The scent of lavender hung in the air, emanating from the hot bath drawn for Lady Irene. Whenever Irene had one of her episodes, as everyone called them, panic attacks, the servants would draw a lavender-scented bath, as they remembered how the adopted lady of the house told them one time how lavender would relieve stress and anxiety and how her birth parents always made sure they had some lavender oil around to help calm her. Since then, the entire household had gone above and beyond for her. Lavender sent bath products, lavender tea, and sweets. They even started growing lavender in the Ironblood’s various manors and vacation homes, and brought fresh ones into her room. Though she felt it was unnecessary (and surprised that this world had lavender), Irene was still grateful that her new family picked up where her birth parents left off.

“Irene, the bath is ready,” Felicia, the cat maid, called out as she ensured the water was just the right temperature.

Irene entered the room, looking drained and emotionless, as if someone had sucked the joy right out of her. In a way, it was after what she discovered earlier. Once she had disrobed, she entered the water, sat down, and relaxed as best she could, enjoying the scent of lavender. Though her body felt relaxed, her mind was still bothered by the letters she and her brother decoded. Her mind kept returning to the note she gave her parents, their reaction, and their decision.

Irene was pacing back and forth, rambling about the hidden message she and her brother had decoded earlier.

“I don't get it! Why would Alex kill his sister?! But the more I look at the evidence, it all points to him! He has a military background; he was the only one in the room with Aoife, and the so-called cuts on his cheeks are most likely from when the princess tried to free herself! Razor shaves don’t leave long cuts like that! And why was that Usagi maid so scared and quiet when I interrogated her! She saw the murder, and he’s blackmailing her to keep quiet! Why else would she secretly give me a message to decode?!”

Charles intervened, grabbing Irene’s shoulders gently to calm her down as he asked, “Calm down, dear, what are you talking about?” 

“Alexander Romanovy!” Irene shouted at her father, causing the man to back away, largely from how loud Irene was. “He… he murdered his sister!”  The poor woman dropped to the floor and started bawling her eyes out, completely upset by all this.

“That can’t be,” Magnolia spoke up, “Why in the world would that fine young man kill his own flesh and blood?”

“Maybe succession issues?” Gesabelle chimed in. Everyone looked at the redhead as if she had committed the murder herself. 

“Why would you suggest a barbaric thing?” Magnolia scolded her daughter.

“Oh come on, it happens all the time!” Gesabelle explained, frustrated by her parents’ naivety, “Remember what happened to great-great uncle Hubert when he tried to off his older brothers?”

“We don’t speak of that stain on our family tree,” Charles spoke up.

“You're forgetting Aoife is Alexander’s younger sister,” Elle pointed out, “If this were a succession issue, why go after the younger siblings first? It would make more sense if Alexander went after Demitri first, as he is the crown prince.”

“Maybe to get her out of the way first before going after the big prize,” Gesabelle argued, “If I were him and wanted the crown, I’d rather be safe than poisoned.”

“But Aoife has no interest in the crown!” Elle reminded them.

“And they’re twins,” Violet added innocently, “Who would want to kill their twin?”

“Both of you, enough!” Charles shouted, loud enough for the neighbors to hear. Both daughters quickly shut up, shuddering at their father’s booming military voice he’d use to scold his children when they misbehaved. “There is no way Prince Alexander would do something so deplorable to his sibling,” he continued.

“But it’s true!” Matthew exclaimed as he gave the rabbit maid’s letter to his father, “It’s right here in the letter!”

Charles took the letter to examine more closely, completely baffled by it.

“Take the first letter of each sentence, and they reveal the real message,” his youngest son explained. 

Charles did as his son instructed and looked at the letters at the beginning of each sentence. His eyes widened slowly in horror once he completed the hidden message in his head. “Surely this is a coincidence.”

“No, it all makes sense,” Irene suddenly blurted out as she stood up, “The Usagi maid was nervous during the interview, so I pretended to fix my makeup and used the mirror to look at the door behind, and noticed the Shere eyeing the maid and Alex said he’d hired him to guard us. I think…I think the Usagi maid saw the prince killing the princess, and he’s threatening her life unless she keeps her mouth shut. That’s why the letter was in my handkerchief I gave her earlier, and she wrote it in hidden code as a provisional measure should the prince get suspicious.”

Irene wanted to cry. No one should ever be threatened like that, and how capable was Alexander? Was he even the Alexander she knew and grew up with?

Charles did what he always did when his daughter got like this; he hugged her and patted her back, silently reassuring her that everything was going to be okay. Magnolia was not far behind and joined in to comfort their child. 

“I’m sorry…” Irene managed to choke out, feeling embarrassed for crying over this. It’s not what Sherlock Holmes would do. 

“Don’t be. Anyone would be upset by this if they were in your shoes,” Magnolia reassured her daughter. She then turned to her husband and asked worryingly, “What are we going to do about this?”

The duke stared at his wife, then at Irene, Matthew, Gessable, and Ella before returning to the letter and said, “We do nothing.”

Everyone looked at the Duke, completely shocked at what came out of his mouth.

Gessabelle was the first to speak up, “You're kidding, right?! You're going to let a murderer waltz about the palace, looking for his next victim?!”

“Who happens to be royalty,” Charles reminded his hot-headed daughter, “I’m not sure if you're aware of this, but accusing any royal of a crime could easily land you in jail.”

“But Alex killed his sister!” Irene spoke out in disbelief, “He should be punished for his crime!”

Charles looked at his daughter. “I understand the law works differently in your home world,” he firmly told her, “but here you can't just press charges against a royal. It doesn't work like that. The royal family is not just nobility; they are the law, or at least sit above it. If a prince commits murder, it's not treated like some street stabbing; it's a matter of the crown’s honor. Arresting a royal without permission from the throne? That’s considered treason."

“But if he did something bad, he should be punished!” Matthew shouted, sounding more upset than Irene, “We have proof.”

"Even if you have evidence, my son, you need the king or queen’s blessing to act on it,” Charles sadly said as he patted his son’s head, “And if the monarch refuses? Then it’s swept under the rug, and you’re told to ‘forget it ever happened.’ Courts won't touch them, guards won't move without orders, and the public? Half of them worship the royals like gods." He turned to his other two daughters and continued, “It’s not about justice. It’s about power—and who would dare to challenge it?”

“That’s a bunch of dung beetles!” Iris suddenly spat out, looking like she was going to explode, “No one is above the law!” 

Felicia flicked Iris for giving away their position, sending the fairy flying a few feet away.

Using her wings, Iris steadied herself before she hit a bookshelf.

“What was that about?!” she shouted at the Neko maid. Felicia simply pointed at the family, and the fairy quickly realized they were caught listening in on them earlier. Charles just looked at the two maids. 

“I have plans on telling the king and queen soon,” he said, “Since we've been friends for a long time, they’ll listen to me. At most, they’ll probably banish him.” 

“That sounds like a slap on the wrist!” Violet shouted angrily as she stopped her foot, something she did when she was angry. 

Magnolia patted your youngest daughter’s head. “I don’t blame you for being angry,” she told her, “but it’s just how things are.”

“If banished, they can make sure his royal title is stripped from him and he never comes back,” Charles added, hoping to comfort his daughter. 

“What if he comes back for revenge?” Matthew then asked, scared at the idea of the prince doing that. 

Charles knelt down to his son’s level. “If that happens,” he said firmly, “the servants in this house will take him down.”

All the servants employed by the Ironbloods had been trained to take down intruders, something Charles came up with when he was younger, to not only save money, but fool the thieves and/or assassins into a false sense of security. Everyone thought he was crazy, but he had the last laugh when a gang of burglars swept through the Capitol and Charles’s servants caught the criminals as they broke in.

Charles then turned to Irene. “ Alex will be punished, just not in the way you hoped he would be,” he told her. He then turned to his entire family and the two maids. “But until then,” he continued, “this conversation never happened.”  He then placed the letter in his coat pocket. “I don’t want word to spread among the other staff members or even outside the manor. As far as I'm concerned, this letter doesn't exist.” he patted his coat pocket as Irene fell into her mother's arms, crying as the rest of her family surrounded her, attempting to comfort her. But no hug could fix the unfair justice system in this kingdom.

Hours had passed since that horrible revelation and her father's decision. Irene cried her eyes out until she was too tired to shed any more tears and fell asleep. Hours later, she woke up with the sun setting and still feeling horrible. So Felicia drew a bath for Irene to help calm the young lady. After one hour of soaking, Irene was out of the tub and in her pink robes with Felicia drying her hair using what looked like a very fancy-looking hair dryer they called a Coiffure blow dryer. Once the Neko maid was done blow-drying Irene’s hair, she began working on a simple low ponytail, preparing her lady for dinner. Normally, Irene would be chatting up a storm with her maid, but this evening she was as quiet as a mouse. 

“Penny, for your thoughts, my lady?” Felicia asked, sensing Irene’s inner turmoil.

Irene was silent at first, but spoke moments later, “I can’t wrap my head around the fact that Alex would murder his sister,” she said, “Just…why? They were like peas in a pod growing up.”

“I don’t know, my lady,” Felicia responded, adding a green bow to Irene’s ponytail, “but if I have to guess, it could be because of jealousy.”

“Jealousy?” Irene asked, completely baffled at the idea. 

"Surely you noticed how active Princess Aoife was in her life,” Felicia continued.

Irene thought for a moment. “True, she was well known for hosting parties, running charity events, and advocating women's sports.”

And it was true. The dead princess was quite the active lady, whom all of Artamita called “The People’s Princess”, basically this world’s version of Princess Diana. 

“Come to think of it,” Irene spoke again, realizing something, “Alex always stood aside and would keep to himself at all events he’d come to in order to support his sister, and just before her death, he seemed quite distant and started not showing up to any event she was hosting. I always thought he was an introvert.”

“Some people are just good at hiding their feelings under a figurative mask,” Felicia said as she brought out a simple but elegant emerald-colored evening dress with lace trims for Irene to wear to dinner. Another thing Irene found annoying was the need to dress up a lot in one day. But it was considered well-mannered to do this among the aristocracy, so when in Rome, as the old earth saying went.

“Now that we have a possible motive,” Irene added as her maid helped her get dressed, “how do we get him?” 

“Your father promised to talk to the king and queen about this,” Felicia reminded her. “Don't forget how delicate this situation is.”

Irene simply smiled, “If there's anything I've learned from studying the laws of the land and reading all those mystery stories,” she said, “it’s that there's always a loophole.”

“I hope you're right, my lady,” Felicia commented as she finished fashioning the last piece of the dress. “Nothing would make me happier than seeing true justice brought to a guilty nobleman.” 

Irene could tell her maid wanted this just as much as she did, but figuring out how was a challenge in and of itself, as many nobles would hide behind the law to not get their titles stripped and thrown behind bars. She can only pray that the Great Mother will show her the way.

As the sun disappeared over the horizon, blanketing the sky with twilight, a predator was on the prowl, scouting the Ironblood manor, eyeing the blonde getting ready for dinner on the first floor. He moved through the darkness like a whisper of death, his eyes fixed on Irene. His kill. His right.