Hi, don't worry, I did not abandoned this story. It's just... I suffer from depression from time to time wich makes me unable to write or even post new chapters... I had wrote a few Chapters in advance last year until the depression came... so I publish this Chapters here and then we'll see when I'll continue writing. I am sorry for that...
I didn't know how long I was unconscious. It felt like a few seconds. But that couldn't be, because I was lying on a kind of hospital in a medieval infirmary. There must have been a dozen beds here. I saw nuns running from bed to bed tending to the sick. When I then turned my head to the other side, I saw Quasimodo sitting by my bed with a worried expression.
"What happened?" I asked confused.
"Brother Martin brought you here after you passed out in the cathedral," said a nun standing next to Quasimodo.
I slowly sat up, "Sorry, Quasimodo. I didn't mean to worry you," I said slowly.
"You should take it easy on yourself in the future," said the nun, "You're not only harming yourself from now on."
A gentle smile crossed the nun's face. I stared at her in bewilderment: "Do you think I am... I will... We will..."
The nun nodded, "Your body is already changing so that you can give birth to the new life. Therefore, you should stop doing heavy work. Otherwise, complications may arise."
Quasimodo looked at me questioningly, he didn't seem to understand what the nun had just said. I slid to the edge of the bed with Quasimodo. Then I took his hand and put it on my stomach. Then he seemed to understand and just said: "Oh."
The nun cleared her throat: "Well... actually I'm used to different reactions to this happy news. But... you're not an ordinary couple either, we mustn't forget that.", the nun said and shrugged her shoulders.
Without another word, Quasimodo picked me up in his strong arms and carried me back into the cathedral. The nun called after us: "You should have yourselves examined regularly!"
Quasimodo carried me up the almost 400 steps into the tower and didn't even put me down. He climbed the stairs very carefully and took me to our cell. He put me on the straw mattress we shared every night. Then Quasimodo turned and left the cell without another word.
I never expected our love to bear fruit so soon. While I was very happy to be expecting a child from Quasimodo, he seemed far from happy about it. Of course he was concerned about what the child would look like. Would it really take on its characteristics? On the other hand, I was an ordinary person, so there was a 50/50 chance of what the child would look like in the end.
I hoped that Quasimodo would quickly digest the initial shock and look forward to the child with me.
The news spread quickly around the cathedral. When Brother Martin learned what had happened to Regina, he was furious. He had to prevent this witch from giving birth to more witches. He saw Regina as an eyesore that absolutely had to be removed from the cathedral. So he devised a plan to get rid of Regina. As Quasimodo's former instructor, he knew the Hunchback's daily routine inside out. Regina's pregnancy had changed the daily routine only slightly, the bell ringer looked after her more often, but now he also went to the market every day to get food, which Regina had done before the pregnancy. You, since she should take it easy, Quasimodo had taken over. Brother Martin timed the moment Quasimodo left the cathedral and then went up into the bell tower. Regina was still lying on the bed and thoughtfully looked into the distance when Brother Martin entered the bell tower. When Regina registered the visitor, she gave him a friendly nod: "Brother Martin, what can I do for you?"
"Oh nothing special," Brother Martin said in an odd undertone.
Regina looked confused at the priest in front of her. She got a bad feeling.
"It's time...", he said absently, "...time that you...", Brother Martin slowly approached. Regina noticed that he had a strange unsteady gait. Suddenly Brother Martin raised his hand and it became apparent that he had a dagger in his hand, which he wanted to bring down on Regina. Regina was terribly frightened, raised both hands and tried somehow to ward off the priest. Her youth and the slightly too many pounds on her hips helped her a lot. She reared up, pushing against the priest with all her strength. Brother Martin pushed against her with all his might until Regina somehow managed to throw him onto the mattress and position herself over him. She could not snatch the dagger from him, but somehow in the scuffle, Brother Martin wounded himself in the chest with the dagger. He cried out, "Murder! Murder!"
Startled and out of breath, Regina climbed down from Brother Martin, who was bleeding beneath her. She couldn't believe what had just happened and what the consequences would be for her. Brother Martin was still screaming, but Regina didn't dare touch him because he called her a "witch". The word Regina was dying to avoid... She didn't want to be called a witch. Because if investigations were started, the inconsistencies in her origin would certainly come out and Regina would be doomed to death.
"What's going on here?" a voice called and a young monk came into the tower. That was Brother Pierre. An approximately 20-year-old young man. He saw Brother Martin lying in his blood and was terribly frightened. Brother Pierre rushed back to the south tower and got help from the Hotel Dieu.
Brother Martin's screams had stopped and he lay unconscious. Regina feared that he was dead, but when Sister Superior Jeanne Marie arrived upstairs with Babette and other nuns and monks, it quickly became clear that Brother Martin was only unconscious from the shock and the wound wasn't as deep as feared. Brother Martin would survive, Jeanne Marie could assure her. On the one hand Regina was relieved, but on the other hand she feared that in Brother Martin she had won a terrible enemy who seemed to be just as fanatical as Frollo...
