Chapter 101: You’re a genius Barbra.

Felix was seated at the dining table, the cards spread out face up in front of him. He was rearranging them one after another; he had been doing this for almost an hour, feeling as if he was missing something obvious because it was sitting right under his nose.

"Another dead one," he said, rubbing his eyes tiredly. "Burnt face, throat cut – the same as the last one. All I am doing is going around in circles listening to the same three rumors as if there were five of them."

He shuffled the cards again and placed them in a new order, hoping to find the pattern which he was having trouble deciphering due to fatigue.

A sharp knock sounded on the front door.

His head snapped up.

"What the hell is someone doing knocking on my door at this hour?"

The knocking grew louder and more urgent, bordering on breaking down the door.

"Don’t you know the word patience?" Felix demanded, already on his feet and heading to the door with cards in his hands. The noise stopped abruptly.

Reaching the door, he hesitated with his hand about to turn the lock.

What if it is...?

He lifted a card between his fingers, readying himself, and unlocked the door, his heart beating wildly every time he heard a creak of the door’s hinges.

Before the door could swing all the way open, he managed to step out of the way, raising the card he was holding and throwing it quickly as if it was a knife; the flying card stopped one inch away from its intended target.

"Barbara?" His eyebrows shot up in surprise to see her in her maid’s uniform. "What are you doing here?"

She gave him a disappointed look, pushed his hand away from her neck and strode past him into the room without saying a word.

"You just can’t come in here willy-nilly like that!" Felix spun around, closing the door after her.

"What is it that you’re trying to do?" she practically shouted, interrupting his response completely.

"What am I trying to do? I was just trying to get some rest, that’s what!"

"You know very well I mean the investigation, you idiot! What the hell are you trying to do? People are dying left and right and everyone thinks it’s some fake Hakimi business and blames the Duke for ordering it! Is this all your fault, huh? Your task was to suppress rumors, discover who spreads them and yet here you are, doing nothing but making things even worse than before! When are you going to actually find something? How long—"

"Wait a minute, hold it right there," Felix raised his hands. "For starters, I do my best out there. For second, the rumors getting worse is not my problem. And for third...uh...Well, I don’t know."

"What, don’t know?" Barbara stood directly in front of him. "It’s been days since you started and you should have found something by now. Something."

"I have something, in fact. A very specific suspect."

"Who?"

"Yourself."

"Me?" she glared. "You think I’m responsible for these rumors? That I killed those men? Why, for what, to embarrass Hakimi? Allow me to say this just one time. Do not, under no circumstances, test my loyalty to Lady Diana. I would never, ever, do anything that would bring harm to her or tarnish her reputation. No matter what the price."

"But I am not implying that it’s you, Barbara," said Felix calmly. "There are many possible suspects. There are thousands of people living in this town, and it could be anyone. Just how am I supposed to narrow it down using nothing but pure speculation?" He looked at her puzzledly. "And why did you suddenly become so impatient all of a sudden?"

"The Duke is trying to marry Lady Diana off to Nicole Delacroix," she snapped angrily. "I’ve heard it myself. They were talking about it without ever asking for her consent. She would be spending all her life with a stranger. That won’t happen on my watch. No man in this world is worthy of her."

"It’s all hot air now. People say such things when everything has fallen apart. Don’t waste your time on it," Felix replied and waved his hand dismissively. "You know what you do? Go back to the palace and get some rest. I will take care of this."

"And I know what you should be doing," Barbara said, locking eyes with him. "Die."

"Die?" Felix ran a hand through his chin and considered the idea carefully. "Perhaps, you are right."

"Are you insane?"

"And you’re a genius Barbra."

...

For the following few days, a new word began making its rounds within the city, spreading at a faster rate than anyone could pinpoint who started the rumor and passing by every single set of lips with new shapes and meanings.

"Did you hear? Hakimi’s going to make his confession about everything."

"A little late. The man’s been playing behind the name of that Duke long enough."

"And he will even mention the names of people he had affairs with."

"That guy won’t show. Cowards always look for an excuse."

At the market, a fishmonger spoke across his stall to one of his customers. "Confess to everything, he’s apparently going to do. Everyone in the city will get it straight from the horse’s mouth."

"My wife’s been waiting for weeks to hear someone saying something honest."

Noble’s Ward’s tea table gossip had a somewhat different flavor, more polite, but no less aggressive.

"He’s going to speak to the whole public about it. That’s bold if it’s true."

"Bold or desperate. One confesses only when he’s cornered and has nowhere to hide anymore."

"In that case, it will be a spectacular sight."

Duke Osbel reread the report laid on the table in front of him twice and slammed it onto it with his fists clenched. "He’s doing this without any authorization on my behalf," he said through gritted teeth and looked up sharply. "Hakimi. Find him immediately."

Mirabelle stood near the window, arms crossed in front of her chest. "If he decides to make the confession, Osbel, then you have absolutely no control of the situation whatsoever."

"I know that very well indeed." Osbel’s voice was clipped. "That’s exactly why."

Diana was sitting with Nicole in the garden, holding a teacup in her hands but not drinking from it.

"I take it that you’ve heard?" Nicole was looking at her closely.

"Everyone heard." Diana’s voice sounded smaller than usual. "What he’s going to confess to. Does he actually intend to say that it was him? Everything?"

"I couldn’t really tell you." Nicole took her hand gently. "Whatever it is, you don’t need to go through it alone."

Diana remained silent and lowered her eyes to her trembling hands.

In the fields of green grass, far away from all of the gossip, murmurs, and noise, Hakimi sat cross-legged, accompanied by another figure sitting in silence beside him. He exhaled quietly, his lips parting to let out the air and opened his eyes. The first stars already appeared in the darkening sky above.