Before Lucia paid Axe a visit, she stopped off in the kitchen. She had an idea, but it would only work if she found a very specific seasoning. She walked in on Jafa, who was looking at a silver serving spoon.

"Is it real?" She asked about the spoon while she searched the pantry.

"I don't know," he shrugged and tossed it into his bag. "What are you looking for?"

"Something spicy," she found an apple and took a bite.

"You might have better luck in here," Jafa said, opening a cupboard filled with dried herbs. After digging around, he produced three dried peppers.

Lucia dropped her apple, walked over, and took them. She took a small bite from one of them, and shortly after, she felt its heat. "Perfect, thank you." She didn't wait for a reply before rushing out of the room. She found Reese standing over Axe, waiting.

"What you see is what you get," Axe spat blood.

"Let me put this in perspective for you," he took the black cord from around his neck and placed it around Axe's neck. "This relic tells me if you're lying. Right now, what you're looking at is what truth looks like. I'm about to tell you some lies: I think you're a great guy. You are in a very safe place. With my other relics, I am incapable of twisting your head off with my hands. Isn't this fun? Now, every time you tell me a lie, I will remove one of your rings with my knife." Reese took the relic back and drew his dagger from his belt. "Where is the money?"

"I don't know where the money is!"

Reese took his knife and held it to his thumb. "Hold still, it's just going to make it worse for you if you keep moving."

"Behind the painting in my room!" Axe yelled. He was telling the truth.

"Is there anything else you're not telling me?"

"No," Axe lied.

Reese shook his head and then moved the knife back to his thumb.

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"Okay, okay! I haven't been paying my women a fair wage, and they can't just leave whenever they want." Axe was nearly crying.

Reese put his dagger away and noticed Lucia. "Oh good, Pots found you. Did you still want to take a swing at him?"

Lucia walked in front of Axe. He was pitiful looking. "I'll give you two options. Option one, I punch you in the face as hard as I can. I'm right-handed, so it will be the same spot that Reese punched you the first time. That's why I want to offer you option two. You have to eat two hot peppers." She placed them on the table next to his wine glass. "Choice is yours."

"If I eat the peppers, you won't punch me?"

"That's what I said."

"I don't believe you," Axe said.

Lucia motioned to Reese to give him back the relic. As soon as he was wearing it, she said, "I will not inflict any physical pain on you if you eat these peppers. And if you're wondering, there's nothing wrong with them. I found them in your kitchen." She nodded towards Reese, and he took his relic back.

"I'll eat the peppers," Axe decided and then opened his mouth.

"I'm not going to feed them to you if that's what you're wondering." Lucia held out her and asked for Reese's dagger. He obliged, if not reluctantly, and handed it to her handle first. She cut the ropes on his left wrist, took a step back, and returned the dagger. "Go on."

Axe put the peppers in his mouth and started chewing. He wiped his nose with his sleeve.

"Is there a reason for this, or do you just want to see him kind of suffer?" Reese asked, amused.

"There's no sweeter revenge than to watch your enemy gently suffer," Lucia said, sounding sincere. "Look at him; he's already starting to sweat. Don't spit any out, or I'll call you a coward and then knock you a good one."

Axe started breathing through his mouth. "I'll admit, it's very spicy." He took his wine goblet and drank the whole thing. "You got me."

"Are you still thirsty?" Lucia took the cup from where Reese had been sitting and placed it next to his empty one. "Here, I got you another one."

"That's fine; it's starting to die down now." He spat a stream of purple on the ground. He was still breathing through his mouth. They didn't need a truth-seeing relic to know his mouth was on fire.

"Are you sure?" Lucia crossed her arms. "Because I'm starting to think that you lied when you said you didn't poison our drinks. If you had poisoned them, I would feel just awful for switching cups around while you were still knocked out."

"You switched the cups?!" Axe bellowed. He stared at the empty glass in front of him and began crying. The sobs were replaced by coughs and then choking sounds as he clawed at his neck with his only free hand. Finally, he took one more raspy breath, and his arm fell limp at his side.

"Remind me never to get on your bad side," Reese said warily. "Should I be scared for Bird?"

"We talked about it," Lucia said, looking at Axe's dead body. "I decided to only be mad at him for one more day."

"That's good," Reese said, straightening his posture. "You know what? Why don't you have the honor of checking behind the painting? I'm going to see if the assassins found any carriages."