This story takes place after Dishonored 2, and specifically follows on the nonlethal approach to Chapter 8 of the game, playing as Emily. I have not played Death of the Outsider, and I'm too broke to likely do so soon, so any contradiction between the events of that game and the world established here is what it is.
Five years after Emily Kaldwin's fateful trip to Karnaca, Duke Luca Abele had never slept better.
Well, the man who had been born Luca Abele probably had little rest at night, sleeping with other madmen in the cold walls of an asylum, stripped of his name by those who deemed him insane for claiming it. It was the Duke Luca Abele who had taken the name by force who slept well, cushioned on a plush mattress within the walls of a mansion like none other in Serkonos.
Living the life of a duke—one who tried to actually honor his role as the steward of his people—was far from stress-free, of course. Paolo's death and the Overseers' subsequent systematic elimination of the Howlers hadn't gotten rid of crime in Karnaca, just splintered it into smaller gangs that were nearly impossible to track down. Every so often, vigilantes would pop up to fight these criminal elements, usually claiming inspiration from Corvo or the Crown Killer or the masked figure who had stole through the streets of Serkonos five years ago, whispered by some to be Billie Lurk or Alexandria Hypatia or the truth, the Empress Emily Kaldwin. They usually caused more harm than good, and the same could be said for the Overseers' merciless actions against them, which often invoked protest from citizens sympathetic to the vigilantes. The public policy of the island was still a mess, and even the new Luca's best efforts often tangled as many matters as they untangled. The old duke's legacy would not soon be forgotten.
Yet even as these issues persisted, the future of Serkonos was looking brighter and brighter with the slow creep of progress from year to year. Empress Kaldwin had generally honored his demand for the autonomy to put Serkonos first, and their occasional clash over policy usually resolved with a reasonable compromise. It was a small price to pay for her continued support for the region. Although Luca still lived in the elaborate Duke's mansion and couldn't deny how much he enjoyed it, he had downscaled its operations and sold off many of its most extravagant luxuries to funnel the money back into Karnaca's economy. He had been compelled to lay off some of the extraneous staff, but those that remained seemed happier than they had been under the old Duke's reign. Luca wondered how many of them suspected what had happened—he had done little to conceal the abrupt shift in governing policy—but none ever spoke up about it.
Nothing was perfect, because nothing ever is. But most things weren't looking too bad.
He should have known to expect a wrench in his plans. And in some ways, he did, lingering apprehensions coloring his minute monitoring of the empire. But Duke Luca Abele was so focused on the present and future of Serkonos that he never expected the ghosts of his past to come back and haunt him.
One ghost, in particular. One ghost who could threaten everything he had built.
On a cold January night, that ghost slipped back into Karnaca, and for the first time in five years, there were two dukes in Serkonos once again.