36 The Owl

Austria, April 20th 1792

4:28 PM

A man with blonde beard was sitting on a chair in a luxurious room. He was sipping on some wine. Suddenly, a knock could be heard on his door.

"Come in," the man said.

Soon, a man entered the room. "Mr. Von Neumann, France declared war on Austria, just like you had imagined," he said.

The man with blonde beard showed a smirk. "Well, I'd prefer that this didn't happen, but it can't be helped. Please, send some members of the Von Neumann house to the army. We have to recover our honor," he ordered.

"Yes, sir!" the man said as he bowed and left the room.

-----

Austria, April 20th 1792

5:32 PM

Herman and Lukas were sitting on a bench in the garden of the mansion. Lukas looked very tired and somehow his expression looked different.

Herman turned to Lukas. "I have good news, Lukas," he said.

Lukas looked at Herman. "What do you mean?" he asked.

Herman smiled. "You will be free soon enough. France declared war on Austria," he said.

Lukas widened his eyes. "W-What?! How do you know that?" he asked.

Herman confidently crossed his arms. "I'm an ex-soldier, Lukas! I have good connections," he explained.

Lukas smiled slightly. "I see, that's good," he said.

Herman chuckled. "It's the first time in a while I see you smiling," he said. "Do you have everything ready for the special day?" the bulky man asked.

Lukas nodded his head. "Yes, I do," he said. "I usually give Uncle Karl a cup of wine every now and then while he's doing his "service", so he'll not suspect it if I give him a poisoned one," the blonde boy explained.

Herman nodded his head. "That's good," he said.

After a short break, Herman put his hands on Lukas's shoulders. "I only have one request: Don't you ever do this again! Don't take killing so lightly, much less torture. You only kill to defend yourself, understood?" he asked.

Lukas nodded his head with a smile. "Yes, understood," he answered.

Herman patted Lukas's head. "When is your next meeting with Karl?" he asked.

"Only in six days," Lukas answered.

Herman nodded his head in understanding. "Good, then rest as much as you can till there. Of course, you'll have to come to the training sessions as usual, otherwise it would turn out suspicious," he said.

Lukas nodded his head. "Yes, I know," he replied.

Herman sighed and after a short break, he asked: "Are you not afraid of this war, Lukas? I know it will release you, but... you are an important noble, so you'll be in danger," he said.

"I'll be attentive," Lukas said.

Herman sighed. "What kind of answer is that?" he asked. "Anyway, there's another thing that I'd like to talk to you about," the bulky man said.

Lukas raised his brow. "What is it?"

Herman looked down. "Your aura..." he sighed. "It changed at some point when you were starting to meet with Karl," the bulky man said.

Lukas frowned. "What do you mean?" he asked.

Herman shook his head. "It's hard to explain, but you sure can feel the aura coming from people, you grew up in a... difficult household, so you had to develop that ability," he said.

Lukas crossed his arms. "You mean their intentions? Like some kind of intuition?" he asked.

Herman nodded his head. "Yes, everyone has that, but ones more than others. Usually, the soldiers who don't develop that aura in the training or even during war don't last long, that's necessary for survival," he said.

Lukas nodded his head. "Yes, I have to admit that I'm kind of sensitive to that "aura" that people give off, but where are you coming from?" he asked.

Herman sighed. "What I mean is that yours is different. It's heavier, sometimes when you are very focused on hitting me, it even feels like bloodlust somehow," he said.

"Pfft, you are exaggerating," Lukas said as he waved his hand.

"Lukas, what I wanna know is: can I trust you that Karl's influence will not take over you?" Herman asked.

Lukas sighed. "Where's that coming from?" he asked.

"Lukas, can I trust you?" Herman asked, with a truly serious expression.

Lukas nodded his head. "Yes, you can trust," he said with a face full of resolve.

Herman sighed. "I'll believe you, partner," he said.

After that, he lightly punched Lukas's shoulder.

"Don't worry, I'll not disappoint you," Lukas said with a smile.

-----

Austria, May 3rd 1792

1:02 AM

Lukas was laying on his bed with an anxious face. 'It's today. I am going to kill Uncle Karl,' he thought.

Lukas clenched his fists. 'Why am I so anxious?! Relax, Lukas! It's no biggie, you are just gonna... kill... your own uncle,' he thought.

After that, Lukas rolled over on his bed and screamed against his pillow. "Damn it," he mumbled.

Lukas sighed. 'It's almost time. This is the last day. There's no more need to go to that hell,' he thought.

Lukas rolled over once again and laid down with his arms under his head. He stared at the ceiling and after a while, Lukas showed a smile.

'Mother, this is just the first step. I promise that I'll make your wish come true. Even if it takes lots of generations, I'll at least start it,' he thought.

Soon, Lukas heard a cooing coming from the window on his right. Lukas looked that way with a calm expression.

There, the blonde boy saw an owl, it seemed to be staring at him. Lukas was used to having animals around him, so he just let it be.

Lukas sighed as he kept looking at the owl. "You have such a good life, my friend," he murmured.

"No major worrying, like us, humans. And still... you live well, so... I wonder if everything that humanity does beyond satisfying their basic necessities truly is necessary?" he asked to himself.

Lukas sighed. "What I'm doing... is it truly necessary?" he wondered.

Soon, Lukas abruptly shook his head. 'Don't waver now, Lukas! Go there and kill him!' he thought.

Lukas sighed and sat up. 'It's a good time to go. No fear, Lukas,' he thought.

Lukas then slowly stood up and looked at his nightstand. He opened one of the drawers and a small bottle could be seen. 'The poison...' he thought.

Lukas sighed and picked the bottle. Lukas placed the bottle on his bed for a while and put on a coat.

'I usually put it on to go meet Uncle Karl, so nothing suspicious either,' the blonde boy thought.

Lukas picked the bottle once again and kept it in a pocket underneath his coat.

Lukas sighed. "Okay, all done," he mumbled and slowly left the room.

Meanwhile, the owl was still looking into Lukas's room. Soon, the animal let out a hoot.

Meanwhile, in the corridors of the mansion, Lukas was walking there as always. Since Lukas did it quite a lot of times, he had learned to make less noise when walking.

Funnily enough, that new skill of Lukas's helped him in his duels against Herman since it would be easier to catch the bulky man off guard.

Lukas just kept walking through the mansion until he reached the door of Karl's room. Lukas took a deep breath and opened the door of his room with his key.

When Lukas walked in, he could already hear the screams, which made him sigh. 'Well, at least I didn't hear that in my room... that crazy fucker, what's so fun about torturing people?' he

wondered.

Lukas sighed once again and went down the stairs, where he found a scenario that became quite usual to him.

Karl turned to Lukas with an overjoyed smile. "I see you are here, Lukas! I'm so glad," he said.

Lukas smiled back to him. "Me too, Uncle Karl. The weeks have been so long," he said.

Karl grinned. "I know what you feel like. But don't worry, the waiting is over. Let's have some fun," he said.

Soon, Karl picked a knife and threw it towards Lukas who promptly caught it. "Go ahead, Lukas. Don't be afraid," he said.

Lukas took a deep breath. 'Man, I hate doing this. Don't worry, it's the last day. Do it just like the other days: don't think, just do it,' he thought.

Lukas approached the man who was sitting on the chair. He was crying and completely freaked out.

Funnily enough, Lukas had never seen Karl torturing women, the blonde boy had no idea why that happened. It couldn't be due to principles... right?

"P-Please, boy! Don't do it! Please!" he pleaded.

'Please, don't speak. Don't make it harder for me...' Lukas thought. He had been working his fingers to the bones so he wouldn't show that the tortured people's words actually made him feel bad.

Lukas showed a smirk. "Don't worry, this won't hurt at all," he said.

Finally, Lukas picked one of the man's fingers and cut off his nail in one go, making the man scream at the top of his lungs.

Karl, meanwhile, was laughing like crazy. Lukas didn't make sure to laugh like that, Karl just accepted that it was not the blonde boy's way to do things.

After that, Lukas picked another one of his fingers. "P-Please!!! No!!!" the poor man pleaded.

However, it was useless, Lukas kept cutting off his nails one by one. After that, he turned to Uncle Karl, who applauded the blonde boy. "You are each time better at this, Lukas. You are a fast learner."

'I hate to hear that in this kind of situations,' Lukas thought.

"Now it's my turn," Karl said. He immediately stood up from his chair and went to torture the man.

Since Karl would go completely hypnotized by the pleasure, Lukas had the chance to poison his wine without him seeing it.

Lukas crawled onto the chair and stood up on it. After that, he picked the bottle, which he accidentally dropped on the table. "Fuck," the blonde boy murmured.

Luckily, the noise could hardly be heard because of the man's screaming and pleading. And also, the bottle of wine was not open. Lukas quickly opened the bottle of wine and poured all the poison in the red liquid. After that, he closed it back.

Lukas kept the empty bottle in the pocket of his coat and jumped out of the chair. After a while, Karl went over and opened the bottle of wine.

Karl then poured the wine in a glass and started drinking it. "Don't you want some, Lukas?" he asked.

'What a time to ask me that!' Lukas internally complained. "No, thank you, Uncle," he answered.

"Well, more for me," he said right before letting out a creepy laughter. Karl then poured some more wine in his glass and drank it again.

'Good! He's drinking a lot!' Lukas thought as he showed a slight smile.

"Lukas, why are you staring at me?" he asked.

'Shit!' Lukas thought. "Huh... no special reason," he replied.

Karl raised his brow. "No special reason, huh?" he said.

Karl put down his glass and walked closer to Lukas. "Well, I have a surprise for you. I'll give you the honor of killing that man over there. He doesn't have much time left anyway," he said.

Lukas gulped. "Kill... him?" he asked.

Karl nodded his head with a smile. "Yes, are you happy?" he asked.

Lukas showed a smirk. "No. I am overjoyed, Uncle Karl," he answered.

Karl made a short break, but then he bursted out in laughter. "Great, Lukas! Then take your knife and cut his throat!" Karl said with a tone that looked more like an order.

Lukas squeezed the hilt. 'Damn. It's the first time I'll kill someone. One thing is poisoning someone, but... killing him with my own hands?' he thought.

Lukas slowly walked closer to the man sitting on the chair. "Please... kill me," the man said.

For some reason, the man's words hurt Lukas like a bunch of knifes. Lukas took a deep breath and slowly moved it closer to his throat.

Karl walked closer to the both of them and crouched down next to Lukas. "Go ahead, Lukas. Kill him!"

Lukas truly was struggling to cut the man's throat, which made Karl suspect it. "Why are you hesitating?" he asked.

Lukas squeezed the hilt even more, something that Karl noticed. "WHY ARE YOU HESITATING, LUKAS?!" Karl shouted.

"I'm not hesitating! I'll kill," he said.

Soon, Karl started to feel killing intent coming from Lukas, which made him show a wide smirk. "Yes, yes! Kill him!"

"I'll kill... YOU!" Lukas said.

Before Karl could even process Lukas's words, the blonde boy jumped towards Karl and promptly cut his throat.

The both of them fell on the floor. Karl had his throat completely cut and seemed to have died right away.

Meanwhile, Lukas stayed on the floor for a while until he finally stood up. He was panting and sweat was streaming down his face.

"I killed... a person," he murmured.

When he looked at the man, he seemed to be unconscious. When Lukas went to check on him, he noticed that the man was dead.

'Perhaps he died from loss of blood?' the blonde boy wondered.

He sighed. "Fuck, fuck, fuck! FUCK!" Lukas screamed.

After panting for a while, Lukas shook his head. 'Calm down, Lukas. This is not the best scenario, but you can still make it.'

Lukas cut the man's ropes and draged him to lay down beside Karl. After that, Lukas put his knife in the man's hand.

'It's not ideal, but it's the best I got,' the blonde boy thought.

After cleaning the blood off his body, Lukas went up the stairs so he could walk to his room.