21 Harlot!
"Leave the room at once and send the next maid." The maid bowed and left the room. She was not the first one but probably third last. He had called all the left servants one by one and asked about the lord and the lady.
Words might be different and methods might be different but they all said the same thing. That the lord was kind to the lady but he was often absent from the estate.
They had no idea what he did in his free time and the lady, she did not have a character. She enjoyed the company of different men in her room and had probably slept with a dozen of men. They all were subtle but their loathing for her was so common that it had left him dumbfounded.
He was her first, there was no doubt in it. But in these two long years, everything has changed. She was like a new woman to him. And he did not know it.. But why would all her staff lie? He had threatened them already. If they lie and malign the image of their mistress, he is going to charge them. They would suffer a worse fate than death. It has scared a few and they have changed their statement.
But it was clear that day that they were lying for fear of their life. They all… he shook his head and when the door knocked again, his blood was boiling enough to kill the next person telling him that Elara was a whore.
The word should have comforted him. That the woman who had left him for wealth had been criticized by the world. But all he felt was the strange burning in his chest as if he would only find peace after killing every single one of them.
"My lord, you have called for me." The stable boy stood proud and erect in front of him. He did not bow and bend like other staff of the palace. Perhaps his youth was to blame, he had not seen many attacking their palace or know the meaning of his presence.
"Yes, as you know we have been investigating your lord. Do you have anything you could help us with?" he asked as he took the seat back. He had repeated the same words again and again for four hours as he had threatened others.
When the man did not speak, Lenhart continued,
"As you know, he is accused of treason. If he is proven guilty, all of his estate would be confiscated and all the staff working here would die with him. They would be burnt alive to support a traitor. It was rare that merch was shown by beheading them." His words did not hold any emotion. But that scared the staff more. He would not enjoy their death or resent them.
He did not care whether they were alive or dead.
"But if any of you could be our witness or submit proofs then his life would be spared. I hope you understand that your words would decide your future and your family's too." he waited patiently. Patience had always been rewarded by emotions that fear left.
"I have only been a stable boy all my life. I have never been to the main palace enough to know much about the lord." same words! Now he would speak about the lady. Ha! "But I have seen a lot of horses visiting him. Often they come in the dead of the night, my lord." Lenhart stood up at once and in three quick steps, he was standing in front of the stable boy.
The boy looked serious but not at all afraid as if it was not his fear that made him speak.
"Men that had come to meet the lord? Or the lady?" he asked with the tilt of his head that earned a down from the young boy.
"I am not sure about it. But why would so many men come to meet the lady in the dead of the night?" he asked back, bewildered, "they have boxes and parcels with them often. And they leave the palace before the sky fills with first light.
If you want, I can name a few for you." he offered with a smile only for Lenhart to narrow his eyes coldly.
"They leave a name for you? For all the discretion they follow. It feels hard to believe that they were kind to a stable boy!" the boy shook his head. His grin and flush showed that he was proud of this knowledge.
"They never noticed me. I played dead whenever they visited because my father warned me against their presence.
They rarely call each other by their names. Most of the time, they call each other by a number like one, two. But I rarely remembered the names that slipped from their lips. Do you want them or not?" he challenged Lenhart as if the man was wasting his time.
"I do. But I am sure ou wouldn ot offer them freely. Do you?" he asked with a chuckle and the young boy grinned deeply and nodded.
"I only want to make sure that my father will be retired from the job before you confiscate every single person here." The words left Lenhart silent. It had been a decade since he had met someone like this man.
"And you know what it means, right? Are you sure you do not want to exchange your life first?" he asked when the boy nodded without a hint of doubt. The boy shook his head again.
"My father had worked hard to keep me alive and safe. It is only right that I return the favor when the time comes. But, if you are willing to offer more than I would ask for the safety of the lady too. Let her run away when the time comes. She had been nothing but kind to everyone in the estate. I am sure she is not part of the deal the lord is making. She.. is a kind woman my lord."
