The journos were all outside the gate eager to interview Irene Ironblood over yesterday’s 300th-anniversary ball disaster. But all that came out of the gate was a brown-haired middle-aged woman driving a wooden wagon filled with cartons of milk and eggs. They ignored her since she wasn’t who they were waiting for. Once she was far away from the manor, she turned to one of the crates and said. “You know, Lady Irene, this has got to be your craziest stunt yet.” 

“You can thank Henry Brown for that, I got the idea from him,” Irene’s voice spoke from inside the crate. She was all cramped and uncomfortable, but it did help get her past the Journos. “He was a slave that escaped to freedom by mailing himself.” 

“Wow, gotta say this Henry Brown was clever.” 

“Still, I’m sorry for bothering you about this, Mina” Irene apologized, feeling bad. 

“There’s no need to apologize, you know I will always help out your family when they're in trouble,”  Mina reassured Irene. 

It wasn't long before the wagon arrived at the palace servant's entrance with two guards and a familiar captain waiting for her. They guided her inside, parked the wagon near the entrance to the kitchen, and helped Irene out of her claustrophobic hiding spot, her hair all messed up from being crammed inside the crate. 

"Thank you for the assistance," Irene thanked the two guards who responded with "’ Twas our duty, Madame." 

"Gotta say, that hairstyle suits you well," Lucas joked.

"Ha ha, very funny," Irene grumbled while trying to fix her hair. 

"Relax, sister. I had some of the maids prepare a room for you to fix yourself up," Lucas reassured his sister. 

"You are a lifesaver, brother," Irene said in gratitude.

Once inside, Irene made her way to a spare room that was all prepared for her to fix her hair along with a palace maid inside, who is a lupo, a wolf beastman. She had shiny, short, gray hair, wolf ears, and a tail, as well as shiny gold eyes. Irene thought that she looked very pretty.

“Greetings, Irene Ironblood. My name is Jessica Ylva. I’ve been assigned to fix your hair by Captain Ironblood,” the maid greeted Irene as she curtsied.

“Greetings to you as well, and thank you very much,” Irene smiled, grateful for her brother for doing this for her. Irene sat down and Jessica began fixing her hair. While she was fixing her hair, Irene was thinking about last night. Specifically, the second prince Alexander Romonovy, and his attitude. 

Alexander had been very rude and acted like a jerk all night, but he had just lost his twin sister so this could be him grieving. Hopefully, he’ll behave better after a moment to properly grieve. 

Still, that rabbit maid, Loppsy, seemed close to the prince. Could it be that they were secretly in a relationship with each other? It wasn’t uncommon, but at the same time, it was not looked happily upon by some nobles.

Irene knows she’s supposed to look into the death of the princess, but she can’t help but be curious about that. Last she checked, servants, working in the palace love to gossip as it helps get them through the day. Perhaps they would know something? 

“Hey, I have a question,” Irene spoke to Jessica. 

“Is there anything you need?” Jessica asked as she was brushing Irene’s hair.

“Well, I’m a little concerned about Prince Alexander. He was very rude and snappy towards everyone yesterday. Is he doing okay now?” Irene asked, trying to hide her real intentions. 

“He seems a bit better today after Loply took him to his room,” Jessica replied. 

“That’s good,” Irene smiled. “They seem to be very close with each other.” 

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I noticed how Alexander was very clingy towards Loply. It makes me wonder if those two are secretly lovers or something,” Irene explained. 

“Hmmm…to be honest, I’m not so sure,” Jessica admitted. “But I overheard something last night. Something about her boyfriend breaking up with her.” 

“Really?”

“I’m sorry, I don’t know much about it. You’re going to have to ask Mrs. Nightingale about that, I heard she was there,” Jessica said as she fastened the last hairpin onto Irene’s bun to keep it in place. “All done, Your Grace.”  

Irene looks at herself in the mirror, satisfied with Jessica’s work. “It’s missing something,” Irene said as she grabbed her beret with two pink roses on it and a small, aqua-green veil on the side and placed it on top of her head. 

“Now it’s complete,” Irene smiled before turning to the maid who helped her out. “Thank you for helping me.” 

“The pleasure is mine, Your Grace,” Jessica bowed to her before walking towards the door. “Now follow me, your brother and the crown prince are waiting for you.” 

“Okay,” Irene was feeling a little nervous about the whole thing. But because she made a promise to bring the killer to justice, she needed to see this through.

Quashing her anxiety, Irene followed Jessica out of the room.

It was time for her to solve this mystery.