The Mischievous Maiden & The Sleeping Prince - Chapter 266

“Beatrix, why are you so… ugly?!” she looked at the noisy little thing that had left her body, with a feeling of gratitude in her chest, for having been able to bring that soul into the world.

But were babies born that ugly?

Looking closely, the tiny tiny nose and those little red fingers moving… Well, it wasn’t that bad.

The Duchess had no idea of ​​the color of her daughter’s eyes, which were squeezed in revolt because of so much light and noise.

Alexa was proud that her little baby had such a healthy lung.

“Your Highness, Beatrix is ​​beautiful!” Maria’s mother exclaimed, receiving approval for her comment from all the women around. They poured praises to the newborn baby and her mother.

‘Course she is! Look at that! A fragile bright and frightened little soul.’ Beatrix’s mother kissed the small head with immense jealousy of her little baby. Now that she looked better, Beatrix looked a lot like Mags … That was so intriguing! Alexa so wanted Magnus to arrive soon to meet his daughter!

Her body was limp and her chin was a little stiff from smiling non-stop at the little thing on her arm after the midwife returned Beatrix to her.

Alexa was so tired…

°°°

Alexa woke up with a start, feeling a chilly breeze and with the urge to hold Beatrix very tightly to her chest.

Then she felt long, bony fingers pulling her child away.

Feeling an uncomfortable weight on her belly was secondary.

Beatrix cried, and Alexa opened her eyes, now completely awake and scared. Her fingers failed for just a moment, and Beatrix had been taken from his arms.

“Cordelia!”

Cordelia’s expression reclined on her, with one knee over her belly, and holding Beatrix was possibly the realization of her worst nightmares.

“My beautiful baby! My beautiful boy! You look so much like daddy!” The other woman murmured, looking in awe at the small human wrapped in a blue blanket. Beatrix was screaming at the top of her lungs.

Alexa tried to push Cordelia, but the other woman hit her hands.

“Get away, you bitch. You really stayed until my child was born, didn’t you? But now you must leave.”

“Give me my daughter now!” Alexa shouted, turning the body. It wasn’t his intention, but in doing so, she escaped being pinned to the mattress by something sharp and long.

‘Gasp!’ She flinched and dodged another blow, and felt her gown tear when she tugged free of her attacker.

Even though it hurt to go out under Cordelia, she did it. Cordelia got off the bed from the other side and showed a pointed dagger, stained with blood.

Alexa stopped immediately.

“You better not bother me, Alexa … I’m tired of you.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Alexa saw two maids on the floor, but she didn’t see anyone else. She didn’t know what had happened and how Cordelia had gotten there, but her heart failed to imagine that crazy woman hurting her Beatrix!

“Stop, Cordelia!” her voice came out shaky. While her eyes darted around her for an opportunity to attack Cordelia and get her daughter back, Alexa was also afraid of hurting her baby. Cordelia’s face muscles twitched because of excitement and exultation, while Cordelia thrust the air several times.

“Take it! You filthy whore, you stole everything from me! But not my baby! You are not going to steal my baby…!”

“Cordelia… This baby is not yours…” How could she manage to speak calmly, realizing that Cordelia didn’t even seem to have a sense of reality? When her heart seemed to want to pierce her chest out, so afraid that this insane woman would hurt Beatrix?

“You freak! You damn cheater!” Cordelia stopped for a moment to adjust the baby in her arms and Alexa tried to use that moment to jump over Cordelia.

Her desperation did not allow her to think straight, and Alexa tripped over the body of one of the fallen maids beside the bed. That was enough for Cordelia to throw the candle holder over Alexa, and run for the door.

“Die, Alexa, die! For Hecate, die! Your servant begs, oh Hecate Lady of the Thresholds, imprison that woman!” Cordelia chanted.

Alexa saw the door jambs dye red for a brief moment, as soon as Cordelia ran through the door, and it hit hard on the hinges. Even feeling a pinch of pain in her lower abdomen, Alexa stood up, slapping her hands in despair over her own body to put out the flames. She threw herself against the door, but as she imagined, there was something preventing her from going out. The door was closed, and her hands were unable to push or pull it.

“HELP!”

She wasn’t sure why she was screaming for help. She knew if there had been any loyal servant or soldier to Magnus still alive or conscious in that house, they would have already come. She didn’t know what had happened … She just realized that she was reliving the same events in the villa when she found Cordelia.

But she had no time for memories or conjecture.

Turning on her heels without even breathing, she ran to the door of the adjoining room, avoiding the flames that spread across the bed and carpet. She managed to get in there, but it was a small alcove without windows or an exit, so Alexa went to the bedroom windows of the main room.

Locked.

The smoke was already burning in her eyes and the flames were becoming dangerously high. Her mind was confused and her thoughts were not complete, fixing on one thing: Beatrix! That lunatic had stolen Beatrix!

“COFF COFF!!!”

She tried a few more times, unsuccessfully, to use furniture against the windows, but everything that had a threshold was touched by Cordelia’s invocation.

Alexa crouched down, feeling the shortness of breath, but she couldn’t let herself get down.

She heard Magnus’s voice calling.

“ALEXA!!! ALEXA!!!”

BOOM BOOM!!! BOOM! The impact of men trying to knock down the door on the other side shook the threshold. Maybe it would work if they had a ram… But it could happen too late.

“I’m Coff HERE! I AM HERE! Cordelia! Get Cordelia! ” she came close to the door and screamed as loudly as she could. “Listen to me! Get Cordelia! She’s got Beatrix!”

Between her and her daughter, Alexa wanted her innocent little daughter to survive.

“ALEXA! Listen. There is a secret passage behind the mirror, get out there!” Magnus shouted. “Lead everyone through it to get out there!”

He had no way of knowing that only she had survived.

“Don’t mind me, bring my baby back!”

She didn’t even know if he was understanding what she was saying with his choked voice and tears on his face.

“Listen to me Alexa,” he said loudly and calmly, and the ramming stopped. “Go out there calmly. I’ll get Cordelia. But do it now. Tell me that you managed to drag the mirror and that the passage is free. Are you listening to me?”

She nodded and then realized that he couldn’t see her. “YEA! Hell yes!”

Running up to the luxurious Venetian mirror on the wall, something that cost a small fortune but seemed too complicated to move away, Alexa took a chair and broke it.

As soon as she saw the secret passage, she didn’t hesitate, even though she strode blindly into the walls of the narrow corridor and stumbled over the irregularities of the floor as she ran. She didn’t think she would need a light source.

It was a surprise when Alexa felt her palms emit a soft glow.

Without reasoning about it, she invoked her Light, and the long, completely black path lit up, so she could make it to the end.

Alexa was climbing some steps dug into the damp earth when a trapdoor opened above her. One of Magnus’ men reached out to help her, and Alexa wasted no time in accepting it.

As soon as she was on the surface again, the Duchess realized she was close to the stables. She was panting and feeling dizzy, but seized by irrational and desperate energy to see her little Beatrix again.

“Magnus, where is he?”

The knight pointed. Alexa saw Magnus leaving towards the gates of Schwartzhoffhausen on his horse, at a gallop.

“Your horse, Lord Emich!” she turned to the knight beside her, ignoring everything else. But she didn’t wait for an answer and ran to the first saddled horse she saw.

One day, Alexios Dallassenos had been an accomplished rider, able to win races in the East. Even if she now died after doing this, she would reach Cordelia and Beatrix.

She caught up with Magnus, and along with him, they continued in pursuit of Cordelia’s carriage, which was far ahead of them on the road. They could not even really see the carriage, they could only hear the throng of the eight horses pulling the vehicle from a distance.

“ALEXA! Come back!” Magnus ordered. “You’re bleeding!”

“Screw it! I won’t come back!” she shouted back. “Don’t waste your time! I want my daughter!”

They soon saw high flames in the distance at Holstein harbor, lighting the sky from afar. At first, Alexa didn’t understand, but then it all made sense as soon as they got closer. Some sh.i.p.s were on fire, in a scene similar to the one she had seen recently.

Why were the ‘merchant sh.i.p.s’ on fire?

Alexa could not be absolutely sure, but she thought some of the sh.i.p.s were the same ones that were part of Cordelia’s dowry.

“Did the madwoman set the sh.i.p.s on fire?!”

“Except the one she intends to escape in!” Magnus shouted answering her question. At that moment, they entered the dock area, where the carriage had gone. All the muscles were tense and Alexa felt something very wrong with her, but she wouldn’t stop for anything.

The pier was brightly lit because of the flames on the unmoored sh.i.p.s, and they could see exactly where the carriage was. They must prevent Cordelia from getting on the boat that was leaving the pier towards the ship. The ship was waiting at the harbor entrance, ready to leave. It would be hard to reach her once she went into the boat.

“BEATRIX!”

Magnus jumped off his horse at a man who held a spear beside the carriage, his sword coming down brutally and splashing blood everywhere.

Alexa couldn’t be so agile when going down, suddenly feeling her legs weak and numb.

She fell to her knees as she got off the horse, witnessing Magnus reach and slaughter Cordelia’s minions, to reach her at the end of the pier.

The men in the small boat that would take Cordelia to her escape ship rowed away, abandoning the Countess when they realized what they might have to face.

Cordelia hesitated, holding the little blue package wrapped around her chest, and watching the sea and the boat leaving. Magnus came towards her like an avenging angel. He grabbed her by the hair before she threw herself overboard, and raised his sword.

Alexa screamed.

They were repeating what happened to Magnus, Gutard, and Letitia.