um, let's think about a plan. I want to find out who the hired killer is, and get him out of the game. Balbo promised to help me. But I have Prior to worry about, too. He's a nag," said Narses. Lex took her sibling's hand again,

"I have something to tell you, Narses. It's also important."

"I don't know," he pretended to be hurt, enjoying being needed and pampered," You have been hiding many things from me!"

"I couldn't tell, because it involved other people's lives! But ... Narses! I found Iacintho!" she spoke happily.

Narses did not expect this, and his face paled,

"What are you talking about, Lex?! Our brother is dead! He died almost three years ago!"

"Narses! He's... an upir. He was taken to France by a lich, called Volos."

Dallassenos again stretched out his hands and snapped his fingers. His neck was red, and he looked away from them for a moment.

'What are you talking about? What are these names? 'Alexander asked.

"An upir is an undead that normally feeds on human blood. His soul is trapped in his body. It's a pitiful and corrupt state. The upir continues with his previous human appearance as long as he continues to feed on fresh blood… His soul ages, but not his body…" Narses explained.

'Upir?'

"An upir can be created by a lich, or according to some legends, by another upir under special circ.u.mstances."

'And what is a lich?' Alexander choked.

"A sorcerer who became immortal, usually through magic. One practice of a lich is to take his heart out of his chest and consecrate it, keeping it somewhere else. So, even if his body is destroyed in some way, after a while the magic will rebuild it, as long as his heart is in perfect condition..." Narses was thoughtful, with a distant look.

"The lich keeping Iacintho, ... He's horrible! He's nothing but skin and bones!" Alexa exclaimed.

"They say that a lich can also look good if it feeds on people, but few really care about it after a while. His only obsession is magic power and his machinations or whatever. Maybe they lose their interest in these things. That's what I learned, at least," Narses revealed, and after a sigh, he turned to his sibling with a stern look on his face,

"However, the most important thing is that, now that you have found our brother, you must destroy him, Alexa!"