Karl's Diary
Austria, May 3rd 1792
1:56 AM
As Lukas pushed the bookshelf back to its place in Karl's room, he noticed that no one would bother him at that moment, and that now he could investigate about what was truly happening in his household.
He might find out about the relationship between the Von Neumann house and the Hügel house, and also finally find out about what that polemics is all about.
Lukas sighed. 'This is my chance, I can't waste it,' he thought.
Although Lukas was still a bit shocked by what had just happened, the many torture sessions he had joined with Karl kind of made him more resistant to that kind of shock.
Besides, the time he spent with Karl and enduring the pressure he gave off to his heart's content while he was torturing the poor people also made Lukas resistant to that kind of pressure.
Lukas then went through the whole room to see if he could find anything regarding the subjects he was interested in.
After searching for quite a while, Lukas finally found something that called his attention. 'A book with a lock?' the blonde boy wondered. 'Never seen something like this. Not even in the storage of the library,' he thought as he checked the book, turning it in lots of ways.
The book had a very different appearance. Besides the lock, it was completely black, it didn't even have a title.
Lukas sighed. 'Okay, I guess this must be it, but... how do I open it? I guess I'll have to go back down there so I can find something to open this lock... no, what am I thinking?! There must be a key around here!'
Lukas shook his head helplessly. 'Who must it be with, though? ...Uncle Karl, oh shit, I'll have to go back down there anyway, so screw it!' he thought.
Lukas then sighed and put the book down on the floor. After that, he pushed the bookshelf a bit and went back down to the torture room.
When Lukas arrived there, he saw, once again, both Karl's and the tortured man's corpses. It really disturbed Lukas when he thought that he had contributed for the death of both of them. Be it directly or indirectly.
Lukas sighed and went to check Karl's body. After checking for a bit, he spotted a keychain that contained two keys. Lukas recognized that one of them was the key of Karl's room.
'Alright, I hope the other one opens the book, otherwise I'll have take a hammer from here and break it open,' Lukas thought.
Lukas then went back upstairs and took the book. He also took the key and moved it closer to the lock of the book.
'Please, work, work, work!' Lukas internally pleaded.
When the blonde boy managed to fit the key into the lock and then unlock the book, he let out a sigh of relief. 'I'm glad, I didn't want to back down there,' Lukas thought.
Lukas cleared his throat and then opened the book at the first page. "Diary of Karl Hügel," the blonde boy read in a low tone.
'Okay, this is it!' Lukas thought. Now he could finally have at least a few hints about what happened between both the Von Neumann and the Hügel house.
Lukas then turned the page and came across the first day that Karl wrote down in the diary. Lukas was astounded to see the date, however, he kept reading it.
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June 6th 1778
Hello, I'm Karl and I'm gonna write about my day in this diary from now on!
Today Dad bought me this book with a lock, so Elias suggested that I could make this a diary, so I thought, hey! Why not?!
Anyway, today I had the swordsmanship lessons once again, but I don't like them at all. It hurts a lot and I end up crying. My instructor always says that I should be tougher, but I don't see why I have to train swordsmanship.
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Austria, May 3rd 1792
2:04 AM
As soon as Lukas finished reading the page, he was gaping. What he just read was something that his crazy uncle had written when he was ten years old!
'Man, how the hell did Uncle Karl turn out like this?' Lukas wondered.
Lukas cleared this throat. "Well, there's just one way to find out," he murmured.
There wasn't much for Lukas to read there. Karl didn't write in his diary very assiduously. Still, Lukas managed to find out a little about the daily routine of the Hügel house.
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September 4th 1778
Turns out mom is sick. The doctor said is nothing very bad, but I'm still worried. I really hope my mother doesn't die! I love her so much!
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September 8th 1778
YAY! Mother is not sick anymore! I'm so happy! However, Father told me that since mother is no longer sick, then I had to get back to my swordsmanship training! This is training for killing people! I don't want it! Why do I have to do it?!
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October 3rd 1778
Today was a weird day. Klara handed me a letter and she asked me to give it to Elias. When I asked what it was, she just got red and said that it was a secret. When I opened it-
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"I guess you shouldn't have done it, though," Lukas thought
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There was nothing written there. It was just the map of our house and there was spot marked with an x. I wonder if it's a treasure? I'll go check it out myself and then give it to Elias! He'll be sooo happy!
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Lukas could barely contain his laughter as he read it. 'Poor Klara, she must not know how to write, so she got by as she could. It must be a place for them to meet and there she would ask my father out. Turns out Uncle Karl screwed up, though.' the blonde boy thought.
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October 4th 1778.
Today I went to check what there was in that spot, however, there was nothing. I asked Thomas to dig a hole, but we didn't find anything. I guess I will give it to Elias, so he can figure it out himself.
----
"Oh, so Father actually read the letter," Lukas
murmured. "Let's see what's going to happen next."
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October 7th 1778
Today I saw Klara crying on a corner. When I asked her what was wrong, she said it was nothing and left. I wonder if Elias couldn't find the treasure.
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'Yep! Dumped! Just as I thought. But really, how didn't Uncle Karl figure out what was actually happening? He wasn't dumb, he is writing very well,' Lukas wondered.
After reading a bit more, Lukas arrived to another thing that called his attention.
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August 10th 1780
Today Elias came home very upset. When I asked him what happened, he told me about this girl who he asked out a bunch of times in many ways and she still rejected him. Wow, apparently none of us will a get betrothed anytime soon. We are just lowly nobles after all.
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Lukas raised his brow. 'So the Hügel house is a house of lowly nobles?' he wondered. 'They might be either viscounts or even just barons,' the blonde boy thought.
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April 25th 1784
Oh, I found this book. I thought I had lost it. Actually, I didn't even remember I had it. Well, this may come in handy, I've been very stressed out recently.
I really hate it because everytime I see either my mother or my father stressed out, I feel the same. And they've been particularly stressed these days! I wonder what happened?
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February 20th 1787
Apparently a war is gonna start, and I don't know what to do! I don't wanna go to war, I don't wanna go to war, I don't wanna go to war!
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November 28th 1787
Finally! I am finally out of that hell! Hahaha! I'm fucking free! My only goal now is to get rid of him... that son of a bitch! I'm gonna kill Finn! I'm going to make him suffer so much that he will wish that he had never met me!
HE'S GONNA SEE! HE'S GONNA SEE! HE'S GONNA SEE! HE'S GONNA SEE! HE'S GONNA SEE!
-----
After that, Karl did not write anything else in his diary. Lukas simply sighed and closed the book. 'Well, I wasn't expecting that. It escalated rather quickly,' he thought.
Lukas sighed and placed the diary where it was before. 'Well, I wanna think about what I just read and try to figure out some things, but I'd better go to my room first,' he thought.
Lukas then opened the door and locked it behind him. After that, he stealthily went back to his room. When he got there, he closed the door behind him.
'I'm glad that nobody caught me coming back from Uncle Karl's room. It would've been ridiculously suspicious,' the blonde boy thought.
Lukas then approached his bed and laid on it with his arms under his head as he stared at the ceiling.
'Well, let's skip his whole childhood. Nothing that I have read about seems particularly important to me,' he sighed. 'Fine, first: his parents were rather stressed out at some point. It could be justified by the upcoming war, however, what I do wanna know is: what war? What was Hügel house's opponent? Perhaps the Hügel house suffered a huge loss and that's why Father and Uncle Karl were always mad?' he wondered.
After that, Lukas rolled over and sighed once again. 'Okay, I don't have enough info. It was very inconvenient for Karl to have gone mad right at that point in time! Damn it!' he internally complained.
'Well, I'd better sleep. I have training tomorrow, I can always ask Herman about what happened,' the blonde boy thought.
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Austria, May 3rd 1792
5:31 PM
Both Lukas and Herman were, as usual, sitting on the bench as they talked after the training.
"So..." Herman started. "...have you done it?" he asked.
Lukas just nodded his head. "Yes, I have. Not the way I wanted, though," he answered.
Herman raised his brow. "What do you mean?" he asked.
Then, Lukas told everything to Herman. How everything was going smoothly until Karl had asked Lukas to kill the guy.
Herman sighed. "At least you managed to, somehow, disguise it, however, you could have done it from the very beginning," he said.
Lukas shrugged his shoulders. "Probably wouldn't work as well as in times of war. It actually looked more convincing somehow," he said.
Herman frowned. "What do you mean?" he asked.
Lukas hummed for a bit. After a while, he cleared his throat. "Well, instead of poisoning, France could also try to kill a noble through good and old murder, so a mercenary could have simple barged in the mansion and killed Karl," the blonde boy explained.
Herman nodded his head. "Makes sense," he said.
'I'm so embarrassed, I'm an ex-soldier and this child is teaching me how war works,' the bulky man thought as he looked away from Lukas.
"I also found another thing," Lukas said.
Herman suddenly looked back at Lukas. "What?! What did you find?" he asked.
"I found Uncle Karl's diary," the blonde boy answered.
Herman looked dumbfounded. "So... what did you find out?" he asked.
"If you want me to be honest... not much," Lukas answered. "I found out that the Hügel house went to war a few months before my birth, but that's all. I don't even know the opponent. I was thinking you could tell me about it," the blonde boy explained.
Herman sighed. "I know what you mean, but I don't know anything about that," he said. "I mean, I do know that the Hügel house went on a few battles, but I never thought it was an actual war. Elias never gave me details about it," the bulky man explained.
"Didn't the newspapers say it?" Lukas asked.
Herman shook his head. "Surprisingly not, looks like they were bribed not to tell what was going on. It was quite weird, it's as if it was happening, but at the same time it was not," he said.
Lukas nodded his head in understanding. Right after that, he clenched his fists. 'Damn it! I can never find out what happened!'