Street Mouse [Yandere Archduke x Female Reader]

52. The Ram's Beard Inn.

The weeks passed and soon it was only a few days away from the wedding ceremony. Down in the Village de Crivell, the townsfolk were abuzz with rumors of the Archduke's mysterious bride.

The hub of the gossiping took place in the largest of the local taverns called The Ram's Beard Inn. It was on a dark, rainy night a few days before the wedding that two people met by chance in the Inn, and the events of that night would change everything that was to come.

The solitary figure of a woman hunched at one of the low wooden tables, her tattooed forearms resting on the table as she drank from a large mug of ale. Next to the ale was a plate of raw meat that she was eating from.

A man walked over to her and sat down across from her. "I have heard that if I was looking for real information on the Archduke and his bride that you would be the person to talk to."

"Ay maybe," the woman replied, looking the man up and down. He kept his head bowed, using the dim, hazy light to obscure his face. His clothes were an odd assortment of different fabrics and satchels, that seemed to suggest that he had done a lot of traveling in his day. "What's in it far me?"

The woman fixed him with an icy stare. He smirked at her words and reached his hand into his coin purse. He slid her two sliver pieces across the scuffed tabletop.

The woman snatched up the money greedily, "Ay was the housekeeper far the Archduke, but ay quit as soon as ay heard about the plans of a weddin'."

"Tell me everything you know," The man said eagerly, leaning across the table. As he did several of his necklaces fell from the front of his tunic.

One of them caught Tola's eye in particular. Nestled among the bone pendants and strange talismans was a small wooden ring on a leather strap. "That's a nice ring boy, where did ya get it?"

As soon as she mentioned it, the stranger immediately tucked it back into his tunic. "Thanks," he said gruffly. "It means a lot to me. So tell me, in all of your years working for the Archduke, did he ever bring a girl by the name of Y/N up to the castle?"

A wicked smirk stretched across Tola's face. What the man just said confirmed the suspicions she had since noticing that familiar ring. She ate another piece of raw meat from her plate before she fixed a sad look on her face, what she said next would have to be believable. If she succeeded, she would get much more than silver from this man.

"Yes, ay do remember a girl comin' to the castle by the name of Y/N," Tola began, staring into her ale mug with a look of great sadness. "She was such a sweet, innocent child. Ay tried to protect her from the cruelty of the Archduke, but ay was only a servant, so there was very little ay could do."

Tola took a drink from her glass to further sell the act before she continued. "The Archduke would beat the poor girl, and force her to all sorts of awful labor, but she remained resilient through it all. Until several months ago when..." Tola let he voice trail off.

"What happened several months ago?! Is Y/N alright? What happened to her?" The man asked, desperate for more information.

"The Archduke got engaged to a terrible noblewoman from the Capital," Tola continued darkly. "Beautiful, but cruel with a heart empty of kindness. She was jealous of Y/N's beauty and asked the Archduke to kill her as a wedding present... And he did it."

The stranger banged his fist on the table as his shoulders shook with repressed emotions. "Ay could not continue to work for a man as wicked as that, especially when ay learned that he would be marrying that monster that killed Y/N."

Just as Tola hopped, her sob story had the intended effect on the man sitting across from her, "No... I-I was too late... I promised that I would save her."

The old housekeeper wanted to laugh at the pathetic way that the man was sobbing so openly, but she had to restrain herself, his emotions would be of great use to her after all.

"Ay am sorry that ay couldn' do more far Y/N," Tola said, doing her best to sound sincere. "She may be gone, but the two of us remember her, and if we work together there's a chance her death won't be in vain."

"W-What do you mean?" The man asked, raising his snowy head of hair from off his arms.

"Ay mean that the two of us can get vengeance on the person responsible far killing Y/N," Tola said, fixing the man with a look of determination. "Ay never had the opportunity, but together, we can kill the bride of the Archduke."

"Aren't they both responsible for killing Y/N?" He asked sharply.

"Yes," Tola agreed. "But the Archduke does actually care about his bride in a twisted way, so the way to inflict the most pain on him is to force him to see the dead body of his cruel lover. After that, ay will take care of him. So what do you say, are ya in? We climb up the mountain, get vengeance, then go our separate ways."

"Climbing up that mountain on foot is impossible," the man said with a mix of anger and regret. "I tried it once when I was a boy and it almost killed me. Had I not been found by a group of slave traders I would have died."

"The mountains can be difficult to travel, but ya didn't have a guide last time," Tola said as she extended a hand across the table. "So do we have a deal?"

The man gripped Tola's chunky hand in his coffee-colored one as he nodded his head. "We have a deal. I will stop at nothing to avenge Y/N."

"Good," Tola said gruffly, draining her mug and standing from the table. "Meet me at the base of the mountain at dawn tomorrow, bring all the supplies ya can carry."

She was about to leave, but then she turned back and asked, "what is yar name boy?"

The man shifted uncomfortably in his seat before he looked up at Tola with exotic amber eyes and said, "Paetayis, my name is Paetayis."

A/N

PLOT TWIST!

Ha! You all thought that Paety was dead but guess again, I don't let characters leave my books randomly. I have been planing his return since I started this book.

Paety is back, but how far will Tola's false information carry him?

Also, for those who were tricked by the body found in part 24. that was just a random child that had been taken by slave traders and died in the mountains.

Until next time I'll see you on the other side

~J. C. Coltt.~