Chapter 26 – Cesare Mercurio
I am poisoned. These are among the last words I will write, my fingers are frail, I have no force left, my body is burning. The illness that started yesterday evening dilated within me, and I am dying.
It is still dark outside, and I don’t know if I will live to see the light of the day.
My beautiful Iryssa is with me now, her eyes are red and swollen with grief, her cheeks are wet with tears. She has ripped the necklace off my neck, I don’t know why.
“I will tell you…”, she begins, but her voice breaks
“Do not cry, my precious pearl”, I say
“How could I be so blind”, she cries, cupping her hands around her face.
“Ricco Ermete, that liar and impostor, misguided my stolid mind and killed you!”, she continues
“Your mind is not stolid…”, I whisper
“He told me he loved me, I thought I loved him too. It all happened so rapidly, I should have doubted the truthfulness of my feelings, the honesty of his words…the other day I told Ricco Ermete that I could not confess my love for him to you, because you feel so strongly for me. It was then that Ricco Ermete gave me the necklace, that cursed necklace! He told me there was an antidote in it, a potion that could cure you from the love of me so that he and I could live happily together without guilt. An antidote! Only charlatans talk about antidotes, and only ignorant men and women believe charlatans! How could I? But I did, and now you are dying, killed by the poison I gave you…”, Iryssa sobs
“I know I have been poisoned”, I say, feeling not fear, but the regret of a life wasted without reason
“I woke up in the middle of the night, sweating, and I sensed painful vibrations in the apparent stillness of the night. I ran out and my feet brought me towards your laboratory. I noticed that somebody was in there, with a small lantern in his hand. The man’s movements were rushed, as if he feared being discovered, and I immediately understood that you could not be the man I was seeing. I waited outside, holding my breath, and a few moments later Ricco Ermete came out of the rooms, his hands full of your stolen belongings. I screamed, and for a moment he stopped short, startled. Then he burst out in a fit of demonic laughter. ‘Did you really believe I was interested in you? I never considered you a clever woman, but you are dumber than I thought! You’ve served me well though! I appreciate your contribution in poisoning your man with his own mercury salts! Ah, what a perfect crime!’. So he said, before donning a mask and disappearing on his carriage”, Iryssa tells me
The pain is excruciating now.
Ah reader, darkness is falling upon me…