Bedelia Greenleaf

Noble

"*Remember, there is nothing wrong with using whatever power you can get your hands on, be it lust, beauty, or blood.*”
― Bedelia Dedlock, offering advice to her young lover, Johann Mikkelsen.
The Countess Bedelia Pavlovna Dedlock was one of the wealthiest and most powerful gangsters in all of Russia's bloody history. She was famed for both her razor-sharp cunning and cold-hearted cruelty, as well as her scandalous affair with the young Johann Mikkelsen.

## **Biography**

### *Early Life*

The Countess Bedelia Pavlovna Dedlock was born on August 9, 1832 in Alupka, Crimea. Her parents were of Russian nobility, and she inherited her title from her father, Count Dedlock. After her parent's death in 1854, she decided to make a name for herself in Russia's criminal underworld.

In the winter of 1856, Bedelia wedded the elder of the Bratva's criminal overlords, Tybalt Katarina. What Bedelia lacked in power she made up for in wealth, an arrangement that suited them both perfectly. Tybalt's younger brother, Vlad Katarina, had just been married the previous year. His wife was already pregnant. While both brothers currently shared leadership of the Bratva equally, there was still some debate over whose children would inherit the "family business".

By 1862 Bedelia and Tybalt had still yet to produce an heir. To make matters worse, Vlad's son, Bane, was starting to become more and more interested in what it was his father did for a living, having lost his mother a few years prior. Tybalt blamed Bedelia for their lack of children. He finally decided to attach to himself a mistress, one Olanna Mikkelsen, hoping he would have better luck with her.

When Bedelia discovered what her husband had done behind her back, she was outraged. She paid Olanna off and threatened both her and her yet unborn child with death should they ever return to Russia. Bedelia then vowed to get revenge on her shameful husband, one way or another.

Seven years later, when Bane had finally reached his teenage years, Bedelia convinced Tybalt to get rid of both Vlad and his son, claiming that Vlad was plotting a way to usurp him for good. Tybalt agreed and had his brother run out of Moscow, attempting to have him killed in the process.

Once they had gone, Bedelia assumed Vlad's role in the Bratva as co-leader. She reigned with a steady and yet relentless hand, using previously unthought of methods of violence and coercion in order to achieve supreme power in the underworld of Moscow. She was respected on a level far above her husband, feared even.

### *Mutant World V, Prologue*

#### *Lady Crimson*

As co-leader, Bedelia managed to expand the previously small crime family that was the Bratva into a city-wide empire. As the business flourished under her rule, the initiations and jobs that they executed were becoming more and more brutal. Meanwhile, her useless husband Tybalt was spending the majority of his time drinking and partying. He was becoming something of a drain on Bedelia's wealth and resources.

After nearly a decade of this constant decadence and unfaithfulness, Bedelia decided that Tybalt simply had to go. She plotted to poison him on the next chance she got, which happened to be a chilly, spring evening in early April. Bedelia was throwing a dinner party that night for all of her most trusted criminal allies. She managed to convince her husband to attend, luring him with the prospect of all of the expensive wines she would be serving at the affair.

Once all of her guests were settled, Bedelia waltzed into the kitchens and poured a generous amount of Aconite into Tybalt's wine glass. She brought it out to him herself in order to avoid any unwanted mistakes, seeing no reason to disguise the act to the murderous men that surrounded her table. She watched him drink it with a smile plastered to her face. After his convulsions started, she called for the staff to have him removed, saying it was ruining her appetite.

This bloody act and the many others that followed, rather than estrange Bedelia's loyal followers, seemed to only increase their respect for her. Her name became a symbol of strength and ferocity throughout Russia; not even the emperor himself dared to interfere in her business. She was known to all as Lady Crimson, but there was nothing at all ladylike found in her savage methods.

#### *The Heir*

One freezing night in the winter of 1878, Bedelia found her life to be suddenly changing. Three young boys were discovered on her manor doorstep. When she heard that the youngest was barely older than an infant, even Bedelia's chilly heart was stirred enough to allow them to be let in out of the cold.

 The eldest, no older than 16, said that he wished to speak to her in private. Bedelia sent the two younger children down to the kitchens for warmth and nourishment and then led him into her office. After taking a seat, he introduced himself as Nikolai Mikkelsen, the son of Tybalt and the banished Olanna Mikkelsen. He had a letter to prove it; it was indeed Olanna's handwriting on the note, which begged Bedelia to allow her son to return to Russia unharmed and to give him a job in the Bratva.

Nikolai explained that his mother had been murdered, leaving not only him but his two half-brothers orphans. He promised not to reveal his parentage as long as she was willing to give the boys work. Bedelia considered this, and she found it to be an acceptable compromise. She did impress upon Nikolai that, while she would be acting as the boys' guardian until they were grown, they would have to endure the same trials and initiations as any other young men hoping to join the Bratva.

Nikolai agreed, and so began the Mikkelsen brothers' careers in the criminal underworld. Bedelia watched over them carefully as they grew, starting out with simple jobs such as drug-runs and robberies and eventually moving on to participate in the fighting pits, the bloody competition overseen by Bedelia that determined who would be moving up in the Bratva and who would be left for dead. While she saw greatness blossoming in Nikolai, it was nothing compared to what she saw in his younger brother, Johann Mikkelsen.

#### *Johann Hannibal Mikkelsen*

Johann's pure cruelty and brutal precision was so vividly apparent in these bloody duels that many were beginning to fear him even more than Bedelia herself. While killing your partner was not illegal in the pit, it was generally avoided. Johann never failed to take a single life, except that of his own two brothers.

## **Appearance**

Bedelia Dedlock was known for being wickedly beautiful. She had long, smooth hair that swept soundlessly across her curved shoulders, the strands of which were the color of raw, unfiltered sunlight. Her eyes were a light, grayish-blue, the shade of the sky just before a thunderstorm. Her perfect features were draped exquisitely across the canvas of her pale complexion; she had a long, sharp nose and a faint beauty mark that danced flawlessly across her upper lip. Bedelia's body was quite unlike her face, being all soft curves and plush skin rather than any harsh lines. Though she was rather short in stature, she still held a certain feeling of loftiness and regality in her posture, inherited from her royal ancestors. She had an infectious smile, a charming laugh, and a life of smoking cigarettes had turned her voice a pleasantly deep and raspy tone.

## **Relationships**

### Allies

* Johann Mikkelsen - Lover and Ally
* Vlad Katarina † - Enemy turned Ally
* Anne Button † - Ally
* Lara Katarina † - Ally
* Idrissa Mikkelsen † - Ally

### Enemies

* Tybalt Katarina † - Husband and Ally turned Victim
* Olanna Mikkelsen † - Rival
* Gemma Fields † - Rival
* Nikolai Mikkelsen † - Ally turned Killer
* Liv Vendetta - Ally turned Enemy
* Anatoly Nykl † - Ally turned Enemy
* Bane Katarina

## **Trivia**

* The name Bedelia is of Irish origin and means "strength or exalted one".
* While he attempted to harm both Prissy and Jeff Gambino, Johann Mikkelsen never laid a hand on Kate Bukater. He was fond of her because she reminded him of Bedelia, whom she held a striking resemblance to.