Antonetta finished changing and stopped talking through the door of the room we had taken at the Bloated Float inn. I would have preferred separate rooms, but we needed to manage our finances.
When she emerged, I had to admit she looked rather fetching. As I donned the leather outfit resembling that of thieves, the mask effectively concealed my face. As we hoped, the only patrons in the inn at this hour were Patrick and his friends. Antonetta sat nearby. Patrick's friends whistled at her and suggested that Patrick go and charm her. He sadly declared that he was already married. This angered his friends, who left him alone in the inn with the bill.
"Who are you? Oh, leave me! Leave me! Help!"
A masked man in a beige leather outfit was getting a little too close to the young woman in the dress. Patrick's blood boiled, he got up, grabbed the intruder by the shoulders, and pushed him against the wall.
"- I think you're going to leave here, old man, or I'm going to get angry."
The leather-clad man grunted and left the inn with heavy steps. Patrick felt rejuvenated, it reminded him of his young love and his encounter with his wife, Karlota. This young lady in the dress was much younger than him. He puffed out his chest and offered her his hand.
"Everything's okay, miss?"
"- Oh, thank you, my very dear sir. This brigand was after my necklace!"
Patrick had to look down her dress to see the necklace, which made him blush slightly. He was once again the handsome young man who made girls swoon.
"- This necklace is as beautiful as you, isn't it?"
"- Oh, sir... Please... You're so kind, but... I'm married to a man I don't love... I..."
The young lady burst into tears, and Patrick was moved to comfort her and wiped away her tears.
"- It will be alright, miss. Don't worry. What's your name?"
"- Netta, Netta Anto..."
"- Netta..."
Antonetta suddenly blushed and hurried outside the inn. Patrick tried to follow her, but she was already gone. He looked around sadly, put his hands in his pockets, and headed back home.
On the roof of the inn, I was able to have a conversation with my sister.
Wasn't I convincing? The innocent girl married to a man she doesn't love routine always works... Oh, but time is passing. It's your turn to play now, my beloved brother.
I changed into the attire of a former wealthy individual and took the three bottles of skooma, while asking Antonetta what she was going to do next.
I'm going to bump into him accidentally on his way home. He'll invite me in for a drink. He'll tell his wife we're just friends. He'll offer to escort me home, but I'll decline. He'll ask me to come back to the inn tomorrow, and I'll agree. Another question, my dear brother?
I reminded her to do what she needed to do in due time. Then, I headed toward the alley not far from the Arcane University to intercept the Minburg son as he was heading to the tavern outside the city. From the rooftops, I could track his movements without him noticing me and get ahead of him on the street.
Once in the alley, I stabbed myself in the arm with the langour blade. It would slow me down. The effect was more potent than I expected; I fell to the ground, my legs refusing to support me. At that moment, the Minburg son, being a good citizen, rushed to my aid.
"By the Nine! Hang on, sir, I'll call the guards!"
It wasn't a feigned act. I was truly dying, and it was quite instructive, actually. It felt like falling asleep.
"Sir, you... you're doomed... what happened to you?"
I managed to tell him through the pain that I was a skooma dealer, that I had been killed by an assassin, and that if he stayed there, he'd be arrested. I suggested he take the skooma bottles off me and dispose of them, or they'd take him for the culprit. The teenager was so panicked he must have believed every word of my story. He said a prayer, then grabbed all the skooma bottles before running out of the alley.
Now, it was just a matter of hoping he'd drink them, but as a former addict, that was inevitable. I took a long nap until a spark of life seemed to revive me. My body was a bit numb, but I could walk.
"- Everything's going wonderfully, my brother. I'll be at the Minburgs' to learn from your lips of their son's accidental death. As planned, he's under the influence of skooma, wandering outside the city... Oh, here are your two kilograms of raw meat. I'm always curious about what you're planning to do with it."
I invited Antonetta to follow me. Loic was indeed in the woods, sleeping, a bottle of skooma in each hand. No one can truly change; a killer will always be a killer, and a skooma addict will remain one as well. I approached him silently and placed raw meat strategically all over his body, even in his mouth and clothing. He didn't wake up, even as I did so.
Quickly, a multitude of shining eyes appeared—most likely a hungry wolf pack—approaching this meat feast. At the first bite, Loic woke up, but the skooma numbed the pain. I was curious to hear what kind of scream he'd emit when he realized he had been partially devoured.
Antonetta had been invited to the Minburg family's home and was getting along quite well with the husband and daughter, which greatly annoyed Mrs. Minburg, though she dared not say anything. Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. Karlota went to answer it; it was her friend from earlier, looking quite shocked.
"- What's happening, my friend?"
The man told her that his son had been found dead drunk under the influence of skooma near the city, devoured by a wolf pack. The family's reaction was simply incredible; no one was thinking clearly, and a sort of collective hysteria took over. Everyone was shouting that they couldn't believe it, that life was so sad, and other nonsensical things. Antonetta was holding Patrick Minburg's hand as she sobbed, but his wife didn't notice.
After witnessing that scene, which greatly improved my mood, I politely declined an invitation to stay the night. Antonetta left at the same time. Mr. Patrick asked her to return to the inn the next day; she agreed, crying over the loss of their son. I don't recall ever laughing as much as I did on the way back to our inn.
Out of sheer caution, I slept on the floor, which amused Antonetta. She said she wasn't going to eat me, and I retorted that she had eaten a man's tongue in the Fighters Guild.
As I spent the afternoon consoling Mrs. Minburg in a friendly manner, Antonetta spent the day deepening her relationship with Mr. Minburg. We had a rendezvous at the cemetery at eight o'clock.
When she saw me, she asked if everything was going well. I simply told her that she was starting to see me as a precious friend more and more, so yes, everything was going wonderfully well.
A thin mist settled over the cemetery as we donned the worn black outfits with full hoods.
"- This plan is quite random, my dear brother."
She wasn't wrong, but I couldn't think of a more dishonorable way to ruin a family's reputation effectively.
We began to dig a hole in the ground and desecrate a grave. It wasn't hard to notice a little eavesdropper, clearly intrigued, getting closer and closer.
Uh... I... uh...
I knew from her diary that she dreamed of writing an article about mentally unstable people and becoming the star reporter of the Black Horse Courier.
"- Etoina Minburg, reporter for the Black Horse, may I ask you a few ques... Where's your friend?"
I emerged from behind her and pushed her into the freshly dug hole, then followed with a shovel.
"- What are you doing? Are you insane?"
"- You wanted to see crazy people? You're about to meet quite a few!"
I knew that the other members of the Dark Brotherhood loved ironic phrases before committing a murder. I found it amusing, though entirely unnecessary.
"GUARD! A GRAVE IS BEING DESCECRATED!"
In the Imperial City, grave desecration was considered one of the most heinous crimes.
We leaned over the hole and shared a final smile with the hysterical Etoina. Then, Antonetta grabbed my hand, and I made both of us vanish just as five guards swarmed Etoina to apprehend her.
The next day, when I visited Karlota, her husband and Antonetta were present.
"- We haven't heard from our daughter. We're really worried... aren't we, dear? DEAR?"
"- What? Oh, yes, yes, excuse me, my love. What were you saying?"
"- You never listen to me! Never!"
"- And you never pay attention to me, you're self-centered!"
"- I'M SELF-CENTERED?!"
"- Absolutely, and ridiculous on top of that!"
Patrick took the woman named Netta by the hand and stood up.
"I'M LEAVING!"
He slammed the door as hard as possible, and Karlota started crying.
"- It's my fault, I should go apologize. I was... stupid."
I patted her shoulder and innocently asked if it wasn't more her husband's fault. She yelled that I was right, that she was right, and that she deserved an apology. Then she calmed down.
"I... help me, my friend. I... I'm supposed to go to court tomorrow morning, but... I'm so distraught over my son's disappearance... what should I do?"
I told her to listen to her heart and that I would be there to help. She sobbed and told me that I was a true friend.
I was about to leave when a member of the Imperial Guard rushed by. He had an urgent matter to attend to with Mrs. Minburg regarding her daughter. It wasn't my concern.
I noticed a note on the doorstep, quickly written by her husband. I could read "GOODBYE." Well, it was about to get chaotic in the Minburg household.
That same evening, I was able to discuss everything with Antonetta.
"- Have you read the Black Horse Courier, my dear brother? A man supposedly committed suicide at the Black Horse Inn. His face was so mutilated that they couldn't identify him. Beside him, it's said, was a letter that read: 'My dearest Karlota, I still loved you so much... but you were no longer the same.' Naturally, the folks at the Black Horse have no idea that it wasn't him who wrote that letter, and that he was, let's say, 'helped' to hang himself."
I congratulated Antonetta on her fine work and prepared to strike one final blow.
When I returned to Karlota's, she was a different woman. She had pulled out her hair and had likely been vomiting or even bashing her head against a wall. She was quite drunk.
"- He still loved me! HE STILL LOVED ME! IT'S MY FAULT! MY FAULT!"
I told her I was sorry for her, that she didn't need to blame herself for driving her husband to suicide and for neglecting her daughter so much that she ended up desecrating graves.
She let out a scream of rage and struck herself before collapsing into a chair. There were dozens of empty alcohol bottles strewn on the floor.
"I... my friend... you give such... good advice... help me..."
She crawled toward me, clutching at the hem of my tunic. The gentle lady who sang at the market was gone.
Tell me what to do...
I stroked her head, took out a dagger, and told her the choice was hers before leaving the house.
Antonetta was waiting outside with the remaining money. I invited her to the usual tavern.
During the meal, a child approached us.
"- Haven't you heard? The kind lady who lived at Talos Plaza killed herself! She killed herself!
The child went around the tables spreading the news, while an Imperial guard passed through the crowd."
"- Ladies and gentlemen, what have you been up to these days? Are you strangers?"
I told him the innkeeper was a skooma trafficker and that his secret cellar was full of the stuff.
"Good gods, thank you, citizens. Move along."
On my way to the sanctuary, I felt like I had done a good deed.