To My faithful murderers,
I have written this letter in case of my unforeseen passing. Do not fret, I am will our dark lord Sithis now. There are many things that I have not told you, things in life I feared to tell you but, upon my death ,find courage. I have a daughter. Her name is Karolina.
Arquen, I know we ve had our differences in the past but I need you to go get her for me. She is high in the Jerall Mountains being taken care of by a friend of mine. He is helping me raise a suitable heir for me. Tell him that the Listener is dead and that the Brotherhood needs it s heir. It will be up to you, Arquen, to finish her training. You are the only one I trust enough to handle this job.
You may be confused by why the Dark Brotherhood needs an heir. The brotherhoods never used such a system. In the past when the listener died, the next highest ranking murderer took his place. This system worked for us for many years but years ago (when I had first joined the brotherhood) the Night Mother came to me, in a dream, a dream as real as day. She told me that I would conceive a child for the Brotherhood and said child will do great things for not only the Dark Brotherhood but the whole of Cyrodiil.
You may be wondering about the child s father. He is none other then our beloved Lucien Lachance, the man falsely accused of betraying our brotherhood. We were lovers only once, mere days before he was killed. He came to me right after I had killed our Listener (not purposefully, I was merely following the dead drops unknowing that the traitor had tampered with them). When he had realised that I was not the mastermind behind this plot but only an unknowing puppet, he forgave me and realised what must be done. I don t know how, when or what occurred but in a flash we were in a fit of passion. Ironically, we used the dead Listener s home as our hideout. I awoke in the middle of the night to my beloved getting dressed in the dark. I asked him where he was going, he caressed by cheek and kissed me softly. He looked into my eyes as if he already knew his fate had been sealed. We made love once more and I fell back to sleep.
In the morning I awoke to the smell of a nightshade flower, I found one on the pillow he had used along with a note instructing me to head to go to the lighthouse in Anvil and get the evidence of the true traitor there and then go to meet him in Applewatch as soon as I awoke. He signed it Yours, Lucien Lachance .
I went to the lighthouse and retrieved the key from the owner. He said a young man lived in the basement and there had been horrid smells coming from his space, he didn t know what went on down there and he didn t care to check. I went down and indeed it was foul. When I entered several rotting corpses littered the ground. When I approached the second door I heard growling, so I instinctively pulled out my blade.
I kicked in the door sending the rabid dog behind in back, it jumped up and lounged towards me. I quickly disposed of the animal and entered the room. More bodies, and worse yet, sitting on a candle laden table, was a woman s decomposing head. I also found a journal of the twisted soul that lived here. Though the journal was filled with the rantings of a mad man, I made out that the head belonged to the traitor's mother, who had been killed by Lucien. The traitor had clawed his way up the brotherhood and was going to kill Lucien and the Night Mother. The clock was ticking I have never rode a horse so fast for so long. I have never been able to make that same time again, possibly, even Shadowmere knew the dangers that approached. I entered the cabin and found five of my fellow murderers surrounding a mutilated corpse. I knew it was him, I suppressed my tears and disgusted and talked to you, Arquen. You had believed him to be the traitor, the five of you were so proud. I did not protest because you would have killed me too. I was still unsure of the traitor.
You said we would go to the Night Mother to find our next Listener. I knew there would be the place the traitor would reveal himself but I was worried that their might be a casualty. Maybe this was callous and crude but I accidentally dropped the head on the ground. Mathieu Bellamount went white, I nearly killed him on the spot, instead I picked up the head and threw it in the flames. He destroyed something I loved and I returned the favour.
We went to the Night Mother and as I predicted, Mathieu made it clear that he was the traitor. As he moved towards or Dark Matron, in one swift movement I grabbed him and slit his throat. The Night Mother was pleased but told me that she knew of him. She knew of his traitorous ways, she knew that Lucien would be blamed, she knew that I would have to kill everyone I held dear at the Cheydinhal sanctuary. My world was shaken, how could she of let these things happen if she knew? It turned out to be a test, for me and Lucien. She wanted to see if I could handle being her Listener, and she tested Lucien s loyalty. In the end we both made her proud. There she told me (when the rest of you had left) that in nine months I would give birth to a beautiful baby girl but I was not to tell anyone, in case of a similar situation.
So I left, I told the sanctuary that I received word that the sanctuaries out in Skyrim were falling a part and that I would be gone for a couple of years, ridding them of traitors and other possible threats. Truth is that I did go to Skyrim, I found a lovely little town that took me in and cared for me during the length of my pregnancy, which went without a single complication.
On a terribly snowy night, in the warmth of my cabin, I gave birth to Karolina. Her skin as blue as night, hair dark like her father s and the eyes to match. She was indeed beautiful. My nurse commented on how intelligent she looked. I prayed that she would be.
I wrote you letters describing my adventures, though all of them were false. I never even set foot in a sanctuary much less kill anyone. I apologize for that but it was for the good of our Brotherhood.
For the next four years I raised her. I coddled her, I sang to her, I kissed her little knees when she fell chasing the neighbour s dog. On her fifth birthday I knew I had to return. I had to leave my precious little girl, my little Karolina whom resembled her father in so many ways. Her pensive look when she tries to figure out which sweet she wants more, the mischievous glint in her eye when she takes another, the smile when you've satisfied her little needs. Without saying good bye to all the people who had helped me in the past five years, I bundled up Karolina and a few possessions and got on Shadowmere and returned to Cyrodiil. I knew of only one person I could trust to take care of my little girl, an old Nord friend of mine. We were playmates as young children, he knew everything about me, except for my new found motherhood.
Now I suspect, when you go and retrieve her that she is a young woman of sixteen. A young woman who would hardly remember her mother and never knew her father. Tell her of me, tell her how courageous and intelligent her father was.
I want to be buried next to Lucien, at Applewatch. Take her to our graves. Tell her that greatness is in her destiny. Tell her not to be scared. Tell her that I love her and will always be there. I carry this letter on me at all times, for if I die, you can give it to her.
My darling Karolina,
If you go into my chambers in the Cheydinhal Sanctuary, there is a chest. The key is hidden on the underside of my writing desk. Inside you will find all the little treasures you brought to me as a child, all the toys you loved and the blanket you slept with every night. These things may not bring you comfort, but they did for me.
You were and are, the best thing I've ever done with my life.
Your Mother and Listener of the Dark Brother Hood,
Theydinya
