The Maid They Called Your Highness
Chapter 4: The Woman Who Betrayed Them
Adrian could not speak.
His mother, Lady Celeste Valmont, had spent five years comforting him after Alina's death. She had held his hand at the memorial service. She had told him to stop blaming himself.
Now she stood beside Severin with a gun.
"Mother," he said, barely above a whisper. "What are you doing?"
Celeste did not look at him.
"Saving our house."
Adrian's face twisted. "By helping him murder Alina?"
Celeste's hand trembled slightly, but the pistol stayed raised.
"Your father left debts. Severin offered protection. Titles. Land. A future."
Alina looked at her with cold sadness. "You gave him my chapel note."
Celeste's eyes closed for one second.
That was answer enough.
Adrian stepped back as if struck.
All these years, he had believed he failed Alina by arriving late. But his own mother had made sure Severin knew where she would be.
Matteo slowly moved in front of Alina.
Severin smiled. "How touching. The servant, the lover, and the traitor's son."
Alina lifted her chin. "You cannot kill me in a corridor full of witnesses."
"There are no witnesses here."
Adrian suddenly smiled bitterly. "Wrong."
He reached into his jacket and pulled out a small recording device. "I learned from Alina. Servants hear secrets. So do sons people underestimate."
Severin's expression hardened.
Celeste turned pale.
Adrian pressed play.
Severin's voice filled the corridor, recorded from moments earlier:
"If I came back too soon, he would call me a fraud and kill everyone who helped me."
Then came Severin's own voice:
"Princess. You always were too brave for your own good."
Not enough for court.
But enough for the room.
The servant doors behind them opened one by one.
Maids, footmen, kitchen staff, and musicians stepped out. Matteo had not simply delayed the guards. He had spread word through the servants' passages.
Severin looked around.
For the first time, he looked afraid.
Then Celeste lowered the gun.
And Severin lunged for Alina.
