The halls of the palace were mostly quiet. Normally you’d hear some gossiping maids and servants, however, today they all looked melancholy. Irene didn’t blame the servants as Aoife was known for being kind to the staff, thanking them for their hard work every time she passed by; she wasn’t called the people’s princess for nothing. This made Irene even more determined to find the murderer and bring the scum to justice. 

Right now she was standing in the deceased princess’s very pink room, complete with pink curtains, light pink walls, hot pink carpets, curtains and canopies. If that wasn’t an indication that Aoife always loved the color pink. She also wore pink clothes every day whenever she could. The room was a mess, most likely from the struggle the poor princess had to endure. Vases were broken, a few pieces of furniture were tossed around, and the curtains and canopies were all torn down.

”You sure no one has entered this room since last night?” Irene asked her brother. Before heading home Irene asked the royal family to make sure the crime scene was untouched so that she could gather the evidence to find the culprit. 

“I made sure this room was guarded all night, there were guards outside the door and even the balcony- everything's in its place,” Lucas reassured his sister. 

“Good,” Irene smiled, happy that her brother kept the crime scene preserved. “By the way, is Dimitri with his family?”

“He says he’ll be right over after prayer with his family,” he paused. “I wouldn’t blame him if he’s in there for a long time to be honest.”

“It’s okay if he does, the royal family needs him,” Irene sighed a little, she had wanted to see him to make sure he’s okay. But that would have to wait till after her investigation. 

She walked out to the balcony where Aoife was hung where part of the rope that hung the princess was tied to the bedpost. Yesterday, some palace guards cut the princess down and Irene was glad they didn’t disturb that part because she saw something interesting about the knot tied to the wooden bedpost.

“Hey, Lucas take a look at this knot,”  Irene motioned to her brother as she walked closer to the bedpost and squatted down to eye level with the knot. Lucas walked right over and squatted down next to Irene. 

“What is it?” he asked.

“This is a power cinch knot right?” 

“Yeah, I learned how to tie that in my days in the military academy. Why?” 

“Well, whoever killed the Aoife made it look like suicide was someone who most likely came from the military,” Irene explaned. 

Lucas looked confused, “You can tell all that from the knot?” 

 “Do you know of any servants that have military experience?”

“None of the servants as far as I’m aware of,” Lucas responded. “Wait, are you saying the murderer could have been a palace guard?” 

“That, or a noble who has been in the military or was a student of the royal military academy, ” Irene suggested. “It narrows down our search, but only slightly as there were many nobles, royals, and guards last night.” Irene sighed as she got up and moved on to a different part of the room. 

The vanity mirror in the corner not far from the bed was on the ground broken along with a few broken pieces of furniture nearby. “This must be where the struggle took place.” Irene guessed while observing the mess. 

“That reminds me, why was she up here in the first place?” 

“Well, according to the servants, she accidentally ripped her other dress while she was dancing and Prince Alexander used his coat to hide the big rip and escorted Princess Aoife to her room to get an emergency dress.” Said ripped dress was on the bed; another pink dress with a lot of ribbons and ruffles. 

Her eyes then wandered to the doors to the chamber room. Alexander was up here the night Aoife was attacked. He had to leave to use the bathroom and when he returned, he saw his sister jumping from the balcony with the rope tied around her neck. 

“Hey, bro, can you make some loud noise?” Irene asked as she entered the chamber room. 

“What? Why?”

“Just do it,” Irene said as she closed the door. Lucas knew his sister too well and did as he was told and hit the nearby wall hard a few times. Irene came out seconds later.

“I heard that, I think the prince is lying.” 

“What? What do you mean?” Lucas asked.

“Prince Alexander said he was in the chamber room before walking out to his sister jumping, right?” Irene asked her brother.

 Lucas thought for a second and realized something. “Yes, but we know for sure she was murdered, so if he was in the chamber room…” 

“Why didn’t he hear the commotion going on in the next room?” Irene finished.

“Perhaps the perpetrator casted a soundproof spell so no one would hear him or her killing her highness?” Lucas then suggested. 

“Good point, see if you can get an expert here. I remember reading that when a spell is cast and later removed, a trace of mana would linger in the area for a few days,” Irene suggested. 

“Okay I’ll call for someone to have a look,” said Lucas, writing it down in his notebook. Irene then walked towards a standing mirror that was knocked on the ground with the glass shattered everywhere. 

“Looks like Aoife was attacked while she was getting ready,” Irene figured looking around. 

“How can you tell?” Lucas asked walking up to his sister. 

“Well other than the broken mirror on the ground and the tossed furniture, there’s a flower hair accessory right by the broken mirror,” Irene said pointing at the pink flower hair accessory on the ground among the broken mirror glasses. Other than the pink flower there was another thing that caught Irene’s attention, a larger and long piece of broken mirror glass on the ground with blood on it.

“Hello, what do we have here?” Irene crouched down while putting on her special leather gloves to not contaminate the evidence when she picked up the shard. 

“Look at this.”

“I can see it, but there doesn’t seem to be any cuts on the princess so the blood can’t be hers,” Lucas pointed out. 

“Maybe not, it could be the perpetrator's blood,” Irene held the shard like it was a knife and pretended to attack someone behind her. “On the other hand, it’s possible that she used this shard to defend herself, gripping it very tightly.”

“In that case, whoever attacked her might still have that fresh scar on them. Possibly on the face since she was attacked from behind,” Lucas deduced.

Irene was silent for a bit, before standing back up and removing her gloves. “Has the body of the princess been sent off to the church yet?” 

“Yes, last night. Why?” 

“I’d like to check something on her body to confirm something else,” Irene explained. “You see, back in my home world they would examine the body to figure out how someone died or look for other evidence. I think there may be more clues that can help with the case that we won’t be able to find here.” 

“Interesting, but that might be a problem if they're starting to prepare the body for burial. I’m not even sure if the royal family would approve that,” Lucas pointed out. 

“I see, then I’m going to have to ask permission to examine the princess,” Irene declared. 

“You’ll have to ask permission from the church,” Lucas warned her. “As far as I know they can be very sensitive to anyone messing with the dead.”

“I know… by any chance is a counselor from the church with the royal family right now?” Irene then asked. 

“I think so,” Lucas guessed, it’s common within their church for a counselor to be with someone who is grieving the recent death of a loved one. “I’ll ask them for a way to see the body then.” 

Irene smiled, thanking the Great Mother for that convenient coincidence as it would be difficult to see anyone working at the church without an appointment. 

“I wouldn’t get your hopes up if I were you,” Lucas warned Irene as he followed his sister out to the hallways. 

“That’s for me to decide, but I’m sure there are exceptions to find who killed them,” said Irene. 

“It’s up to the church if they're okay with this,” Lucas said, praying in his heart for the church to open their hearts and minds.