The night was not getting anymore younger. The cold air lulls everyone to sleep yet seems like not everyone is having a good night's sleep.
"Is everyone prepared?" The Baroness asked as they packed their suitcases. Their debt kept on rising like a never-ending curse. If it's not because of that naive brat then they would've ended up being thrown in jail.
"Yes, dear... I'm ready." The Baron called, bringing his two suitcases in his hand. These pesky debt collectors kept on telling them to pay knowing they don't even hold a cent in their name.
"I'm so proud of you honey for doing this to us. We can finally escape from this hell!" The Baron praised his wife, smiling at him as if she was the pride of his life. The Baroness rolled her eyes, if it was not for him being a worthless excuse of a husband then they wouldn't have experienced this.
His gambling addiction has been passed down to their first son, who resulted in this chaos and is currently in jail! That man destroyed the family therefore why should they care if he's rotting in that horrible place?
"Just shut up. Where's Lowell?" She asked as they quietly led themselves toward the gate of their humble estate. They adorned themselves with dark-coloured clothes, and a hat to hide their faces and put on a lot of stuff so that they wouldn't be able to get noticed.
"I'm here, Mom," Lowell answered, huffing as he felt choked because of the layers of clothes that he had to put in him just so people or the roaming knights wouldn't be able to sustain them and restrict them.
"Very good. Let's leave now immediately, before anyone would notice that we're already gone." Hildegard commanded, leading them towards the exit to finally run away from this shitty hole.
Freedom is what they all wanted, away from the debts and the nobles who kept on pressuring them. She had enough of this life, she's already on the verge of giving up. If not for that woman who naively trusted her, this wouldn't be possible.
A malicious smirk spread across her lips as they walked silently to where the carriage was waiting for them. She had already planned for this to happen for days now. All she has to do is to pay for the chauffeur who will take them to the port.
"It's quiet." The Baron whispered as they continued to walk through a dark alleyway. Just passing this alley, they will be able to escape from the curse and restart a life with new different identities.
"Of course dumbass, it's nighttime. Everyone is sleeping." The Baroness hushed him, glaring at him as they continued to walk. The Baron just grunted, rolled his eyes and continued to follow his wife suddenly, unable to hide his disdain for her.
"Mother, are you sure that this is the right way for us to escape?" Lowell couldn't help but ask. He's been acting weird since earlier. Ever since he came home with his shoulders shrinking down, he's been doubting their plan.
"Why? Do you want to stay here? You are free to stay." Hildegard said, turning her head towards Lowell's direction, staring at her coldly. And what? She'll just waste her efforts?
"You can stay if you want. Just don't think that you'll be able to save yourself from the debts that your father and your brother created. Because if I were you, I wouldn't do anything stupid that would trap me for a lifetime." She added, shooting him a death glare before she continued to walk as if nothing happened.
Nothing is right or wrong here. What matters the most is for her to escape this hell that everyone created. She just wanted to become a noble, thus she befriended that woman.
But even the Duchess wasn't able to help her in becoming a noble. So what she did is just to climb at someone else's husband, but it was a damn trap that made her live this kind of life.
Lowell just followed silently with his father, gritting his teeth while staring at the woman leading the way for them, holding the money that she took from a Ducal household. She claimed she was her nanny way back then.
"You know what... I had enough." The Baron suddenly exclaimed as he ran his way towards Hildegard, pushed her off the ground and grabbed the bag filled with the money she took from Felicia.
The Baron was blinded by greed. This money will grant him the power to spend it on whatever he wants. "Give it back!" Hildegard yelled as she tried to stand up and grab the bag, glaring at her husband for suddenly doing that to her.
But what the Baron did was something else. He pushed her back again on the ground, beating her severely while Hildegard tried to ask for help towards Lowell who just stood in the corner, scared and didn't know what to do.
"You don't have any idea how much I wanted to do this to you! You're so fucking bossy and you annoy me so much!" The Baron yelled, stomping against the poor woman on the ground, beaten and groaning in pain.
Each hit felt like being pressed against her pride and ego, belittled and mocked by those people who showcased their wealth to her. Each beating reminds her of how hard she had to achieve becoming a noble.
Only to experience this suffering.
"Lowell! Help!" Hildegard cried as she tried to block and crawl out from her husband's wrath. He suddenly lashes at her when he isn't like this when they are secret lovers.
Seeing how his mom called out for help, crying and trembling in fear, Lowell has to step out and stop his father from calling Hildegard. Lowell ran into his father, he tried to wrestle with him.
"Stop Father! You need to stop!" He yelled as he continued to stop the big fat man from stomping on his poor mom who only wanted the best for them. "Stop Father!—"
"Lowell! Watch out!"
With the strong force of a whip by his father's hand, Lowell flew across the alley, his body on the ground while he hit his head on a sharp rock, creating a bloody mess on the ground.
"LOWELL!" Hildegard yelled after seeing how her son died in front of her. She trembled at the sight, her eyes filled with tears as she couldn't utter a single word after shouting her son's name.
Meanwhile, the Baron just stands there, his heart beating loudly while he becomes pale as the moon above. It was too late to realize what he did to his son, killing him with one swift move.
Both were gasping, panting hard as they started at Lowell's dead body, bathing in his blood while staring lifelessly at them. Her son is gone, and Lowell is gone.
"LOWELL!" She shouted once again, crawling towards her son's dead body while the Baron felt very frantic and was panicking severely. Seeing that people are starting to get awake, he immediately runs away towards the end of the alleyway, with the money he snatched away from Hildegard.
The street lamps started to turn on one by one, and so did the houses nearby, alarmed by the commotion happening outside. Noises suddenly emerged, dogs barking while the knights started to scatter around.
However, Hildegard just sat there beside Lowell, hugging her son's dead body while staring into the void. All of her emotions had vanished into thin air, just rocking Lowell's body back and forth.
Why must she suffer when all she wanted was peace and to become a noble person? Why must she suffer when she did nothing wrong to offend the Goddess? Why must she suffer from all the things she went through just to find her happiness?
Knights started to gather at her place, helping her get back up while trying to pull Lowell's body out of her embrace. As someone who's already an elder, she doesn't have any strength to fight back.
She just stood there and watched, lifeless yet still alive.
—
"The Baron and the Baroness are currently under arrest and are still being interrogated," Noctua announced, early in the morning as soon as he came back from the commotion that happened.
It was just 7 in the morning and Noctua just spilled some beans. "The Baron's second son has died also. His cause of death was a brain injury sustained from the Baron's attack on him." He even added, making Rachelle open her eyes in shock.
"What the hell?" Rachelle couldn't help but cuss after hearing what Noctua revealed. She didn't expect that this would be the outcome of the play that she had on her mind. She thought that it would just be a normal arrest, nothing more.
But to think that something dramatic and disturbing happened, has she gone too far with this act of revenge? But that's impossible because all she planned was for the couple to experience jail time.
Besides, it's not like she's the God to judge them harshly.
"The Baron pushed him hard after he tried to help the Baroness from crawling out from the Baron's torture. Apparently, they were arguing about the money and it ended up causing the life of their second child." Noctua added, flapping his wings.
"Oh dear. I wish for normal karma to happen but this time, it was much more than karma herself. Rather it's a tenfold divine striking. To think that this would happen, it's out of my control." Rachelle commented, shaking her head, and sighing.
"Excessive greed is a sin after all."