Chapitre 35: Overwhelmed
Austria, January 5th 1792
5:31 PM
Herman and Lukas were sitting on a bench in the garden of the mansion. The blonde boy had huge dark circles under his eyes.
Herman looked at Lukas. "You look awful, Lukas. What happened to you?" he asked.
Lukas looked up at Herman. "I went to see where the screams were coming from," he said. "I thought you already knew it."
Herman raised his brow. "What?! I thought you would wait for a while to do that! What did you see?!" he asked.
Lukas sighed and told everything to Herman.
When Lukas finished speaking, Herman was truly dumbfounded. "W-What?! Are you crazy, Lukas?!"
Herman stood up and raised Lukas by his coat. "Are you aware of what you are doing? You fool!" he said, truly enraged.
Lukas was already expecting that kind of reaction coming from Herman. He had to admit, what he did was not good.
Lukas sighed. "I know what I did was something... arguable," he said.
""Arguable"?!" Herman gritted his teeth and dropped Lukas onto the ground.
"You are destroying yourself, Lukas! How long do you plan to be doing this for?!" Herman asked.
Lukas sighed. "I don't know, but I hope it doesn't take longer than 8 months," he said.
Herman widened his eyes. "You are mocking me, right?! Lukas, you'll keep torturing people against your own will for that long?!" he asked.
Lukas stood up and brushed off his clothes. "It's necessary, Herman," he said.
Herman looked taken aback by that statement and clenched his fists. ""It's necessary"? What are your plans? Tell me!"
"I can-"
"Tell me!"
Lukas sighed. "Well, the first time I went there was just to assess the situation and think about what to do," he started.
Herman nodded his head in understanding. "Do you already know what to do?" he asked.
Lukas nodded his head. "Yes, I do. I don't have any other option, I am gonna... kill Uncle Karl," he said.
If Herman was dumbfounded before, now he was totally astounded. "W-W-What?!" he asked.
Lukas sighed. "Do you have any other option?" he asked. "We are nobles, we are protected. Besides, Uncle Karl is doing that with slaves that he bought himself, it is not considered a crime," the blonde boy said.
Herman sighed. "Why do you have to get involved in this?" he asked.
"Someone has to do it," Lukas answered.
Herman sighed once again as he shook his head. He knew it would be useless to keep insisting. "So, why will you take so long to kill him?" he asked.
"A war will start," Lukas answered.
Herman raised his brow. "Huh?"
"The relationship between France and the neighboring monarchies are completely deteriorated, Herman," Lukas started. "And since the French nobles emigrating to other nations are very agitated, mainly in the Austrian Netherlands and in the minor Germanic states, it's very likely that France will declare war on some country that is related with those nations," he said.
Herman widened his eyes. "Austria..." he mumbled.
Lukas nodded his head. "Yes, that's the most likely possibility," he said.
"But what does that have to do with your uncle, Lukas?" Herman asked.
"It's easier to justify a noble's death in times of war," Lukas answered. "I believe they wouldn't give a lot of thought about it, they'd just accept his death," he concluded.
"You could just make it seem like a suicide," Herman suggested.
Lukas shrugged his shoulders. "It's still too risky. Besides, it would be even more suspicious after my mother's suicide," he said.
Herman crossed his arms and nodded his head in consideration. "Yes, that's fair," he said. 'I'm scared with this boy's reasoning,' the bulky man thought.
Herman sighed. "What if the war doesn't happen after 8 months?" he asked.
"I'll have to do it without the excuse of war," Lukas replied.
"But... are you willing to go through all that? Every single day for that long?" Herman asked.
"I don't have any other option. But I told something to Uncle Karl that will help me to endure that a bit more," Lukas said.
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Austria, January 5th 1792
2:19 AM
Karl was sitting on a chair in the torture room and sipping on some wine. He had an absolutely crazy smile. "Great job today, Lukas!" he said.
Lukas nodded his head. "Thank you," he said. "I really would like to come here every night."
Karl grinned. "What's stopping you?" he asked.
Lukas scratched the back of his neck. "Well, I have to sleep a lot, so I can't just come here all the time in the middle of the night," he said. "Besides, I'm afraid someone would notice me, so I guess it would be better if I only came here once a week," he concluded.
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Austria, January 5th 1792
5:43 PM
Herman nodded his head in understanding. "Well you have done well to tell him that, but it's still once a week, don't you think that's a bit too much?" he asked.
"I also need to gain Uncle Karl's confidence, Herman," Lukas answered. "I am thinking about poisoning him, but I can't just do it in a few meetings. I know Uncle Karl is cautious."
"Makes sense," Herman said as he nodded his head. "Where will you get the poison, though?" he asked.
Lukas shrugged his shoulders. "The servants keep the poison that they use to kill mice in the same storage they keep the keychain of the first floor. I'll just put a bit of poison in his wine while he's not looking, it's simple... well, it's not that simple, but you know what I mean," he said.
Herman nodded his head. "Sounds like a plan," he said. "If you go there every week for 8 entire months, you will be going..." the bulky man started counting on his fingers. "1, 2, 3, 4..."
"32," Lukas immediately answered.
Herman nodded his head. "Oh, yeah, that's right... wait! That's a lot, you know," he said.
"It's just in the worst case scenario," Lukas said. "I'll kill him only two weeks after the war starts. It's not a plan that demands much prepare, you only need to wait," he concluded.
"Lukas... don't you feel a bit overwhelmed?"
Herman asked. "You have both the physical and the fighting training that you have everyday and you still need to go to that hell every week at night," he said.
Lukas sighed. "It's not that bad, Herman. I have a lot of energy," he said.
Herman rolled his eyes. 'It's useless. He'll never admit that he's struggling,' he thought.
Lukas smiled. "Okay, now I'm going back home if you don't have anything else to tell me," he said.
Herman nodded his head. "Fine, you may go," he said.
Lukas nodded his head and went back to the mansion. When he arrived to his room, he laid on the bed.
""Overwhelmed"?" Lukas mumbled to himself. He sighed. "Perhaps I really should go and play with someone my age every once in a while..."
-----
"Didn't I tell you that you could call me if you needed anything?!"
-----
Lukas sighed and stood up from his bed. He went to look out of the window of his room. 'Perhaps I should call Violett, she must be feeling lonely too,' he thought.
Lukas then abruptly shook his head. 'What am I thinking?! How much of a hypocrite can I be? I'll replace her by another girl!' he thought.
Lukas sighed once again. 'Perhaps I can play with the servants' children here in the mansion. I get along with them,' he thought.
'That's a good idea, but I'm not doing that today. I'm exhausted,' then he laid on the bed once again.
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Austria, January 6th 1792
3:02 PM
Lukas was watching the servants' children playing in the backyard. Since that gave direct passage to the place where the servants lived, that was the unofficial place for servants' children to spend time playing.
The servants' children were laughing out loud as they talked. Lukas was not understanding what they were doing, so he just decided to approach them.
The servants' children just looked curiously at Lukas. They never thought he would ask to play with them.
"Huh... hello, can I play with you?" Lukas asked.
The servants' children looked puzzled. "You... wanna play with us, young master?" a boy asked.
Lukas nodded his head. "Yep," he answered.
"Why?" a girl asked.
'What kind of question is that?!' Lukas wondered. "Because I'm bored. What you're doing looks fun," he answered.
After an awkward silence perpetuated for a while, all the servants' children looked pretty excited.
"Young master, you are so cool! You look amazing when you are training with your sword!" a boy said.
Lukas raised his brow. 'What? I look ridiculous when I train swordsmanship! I have improved a bit recently, but I still look ridiculous,' he thought.
"Thank you," Lukas answered with a smile. "What are you playing?" he asked.
"We are making grimaces," a girl said. "The one who makes the funniest grimace wins," she explained.
Lukas showed a confused expression. 'Very creative of you,' he ironically thought. "Sounds like fun," the blonde boy said with a smile.
A boy nodded his head with excitement. "Yes, yes! Look at this one!" then the boy showed a grimace.
The grimace made everyone but Lukas laugh out loud. The blonde boy, on the other hand, was showing a weirded out expression. 'Huh... I don't even know what to say about this,' he thought.
After a while, every child looked at Lukas, waiting for him to laugh. Lukas naturally felt obliged to laugh, so he laughed, which was obviously forced.
"Hey! Look at this one!" a girl said and then showed another grimace, which made the other children laugh even more.
At first, Lukas looked with an aloof face at her grimace, but his cheeks soon started to get red as he puffed them in order to force himself not to laugh.
However, not long after, Lukas started to laugh out loud. 'Oh my God... this is so ridiculous that gets funny!' he thought.
Soon, everyone stopped laughing and then turned to Lukas. "Now it's your turn, young master! Make a grimace! A veeeeery funny and weird one!" a boy said.
Lukas raised his brow. 'Huh... how should I do it? Perhaps make a grimace similar to the one I show when Herman kicks my ass? Yes, that's a pretty fun on-' a girl interrupted Lukas's thoughts.
"Young master, you are thinking too much! relax and..." the girl showed another grimace, making everyone, including Lukas, laugh. "...let loose!"
After laughing for a while, Lukas showed a smile. 'Just relax and...' he showed a grimace '...let loose!' he thought
Everyone started laughing at Lukas's grimace. 'It was easier than I thought... actually, I don't think that making normal, three-year-old children laugh is properly a challenge,' he thought.
Soon, a female servant approached the children with an angry expression. "What are you doing with young master here?! Don't you see that he can't play with you?!" she asked as she crouched down and put her hands on Lukas's shoulders.
Lukas noticed that the children were showing a guilty expression, which made him raise his brow in confusion. 'Why are they like that? They can't just tell her that I'm here because I wanted to?' the blonde boy wondered.
Lukas then turned his head to the servant and pointed to the children in front of him. "They have nothing to do with this. I asked to play with them and they were very kind to accept," he explained.
The servant looked taken aback. "Huh... young master, you... asked to play with them?" she asked.
Lukas just nodded his head.
The servant then stood up and cleared her throat. "I'm sorry for this then," she said.
Lukas showed a smile. "I'm not the one you should apologize to," he said and then pointed at the children in front of him.
The servant widened her eyes. "I'm truly sorry, I shouldn't have said anything without knowing the whole story," she said.
The kids looked a bit hesitant, but then they spoke at the same time. "It's okay," they all said with a smile.
The servant just nodded her head and then walked away.
"Thank you for this, young master," a boy said with a smile.
Lukas shrugged his shoulders. "That's fine. You could have also told them the truth," he said.
"Huh... it's true," the boy said after giving it some thought.
Soon, Lukas looked at a clock nearby. "It's almost time for my training, I gotta go," he said as he smiled and waved his hand.
Every child bid their farewell to Lukas as he walked away.
Cadeaux
-- Cadeau
reçu État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone