All Mother bless you for your kindness, My Lady. Last night was hard on everyone. Especially among those who were close to the Princess. Xceptional was your gesture. Kindness like yours is rare within nobility, as many look down on us. I am deeply grateful you lent me the handkerchief to dry my eyes. Lending your handkerchief was more than just a simple act. Love was in your eyes that day. Everyone should learn from you, especially me. Don’t ever lose that beautiful part of you. Thank you for taking up the task of finding the princess’s murderer. Having you brings me a little peace of mind. Every bit of your skills will bring us closer to the one who did this. Please find them soon so her spirit can rest in peace. Rely on All Mother for guidance in these hard times. I will pray she reveals the truth. Never falter from her teachings, My Lady. Clear your mind if you are troubled, and All Mother will comfort you. Everlasting are All Mothers’ words. 

Sincerely, Loply Fluffington.

P.S. Sorry, I’m shy

Irene repeatedly read that note in the office of her brother Lucas for what felt like an eternity. Since Lucas became captain of the royal guard, he had his own office to do paperwork and other important tasks. It was small but nice as it had good quality items and furniture, from desks to chairs and bookshelves. Irene’s brother requested it because he’d never liked the unnecessarily big spaces in rooms that nobles liked to flaunt to show their status; Lucas had always been more practical ever since Irene first met him.

Irene paced the floor nonstop until Lucas spoke up, “So…are you going to tell us what it says?” he asked, “Or are you going to pace around until there’s a hole in my floor?” 

Irene sat down feeling lost, “I’m sorry, brother,” she apologized, “This letter is just so confusing!” she exclaimed out of frustration as she tossed the letter on the desk. 

Lilith took the letter and read it for herself, “Very wordy for a thank you letter,” the Luciferan commented before returning it to Irene, “I’m afraid we're at a dead end.” 

Poor Irene slumped in a chair, completely frustrated and upset to the point of almost crying. Lucas then knelt to Irene’s level and patted her back. “It’s okay, Irene,” he comforted her, “we all hit a block.”  

“But…the Princess.” Irene choked up, getting emotional. 

“ I know,” Lucas continued, “but she wouldn’t want you to get worked up over this, would she?”

Irene nodded as she dried the tears from her eyes with her handkerchief. Lilith then spoke up, “Perhaps a short break would help? My father would often say When you're stuck on a problem, the best thing to do is to walk away from it for a while. A solution will always come when your mind is calm and clear.”

“Wise words,” Irene commented. She remembered that in the past, when she got stuck, walking away for a while always helped her figure it out. “Can you escort me home, please?” she calmly asked her brother as she stood up, “Familiar surroundings might help me relax.” 

“It should not be a problem,” Lucas said with a smile, “all the Jornos left hours ago.”

“Are you sure that’s ok?” Irene asked, “Aren’t you busy?” 

“You’d be surprised how many times we get assigned to escort someone home,” Lucas reassured his sister, “so it’s just another day on the job.” 

Irene smiled, “I’ll be sure to tip you well,” she joked

“It better be a big tip, it’s tough making a living,” Lucas joked back, causing both siblings to laugh a little.

“If you have an orb, can we click it?” Irene asked Lilith, “It might be a good idea if you find anything else.”

“That's probably a good idea,” Lilith agreed, “I still need to look into a few things.” She then took out her blood-red orb from her pocket while Irene got out her pink and yellow orb, both the size of a tennis ball. The two ladies then clicked orbs together, and their images appeared on them; Irene’s pink and yellow orb had Lilith’s image while Lilith’s red orb had Irene’s image on it. When two people clicked orbs together, their information was transferred to each other. That convenient feature helped in adding new people to the orb’s contact list. Originally, people had to say the other person's name and orb number. The click feature made things a lot easier, as a lot of times people would put in the wrong information, and the image feature. They may not be cellphones, but Orbs were more convenient in many ways. If only they could be a little smaller so they didn’t take up as much room in bags and purses.

“I’ll let you know if I find anything else,” the Luciferan promised.

“Thank you, Miss Nightingale,” Irene said, grateful to Lilith for her assistance.

“Shall we get moving, My Lady?” Lucas asked a little jokingly as he opened the door for his sister.

Tea time at the house of Ironblood. Essentially, it was their world’s version of snack time, only with more fancy-looking light foods served on a three-tier plate stand with a pot of hot tea. Savory sandwiches on the bottom, scones and jam in the middle, and desserts on the top. Sometimes the family would have it together, other times each family member had it alone, half because they were busy running the fief and other businesses, and half to give space and unwind from the stress of said work.

Tea parties were also common social gatherings among the rich and nobility and were seen as opportunities for connections, but mostly it was seen as a relaxing time to hang out with your peers, to bond, and to get to know each other. Irene didn’t mind a few of these gatherings, as one led to meeting Song Zetian. Plus, they tended to be more casual, making Irene feel more at ease. This time, she was having tea in the garden with her little brother Matthew, as she had promised last night that she’d have cake with him. This motivated her brother to get through his math test and pass, so he had a huge smile on his face as he enjoyed his treat. Irene, however, hardly touched her food and tea. No matter what she did, she couldn't relax. Her mind was still on the letter the Usagi maid wrote.

“Are you ok, big sister?” Matthew asked, noticing his sister’s distressed look.

Unfortunately, Irene didn’t hear him, being too hyper-focused on her problem, another one of her habits courtesy of her mental condition. When that happened, her friends, family, and/or servants usually tapped Irene on her shoulders—except for Matthew, who liked to do something else. 

“Irene, what type of snake is that slithering by your feet?” he asked, pointing at the ground. 

Irene freaked out, jumping from her seat and standing on it as if her life depended on it all the while shouting, “Keep it away from me!!!” 

Matthew began laughing at his sister's antics, loving the reactions her face made. 

The moment Irene realized her brother was teasing her, she angrily climbed down, “That’s not funny! You know I hate snakes!” she yelled at him

“But you make funny faces when you're scared like that!” Matthew teased

"You're lucky I love you, cheeky boy,” Irene flusteredly, told her brother as she sat back in her chair.

Matthew simply smiled as he ate his delicious strawberry cake. He may act like a sweet child, but deep down, he was a little prankster. 

“Is something bothering you, Irene?” he asked. 

Irene looked at her brother, “What makes you think that?” She asked back. She didn’t want to worry her little brother, as this was her problem to solve.

“You always have that sad, far-away look whenever something bothers you,” Matthew pointed out, ever observant.

“Yes, something is bothering me,” Irene sighed as she placed her elbow on the table and her hand holding her head in defeat. 

She didn’t want to talk about it with anyone, especially her little brother, but sometimes she forgot how observant her little brother could be, so keeping secrets from him was hard. But Irene didn’t want to worry her little brother.

“One of the maids I interviewed gave this to me hidden in my handkerchief,” she began as she got the letter out and placed it on the table, “I thought she wanted to secretly tell me something important, but it was just a long thank-you letter for lending her my handkerchief.” 

Matthew looked at the letter with curiosity. “Can I take a look at it, please?” he asked

Irene looked at her little brother, debating whether she should let him look at it. Matthew was young, so he probably won't find anything. There was no way he could if she couldn't. But she loved her little brother so much, so she handed the letter to the boy to sate his curiosity.

Matthew took a look at the letter for about a minute or two and spoke up, “Exceptional is spelled wrong…”

This caught Irene’s attention. “What do you mean?” she asked.

Matthew got up and walked around the round table and to Irene and showed her the letter.

“Right there, where it says exceptional with an x,” he explained, pointing at the word, “It’s supposed to start with an e, not an x.”

Irene looked at the letter, “You're right!” she exclaimed, “How do you know what is exceptional?” she then asked her little brother in surprise.

“I’m a spelling bee champion, remember?” Matthew reminded his sister.

Irene slumped, a little embarrassed for forgetting that her little brother was a wiz when it came to spelling. He even had trophies, medals, and awards decorating his room, showcasing his proud achievements. But this was no time for self-pity; Irene now had a new mystery to solve. Irene took the note from her brother to examine it more closely.

“Is something wrong?” Matthew asked.

Irene turned to her little brother, smiled, “Bring that chair around and I’ll show you,” she said, pointing to his chair.

“I like sitting on your lap, you know,” Matthew complained as he got his chair

Irene responded, “I do too.” Irene responded, “Unfortunately, you are getting too big for my lap,” she reminded him

She’d missed those days when Matthew would sit on her lap and read books to him. Unfortunately, everyone had to grow up eventually. But there was no time for moping about how time goes by. Once her little brother moved the chair next to Irene, he sat down right next to her, and she showed him the letter.

“Take a look at this,” Irene said as she pointed to the paper, “Do you see where an eraser was used?” 

Matthew looked closer, noticing the smudge marks, “Yes, but why is it important?” he asked, confused. 

“Well it’s normal to go back and make sure your sentence is good and erase your mistakes,” Irene explained, “So the smudge marks are common in letters like this.” 

Matthew looked at the letter, remembering what he was taught by his governess: everyone, from the king to his servant, must learn how to write properly.

“So why didn’t she fix that mistake?” he asked, feeling confused. But then an idea came into the little boy’s head, “Do you think there’s a hidden message? Like in those books we read together?” 

Irene looked at her brother and then returned to the letter, wondering if he might be right. It would explain why the word wasn’t corrected and why she didn’t say anything. There was a possibility she was being watched. Probably the culprit wants to keep the Usagi quiet, making it possible that she’d witnessed the princess's murder and knows the identity of the murderer. Without warning, Irene got up and walked off with Matthew following right behind.

“Hey, where are you going?” he asked, “What about tea time?” 

“Tell one of the servants to bring it to the library,” Irene shouted back, “I need to decode this message.”

 “It’s impossible!” Gesabelle shouted, squabbling with her sister Ella, “We can’t go to the moon!”

It was common to see those two sisters squabbling over subjects and issues, from unfair working conditions and tax policies their father enacted in their territory, to the issues of female rights. This time it was about magical possibilities involving traveling to space.

“We have magic crystals! They could get us there!” Ella suggested.

“And how are we going to breathe?! Irene said there's no air where the moon is!” Jessabelle reminded Ella, remembering what Irene told them about space.

Before Ella could answer, the two ladies came around a corner leading to the library and found Felecia the Neko and Iris the pixie fae at the doors, peaking into the room.

“What are those maids up to?” Gesabelle asked in a whisper.

“Probably something to do with Irene,” Ella whispered back, “you know how crazy she gets when she gets an idea…” 

Gesabelle nodded in agreement as she remembered how crazy Irene could get when she had an idea. Like the time she tried to make a cookie called chocolate chip and made a terrible mess in the kitchen. They had a habit of being cautious around their otherworldly sister and asked the servants to keep an eye on Irene, just to be on the safe side. 

Gesabelle walked up to the two non-human maids and asked, “What’s Irene doing now?” 

Iris looked at the strawberry redhead. “Looks like Irene is researching a piece of paper,” she answered, “possible for the case, but I’m not one hundred percent sure about that.”

“What makes you say that?” Ella spoke up.

“Because young lord Matthew is assisting Lady Irene,” Felecia responded, pointing inside the library.

Both sisters looked inside and saw their little brother Matthew assisting Irene with a piece of paper. They spied for a few minutes with the maids until Irene stood up and stared at the paper, looking pale, like she saw a ghost.

“Did we do it?” Matthew asked, “Did we decode the message?” 

Irene responded by dropping the paper as tears began to stream down her face. “This can’t be…” she muttered over and over again as she dropped to the ground and began crying and panicking.

“Get mother and father!” The two sisters ordered the maids, who understood and sprinted off, passing by Violet, who passed by in the hallway.

“Hey, what’s going on?” their little sister asked.

“Irene is having another panic episode,” Ella responded.

The three wasted no time and ran inside to comfort their sister, something they all did whenever Irene got like this. It wasn’t long until their parents arrived and joined in.

“Thanks,” Irene managed to mutter, in between tears.

“What happened?” Matthew asked worriedly, “Did I do something?”

Irene shook her head.

“What was it, dear?” Magnolia asked, worried sick about Irene.

Matthew picked up and brought the letter to their parents. “We were decoding this letter,” he explained.

Charles looked at the message with the letters in red circles, “What’s so upsetting about this letter?” he asked.

“The real message…” Irene responded as she handed a small piece of paper.

Charles took it and read it aloud, feeling confused and scared.

“Alex Killed the Princess.”