Imagine if, while you investigate the old couples family you hear strange/unpleasant rumors about them and the family
Then you finally track them down, maybe still via the scribe, or just by nosing around
Maybe throughout you find more about the family and the dead husband
Upon encountering them you find a nice grandparently couple who are as nice as anyone else, just a little more trod on by life than the average, them finding out their son was executed and all that, or maybe you bring the news to them and depending on how you tell them or based on your skills you can make it sound worse or better to either make sure they know their son was a total scumbag or prove to them that he was the son they always remembered, just strayed off the proper path and unlucky
Maybe the old couple are reformed, or it might be that their sons reputation preceeded him, maybe they just want a new servant and act as though they would take care of her but actually just abuse her
You bring elishka to them and a bit later you are told she ran away, and have to track her down, or is back with hermann, maybe she was sold off by the family to another abusive husband
To go even further maybe you find out about some survivors of elishkas family and they really are crappy to you, but upon furthur probing you realize they too are bitter and cautions about a stranger bringing news about a relative they;ve never even heard of. You go back to elishka to find proof or bring a letter or something that you dictate to either party pertaining to knowledge only elishka and her dead kin would know.
Now we come back to a much better dilemma, a seemingly kindly old couple who she knows nothing of and they know nothing of her, her real family who might be human trash or be begrudgingly accepting of her or maybe they want her back, but they are too far away and she is unwilling to leave due to lingering feelings for hermann or something, and finally the option to have her stay with hermann, who very clearly loves her
That last option however I would love to see more resistance on her part, maybe a side quest/objective to at least lessen the bad reputation of the executioner, maybe he buys the taverngoers a round or two (with a bit of herny’s sponsorship?) or someone who needs a bone set or a group attacked by cumans come by and he needs to take care of them, elishka helps and they bond over that
Something along the lines of those
Man that was fun to write.
Anyways I just thought that there was a huge missed opportunity there.