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Owen had just gotten back to his cabin after a long day out gathering wood, that he would sell to the nearby factory in a few days, as he always did. It wasn’t the easiest living, but it was what he had always done. But as he went to open his front door after depositing the logs, he noticed that it wasn’t properly closed… someone had been in his house, or maybe still was. Owen tightened the hold on his axe as he opened the door and froze in shock.
He had expected some factory worker, desperate to sustain their family, trying to rob him, or a homeless person squatting in his house; instead, he found some noble sitting at his table with a cup of tea, clearly waiting. The noble had white hair and pale skin with eyes that looked to be just as pale even if a red glint seemed to lie within them. Despite the white hair he looked to be Owen's age. Overall he almost appeared like a ghost. He was wearing a dark red waistcoat with golden buttons and stitching over a white frilly blouse that looked to be made out of the finest of silks. Along with that the man wore fitted dark gray trousers and some dark red and gold heeled boots. Over the chair behind the man seemed to be hanging some kind of dark gray coat, that he had probably taken off after arriving. Along with that the man was covered with golden jewelry incrusted with red gems. Owen had to admit that the man was very pretty, he could probably sit in a castle and everyone would think him one of the king’s artworks.
“How lovely of you to join me.” The man said as he set his cup down and excitedly clapped his hands together, before continuing, “Please do have a seat, would you like some tea?”
“Who are you? And what are you doing in my house?” Owen coldly asked instead, without ever loosening his hold on the axe.
“That depends, you are the one they call Owen, correct?” The noble asked, as if he was trying to assure himself he was in the right place. Wait how did he know Owen's name?! Why would a noble even be specifically looking for him? And with that sharp gaze. Owen might not know who he is but it’s clear that he’s smart and that could definitely give him the capability to be dangerous.
“Yes.” Owen carefully responded as he kept his eyes trained on the beautiful man.
“Perfect! Then I believe we can both help each other.” The noble said with a smile, before adding, “You may call me Scott.”
Help? So this guy wanted something, and he wanted to offer Owen something in return. It was clear that him giving his name was a way of offering trust. He knew Owen's name so he evened out the odds by giving up his own. Scott definitely was intriguing Owen should probably hear him out, before deciding what to do. He couldn’t just act rashly here at least not right now. He needed more information first. So Owen took Scott up on his previous offer and sat down on the chair across from the noble the axe still in his hand.
“You’re here to make me an offer so make it,” Owen told the noble as he took the tea that was offered to him without drinking it, who knows what is in that.
“So you're a right-to-the-point guy, I like that in a man.” Scott gently smiled while taking another sip before setting his cup down and continuing with the same expression, “I'm offering you a chance to kill the main man behind your late husband's death, lord goldsmith.”
The words hung in the air as confusion and intrigue filled Owen’s mind. How could this Scott guy even achieve that? How did he even know? Or was this some kind of trick?
As Scott could see the confusion on Owen's face he continued, “You are the murderer that's been currently terrorising the noble circles of this city after all, what is it they call you, the axe reaper?”
“How do you know that?” Owen asked, clearly denying anything wouldn’t work with this guy. If things go south he could always just bury him somewhere in the woods later, never to be seen again.
“Well, I discovered the patterns in your killings, and from there it was quite easy. Everyone in town talks about the four businessmen and nobles you killed, if you only look at them the killer could have been any old unhappy member of the lower class that finally had enough, but you had two other victims before that, victims that got buried due to being deemed less important. Our former preacher who accused him of the occult and a nameless worker who planted the evidence to prove it. So I asked myself: what all of these people have in common: the answer they were involved in Mayor Louise's murder.” Scott explained, and that’s when something became very clear to Owen, this guy actually did his research, in a way no detective that even worked at the police station had. He had looked at all the angles and somehow had the kind of knowledge not many people in this town possessed.
“So you knew the pattern, but how did that bring you to me?” Owen asked, as now he was actually intrigued by Scott's investigation.
“From there I knew that the murderer was out for revenge so I asked myself: who would want to avenge the mayor? He wasn’t in power for long enough with enough of his ideas reaching the public that it could be someone who supported his plans, plus most everyone believes he was in cohorts with the devil and who would support that, which led me to it being a personal thing. From there I just had to find out who Louis was close with. He was the last of his line with no other family so that couldn’t be it. No actual friends that could be behind it, but then I remembered him once mentioning a lover. And what greater reason to take revenge than the unjust death of a lover.” Scott explained before taking another elegant sip of his tea, for a dramatic pause.
“And then all that was left to do was find out who his lover was. Honestly, that was the hardest part, you two were very secretive. A lesser person would have called it an unsolvable case and given up, but I am no such person.” As Scott talked about Owen's relationship, the lumberjack couldn’t help but look down at the ring he was still wearing on his finger, the sign that they were meant to be together forever. Before they took him.
Scott seemed to notice Owen's movement as his confident and proud expression softened into sympathy, before the noble pulled something out of his pocket and gently told Owen, “I think you should have this,”
Scott had just placed a ring on the table. One that so clearly matched the one Owen wore. The ring that Louis owned. It together with all of Louis’s other belongings where taken by the lord goldsmith, the man who had caused Louis’s death in the first place. Because that’s what such a person does taking everything away from those who do their best. Getting rid of those that stand in their way, and then taking everything they had as a prize.
“How did you get that?” Owen asked as he picked up the ring, it was definitely real. It was Louis’s ring.
“Stole it I suppose, after it was stolen from Louis already that is…” Scott seemed to hesitate as he looked at Owen almost apologetically, before adding, “I'm afraid it was the only thing of Louis I was able to save, the rest was either divided between the nobles that planned the whole thing if they were seen as valuable or burned, if they were regarded as trash.”
“Thank you, even if just for this. It is more than I had of him before.” Owen sincerely thanked the noble. Even if he was just trying to manipulate Owen. It was probably the kindest thing someone had done for him since Louis was burned on that stake. Since everyone betrayed his love.
“There is one more thing I could save at least temporarily. It will be destroyed next Friday if we don't kill him before that though.” Scott mumbled.
“Really?” Owen hopefully asked.
“Yes, his coming-of-age portrait, it is a staple for nobles to have one, just as I have mine, lord goldsmith is currently keeping it in a drawer in his office before a painter arrives on Friday to take the canvas out of the frame, as he only wants to keep the frame,” Scott told him.
“Scott, who are you really? You can't just be a minor noble yet I’ve never heard of you and Louis told me about all the members of the major noble houses. You seem to have some say in what happens in the goldsmith's house. Yet you still want to kill him. So who are you?” Owen finally asked the question that was sitting on his tongue almost since the conversation began.
Scott took a deep breath before answering, his smile falling as he did so, “I'm his son.”
“His son?!” Owen exclaimed mostly out of pure shock, “Since when dose goldsmith have a son?!”
“A bit more than 18 years,” Scott said before explaining, “no one really knows, father doesn’t like me very much. My mother died giving birth and if you then take my complexion into that, I'm clearly the reason everything goes wrong in the estate. The one everything gets blamed on. The only way I have any say in anything in my own life is if I elaborately trick my father, it barely works. That’s why I want him gone, with him out of my way, I can finally live my life and do what I want. I'd become the head of the house by default, unless it is clear that I murdered him.”
“Which is why you want me to do it,” Owen said, as he finally understood Scott’s angle, he’d become the new lord goldsmith, but only if he couldn’t be connected to the murder, which being the next victim of a serial killer would do.
“Exactly,” Scott agreed.
“I'm in.” Owen declared before adding, “Under two conditions. One if you rat me out in the future at any point I’ll take you down with me. two i want Louis’s portrait.”
“Deal,” Scott immediately agreed before starting to explain his plan to Owen. And it was a good plan. In two days Scott’s father would leave for a long weekend in a cabin his family owns, Scott arranged for a carriage to get Owen there and planned for a butler who was with him to open the door. From there what happened to the lord was up to Owen, and if only one thing was certain it was the pain Owen would make sure the lord felt before he killed him.
After Scott became the new lord goldsmith and shed many fake tears at a funeral, the old associates of his father immediately wanted to use him as some sort of puppet in their schemes, easy to say Scott wasn’t a fan. Thankfully he knew a certain lumberjack that wasn’t a big fan of any of them either. So Scott continued helping Owen, by giving him the opportunities to kill those that wronged his first love. And if the two started to get closer throughout it then it was for them to know.
And if Scott started showing up at Owen's cottage just to talk or ask for Owen’s opinion on a matter, that was their business. And if Owen started liking the time he spent with Scott and started relaxing around him, that was their business. And if Scott bought Owen's cottage and renovated it, pretending that no one lived there and it was just his ‘I need alone time to think’ house, that was their business. And if Owen at some point started killing anyone who threatened or opposed Scott, to protect him from a fate similar to Louis’s, that was their business. All of it was just between the two of them.