Bad news, one by one

The sun dived into the horizon, while the sky started to turn dark and the light faded away. Vaterian Grinned, gaining the promise from Friedrich was the most important thing to make his imagination become a reality. It was not the biggest gamble in his life but surely one of the important ones.

"Friedrich, although I had a lot to talk about with you, this might not be the time. I need to proceed to leave before I ever get caught." Vaterian wore back his gear including his mask, "Lucky for you for living in here where a mask was a common thing for protection against the cold. Otherwise, everybody will stare at you, not an ideal thing when you try to blend into the crowd." Friedrich noticed Vaterian's clothing, a cloth Friedrich would never wear.

"Because not everyone can travel around with a carriage. I bet if you walked out with that fancy suit, the Musikverein will have a new snowman decoration on their doorstep." Vaterian mocks Friedrich's privilege to run around the city freely, completely different from what he experienced.

"I'm sorry for the early leaving, but It's time for me to go." Vaterian walked past Friedrich and exiting from the Musikverein, Friedrich nodded toward him and went back to his loge.

On the way out, Vaterian saw someone familiar to him. A man in his mid 30, with brown hair and a small mustache, provides a sense of reliability. It was the Stadhalter also known as Stefan Teller. Stefan gazed through Vaterian he stopped Vaterian movement with his arm and asked, "Did I see you before? You looked a bit familiar to me."

"Of course Sir, you might gaze through me once within the crowd, is an honor to have my image left in your memories." Stefan looked at Vaterian, the mask stopped him from recognizing Vaterian. "What made you come here? You don't look like a person who can afford to enjoy the music." Stefan was curious about the reasons Vaterian came here, of course, Vaterian couldn't tell him the truth.

"I had a date with my wife, Sir. It was our first time to travel in this city, I don't want it to fall blend." Vaterian gently pulled Viridiana to his side, her face turned light pink. She leans on Vaterian's shoulder, they acted as a sweet couple which they should.

Stefan frown his brown, he was not happy about a person spending their saving just for an experience, he put a silver coin into Vaterian's hand and said, "Take this, don't let the rest of your life fall in poverty, spent it wisely and you will have either a good future or experience in this city."

"But, Sir…" "Just take it, I get it from a coachman trying to smuggle drugs into this city, he even tried to use acter act as members from the crown to avoid getting checked, such an idiot." Stefan let Vaterian take the coin and he turned toward Viridiana, "Madam, I know you might want to show off your appearance, but it was not a wise choice to not wear a mask before going out. I could imagine what the breeze can do to your face."

Stefan quickly walked into the theater, Vaterian still heard him shouting to the worker, "Where is the legatarius? I had an important thing to talk about with him!"

Vaterian turned the coin over, "Lega Mathar" A line of words written on it. "Scheisse, that Idiot," Vaterian swore silently, he speed up his steps and walked back toward the Inn. He needs to talk with Igor.

"Take it, can't believe you left the mask in the loge."Vaterian quickly passed a thing to Viridiana, she looked at the mask in her hand, she stayed for a while before she wore it.

___(Back to Inn)___

"You, Called my friend to come here!" Vaterian instantly called out the owner once Vaterian saw him leaning at the door with some breadsticks in his hand. The owner instantly stood in attention as a response to Vaterian, even making some of the breadsticks fall to the ground.

"Mister, your friend also told me to inform you that he was waiting for you in the cellar." The reply of the owner also surprised Vaterian, he had an even worst feeling about that. "Miss Viridiana, you might be better to help me to explain to Mister Montferrat what happened today, I don't wish to be expelled from the trip."

"He would do that if I tell the truth, but thanks for the Opera I will hide some of the parts." Viridiana smiled and replied to Vaterian before she went upstairs. "If you don't want to be executed, you better stay away from our conversation," Vaterian warned the owner, he walked down to the wine cellar, the best place for secret conversation.

Vaterian walked down to the cellar, he saw Igor was standing beside a barrel filling his mug with liquor, "Why do you call me? There was a part of jail always reserved for those servants that were not respectful toward their master, I didn't wish to meet you there."

"It wasn't like you would send me into it, and I believe the murderer told you that I had something to speak with you right?" Igor drink the wine like it's was just plain water, Vaterian looked at him and sit around the table placed in the middle of the cellar. "What a coincidence, I also want to tell you something."

Vaterian tapped his fingers on the table, waiting for Igor finished his drink. Igor didn't let him wait for long, he drank the wine quickly and refilled it, "Guess who I meet today? In the Inn 'Beer and Honey'."

"Stefan Teller." Vaterian couldn't think out a second potential candidate, Stefan Teller must find something out, otherwise, there are no reasons for him to find Friedrich so urgently.

"Why do you know that!" Igor was very surprised about the answer from Vaterian, he thought he can at least win once against him. "Because I also meet him, just at the theater." "Did he remember you?!" Igor shouted toward Vaterian, but he had forgotten that Stefan didn't know who they are."

"If he knew who I actually was, I would have already been caught yesterday. He might still remember 'Alexandro' but not 'Vaterian', thanks for the mask and help from Viridiana he didn't recognize me and I even get something worrisome." Vaterian placed the silver coin on the table, the reflection made Igor struggle a bit to open his eye.

Igor found this coin looked familiar, he flipped it to the back and he saw the words. "That's…surprising, how this thing got to Stefan's hands." Igor's sound was trembling while he asked, he not expecting this to happen.

"Surprised? So do I. Apparently, the coachman was a smuggler and he get caught while trying to bring in his goods. The good news was, Stefan only thought the persons who sat on it was just an attempt for him to avoid being checked, but I believe it won't take long for him to discover what actually happen." Vaterian rubs his fingers, neither one can keep calm in this situation.

"Well that was not as bad as what I thought, but I going to tell you something much worst."

"What?" Asked by Vaterian, he reaches his hand to his waist, but soon he realized he didn't bring the sword with him because going to the theatre with it was a disgrace.

Igor slowly walked to another side of the table, he sat down and looked at Vaterian in his eyes, he opened his lips and bring out those words.

"They found out who killed Heideriech."