After a few years, Primus started to act once again. Understanding the bond that his brother shared with Serena, he decided to court one of the ladies of Dorallan and propose to her, not because of love, but because he was sure that by claiming that love opened his eyes, and finally understanding what his brother did all those years ago, that would make Lucius forgive what he had said in their previous encounter, and he could use the wedding as an opportunity to invite all of his brother’s family, putting all of them in his hand.
Primus sent two messengers to Ninna, to invite Lucius and his family to his wedding. Arriving there, they introduced themselves, saying that they were there on the Pearatas’ behest, and had a letter from Primus to the whole family. In the letter, it was written:
“Lucius, my dear brother, through this written message I come to humbly apologize for my previously mindless behaviour and manner of speech. I know what I said was terrible, but I implore you to consider that I did not yet understand the power that love possessed. You see, I, too, have fallen in love with someone. Her name is Laura, and now I finally understand what you did all those years ago, and why. If I was in your place, I’d do the same for her, so please, I beg you accept my apologies.
However, I also bring good news. As me and Laura are soon to be wed, this ceremony would feel incomplete without you and your family. After being apart for so long, your presence would be most desirable in this momentous occasion. Don’t worry about your wife and your kids’ safety, as I already resolved this matter with the temple and the royal guard, so none of you should face any sort of trouble.
Should you accept this invitation, please follow my two messengers to Dorallan. I guarantee you all shall arrive here safely, and be received with open arms by all of us.
Primus Pearata.”
Despite the tone of the letter, Lucius was still somewhat suspicious about the whole thing, never mind the fact that, somehow, his brother found out where he and his family lived. Asking the messengers how they knew where he was located, they said exactly what Primus told the to say if they were questioned about this, that his friend, Clarque, told his brother where he lived. This, of course, contradicted what Clarque told him previously, that despite saying to Primus that he had a clue about where Lucius was located, he never specified the place. This either meant that Clarque lied to him, or that Primus had a contact in Bouna that spied on them. Lucius knew that Clarque wasn’t at fault, he was naive and sometimes clumsy, but never a liar.
Due to this, Lucius said that they wouldn’t go, as he didn’t trust his brother, especially after what he said during his last visit to Dorallan. Serena, meanwhile, argued with him, saying that despite all the shame he had brought upon his family name, Primus was still willing to forgive him, and now should be the time to do the same. After listening to the words of his loving wife, and the overwhelming excitement of his children, now in their late teens, to finally know their parents’ former homeplace, they agreed to part with the messengers, but only after Lucius resolved the matter with Clarque. Lucius then went to his friend’s house alone, in order to inquire about his conversation with Primus. After listening to Lucius’ worries, Clarque reassured him that such information was not shared to his brother, and that it was probably the work of his brother, using the help of spies or guards, that his location was discovered. Lucius was relieved, and had faith in his friend that he wouldn’t do anything to harm him or his family, but as he was still suspicious of his brother, he told Clarque about his thoughts that Primus wanted to separate him from his wife and kids. Due to this, Lucius asked Clarque to stay in Bouna in case anything happened to him or his family, and if any one of them was found in trouble, they should seek him. Clarque agreed to the conditions to stay in Bouna until at least one of them returned safely. With this matter solved, Lucius returned to his house, and the next day, he and his family parted with the messengers.
When they reached their destination, Blanche, Ciran and Guilbaud were amazed by everything: The big houses, the streets, the people with fancy clothing… all of it was so new and exciting for them. Serena remained calm, although she wondered how her former sisters were faring. Lucius was still suspicious about it, but being able to see his uncles, aunts and cousins again did lighten his heart a little bit. Primus welcomed his brother and his family with a beautiful party, finally getting to meet his nephews, who were excited about finally knowing their distant relatives.
The wedding was a few days away still, and Primus prepared rooms, food and clothing for all of them to stay and enjoy some time in Magne before the festivities, in order to give them a false sense of security and comfort. Blanche decided to walk around the city and get to know everything before they left. When she was walking around, a young man named Otho saw her and was admired by her beauty. Approaching her, he introduced himself and they began to talk. The conversation had a turn when Blanche, seeing that his clothes were not of high prestige and his expression was simple, started to sarcastically ask him what he was doing in a city so rich like Magne. Otho replied saying that, even if his family was not the wealthiest of the worthiest, he was still proud of his lineage, as he witnessed that most of the rich families often have internal feuds because of money and pride, and despite his background, his parents and relatives always were there for one another. After some time, Otho left, saying that he hoped that someday, Blanche would understand his point of view, that no matter what her ancestry is wealthy or not, she should be proud of what she had.
Ciran, curious to find out more about his family background, and how did his father acquire his swordsmanship skills, questioned and trained with his relatives, learning all sorts of new skills. Visiting the armory of the Pearata’s house, he was fascinated with all sorts of equipment and weapons made from all sorts of different metals, recognizing the wealth that his father’s family had. Ciran began to question even more about his father’s decision to leave all of this behind, but ultimately didn’t care much, since now he was able to witness all of it, even if it was temporary.
Guilbaud was interested in his uncle’s methods, as he had garnered a reputation of a very wise counselor, albeit not officially a member of the royal council. He inquired his uncle about his knowledge, and spent some days studying everything that he wanted from the royal archives. After some time, he started to feel resentment towards his father, for denying him such vast knowledge for so long, because, in Guilbaud’s point of view, selfish concerns. The young man lamented the fact that he couldn’t study everything the archive had to offer in mere days, and developed an angry and rebellious attitude to Lucius, a thing Primus noticed and made sure to take note of it.
When the day of the wedding came, Primus prepared a special poison, planning to use it to poison Serena’s chalice of wine. He targeted her first because, if not for her, Lucius would have married a noble lady from one of the other big houses, and his father’s dream wouldn’t have been destroyed. He also realized that this would bring inconceivable pain and suffering to his brother, since this was exactly his goal, he decided to get rid of Serena first.
Everyone from the Pearata house was present at the wedding, and even some folks from the highest class made their presence there. After the ceremony, Primus receptioned his guests to a big feast. Primus had already prepared for the poisoned wine chalice to be at his brother and Serena’s table, specifically put next to her seat. Before she could even drink it, however, Lucius raised a toast and a blessing for his brother and his wife, making a long speech about how their father would’ve loved to witness this, and congratulating him for having an amazing feast, something that he didn’t have with Serena. Having his back to the table, when he turned around to grab his chalice, he mistakenly took the poisoned chalice and, having finished his speech, drank from it.
Although the poison did not have an immediate effect. After some minutes, Lucius told his wife that he was feeling unwell, and barely after an hour, he collapsed on the ground. Everyone was shocked, but most of all was Primus, who did not expect this turn of events. After requesting the help of the healers, they stated that Lucius wasn’t dead, but his health condition was critical. This was due to the fact that the amount of poison in the chalice was enough to kill Serena, but not Lucius, as his physical condition was better than hers, even still, he barely managed to survive. Primus ended the ceremony, and hastily took his brother to their house, with the help of his sister-in-law and nephews.
The next day, Primus called the royal guard to investigate, and said he would never rest until the one who tried to kill his brother, was punished. This, of course, was a stunt to turn away any suspicion from him, and to keep the image of a worried and loving brother. After days of investigating with no leads, the guard interrupted the investigation momentarily, and told Primus that, should he ever find something that may be a clue to who the criminal was, he must report to them.
Bedridden, Lucius remained unconscious for almost an entire day, and when he finally woke up, he was still in bad health conditions. All of his uncles, aunts and cousins visited him to wish him well, even Laura went to his chamber to hope for a quick recovery. Primus, acting like he felt guilty for having allowed his brother to be poisoned at his own wedding, told all members of the house that he should be the one responsible to take personal care for his brother. After hearing this, Lucius asked Primus for some private time with his wife and children, so that they could talk. His brother left the room with the healers, leaving Lucius alone with his family.
There, the weak and sick man told his children that he was very suspicious of his brother, and he believed that Primus was the one that made an attempt at his life. Explaining his reasons, he advised all of them to not trust his brother, but to remain acting normal, as if nothing had changed. He also apologized to his children for not giving them the life and heritage that they wanted, but said that maybe now he could make up for it. He tasked their children that, as soon as the conversation was over, each one should pick an heirloom in the Pearata treasury. To Blanche, he instructed her to get a necklace with the symbol of a lion, as she was the elder and had to lead her brothers. To Ciran, he told him to get an amulet with the symbol of a bear, for he was to be strong to keep them together, and be prepared to fight. To Guilbaud, he said for him to get a necklace with the symbol of an eagle, because of his foresight, he was to watch his siblings’ backs and intelligently plan their battles, also told all three to get a sword with the Pearata crest on the hilt. Lucius also apologized to Serena, for not being able to give her the feast and ceremony that they deserved, and gave her a ring with the symbol of the Pearatas. Serena said that there was nothing to apologize, that his love and their children was the best gift she could ever receive. Their children, however, remained silent the whole conversation. Before he was done, Lucius said that, should anything happen to him, for them to escape Dorallan as soon as they could and seek Clarque in Bouna, because even if he died, he deserved it for his sins of the past, but none of they should come to any harm due to him. After that, he dismissed them, and the child did as instructed. Serena, however, remained in the room with Lucius.
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Primus knew that his brother was starting to get suspicious of him, and if anything happened to his wife or children, Lucius could accuse him of doing it. Even if Lucius’ accusations had no proof to back them up, this could tarnish his reputation. Primus then decided to take his brother’s life, and after Lucius was dead, he would kill Serena and his nephews too, as they were the offspring of that shameful relationship. It would be troublesome to get some time with his brother, as he always had company in his room, mostly from Serena, so Primus sent messengers to the temple, to explain the situation and purposely cause a ruckus. Like expected, the priests did not care for the state of Lucius, in fact they were quite pleased when they heard the news, as they believed this to be a punishment from the gods because of what he had done. When Serena knew about this, she was enraged, and stormed to the temple to solve this matter.
Meanwhile, Blanche sought Otho, as he previously said that his father was a blacksmith, in order to reforge and reinforce the swords that Lucius gave to her and her brothers. While his father was working, Otho and Blanche were talking, most of it was Blanche explaining what had happened, to the young man. The distress and confusion were very apparent in the girl’s eyes, a thing that Otho noticed, and proceeded to ask her what was on her mind. She replied by saying that she couldn’t understand what was happening, why someone made an attempt on her father’s life, and had even more questions as to why did her father suspected her uncle to be the culprit. Otho answered the same thing he had said in the last time they saw each other, that noble families oftentimes have these sort of intern feuds, and that even his family not being wealthy, he was grateful for everything they had done for him, that they gave him more than just money and titles, they gave him a name and a place he could feel a part of. Thinking about what he said, Blanche asked the blacksmith to remove the crest of the Pearatas from the weapons, and adorn them with a new crest: A tree, symbolizing the family, a brand new crest for the Peranzas.
When Serena arrived at the temple, the priests and nuns were not happy to see her, as she was branded a blasphemer for having disregarded her vows. Arguing with them about the way of the gods, citing forgiveness and compassion, begging them to forgive and forget what he had done, and to be compassionate to him and to her, as she was also suffering by seeing her husband so sick. These words went into deaf ears, however, as the priests exclaimed that they were receiving their punishment for the blasphemy they had committed. After hours of argument and the priests being irreducible in their resolve, Serena decided to go home, heartbroken.
However, while Serena was at the temple, Primus had the golden opportunity to finally enact his revenge on his brother. He couldn’t use any weapons, as it would be easy for him to be caught, he had to do it without spilling blood, leaving the fewest clues possible. This time, he got hands on a new type of poison, more deadly than the last one. Not wanting to make the same mistake again, he poured a big dose of the poison on his brother’s drink, so much so, that half of the drink was pure poison. Waiting for the healers to leave, he went to his brother’s room and gave him food and the poisoned drink. Before leaving, Primus said to his brother that he wished none of this happened, that if Lucius heard his warnings, his family wouldn’t be disgraced, and he wouldn’t be bedridden. After taking the first sip of the poisoned drink, Lucius died within seconds. He died so quickly that the cup dropped from his hand, staining the carpet that was close to the bed. Primus heard the cup hitting the ground, as he was behind the door waiting for the moment his brother died, he then entered the room and retrieved the cup. He also noticed the stained carpet, but couldn’t do anything about it, as it would seem suspicious.
When Serena finally arrived at the house, she went straight to Lucius’ room to be with him, as the priests and nuns at the temple refused to ask the gods for an intervention. Entering the room, and seeing his dead husband, she let out a very loud scream and cried heavily. Alerting the entire house with her scream, everyone ran to where she was, and when they saw the dead man laying there, they all cried in shock. Primus did his best to convincingly show grief and sadness, and promised to find the murderer and make him or her pay. Primus ordered the house servants to take the corpse of his brother away, in order to prepare his funeral.
Later that day, the funeral took place. Everyone from the Pearata house was present, as well as some other friends of the family. Otho was present too, as he heard the news from Blanche and wanted to be there to mourn with his friend. Almost all of the relatives of Lucius gave a short speech about him, saying that he would be missed. The only ones who didn’t say anything were his children, as they couldn’t understand why this was all happening, and felt strong guilt for always demanding of their father the luxuries of nobility, when they already had everything money cannot buy.
Primus hastily contacted the royal guard to investigate the crime scene, when they arrived, their eyes immediately turned to the stained carpet. One of the guards took a drop of the liquid with his finger and tasted it, and before he could say anything, he started coughing heavily and fell to the ground, writhing in pain. The other guards realized it was a really strong poison, and advised everyone to keep their distance. Some of them left, taking the poisoned guard away before his condition got worse.
The guard that stayed interrogated some family members to try to figure out who was the murderer. Most of them answered the same, that the only company he had was his wife, his children, and the healers, although one of them said that they saw Primus bringing Lucius some food. When the guard interrogated Primus, he admitted to giving food to his brother, but that was it. By the request of the guard, they entered the room and Primus ate the food, as proof that it wasn’t also poisoned. When the guard asked him if he had saw anything suspicious, Primus said that he saw the youngest son of Lucius enter the room with a cup, and that he suspected that he was the one to poison his brother, this was, of course, a lie, but Primus planned to accuse his nephews of killing their father. The guard asked why he would be suspicious of his nephew, but Primus explained that Guilbaud was acting harshly towards his father, and that he spent a lot of time in the library studying, possibly researching poison and its effects.
The answers the guard received were a good lead, but not conclusive. He then proceeded to ask some family members about the behaviour of Lucius’ children, and how they acted towards their father. All of them said that they acted normally, except for the youngest, who was somewhat angry with his father, but not something too out of the ordinary. The guard then went to the children’s room to look for something suspicious or incriminating. Primus anticipated this move and, while the guard was interrogating his relatives about his nephews, he planted the cup that he used to poison Lucius in Guilbaud’s possessions, as well as a book containing information on diverse types of poisonous substances. The guard found the cup first while looking through Guilbaud’s things. The smell of the cup was undoubtedly the same as the stained carpet, but he wasn’t going to taste a sample of what was inside of the cup, seeing what had happened to the other guard when he took a bit of the carpet’s poisoned stain. If that was indeed the cup used in the murder, he would be poisoned himself if he tasted it. So the guard asked Primus to see if there were any rats in the house, and if he found one, he should bring it to him, and it should be alive. Some time later, Primus returned with a rat in his hands. The guard instructed him to put the rat’s mouth close to the interior of the cup, for him to lick it. When the rat licked the bottom of the cup, it started to squeak loudly and twist itself in pain, dying mere minutes afterwards. This, along with the book, were sufficient proofs to the guard that Guilbaud was the one who did it.
Primus took the guard to his nephews to confront them. When asked if he knew anything about his father’s death, Guilbaud simply responded that all he knew was that his father was poisoned, a claim also backed up by his siblings. The guard then showed him the cup and the book found in his possessions, and told him that his uncle suspected that he was the one who killed Lucius. Blanche and Ciran were outraged by these claims, as they knew neither of them could even think of doing such a thing. Guilbaud was terrified, asking himself how those things got into his possessions. Primus then pressured all three of them, accusing them of working as a group, even pointing out the fact that they didn’t even speak anything in their father’s funeral, claiming that they did not miss their father at all. Hearing this, Ciran took his sword and lunged at his uncle for being so vile as to say those things about them. The guard reacted quickly and managed to disarm the young man, but Ciran was still able to pierce his uncle’s right shoulder. The guard then confidently believed that they plotted the death of their own father, and that they should go through a trial and be sentenced accordingly. The guard tried to take them away, but they being at three, managed to overpower him and free themselves, they then ran away, still in disbelief that their uncle could do what he did, but quickly remembered what their father said about him. Being reminded of his advice, they planned to leave Dorallan so they could find protection in Clarque’s house.
Serena did not know yet that her children were accused by Primus of murdering Lucius, as she didn’t want to enter the house again, since the image of her dead husband was still in her head. She spent most of her time in the graveyard, in the front of her husband’s grave, mourning his death day and night. After her children escaped from the guard, the royal council declared them wanted criminals and ordered some guards to look for them and capture them if found, so they could face trial. Knowing that Serena was still in Magne, they inquired about her children’s whereabouts. Confused, she answered that they probably should be at the Pearata house, as it was their family’s home. The guards noticed her confusion and explained the situation to her, saying that they were found guilty of Lucius’ death. These news were too much for Serena, and she collapsed to the ground crying, saying that they couldn’t have done this, that someone might’ve incriminated them. The guards then told Serena that the council already decided their fate, and that her children should face trial to be punished by their actions, but they were on the run and needed to be found. Serena then asked who accused her children of murder, being then told that Primus was the one who suspected the youngest son. Realizing that her brother-in-law plotted everything to incriminate her children, and probably the one who killed her husband, she pleaded to the guards to investigate Primus some more, as she was sure they could find some evidence that he was the murderer, but the guards ignored her and remained adamant in looking for her children. Heartbroken, feeling guilty for insisting to come to Dorallan when Lucius showed suspicion towards his brother, and seeing that Primus destroyed everything that she loved, she went to the Pearata armory and took a dagger, which Laura noticed, later returning to her husband’s grave and kneeling there, crying heavily, for feeling that she failed her family. She quickly prayed for her children’s safety, just before stabbing herself in the chest, finally reuniting with her husband. The children went to the graveyard searching for their mother so they could all escape, arriving there, they had found the corpse of their dead mother. Their agony was too much to bear, as they had lost both of their parents on the same day. They believed that their mother’s death was also the handiwork of Primus. The three then buried their mother at the side of their father’s grave, putting the ring given to her by Lucius atop of her grave. They then left Dorallan, but promised to return and bring their uncle to justice.