Crazy Duke and Fallen Queen

Lyana showed me the room where they kept old carpets. We found one big enough to hide a body, and we rolled the Marquise in it.

After deciding not to leave blood around, I had to choke him to death. It was better than letting him there, semi-conscious.

The little blood on the place where he hit his head was washed away quickly and flew with the water under the flowers surrounding the path where we stood when it happened.

Lyana called a couple of servants and made them carry my things to my carriage. I was going to travel in the morning; it had been known for days. I'll wait for the landlord in front of everyone and leave after greeting my relative.

The servants carried my things to the carriage.

«This is a token of myself and my husband's appreciation,» Lyana said out loud while the servants moved the carpet. They fixed it on the carriage, wondering why the carpet weighed so much.

«Thank you, my lady. It's a nice present.»

What does a wandering lord do with a carpet? No one asked that.

«Now that everything's arranged, let's go have dinner.»

«Will the Marquise join us?»

«Oh, he's busy tonight. But he'll certainly be here to greet you tomorrow morning!»

«All right. I'm sorry I have to leave soon, though. It has been a pleasing stay, my lady.»

We left the carriage for my departure in the back.

«I'd like to have dinner in the chamber, though,» I said. «It's better to rest for tonight.»

After all, what use is there to dine without the Marquise? It was acceptable, as a request.

«Of course, your highness.»

The Marquise was seen getting on the carriage with his favourite cape covering his head. I had to bow my back to seem shorter, and that made the figure larger.

Just perfect for the trick.

Lyana didn't know how the Marquise behaved when he visited the city. Judging from the road we were taking, it wasn't anything nice.

The coachman stopped in front of a dark alley. I could see the prostitutes recognising the carriage. They seemed to be preparing for work.

After a second or two, before the coachman could open the door for me, I got off slowly. I mimicked the Marquise's slow steps and headed to the alley.

When the carriage turned behind the corner, I turned right and walked away into the night.

The women in the alley seemed suddenly so displeased that I was leaving.

«Sorry ladies, but I have a wife,» I whispered while strolling away. Only when I was far enough, I straightened my back. Finally!

I threw the cape away, disgusted.

Reaching the centre of the city took quite a while.

«I won't stage incidents anymore,» I sighed. It was so much work.

It could have been easier to come clean and let the Emperor remember that I'm more useful than some Marquise from the south.

I sent a message to myself, instructing a young lad to deliver it in the morning without further comments. I chose a boy from the street and bought him new clothes to look like a real messenger.

I paid him some gold and promised him that much in the morning.

It would have been impossible to find him later if anyone became suspicious of that man's disappearance.

I also bought a new cloak.

A carriage brought me towards the Marquise's mansion, but I made it change direction and surpass it. I walked for a few kilometres.

Next to the mansion, I removed the cloak and reached one of the gardens unnoticed.

«Your highness!» a servant said when he saw me.

«Yes?» I muttered. I was sitting on a bench and looking at the stars.

«Is there anything I could help your highness with?»

«Oh, I can't sleep well the day before a departure,» I chuckled. I was wearing only light clothes, just like someone that got dressed for a short walk in the night.

«I can serve your highness some herbal tea...»

«No need. I'm going back to the chamber,» I shrugged. «Some fresh air makes miracles.»

When that person turned the corner, I retrieved the rest of the clothes from the bush and reached the bedroom.

I had a witness that I was there during the night. It must have been enough.

«Staging a disappearance is so damn complicated!» I complained about my reflection in the mirror.

Dawn finally came, and I prepared to leave. I was in a hurry, but I had to keep my nerves under control.

No one could imagine that the Marquise, thought dispersed in town, was in the carpet on the top of the carriage.

While waiting for him to come back, Lyana and I had breakfast. The young boy came just in time. He didn't seem to recognise me.

He delivered the message and got the promised few golds.

I opened the letter and read with a frown. When I reached half of the paper, I frowned the same way my Queen did when something seemed off in the reports.

I folded the missive and put it away in a pocket. It was the safest place, where no one could have found it without killing or knocking me out.

«I have to go,» I stated, seemingly displeased by that unplanned matter. «There is something urgent I need to do.»

«Of course,» Lyana nodded. «I'm sorry my husband isn't here to greet you, your highness.»

«Oh, just pass him my greetings, then. I really need to hurry. Is the carriage ready?»

The coachmen that travelled with me appeared in time, and he jumped on his place. He was familiar with my ways, so he didn't open the door for me. He knew it annoyed me more than it was helpful.

We finally left, and the day turned much sunnier.

A few kilometres before the first city, we stopped for a break.

«I'm not in the mood to see people,» I murmured. I needed to get rid of the body before it started to smell. «You can take a horse and come back with some food.»

«Yes, Commander,» he nodded before following the order. Soldiers are like that: they don't ask questions, they don't suspect.

It's refreshing, and it helped me a lot of times.

Finally alone, I dragged the carpet down. I tied rocks around the Marquise and finally threw him in the river that passed next to the spot where we stopped for the night.

The weights were necessary, or the water would have carried the body back from where I came from.

Which would have been suspicious: the body of the landlord coming from the direction where a guest was headed to. In a hurry, at that.

After drying myself, rubbing my hair felt especially long, I sat under a tree to wait for the coachman.

I closed my eyes and rested for a few minutes. Or maybe I fell asleep for an hour.

I lost my sense of time after working so much on hiding a body.

It wasn't my first kill. Not even if counting the second life alone. Yet, it was the first time that I transformed an incident into cold-blooded murder.

I was woken up by some giggles in the distance.

The coachman was getting late, by the way.

Getting up was more difficult than planned, but I managed somehow. I walked around until I saw a group of young girls playing together. Ages seem to go from eleven or ten down to seven.

How old was my Queen, now? Oh, she was ten. She had been in a war for two years. This time, though, I could relate. I had been in the same situation, even if in a different position.

When the girls saw me, some of them started running and shouting. They were scared of me.

I checked the condition of my clothes and hair, but I was not that unpresentable.

«Good day, ladies.» I tried smiling reassuringly.

«Hello, sir. What are you doing here?» one of them managed to ask.

«I'm travelling south. It seemed a nice place to stop for a break, so here I am...»

«This is private land. You can't stay here.»

Private?

«Whose?»

«Duke Grahm's,» the girl replied. «Might I ask your name?»

«And you're related to him, aren't you? How come he lets his family's girls play alone by the river?»

«We're not alone, sir.»

Indeed, they were not.

The guards appeared in a moment. They were slow, by the way.

If I was a criminal with unclear intentions, I would have already done all the damage I wished before they even sensed that someone was on their territory.

«Identify yourself!» one of the guards shouted. He pointed his short sword towards me.

I was unarmed, not even fully clothed. I had just woken up, for goodness.

The tip of the blade almost touched my neck, but I didn't back down. They were a bit rushed, after arriving late.

«You shouldn't be this alarmed,» I said. «If I had any ill intention, we wouldn't be here talking.»

«Identify yourself!»

I moved my eyes on the guard for the first time. A young lad, my age or a year younger at most.

«My name is Alexander of Kyre.»