"My brother's maid?" Baroness Artheim raised her eyebrows. Her face didn't show much expression. Still calm. Composed.
"Topaz Hashwell was murdered, Baroness." Jack stated bluntly. "His stepmother and her associates are involved. They are not just after inheritance. They want something deeper. Tied to your family's secrets."
Baroness Artheim's composed façade flickered. Her intelligent eyes narrowed. Searching for any hint of deceit from Jack's spectral form. "My brother? Died?"
"Not my words. I don't witness it." Jack clarified. "His maid, Neone, did. She died too. Her ghost was bound to the abandoned well where they dumped her and your brother. She has more to tell you. But only if you could come discreetly. Prying eyes, treacherous ears, you understand."
"Murdered?" She repeated. The word was coated in deep gloom. "My brother? And my father, then? His heart attack… was it truly natural?" She mumbled to herself.
Her gaze hardened. "You claim you have a message from Neone. Why her? Why not Topaz himself?"
"I'm a specter, Lady. Not Death God. I can't talk to dead spirit that doesn't linger in this world. Neone turned into a ghost. Your brother did not. He is gone." Jack clarified in flat voice.
"You can talk to Neone herself." He continued. "She wants justice, I expect. For herself, and for your brother. She believes you are the one to deliver it. She might also worry about you. The one who murdered them claimed to be your assistant after all."
The mention of the last information struck a nerve. Artheim's hand gripped her dagger hilt tighter. Her eyes held a flicker of dawning horror. Replaced swiftly by steel. A traitor?
"My assistant?" Her voice was barely a whisper. Yet it carried immense weight. "Are you certain?"
"That's what Neone told me. You'll have to hear the details from her yourself." Jack replied. His spectral form swayed slightly. "I'm merely the messenger. So... will you come to hear her now? Or do you want to investigate this first?"
Baroness Artheim rose. Her chair was scraping against the polished floor. "Lead the way, Jack Mystery. If what you say is true…"
She didn't finish the sentence. But the unspoken threat hung heavy in the air.
Jack turned. Phasing back through the ornate desk. As the Baroness retrieved a cloak from a nearby rack.
Rune, his spectral will-o'-the-wisp companion, shimmered into existence beside him. A silent, knowing spark of light.
They led the Baroness through the silent corridors. Past the front door. And out into the cool night air.
Baroness Artheim moved with a calculated grace. Her steps were light and swift. Despite the heavy burden of the news she carried. She seemed to be very familiar with the city's back alleys as well as its main thoroughfares.
The journey to the abandoned mansion was swift. The crumbling structure loomed large against the moonlit sky. A silhouette of decay and forgotten grandeur. They found the well in the backyard. The maid apparition was not there.
"Neone!" Jack called out. His voice echoed slightly in the stillness. "The Baroness is here."
A faint, shimmering figure materialized above the well's mouth. Spectral Neone appeared. Still in her maid's uniform. Her ghostly features were etched with relief and sorrow. She looked straight at Baroness Artheim.
"My Lady!" She cried. Her voice was a thin, reedy whisper. "Thank the heavens you came!"
Artheim looked at the wavering apparition of her brother's maid. Her expression was unreadable.
"Speak, Neone!" She commanded. Her voice was firm. Despite the supernatural circumstances. "Tell me everything."
Neone nodded. Or rather, her head slowly lowered in a gesture of assent. Her story flowed. A tragic narrative pieced together from spectral memory.
"It started with the master, Lord Hashwell. Your father." Neone started "His death, they said it was a heart attack. But Young Master Topaz… he didn't believe it. He was always so clever, so observant."
Neone looked down to the bottom of the well. "He started looking, asking questions. He noticed things. Like how the new mistress, your stepmother, a woman he always distrusted, was holding secret meetings."
Neone paused. Her spectral form flickered with residual fear. "We stealthily observed from afar when she met with people cloaked in black. Always with a white lotus insignia pinned to their garments. Master Topaz saw it and recognized it. He knew then. They were Purity Cultists. And he suspected they were behind his father's death."
Baroness Artheim's jaw tightened. The white lotus insignia. The Purity Cult. They were a vile organization. Cloaked in self-righteousness. But known for their ruthless pursuit of power and nasty rituals.
There were indeed records of them infiltrated noble families. Subtly replacing key figures or manipulating them from within.
The Baroness gritted her teeth. Her stepmother… It all made a terrible, sickening sense now.
Jack, observing nearby, narrowed his eyes. He remembered the Purity Cult. The one partially responsible for the destruction of Highcliff Town. The one responsible for the death of his first friend. The little ghost, Linna.
"Topaz knew he had to tell you, Baroness." Neone continued. Her spectral voice was gaining a desperate urgency. "You were the only one he trusted. So we rode out, discreetly, hoping to find you. We came to your mansion."
She paused for a few seconds. "But, your assistant said that you were here. Inspecting this ruined mansion as you were considering purchasing it. He took us to this place."
"We were led inside. To the deepest part of the house." Neone elaborated. "That's when they sprung the trap. The 'assistant' and another man in black cloak. They struck me down. And seized Master Topaz. They demanded he tell them something."
Neone's spectral hand went to her head. A phantom pain. "They tortured Master Topaz, Baroness. They were asking about… about a key. The key to the Hashwell Treasury. He wouldn't tell them."
Neone's face was twisted in rage. "But then, the 'assistant' found it. Hidden in a locket Master Topaz always wore. And then… they... they killed us. And threw us down the well. Both of us."
The silence that followed Neone's confession was thick and heavy. Baroness Artheim's face was a mask of cold fury. The truth, stark and brutal, had finally been laid bare.
Her father was murdered. Her brother was tortured and killed. All for a key and Purity Cult machinations.
"I have no assistant." The Baroness stated. Her voice was dangerously low. "Describe this man, Neone. Every detail."
Neone's spectral gaze focused. Recalling the treacherous face with chilling precision. "He was a tall man, Baroness. Lean, but not exactly thin. His hair was meticulously slicked back. He had a small, neatly trimmed beard. His eyes… they were like chips of flint."
She further described him. "And he had a particular way of speaking. Overly polite, but with an arrogant undertone. He had a habit of touching his temple with his middle and ring fingers."
Baroness Artheim's eyes narrowed further. A glint of recognition, then absolute loathing, appeared in their depths.
"Sebastian Bronze!" She hissed the name with a venomous whisper. "My new butler. He arrived barely two months ago. Highly recommended. Too highly, it seems. A serpent brought into my own home."
Jack remained silent. Observing. His blunt assessment of the situation aligned perfectly with Baroness Artheim's deductions. Sebastian Bronze, the 'assistant', was a plant. A Purity Cult operative. Tasked with infiltrating her household.
"He took the key, Baroness," Neone reiterated, her voice tinged with anguish. "The key to the Hashwell family's treasury. It was his focus. He believed it held something vital. He said something about sealed artifact. Something they were desperate to acquire."
Baroness Artheim looked from Neone's spectral form to the dark mouth of the well. Her expression softened. A touch of genuine sorrow broke through her anger.
"Neone..." She said. Her voice was gentler. "And Topaz, my dear brother. I swear, you will both have a proper burial. A respectful one, in the family crypt, where you belong. But first..."
Her voice hardened. Becoming cold steel once more. "I have a damned viper to extract from my garden."
She turned. Her cloak was swirling around her. A shadow among shadows. "Thank you, Mr. Jack Mystery. For bringing me this grim truth."
"I had nothing else to do anyway." Jack replied. His sardonic tone was back. Rune pulsed beside him. With a soft, encouraging glow.
The Baroness didn't wait for another word. She moved with renewed purpose. Retracing her steps through the abandoned grounds. And back towards her estate.
Jack, now invisible and silent, followed closely behind. With invisible Rune as a silent companion. He wanted to know what happened next.
Baroness Artheim was more than capable to handle a transcendent opponent. Vengeance, however, was rarely delivered easily. And almost never without complication in its confrontation.
The Baroness's mansion was still shrouded in sleepy silence when they returned. Baroness Artheim, however, was a whirlwind of focused intent. She did not bother with discretion now. Her steps were decisive. Driven by rage and purpose.