Liridia

Chapter 27: Justice for the Unjust

Liridia
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"I feel you haven't been exacting your priorities with as much haste or concern as I would hope, Detective." He accuses from his throne. I keep a stony face as he raises an eyebrow and sighs, drumming his fingers against his thigh.

"This is quite an intriguing case, sire. I have no assistance, my investigations are restricted as it is, and the evidence is limited greatly. I have not been able to examine the body either. So really, so far all I have found is next to nothing." I explain calmly.

He nods, still tapping his fingers against his legs and contemplating.

"Hmmm, well. I have not heard of this information until this moment. You see, we were planning a memorial for Ophelia and Xavier. People and the family. If you don't already know, my first son Xavier was also killed while he was on a business trip near the border of the OtherLands. He was due to return to the castle two passings of the sun ago. He was meant to take the throne after my imminent death." He states clearly, sympathy striking my heart like a slap.

"Come." He utters, pushing himself out of his shiny chair and almost hobbling out of the grand room.

I step in time to walk cautiously abreast of him, pondering the reasons for the deaths of the Queen and her son.

Jealousy, Politics, War, or a Statement of who is really in control. Overconfidence? For intel? A torn relationship? A life for a life? A ritual?

"Why do you say imminent death, if you please sire." I ask, tilting my head to the side slightly.

"Everyone dies, Detective. It seems I might die sooner than expected." He sighs dejectedly.

"How so?" I inquire.

He stops abruptly, causing me to have to turn to meet his eyes. He narrows his eyes at me and I hold his gaze. He shakes his head and massages his temples.

"I might be assassinated, you dalcop." He spits, turning into a hallway an through an arch, to a courtyard. The Earth Garden. That's what Hywel called it.

Dalcop. A particularly stupid person. A, as one would put, 'dull-head'.

I huff and follow him, watching him open a door to a rather clean, bright green garden house.

As I walk through the thoroughly lit garden house, I spot an open silver catafalque. Vines crawling up the curves of the metal and flowers blooming as I watched them with wonder.

Queen Kiida lays still in a slightly frayed ballgown with a green trim. Her eyes closed, a pleasant smile on her sickly pale face. The long sleeves only just cover the cuts on her arms, which are facing the brilliant green of the ceiling window panes.

"It was her favourite garden. She liked the fountain, even if it was the simplest." He says like it were a fact, touching the dress gently.

I rolled up the cuff and sleeve of her dress to observe the cut of her right arm. She had been cleaned in wine and spices, the tang and sweetness reaching my nose, effectively making me stop watching the vines that keep continuing to edge slowly up from the ground to wrap tightly around the casket.

"Was her mother's mother's dress, you understand. Didn't wear it. Just a sentiment." He rubs the fabric in between his fingers.

I accidentally touch her wrist and try not to jerk away at how unnaturally cold it is.

Beneath her frozen fingernails were a thin layer of gritty blood clinging to the underside of her thick fingernails. I lifted her heavy hand and examined the fingers with interest.

"Why would she have blood under her own fingernails? The evidence points to obvious suicide, but why is there blood under her fingernails? A struggle. This is something far more sinister than thought, sire." I decided, opening her mouth to peer inside.

I hadn't the faintest idea of what I was doing, but I had watched people discover my kills before, and tried extremely hard to recall what they did next. If I didn't supply sufficient evidence to his liking, then I would be discarded, and I wouldn't be able to find Aldwin's sister.

There was something in the very back of her throat, shoved so far down her throat that only a flash of white papyrus shone in the green light.

"Do you have medical supplies sire?" I asked, growing excited from my recent discovery.

"Of course. In the infirmary." He said oblivious to why I would even ask.

I raced back through the arch and towards the infirmary, up the steps and through the hallway, to the door that read 'Infirmary.' As soon as I burst in, the familiar faces of the nurses and two head healers turned to me in bewilderment, not recognising my face.

"What will you do about them?" He asked, jerking his head towards the nurses slumped at the door.

"Make then forget they were ever here and send them back to the infirmary." I answered easily. But just how do I do that?

"Holy hells!" Aldwin exclaimed, his eyes flying open. He sat up, wincing as he felt his head, probing with uneasy hands.

"What... happ..." he started, his eyes rolling into the back of his head and falling back down on the floor.

"Medical supplies. Show me them." I ordered. A nurse pointed to a large round table by one of the cots, and I ran over to them, looking for a tool to grab something just out of reach.

Nothing was registering in my mind, just blunt tools that seemed unimportant, but I grabbed a scalpel as one of the healers asked what I needed and the nurses huffed and shuffled back into the next room.

I basically stumbled down the hallway, clutching the thin knife and hoping I don't drop it onto my feet.

I edged past a concerned looking King and peered once more into the Queens open mouth. I stuck the scalpel in as the King, with furrowed eyebrows, asked what I was doing with such a weapon near the Queen.

I half scraped half dragged the papyrus out of her mouth and tried not to gag as I flattened it out, the slime and stench battling the bold aromas of the Queen.

A shiver snuck down my spine and made my toes tingle with uneasiness as I read out the crumpled note.

Justice for the unjust.
Who will die next?
~ Anonymous

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Hey! Vsauce, Michael here!

Sorry, pretty sure that's trademarked, but hey, it's me again.
I told you it would soon until we talked again, and I was right.
So I just wanna thank again all my fans who continue to read Liridia, thanking MasterOfAwesomeness1 and QueenOfPheasants and QueenOfPillowNation for being awesome and making covers and commenting and god knows what else. Can't wait to see you guys again, I finally got the first three books of the throne of glass series, there was a HUGE sale which was buy two get one free, so yeah, I bought them.

Liridia is something special. Something... fun that people like to escape their lives with (well any of my readers like to escape with), and I am really grateful to everyone who still reads.

Thank you! Gracias amigos.

Until next time,
Sayonara