Betrothed To The Prince...

Doubts

The next day in the palace, there was a lot of chaos as the soldier found a body of dead man lying on the bank of river. When Zee was informed about it, he rushed immediately for the investigation. Pete was shaking like a leaf when the news reached him. Ae too rushed to check the matter when it got reported just to be sure that this wasn't another story.

When Zee arrived, he saw the soldiers gathering around the body. "Sir Zee, the soldiers discovered this body while on patrol early morning." One of the Lord reported. "Was there any time gap between the discovery of the body and the soldiers leaving this place?" Zee inquired.

"The second squad was about to resume their duties so the earlier soldiers left the place to allow them to take over." Lord Phan replied. "Hmmm... These people have been waiting for a loop. When they saw the soldiers retreat, they threw the body here and escaped." Zee concluded.

"Hmmm... The person has an injury in the arm. Must be the one you shot. He would have dived into the water to escape but ended up getting drowned I guess." Lord Phan tried to guess. "No, this person was not drowned in water. You can see that his whole features are intact so also there are scares and dried blood all over his body. If he was thrown in the river, the blood would have been washed off. And this is not the person I shot. The people involved in crime are trying to mislead us." Zee stated.

"How can you be so sure?" Lord Phan questioned. "If you see the angle of the arrow, it looks like it had been shot from upwards while I had shot it parallel to the ground. The injury place is also different as mine had hit him at the junction but this one is on the shoulder. Also, see the carvings of the arrow, it's not the one we use." Zee informed.

"Well done Sir Zee... You are really smart." The emperor said stepping into view and looking at the dead body. "Your majesty." Zee greeted. "Sir Zee, you are quick to know that the person is not the same. I am rather proud to have you working for us." The emperor praised.

"Your majesty... I remember the person from yesterday and I remember shooting the arrow at him. It hit him at the junction of the arm closer to the armpit. But if you notice this injury, it's on the shoulder. Also, the arrow have been shot from up and not parallel." Zee cleared.

"Hmmm... they are trying to mislead us. They tried to fool us into thinking that the person whom you shot already died. And when we will be relaxed, they will try to attack again." The emperor spoke.

"Yes... Let the soldiers be ordered to not leave their places till the others arrive. We shouldn't let the criminals to get a chance to enter the place again." Zee suggested. "Alright... Let's return back and hold a serious discussion in presence of all to plan the strategies. We need to be fully prepared." The emperor declared.

"Zee, did the trail you said about yesterday ended here?" Ae inquired. "No... It was somewhere else. How this dead body came here is still a mystery." Zee replied. Ae was about to turn around when he noticed something in the fist of the other person.

"Zee, I think the person is holding something in his fist." Ae pointed out. Zee looked down at the fist to see something shine. He ordered the soldiers to open the fist and take out the thing he was holding. When the soldiers finally managed to open the fist, they found a ring in his hand. They picked it up and handed it to Zee who began to examine it.

"Why does it look like I have seen it somewhere?" Ae mumbled to himself. "Your majesty..." Zee said handing the ring to the emperor. "Father, can I have a look at it? It looks familiar." Ae stated. "Sure... the emperor said handing the ring to Ae. He clearly knew that he had seen the ring somewhere but couldn't recall exactly where.

The emperor arrive back at the palace accompanied by Zee and Phan who were busy discussing about the person whom they found, Ae trailed behind them lost in his own thoughts. Pete, who was approaching the courtroom saw them and immediately understood that something was wrong.