EDITED.
"I'll be their reckoning, and they'll beg for mercy." ~Araneae Ruber
~
"AH! I SEE," The man uttered audibly.
As I thought, once money is involved, everyone turns into a fool.
"Yes, that is right!! Tell me the amount of Gold crowns you want, and I will give it to you".
He placed "But you aren't the head and even though you will be the duke when you marry Lady Luella, it does not necessarily mean you would have the full right or authority to take funds from the treasury of the dukedom"
Taking short and confident strides towards the bed, the cloaked man leaned forward with his hoodie still covering his eyes. "After all, you are a nobleman who is getting married into the family of your fiancée."
This factual statement only fueled Chandler's anger as he swung at him.
But it was effortlessly dodged by the hooded man. "Atta. No, No, No, don't do that. You will only hurt yourself," He warned as he grabbed the fist that swung at him and threw his own punch back at him.
Chandler fell shamelessly to his sides. Since his body was previously shielding Louisa's naked ones, now she was completely exposed before the stranger's eyes.
But she was the very least concerned about his gaze.
Rather, she wanted his gaze on her. A tall, muscular man who had his eyes on her sister Luella?
Just who in God's name was this man.
Oh! How badly she wanted to pull his mask off his face and see his face. Regardless of if he was ugly or even terribly scarred, she was going to make him hers.
Getting attention from a random man was something Louisa didn't like for Luella.
She squeezed the bedsheets as she glared at the man. He wasn't even looking her way. Here she was, kneeling on the bed unclothed, right in her birth suit. But yet the stranger was glaring at Chandler, who was groaning in pain.
"But in retrospect, if I go report this to Luella, the actual head and heir of Van-Rensselaer dukedom, then I am sure her grace would bless me with abundant crowns just because I let her know beforehand about your treachery. Don't you think so?" He asked, leaning close to his face.
Though his mouth was covered up with the face mask, Chandler could feel him sneering at him.
Chandler knew he was right. He was convinced that Luella wanted to get rid of him and was just wanting for the simplest reason to annul the marriage.
If he had a way, he would gladly marry his love Louisa, but because the Havemeyer's head had shifted to his uncle, it was impossible to take the head position back from him.
The masked man pulled on Chandler's hair as he lifted him to his chest level.
'I should kill him, should I' The man thought to him as he glared down at him through his hood.
'If I do… I could marry Luella in his place. I wouldn't delay… If I kill him right now, I would send a marriage proposal to the Van-Rensselaer dukedom early tomorrow morning. Once I kill him… Luella would finally be mine like she was supposed to be'.
He bit his lips, as he analyzed his chances. 'But why am I hesitating? Killing him would bring Luella to my side. It would make her my wife… So why am I hesitating?'
'Only pushing my claws into his chest and ripping his heart is enough to kill him or, better yet, sinking my teeth deep into his neck is enough for him to die… But why? Why am I hesitating?'
"I am sure Luella would be very heartbroken if she found out that her fiancée betrayed her. Do you not wish for her happiness?" Louisa suddenly spoke up, pulling his attention away from his murderous thoughts and to hers.
Louisa's neatly pedicured hands rested on the arm that gripped Chandler's hair. He was so deep in thought that he had completely forgotten about how he held onto Chandler.
His rage and hate consumed him.
His hooded eyes trailed to Louisa's hands that were on him. "I will tell you something… Louisa… I treat all gender equal… Man or Female. So I will say this only once. GET YOUR DISGUSTING HANDS OFF ME BEFORE I REALLY DO SOMETHING THAT WOULD HURT LADY LUELLA".
As he spoke, his voice rose at increasing tempo. This sent a shiver down Louisa and Chandler's bones.
But Chandler recovered first as he forcefully pushed the cloaked man away from him as he moved to protect his love.
The man has not merely phased the slightest. He kept his raging eyes on Louisa. Struck with fear, all Louisa could do was stare at the angry man before her.
"The only thing I think about is Luella, my reason for coming here is Luella, My reason for confronting you cheaters is Luella and I tell you… the reason for every of my living actions, day in and day out is Luella… therefore her happiness is all I live for," He confessed without shame.
He basically just confessed that his entire reason for existing was just for Luella.
'What sort of man was this? What is the meaning of this'.
Even with the fear that stifled her bones, Louisa was still brimming with anger at the man's words.
'What? He lives for Luella alone? Just who was he!!! I have never seen Luella around him or him around Luella.'
Luella was straight as a line, much to Louisa's disgust. Her days are usually pre-planned or pre-arranged the day prior. Which means anything that suddenly occurs and causes disruption was not needed. She would typically level such occurrence based on its importance and if she deems it less important, she puts it to the next day.
She was very diligent, and a very organized person. This was very easy for Louisa and her mother Nanette to know when or where Luella was at a particular time of the day.
They knew the type of people Luella roamed with, which were basically the heads and heir of much noble family and successful merchant.
This lowlife stranger in front of them was someone Luella would downgrade and not even bother giving a time of her day.
So who was he?
Was he some weird, faithful follower of Luella?
"But that differs from you, her precious twin sister." He said, stretching his arms forward to grab her, but Chandler angrily slapped his hands away from her.
"Don't you dare touch her," He glared hard at him.
This man was testing Chandler's frazzled patience. But the stranger's own patience had already reached his limit.
With a hard, clenched fist, he slammed it hard against the side of Chandler's head.
"And don't you dare interrupt me when I am talking," He replied sharply. His sudden attack took them both by surprise, as they weren't expecting him to actually strike them.
Chandler laid face flat on the bed as he felt he would soon have a concoction because of the force of impact.
"Ah! I see… I should kill you both now and be done with this treachery,"
"Kill?" Louisa muttered as she bit her nails in fear. That was a word a man had never used on her. There was no man who wouldn't want to shower her with love and affection… but here was this man wanting to Ki-ki-kill her!!
It was unfathomable.
"Yes! Kill you. I will kill you both, right here, right now."
"Don't you think you would get away with it?!! My sister will surely find you," Louisa shouted at him.
The man simply shrugged his shoulders as he placed one of his knees on the bed.
"There have being quite a number of people who have seen me at this banquet. So the story would be spun like this… A cloaked figure attended the banquet with a sinister motive. Was it unfortunate that the lady Louisa and Count Chandler were killed, or was it part of his original scheme? That will be the question that would float their means but never have an answer. Why?"
"Be-because your face was-s never seen," Chandler answered, choking on his words as he tried standing upright.
"Ding! Ding!! Ding!!! I guess you can be smart when you put in some effort".
Chandler bit his bottom lips as blood trailed down his temple.
"Do not dare to trifle with me!! I am from a prominent noble family. My family, my doting sister, will stop at nothing till you are found and executed. Just you try it!!"
"Ah… That is what I would want to find out".
"Want to find out?"
"Find out what?!!" Chandler yelled, already fed up with the man's continuous antics. He was going to survive this and when he does, he would use everything within his power to find out who he was.
"Who Luella would pick… Would she pick her traitors twin sister and fiancée, or me?" He asked as he swiftly yanked Louisa by the neck and pulled her from the bed where she dangled in the air.
He applied pressure to her hair as he watched her struggle.
Not only that, but he was going to kill her.
"I've had enough of your behavior!"