Page 11 of Alone with the Beastly Duke
“You now have only one more question to ask,” Cassian said.
Jasmine took a deep breath. She knew she had to use her last question wisely lest Cassian tried to get even more money out of her.
“Choose your question wisely,” Cassian continued.
Jasmine’s eyes suddenly lit up, and she smiled as she realized what the perfect question was.
“Tell me everything you know about the Nordic Beast,” Jasmine said, smiling.
Cassian’s jaw dropped for a moment, and Jasmine was proud to see that she had outsmarted him. Cassian, however, recovered soon enough and began filling her in with the information she needed.
“Our neighbor, the Nordic Beast, is feared in the Ton, and this is not just because of his height. He is a recluse who neither associates with other members of society nor attends balls. There are rumors that children who wander into his house disappear, never to be seen again. In fact, it is rumored that he eats children for breakfast.”
“That is just ridiculous,” Jasmine argued.
“When he first started living here, people would send him invitations to their balls, but he never attended any of those balls. Not long after, people stopped inviting him to their events because they knew he would not attend. They say that he got married years ago, but even his wife could not stand his cold demeanor, and she tried to leave him. That was when she died.”
Jasmine gasped. “That is unfortunate.”
“Indeed, it is. A lot of members of the Ton, however, believe that the Nordic Beast killed his wife when she tried to leave him.” Jasmine shuddered at the thought of a man killing his own wife. She could not imagine it. “There is no evidence that he killed her, of course, but when has that ever stopped the Ton from believing rumors about people?” Cassian finished.
“How did the Nordic Beast’s wife die?” Jasmine asked.
Cassian held up a hand, a smile on his face.
“You have asked three questions already. I can answer one more if you will give me five more shillings,” Cassian replied.
Jasmine shrugged. “I will; now answer my question. How did the Nordic Beast’s wife die?”
“No one truly knows. She just wound up dead, and everyone believed that he killed her,” Cassian said.
“Do you think he killed her?” Jasmine asked.
Cassian shrugged.
“I suppose, I do not trust the Ton, but it is indeed suspicious that his wife died when she tried to leave him. However, I would say that there is more to it than meet the eye about the Nordic Beast, but since he is so huge, I would suppose he could easily snap her into two with his hands.”
“That is scientifically impossible,” a low, raspy voice said.
“Rose,” Jasmine observed, looking up to see her sister descending the stairs.
“It is possible!” Cassian protested.
“The only way a human could snap another human in two is if the Nordic Beast had a height and size twenty times bigger than that of his wife. Therefore, it is simply a rumor and a lie, just like most things that the Ton believe in.”
“The Nordic Beast is, in fact, very huge and very real,” Cassian argued.
“But he is not huge enough to snap his wife into two,” Rose continued. “Most of the rumors in the Ton are made-up stories that do not make any factual sense.”
“Do you suppose that Lady Essex did not lose her child because she had an affair?” Cassian asked.
“I have read a lot of books on the anatomy of the human body, and I have concluded that it is not factually possible for a mother to lose her child at birth because she had an affair while pregnant,” Rose said.
Jasmine nodded. The story had not made any sense to her either when she heard it. Cassian murmured something about Rose not knowing everything and that there are mysteries in the world.
“I suppose there are mysteries, but a lot of these rumors are simply made to scare people and also to punish people that the Ton does not like,” Rose said with a confident tone that told Jasmine that Rose had given a lot of thought to the things she was saying.
Cassian shrugged. “I do not care anyway. Now, if you will give me my five shillings,” Cassian said, holding his hand out to Jasmine.
