The charming baron.

No one is born evil, or so they say.

In a city by the sea, in a beautiful stone manor on a cliff, the young baron was born. From early childhood he was provided with anything other children only have dreamt of, but he only seemed to care about the sea. He always told his parents that he had a friend there who whispered to him and made him stronger and wiser.

When he turned sixteen his parents perished in a sea accident, their ship drowned and there were no survivors. He became the baron.

King of the land was concerned, but only after one meeting with the young man he gained confidence. This young man was witty, charming and confident.

Several years passed and the king grew increasingly fond of this incredible young man. So much that he was considering marriage between the baron and his sixteen year old daughter.

In the last year a small crisis developed in the city, many poor farmers and citizens were going mossing, and this distracted the king, but once again the young baron was there to improve things. The baron threw a feast for all the nobility and the king’s family.

Never had the king and others ate such delicious meals and when asked to speak to the chef, the young baron said that he could not reveal his secrets, otherwise others could throw such a feast as well.

The nobility became obsessed with the young baron’s feasts and gatherings, they eagerly waited each month for the next one, meanwhile the king’s daughter, the princess, fell in love with the young baron.

Another year passed, the king had his hands full with the situation of missing people, it had gotten worse, but his headache was eased when finally the baron and the princess wed. King was happy to know he had such an incredible young man added to his family.

The following feast the princess asked young baron to show her the kitchen where the feast meals were made. He acted secretive and repeated to her that no one can go into that part of the manor, which was below the first floor. Only he had the key and always observed as the servants brought the dishes.

Only then the princess noticed something strange about the servants. They only appeared during the feasts. Their cloths were long and covered their whole body and they always wore masks. After asking her husband about masks, he was again evasive and told her he wanted to create his own special tradition.

One of the feasts the princess hid behind the stairwell and waited until the last waiter passed. She proceeded to sneak down the grey stone stairs spiraling down. On the way she saw strange paintings on the walls, mostly depicting horrible sea creatures and monsters. One of them shower a sea monster destroying a ship with was eerily familiar to the one baron’s parents use to have. As she got to the bottom there was another heavy iron door. She hid in the shadows of a dark corner and waited. The servants came back and as the last one entered she snuck right after him and hid behind a large barrel.

The horror she saw after paralyzed her. The back wall had an opening connecting the home to the sea. Inside large crates lay many dead human bodies. On top of long tables this food was made, the servants all turned into human size tentacle beasts, they cut up the humans and used ovens and fire to make the dishes, they worked incredibly fast. They would add salads and spices to the final products and take it back up stairs. These were the poor missing people from around the city and farms. She sat there shaking and then she felt a hand on her shoulder, it was the young baron. For the first time his face was not kind or happy, he stared at her with eyes that became black, his chin dropped and he told her that it saddens him to do this. The baron murdered her and then his servants picked up her lifeless body. He ordered them to get rid of all the bodies by giving them to his friend in the sea and to clean and scrub the basement to perfection. He took up the last dish himself.

Back upstairs the baron sat back at the table as he watched the king eat his dish with pleasure. The baron was gloomy, the king asked him what was wrong for he hadn’t seen him this way even when his parents died. The baron to the king’s surprise simply wished the king a good rest of the feast and excused himself.

This was the last time anyone saw the young baron. Many had discussed what happened to him and the princess, but no one could ever know for sure.