Chapter 194: Chapter 194

"Please, continue," Albert said, leaning forward with rapt attention. "I’m completely captivated by your story."

Haydée’s lips curved into a sad smile. "You really want to hear about my past? About all the pain?"

"I do," Albert replied earnestly.

"Alright then." Haydée took a breath. "I was only four years old when it happened. One night, my mother suddenly shook me awake. We were in our palace, and when I opened my eyes, I saw tears streaming down her face. She grabbed me without saying a word.

Seeing her cry made me start crying too. ’Hush, child!’ she whispered urgently. Usually, I could cry as much as I wanted, typical kid tantrums, you know? But something in her voice that night terrified me into silence. She carried me away quickly.

That’s when I saw we were going down this massive staircase. All around us, my mother’s servants were rushing about carrying trunks, bags, jewelry, and pouches of gold. They looked panicked.

Behind the women came twenty armed guards, men with long rifles and pistols, dressed in our traditional warrior clothes. You can imagine how scary it was," Haydée said, her face paling at the memory. "This long line of half-awake servants and women, giant shadows dancing on the walls from the torches, everything trembling in that flickering firelight...

’Hurry!’ a voice commanded from down the hall. Everyone immediately bowed at the sound, like a strong wind forcing a field of wheat to bend. As for me? It made me tremble. That was my father’s voice.

He came last, wearing his magnificent robes and carrying a rifle, a gift from the French Emperor himself. He leaned on his favorite bodyguard, Selim, and herded us forward like a shepherd with his flock. My father," Haydée said, lifting her head proudly, "was the famous man known throughout Europe as Ali Tepelini, the Pasha who ruled our region. Even the Ottoman Sultan feared him."

Albert felt a chill run down his spine hearing her speak with such dignity. There was something almost supernatural in the way her eyes blazed as she recalled these memories. He remembered the horrific news that had shocked all of Europe, the brutal death of this powerful man.

"We didn’t go far before stopping at the edge of a lake," Haydée continued. "My mother held me tight against her racing heart. A short distance away, I saw my father scanning the darkness anxiously. Four marble steps led down to the water where a boat floated.

In the middle of the lake, I could barely make out this large, dark shape, the island fortress where we were headed. It looked so far away in the darkness.

We stepped into the boat. I remember the oars made no sound when they hit the water. When I looked closer, I realized they’d wrapped cloth around them to muffle the noise. Besides the rowers, only our closest people came with us, the women, my father, mother, Selim, and me. The warriors stayed behind on the shore, kneeling behind the marble steps, ready to defend our escape if anyone came after us.

Our boat cut through the water fast. ’Why are we going so quickly?’ I asked my mother.

’Silence, child! We’re running away!’ she whispered back.

I didn’t understand. Why would my father run from anyone? He was the powerful one. He was the one people ran from! His personal motto was literally ’They hate me, which means they fear me!’ But yes, we were fleeing. I learned later that the garrison soldiers at our castle, tired of the constant fighting, had made a deal with an enemy commander sent by the Sultan to capture my father."

Here, Haydée glanced meaningfully at Monte Cristo, who had been watching her intently throughout the entire story. She continued, speaking more carefully now, like someone editing details of a story.

"The garrison had betrayed us," she said. "That’s when my father, after sending a French officer he trusted to negotiate with the Sultan, decided to retreat to the secret refuge he’d prepared long ago."

"This French officer," Albert interrupted, "do you remember his name?"

Monte Cristo shot Albert a quick look, a silent warning. The young girl shook her head. "No, I can’t recall it right now. But if I remember later, I’ll tell you."

Albert had been about to mention his own father’s name but caught Monte Cristo’s subtle gesture and stayed quiet, remembering his promise.

"So we were rowing toward this island fortress," Haydée went on. "From the water, you could only see two levels, the ground floor with its decorative architecture touching the lake, and an upper floor overlooking the water. But beneath the ground level, stretching deep into the island, was this huge underground cavern. That’s where they took my mother, me, and the other women. The source of this content ɪs NoveI~Fire.net

In that cavern, they’d stored sixty thousand bags and two hundred barrels. The bags held twenty-five million in gold coins. The barrels? Thirty thousand pounds of gunpowder.

Near those barrels stood Selim, my father’s most loyal guard. He stayed there day and night, holding a long spear with a lit fuse. My father had given him strict orders: at the first signal, blow everything up, the fortress, the guards, the women, the gold, and my father himself.

I’ll never forget how the servants spent entire days and nights praying and crying, knowing death could come at any moment. And I can still see Selim perfectly, his pale face and black eyes, standing there with that burning lance. Whenever death comes for me, I know I’ll recognize him immediately.

I can’t tell you how long we stayed like that. Time meant nothing to me then. Occasionally, my father would call my mother and me up to the terrace. Those were my only breaks from that gloomy cavern where I’d see nothing but terrified faces and Selim’s fiery lance.

My father would stand there, staring at the horizon, studying every tiny dark spot that appeared on the lake. My mother would rest her head on his shoulder while I played at their feet, fascinated by everything with that innocent wonder only children have. The mountains towered above us, our white castle rose from the blue water, and in the distance, massive trees looked like tiny moss from where we stood.

One morning, my father summoned us. My mother had been crying all night. We found him calm but even paler than usual. ’Be brave, Vasiliki,’ he said. ’Today we’ll receive the Sultan’s official decree, and my fate will be decided. If I’m pardoned, we return home triumphant. If the news is bad, we flee tonight.’

’But what if they don’t let us escape?’ my mother asked.

My father smiled grimly. ’Don’t worry about that. Selim and his burning lance will handle it. They want me dead, but they won’t want to die with me.’

My mother only sighed in response. She prepared his iced water, he’d been burning with fever since we arrived at the fortress. She perfumed his white beard with scented oil and lit his pipe, which he’d smoke for hours, watching the smoke curl into the air.

Suddenly, he jerked up so violently I froze in fear. Without taking his eyes off something in the distance, he demanded his telescope. My mother handed it to him, turning white as marble. I saw my father’s hand shake.

’One boat... two... three!’ he muttered. ’Four!’ He grabbed his weapons and loaded his pistols. ’Vasiliki,’ he said, his voice trembling, ’in half an hour, we’ll know the Sultan’s answer. Take Haydée to the cavern.’

’I won’t leave you,’ my mother insisted. ’If you die, my lord, I die with you.’

’Go to Selim!’ my father shouted. ’Goodbye, my lord,’ my mother whispered, resigned to wait for death. ’Take her away!’ he commanded his guards.

In all the chaos, everyone forgot about me. I ran to my father. He saw me reaching up and bent down to kiss my forehead. Oh, I remember that kiss so clearly, the last one he ever gave me. I can still feel its warmth.

As we descended back down, I could see through the latticed windows that the boats were getting closer. They’d started as tiny black dots but now looked like birds skimming across the water.

Inside the fortress, at my father’s feet, twenty warriors crouched hidden behind a wall, watching the approaching boats with intense focus. They were armed with their rifles inlaid with pearl and silver, ammunition scattered everywhere around them. My father checked his watch and paced anxiously. That was my last sight of him before my mother and I headed back down the dark passage to the cavern.

Selim was still at his post, giving us a sad smile as we entered. We grabbed our cushions and sat beside him. In moments of great danger, people cling together. Even as young as I was, I understood something terrible was about to happen."

Albert had heard stories before, not from his father, who never spoke of it, but from others, about the final moments of the ruler of this region. He’d read different accounts of the man’s death. But hearing it from Haydée, with her expressive voice and melancholy face, made it feel both enchanting and horrifying in a completely new way.

As for Haydée, these terrible memories seemed to overwhelm her momentarily. She fell silent, her head resting on her hand like a beautiful flower bending in a storm, her eyes staring at nothing as she mentally revisited those green mountains and blue waters that seemed to reflect the dark images she was describing.

Monte Cristo watched her with an indescribable expression of interest and compassion.

"Continue," he said softly in her native language.