The Mischievous Maiden & The Sleeping Prince

"Am I going to England today ?!" the maiden exclaimed in surprise, barely able to believe what Cordelia was telling her. Her new friend had come to her with the good news shortly after Alexa had left Prince Alexander's quarters.

After she revealed about the poison, the Greek maiden was uncertain about revealing the name of Petrus de Languedoc, the only other person she was sure kept the formula of the antidote to such a poison. Perhaps it could lead to a persecution of the Master Alchemist, and eventually even reveal Alexa's identity as well. The lack of a name coming with his son's salvation frustrated Prince Gutard, and Alexa felt bad about it. After it, the Sovereign Prince dismissed her and called a meeting with some people that Alexa had no idea who they were.

"Yes, my fiance arranged for you to depart on a Portuguese ship later this afternoon. An escort was assigned to take you in safety. He told me it himself. His Highness met with my father about this, and personally chose the people who will accompany you! I sincerely wish you would stay, as you promised me, but… My fiance is being so generous to work personally for this! He shows to be really sorry for his poor reaction toward you when you first met!" Cordelia blushed, becoming the color of a cooked crustacean, and Alexa figured that maybe her words hadn't been in vain after all. The Prince could have found someone else to tell her that, but he chose Cordelia.

But of course, the maiden knew what they both had talked about on the city walls, and saw that the Prince was keeping his word… or was it a threat? Alexa did not care.

"You have to promise to return to see my firstborn!" Cordelia recalled the promise, and the Greek girl agreed. Unexpectedly, she would reach her destination without even relying on Agnello di Borghesi's help. 'HAhaahhaahahAH What a twist! And that came from the simple fact that Prince Magnus wanted to show who was in charge here.'

The man who threw her in the mud and put a sword to her throat, what was the Prince thinking at that moment? That she was his transvestite brother, perhaps? Or a witch, mocking them all? Or someone else entirely?

Witch or not, the Holstein First Prince had tried to seduce her, and make her his mistress. But there was no other way but to send her away to her fiancé's house.

Alexa could not be happier, could she? She was about to leave that strange kingdom and also leave behind the problems that did not concern her.

During in the afternoon the Greek damsel came to the people who presented her, to say goodbye and thank them, and also Cordelia's relatives who treated her so well. But she could not leave without speaking to the Florentine Father, so she went to the ward where the cleric resided.

Alexa asked for his whereabouts, and a servant told that Father Agnello was probably studying in his studio. Alexa then knocked on his door, rehearsing a polite farewell while waiting to be received.

But no one answered, even when she insisted.

Finding it a bit odd, she thought maybe he had fallen asleep, and tried to open the door, but couldn't.

Alexa tried to peek through the keyhole, and as she was leaning toward it, she heard a voice,

"Lady, if you want to talk to the priest, I can take you to him." Alexa jumped, straightening her body, a little embarrassed. Turning around, she noticed a matronly-looking castle maid at the end of the corridor.

"Ahem… I thought my boot laces had untied, haha. Yes, please take me to him," she pleaded, quickly heading toward the servant, who led her out of the castle. They walked out a door, through a courtyard, and the servant pointed at a gate,

"The Italian Father likes to spend some time reading in the garden, you'll surely meet him there."

Alexa thanked her, and walked into the garden, imagining it was just a place where bushes and flowers grew without any aesthetic sense. What she found instead was a circular courtyard with stone benches, and in the center, an ogival gazebo in the same Gothic style as the castle. Below the gazebo was a small fountain where a young Adonis showed off. The courtyard was surrounded by tall hedges opening to three separate paths; north, east and west. Although it was autumn and there was no exuberance or scent of flowers, Alexa recognized the species and imagined that in spring this was a very beautiful place. But the priest was not in sight.

'What is this, a maze?' The maiden found it exciting, and if she wasn't in a hurry, she would definitely enjoy having fun there. But she heard a song being whistled, it seemed to be Father Agnello. Alexa paid attention to the direction the sound was coming from, but when she stepped forward to follow the sound and find the priest, she stopped.

This was definitely odd.

So the priest was the type who whistles?

She kept walking, gingerly this time. Now some details stood out. The dried hedges, the absence of other sounds. No birds, no insects. The wind did not flow through the alleys of the maze; everything was still, stale, suspended. The whistled song continued, with a failed cadence, and Alexa wondered what the ghosts did to the priest.

Was it possible that…?

Overcome with a feeling of distress, the maiden began to quicken her pace, and soon she started to run through the green corridors of the topiary maze, overwhelmed with a sense of urgency, imagining that this call had a purpose.

The woman who had said she could join the priest… On second thought, everything had been very weird from the beginning, right?

Remembering how the Italian priest had turned his quarters into a bastion of his faith, it was now very clear that Father Agnello was aware and was an enemy of the resident spirits. And it was not pointless to imagine that there was a war going on.

A little dizzy from so many corners and turns, Alexa stopped to breathe, realizing that she was getting nowhere trying to guess where she should go. The spirits reigned over this place and would scramble it as much as they wanted ... leading her into the traps they wanted. Alexa just hoped that Blue Eyes was fine.

'What the hell! I don't want it to go on anymore!' Alexa began to unwrap the bandages on her left hand, realizing that she still hoped to find the priest alive and well.

But as soon as she began to do so, she felt a gust of wind pass through her, strong enough to inflate her robes and lift her hair. The whistle lullaby ceased.

'What is it?!' the maiden wondered, noticing the presence of a Shade of considerable power not far from her. 'Did she reveal herself?'

This was a surprise, and Alexa began to move forward, tense but resolute, hoping to meet one of the Ghost Queens, face to face.