"I know I said I was going to give her the imperial palace and Ghal Maraz, but I didn't expect her to start acting like an empress already," he said to himself as she made her way up the stairs. Watching her backside sway, maybe she had a point staying here a night was not a bad idea. He glanced at the hallway where the corpse lay, and sighed when he realized what he was going to do. 

Minutes later, after finding a shovel and making sure the fencing was secured and the timber doors encircling the garden were closed, he started digging a hole. Up above, he heard porcelain shattering and a curse from Emmaline through an open window. He smiled to himself, but kept his mouth shut and kept digging. The rhythmic noise of iron crunching into soil set his mind at ease, and despite the labor, he felt it was the first time he had actually relaxed in days. Other than the night they had shared engorging on chocolate and alcohol, but even then the siege was never very far from his mind. 

He shoved the spade into the dirt to keep it steady, and turned to grip the corpse by its feet, slowly dragging it into the hole. 

"You don't show it often, but I knew you were the sentimental type," Emmaline said from above, drawing Neil's gaze upwards. She just watched him, her chin resting on her hand. Neil couldn't tell if she was amused or appreciative. 

"Nice try, but I already picked his pockets." 

"Anything good?" She asked. 

"Just a handkershief and like two brass pennies." Neil shrugged, beginning to fill the hole back in. To preserve the dead man's dignity (and Emmaline's view) he tossed the dirt on the shattered head first. The thought of money brought Emmaline's previous statement back to his mind. He glanced her way. "Find anything good up there?" 

Money signs practically popped into Emmaline's brightening face. "They cleaned the place out well, but I found a few gold coins, and a great necklace!" She ducked back into the manor, before popping back out with a thick cord of ringed copper where small gold bars hung, the largest at the center, growing smaller and smaller up the thong. She placed it against her chest as if letting Neil visualize it on her from the stand point of a mirror, fluttering her lashes. 

Neil grinned widely. It looked like that alone made this whole trip worthwhile. "I bet it looks great on you without the top." He said lecherously. 

"Maybe if you finish up out here and put a fire on," She said with a playful smile, and slid back into the manor, closing the window. Neil had to admit that despite her getting him to do more of the chores, she had a point. It wasn't freezing, but it still was not spring just yet. The day was waning and it was getting colder. Neil finished filling in the grave, before making the sign of the twin tailed comet for a brief moment. 

"Whoever you are, may your soul rest in peace." He whispered, before hurrying back in doors with some of the garden cellar's stacked kindling in his arms.