The air was oddly cold for September weather, Neirin thought. Her eyes landed on the dark sky without any moon or stars. For some reason, she felt calm seeing the darkness blanketing the sky.
Around her were people busy with their lives, chatting with their loved ones, buying food on stalls, and some people hurry to go home and meet the family they missed. Neirin thanked the street lights and the advancement of science and magic that she could comfortably view the nights like this.
Since there was already news in the newspaper about the serial killers' victims, knights patrolled the area with their swords on their hips.
Neirin pulled her hat down to her forehead, not wanting to attract attention to herself, and walked past them just like any other commoner who was busy making money for their survival.
She was dressed in trousers and a coat hiding her figure through the bulky fabrics of her clothes. She had already left the palace disguised as a servant while beside her was the guild leader, Adlen. He was dressed normally like every other people crossing the road. He blends really well and doesn't pay unnecessary attention to himself.
Neirin did not utter words as they climbed a rented carriage without any symbols and crest engraved on it. Just a simple brown door, nothing more, nothing less.
Adlen knocked on the carriage's roof, giving the coachman a signal that they were already seated and prepared. The wheels of the carriage rolled through the paved path. Neirin did not utter any words and watched the scene outside calmly, taking into herself that she indeed returned in time to witness the start of a new trend.
Complementing how the guild leaders of the court of miracles were observant and sensitive to change, Adlen did not talk either and mimicked the duchess, watching what was happening outside.
Small talks do not matter to them. They weren't even friends, to begin with.
Right now, in front of Adlen was his master. A person with higher authority than him. So, knowing his place, he kept his eyes busy looking at people's smiles outside the carriage window.
The future will change, and a sudden thought surfaced in Neirin's mind. She wanted to let the future flow, just like how she remembered. Still, that thought was impossible since a variable like her was already setting a different path from the original.
Neirin realized this deeply as she started observing the people outside with their actions. Actions can affect one action from another, no matter how big or small it is. So, with her change of heart, mind, and action, her influence in the future might be even bigger than she ever expected.
Neirin was a coward behind the haughty and arrogant air surrounding her. She was a person who often retreats back to the slums because she was afraid that her life might end there and then. Regardless of who she was before, she can't make anyone see her weakness.
"Your grace," a soft whisper interrupted Neirin's thoughts as the carriage came to a halt. She looked at Adlen. Her eyes were asking.
Adlen nodded, understanding her eyes. "We are here."
"Lessa," Neirin mumbled as she climbed down of the carriage after Adlen.
"Huh?" Adlen answered. He was frowning as if he was frustrated that he could not understand. Neirin chuckled inwardly.
"Call me that," she answered coldly without any thoughts.
Adlen paused. He pursed his lips as if his tongue was getting uncomfortable. After a moment of silence, "Yes, uhm.. Lessa."
Neirin gestured her hand and signaled him with his gaze. "Lead the way."
"Ahem! Follow me closely."
Silently, Neirin followed him closely, just as he wanted. However, her gaze wandered through the eerie surroundings around the morgue. There were street lights, but it was dim, and for some unknown reason, there was fog preventing Neirin from seeing further. So, she focused her eyes on what was in front of her.
It was a three-story building with a hanging sign saying "To all deaths!" Neirin even frowned at that sign. Was the owner celebrating death? Or was he celebrating that more and more people were dying now?
Odd.
Well, he was gaining money the more people died.
"I heard the owner changed the sign after the reports of the serial killings happening right now," Adlen uttered again, seeing her read the sign.
Neirin raised a brow as they continued to walk.
"Why?"
"He loved money more than anyone else. Besides, he said that the nobles were the ones dying. It's not a peasant's problem anymore. That was why he recently asked for a special newspaper delivery to his house to celebrate if there was a piece of new news about a noble death. Since most nobles wanted to be buried in a fancy coffin, he had been putting up a good price for a few gold pounds, keeping his family happy."
Hearing this, Neirin wanted to laugh. There were many commoners who did not like the nobles, and the same for those who sat in the name of power. She doesn't need to judge their perspectives.
"Are you close with the owner?"
"Yes. I come here from time to time to ask for information and to investigate. No, I mean, the right term would be to rob something if they still have some few valuables in them."
Neirin eyed him. She did not interrupt his words.
Adlen continued; for a moment, he seemed to be flustered. "I already went here a couple of times after the victims got reported. The people in the courts were also curious about them."
Neirin nodded. Reaching the door of the place.
Adlen knocked aggressively. "MARIC! OPEN THE DOOR! IT'S ME, DENNIS!"
Dennis was probably his fake name, Neirin countered.
"MARIC! MARIC! MARIC THE BUTCHER!" After a few seconds of Adlen shouting the owner's name, the door was opened aggressively. If it weren't connected to the door frame, the door would have been flying the moment it was opened.
"Son of a bitch! It's almost close to midnight! Who are you trying to rob now, you thief bastard!" In an instant, a bulky man with a beard a few inches taller than Adlen appeared. He looked rugged, as though he hadn't had a bath for a week, and his teeth were all yellow.
Neirin stepped back a little. She was startled, yes, but at the same time, she was slightly disgusted.
"I have someone with me, be nice, you bastard! Stop shouting. My ears are ringing!"
"You should have thought about that before pounding the hell out of my shop and house!" The man glanced at Neirin. Eyeing her from her head down to her toes. He looked so disinterested. Then suddenly, His eyes sparkled with interest.
"What is the reason you are here with someone? Are you eloping? In a morgue? Ah! Are you perhaps wanting to fake your death?"
"Son of a bitch!" Adlen cursed. "She's from the newspaper wanting to cover the recent news about the death of the latest victim. She came here to investigate the body. I came here to help as she'll be offering me a few pounds!"
"Few pounds?" The man named Maric was now interested again. "Would I be getting those few pounds too?"
"Yes," Neirin interrupted. She doesn't have any issues with money. She would even be thankful if everything could be solved with money.
"Greedy bastard!"
"Heh! Money is important now that life is getting more and more dangerous! It's best that you have money to run away when the time comes!"
"Before you narrate all your entire life, why not let us come in?" Adlen countered. He looked somewhat irritated that he had to listen to Maric's narration of his life. He told Neirin that he often visits the morgue to rob dead people's belongings. Does Maric narrate his life that often?
"Oh? Get in! Get in!" Maric's mood seemed to change now that money was involved.
Adlen was the first one to enter, following Neirin. In an instant, Neirin smelled a pungent irritating odor that seemed to seep through all of her senses. She immediately raised her hand to cover her mouth and nose. She swallowed several times, feeling like she was throwing up.
"Lessa?" Adlen halted his steps as he noticed how Neirin's body was now even sweating.
"I'm, ugh-"
Neirin wanted to answer. However, no matter her feelings, she needed to see the corpse in person.
"Tsk! Amateurs!" Maric countered. His eyes clearly show his disgust. "This is why I do not like people born with a good spoon in their mouths. They do not know the hardship of those people below them, and they're too disrespectful! So what if we tried to make a living out of corpses! It pays really well, and I do not have to beg on the streets, and this is what I get? People should be thanking me that I am burying their relatives' bodies respectfully."
"Be careful of your mouth Maric!" Adlen warned. His voice was low. "You are the one being disrespectful to your client right now."
"I am fine," Neirin insisted after stabilizing herself. She looked ahead, trying her best to keep her balance. "Lead the way."
"if it's hard for you, then you can just ask Dennis here, Woman-"
"Maric!"
"Tsk! Why are you so angry? Is she really not your lover? The money should be worth this annoyance!"
Maric countered, leading the way.
"I have received few corpses in the past months, and some weren't able to claim the bodies of their relatives. I supposed that I needed to bury or cremate them. Still, the land costs money nowadays, and burning a corpse would also cost me a lot of money than burying one. In the end, I just let them be there until I can think of a way for which I won't need to use money."
As they walked into a dark, eerie hallway, at the end of it was a black wooden door. Right there and then, the smell was getting stronger and stronger, but she held on without even uttering a word. Neirin let Maric explain the situation of the morgue with those unclaimed bodies he was keeping.
The sooner she sees the corpse, the sooner she'll get done with this.
"Here!" Maric opened the door with a key and twisted the door knob.
"Ugh!" Neirin wanted to throw up but held herself up. Inside were different sizes of tables for a corpse to use. Some of them were covered in cloth, some weren't. Neirin felt a little horrified seeing them naked. Still, she could not utter any excuses as this was a morgue, and this was only natural.
"Pardon those corpses!" Maric laughed, pointing at those corpses without any cloth. "I'm in a situation where I can't find any money to buy cloth. The imperial knights who take care of these bodies just left them here without any thoughts."
Adlen clicked his tongue. "Just lead the way. The latest victim's name was Arthur Liden. Did his family come?"
"Yes! They offered me money to arrange their son's funeral but what they wanted was an intact body of his! How would I do that when the moment the corpse even got here, it was already cut into pieces like a slice of meat from the butcher! Do they want me to sew his body? I would need a good needle and thread for that. Oh! Here we are!"
Maric pointed at the table which was covered in white cloth. There were blood stains on the cloth. However, its figure does not resemble a corpse; instead, it is just like Maric's description, it is like a pile of pieces of meat.
Neirin tried her best to stay calm. Adlen glanced at him. He looked apprehensive but did not say any more words as he had seen the determination sparkle in Neirin's eyes.
"Why is this atmosphere heavy?" Maric noticed. "This is just a corpse! I see this every day."
"For you, that is," Adlen clicked his tongue. "Just open it so that we can get over this."
"Hehe! As you say!"
In an instant, Neirin had even horrified her, but she gripped the hem of her clothes just to calm herself down. But indeed, she wanted to go home.
Arthur Liden's body was chopped from his head down to his toes. His fingers and toes were so separated that Neirin couldn't stomach what she was seeing right now! She wanted to vomit, but knowing that she hadn't eaten anything since earlier, the only thing she could vomit now was water and tea.
"Lessa?" Adlen asked. Two pairs of eyes were looking at her, but she did not utter any words.
Trying to hold her breath, she looked at his head of Arthur. He looks pretty handsome, but he was already chopped.
Neirin looked at his head. His eyes were even opened, and he had this horrified expression. He must have seen something terrifying before he died. The corner of his eyes was dark violet. Was he punched by someone? Or was he tortured?
Was the reason why he was chopped off? To prevent any investigation from going any further?
There were many questions right now.
Neirin walked until she was on the other side of the table where the victim's head was. She stared at the top of his head where his hair was. On his head's crown, Neirin leaned, overseeing a line forming there.
There was a straight line of threads in his head. Like it was sewed by something. Did they open his head? Why? For his brain? What would be the reason?
Not satisfied with her thoughts, Neirin stared at the victim's head for more than a few minutes before looking at his chopped body.
"Are you satisfied?" Maric asked after Neirin gave permission to cover the body.
"Yes." Neirin looked around. "Are there more bodies from the serial murders here?"
"Maric shook his head. "I've buried them already as their families wanted their family's honor to be maintained. Their funerals were all held in secret."
"Okay. Thank you for your cooperation." Neirin bends down to whisper at Adlen.
"Pay him a good amount of money."
"Yes."
As Adlen and Maric converse, Neirin excused herself and already walked out of the morgue. She still can get used to the scene and smell in that place.
Breathing the fresh air, finally, Neirin can think much more clearly than earlier. She looked up at the dark sky.
The future she knew was nothing now. Even with these murders, with just her initial step, everything might crumble unexpectedly without much of her expectation. She should not trust what she knows, for even time is something that can be bent.
What she knew about the future was very little anyways.
Then what should she do now?
Pursue a different path?
Create a better future for those she cares even if it means someone's ruined?
Or perhaps, ruin the future she knew and build a new one?
"Lessa?" Adlen interrupted her thoughts once again. She looked at him.
"You're done?"
Adlen nodded.
Neirin pursed her lips. The night is still long
"Then let's visit Roxanna."
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