The Kind of Evil

Rasmus sat at the table, tilting his head and crossing his arms, staring at the Jester who sat across from him. Ayla was on the side, watching those two from the corner of the room after she carefully brought the Jester into the inn. It was a task that took her more effort than anything else because of how eccentric the Jester was, even on silent nights, his presence was like a sore thumb.

"It has been a while, isn't it?" The Jester giggled mischievously, covering his mouth and shaking his shoulder as he laughed. "Seeing you're here already and summoning me, that means you have prepared the stage for me?" He titled his head, his eyes were wide open, his pupils shrunk in excitement.

Ayla still couldn't get used to the Jester's eccentricities, but when she glanced at Rasmus, he didn't even show any reaction. She realized Rasmus's calmness was beyond her level, even the Jester felt uncomfortable by his calmness.

Rasmus raised his hand and flicked his fingers, pulling the invitation letter from thin air. He slowly put it on the table and slid it toward the Jester without breaking eye contact. However, when the Jester was about to take the letter, Rasmus moved the letter to the side. The Jester slowly looked up at him with a cold gaze, hatred, anger, and killing intent oozed from that gaze alone.

"What's your plan," Rasmus asked, staring into the Jester's eyes.

"My plan?" The Jester slowly stood up and pushed his hands on the table. With sheer strength, he cracked the table and glared at Rasmus with his veiny eyes. "I will give them the best performance that they could ever receive. I will let them laugh, laugh loud enough to make them forget how their necks have been slit open. I will make them laugh as death comes to take them away!" He continued, his eyes slowly turning red because he hadn't blinked his eyes for a while.

Ayla who heard the revelation was shocked, finding out that the Jester planned on killing the royal family during the coming-of-age ceremony. She didn't expect that Rasmus would give such an opportunity to someone else when he was the one who experienced the cruelest of cruelty of the royal family. When she looked at Rasmus, she saw nothing but calmness while the Jester showed his true color, realizing that Rasmus didn't care much about who killed the royal family.

"I heard that Nemu had come to visit the palace. Do you still think you can achieve that?" Rasmus asked, staring at the Jester with a stoic expression. "Did you know that demons would be there to protect them? Do you have the skill to pull that off even after knowing that?" He added.

The Jester responded with a huge grin on his face, there was nothing sane about him.

"You don't have to worry about that, I know what I'm doing. You can just watch and enjoy the show, Lord Vije..." The Jester giggled mischievously.

Rasmus could see the uncertainty in the Jester's eyes, but there was also confidence, the confidence that whatever it took, he would have made sure he killed the royal family even if it cost him his life. Rasmus closed his eyes as he slowly removed his hand from the letter, allowing the Jester to take it.

The Jester took the invitation letter and stared at it with a huge grin on his face. His pupils were shaking as if he had been waiting for this moment his entire life.

Ayla wondered what drove the Jester to have such a deeply rooted hatred toward the royal family. She didn't expect the Jester to have such strong emotions if she hadn't watched everything unfold in front of her.

"There's one request that I would like to ask you," Rasmus said as he leaned back, making himself comfortable in the chair.

"Oh? A request from my patronage?" The Jester tilted his head as he sat down and mimicked Rasmus's gesture, crossing his arms and leaning back.

"You will be coming with me, to stay by my side until the time comes where I will let you perform in front of the royal family all the guests," Rasmus said calmly, crossing his legs. "You want the royal family's heads, and so do I, but there is something else that I want. Not from the royal family, but the one that pull the string from behind, he pointed out as he straightened his back. "Can you do that?" He asked with his brows raised.

"Ah, that's quite dangerous, Lord Vije. This continent is on the brink of collapsing, and there are rumors spreading that the Holy Nation is inviting all the most influential families in the world. If you're putting your nose in a place where you shouldn't have, I'm afraid that you have to sleep with one eye open," the Jester warned as he giggled mischievously. "However, for your request, I will comply..." He smiled as he stood up before he bowed his head and placed his right hand on his chest.

Rasmus slowly got up from his chair and glanced at Ayla, nodding his head.

"We will meet here again, in three days," Rasmus said, and then walked away to go upstairs, leaving the Jester alone with Ayla.

Ayla escorted the Jester out of the inn, and made sure the Jester wore the cloak and hid his whole eccentric attire. She then looked over her shoulder to the second floor where Rasmus stood in front of the window with Aris and Rullein beside him. Those three were staring at them with stoic expressions until Rasmus decided to close the window.

Ayla walked beside the Jester who suddenly became oddly quiet, not even a sound of his footsteps or breathing. It was the first time she saw the Jester quiet, so quiet that it made her feel uncomfortable. She glanced at the Jester, but she couldn't see his face because of the hood he wore.

"You're not going to ask?" The Jester asked, breaking the silence.

"Ask? Ask about what?" Ayla asked back, knowing exactly what the Jester was asking, but chose to let the Jester elaborate.

"Why do I want to do this," the Jester answered, his voice quiet, almost like a whisper. "Your eyes were pointing at me the whole conversation with Lord Vije. You must be wondering, and seen it when I spoke with him," he added.

"Yes," Ayla nodded, her eyes never stopping glancing at every corner, alley, and roof of the buildings. "But I'm not going to ask. It's none of my business," she shook her head.

The Jester slowly turned his head toward Ayla with his creepy and cold smile. He stared at her for a few seconds without blinking his eyes. It creeped Ayla out, but she chose to ignore it because she knew the more she showed her discomfort, the more the Jester would play with her emotion.

"However, I'm curious..." Ayla said, breaking the silence as she turned her head to look at the Jester's creepy smile and gaze. She tried to stay calm like how Rasmus did it, but she couldn't do it, not even lasting for a second before she averted her gaze from the Jester's face.

"What do you think, little miss? Can you make a guess?" The Jester asked, slowly turning his head and focused on the path in front of him.

"Did you lose someone important?" Ayla asked, stealing a glance at the Jester.

"In this kind of world, who's not losing experience of such a thing? Everyone must have lost someone precious in their lives. However, you're right, but not entirely right," the Jester answered, his voice suddenly becoming deep and heavy.

Ayla hummed, nodded in agreement. The world they were living in, people killed each other like it was nothing. It was a normal thing to have here, and rather than grief for those who died, they just believed those who fell were the unfortunate.

"You don't have to escort me anymore, little miss..." The Jester said as he fastened his walking pace. "You have done your job, and I believe you should get some rest now," he slowly looked over his shoulder at Ayla, giving her a soft smile before he walked into a dark alley.

Ayla was surprised when the Jester made such an expression on her face. She also knew that the Jester had disappeared into the night since she couldn't feel his presence anymore. She then took a deep breath and decided to head back to her hiding place.

"Three days, Rasmus. Three days until you can finally get rid of the ones that kill your whole family," Rullein said as she sat on the edge of the bed. "We are going to kill everyone, right?" She asked with a smirk on her face.

"Yes, everyone..." Rasmus nodded as he sat at his desk. "War is coming, but this time there will be a lot of parties, unlike in South Neva. I can sense there will be more blood here than there," he said, staring blankly at the wall.