The Crown's Entrapment

Aurelia continued on with her work without a care about her surroundings. Although, she could still feel a certain piercing gaze being directed at her.

'How annoying!'

Ignoring the distraction, she began removing the body's major organs and began checking them over for any pertinent clues. After some time, she frowned as she looked at the lungs of the cadaver. Pulling it out, she then raised it to the light to have a better look.

Her eyes widened. Immediately, she checked the brain and murmured, "He's been poisoned, but not through his food... So how..."

"Are you sure he's poisoned?!" the new Justiciar interrupted.

Aurelia raised her head at him. Flashing him another poker smile, she said, "Can you wait, milord? I'm still checking over the body." She sweetly narrowed her eyes at him. "I'll give you a precise report as soon as I'm done. So please... Shhhhh!"

Returning to the task at hand, she stared at the body's brain. It was indeed some kind of poison. It was one of the rarer kinds that once inside someone's system, it would cause a nightmare to manifest. It would be a nightmare so horrible that it would kill without the victim knowing just for that nightmare to disappear.

Still, the biggest puzzle was that the victim's food was cleared of any type of poison. So where did the poison come from? From what mode of transmission did it somehow enter the body?

Aurelia fell into deep thought staring at the dead body from head to toe for some time. She then touched the cadaver's skin, looking at it closely from head to toe, going down until she reached his leg. There, she saw a bite.

"A rat bite?" she gasped before leaning down to smell the wound. Instantly, she squinted at the head prison guard and instructed, "Bring me to his prison cell this instant!"

Practically bolting, Aurelia immediately grabbed the equipment she would need for direct testing out in the field. She was ready to go as she rushed towards the door when this arrogant Justiciar blocked her way.

"Out of the way, milord," she demanded with a frown.

"You're being rude to me, Lia," he casually said while staring into her eyes. "I'm Lord Calypso. Call me Lord Calypso or Calypso, whichever you prefer."

Aurelia blinked. She didn't like how he was staring at her. It was so annoying. And who even gave him permission to address her so casually? Who even gave him the right to make a nickname out of her actual name?

"Lord Calypso, this case requires an immediate report, so please give way," she coolly uttered, controlling the urge to knock this man out this instant. The screaming arrogance surrounding him was just crawling under her skin. 'How vexing!'

"I will accompany you to his prison cell," he informed.

Aurelia raised an eyebrow as she scoffed, "Then do so. Lead the way and move quickly, Lord Calypso, because if you don't, we might just lose a single piece of evidence we might need to solve this crime."

Aurelia rolled her eyes when this Calypso finally moved out of her way, walking ahead of her with a boring stance. She followed shortly after, instructing one of the guards following them. "Send word to my brother this instant that it wasn't a suicide but a crime," she talked as they walked. "The former Justiciar was killed using  Evernight Poison."

That instant, the guard moved immediately, running ahead of them on his way outside so that he could quickly relay the message. Outside the infirmary, Aurelia saw a carriage and a horse waiting for them. She kept her pace, and without a word, immediately ran towards the horse. Climbing on, she held the reign and made her horse gallop as fast as it could,

"Hey! That's my horse!"

She heard Calypso shout, but she didn't bother to look around. She had to check the prison cell to see if her hypothesis was correct before it all fell apart and degraded. This was why she hated moving bodies from the scene of the crime. These stiff-necked guards just wouldn't listen! But then, she couldn't really blame them since they thought that it was a suicide.

'They need to change the system when it comes to investigations and handling dead bodies,' she mused with a clenched jaw.

Maybe his brother was right. She should come out more often just so she could speak out her thoughts, especially on matters such as this. If she could improve the investigation methods for every case in their kingdom, then it might just be worth it. But then, she still hated talking and explaining about inane matters like this.

Meanwhile, Calypso shook his head as he stared at the woman who just ran off with the mare he just recently chose for himself.

"That woman... I've never met a woman who's as rude as her in my life," he mumbled with a frown on his face. He then looked at the nearest woman who he was sure was an assistant to this head pathologist, "Is she always like that?"

The woman timidly smiled at him and said, "She's simply passionate with her work, milord. She's the best in our kingdom."

"Alright, I'm sure you are to follow her for this," Calypso sighed in annoyance. "Go inside the carriage. I'll simply go in my wolf form since someone had deliberately snatched my horse out from under my nose."

Calypso then started stripping himself from his clothes without a care about his surroundings. "It would be a waste to tear apart this new uniform. Have it sent to my manor," he instructed one of the guards before shifting into his wolf room.

"Let's see how far you could've run away from me..." he whispered with a smirk as he ran after the woman who stole his lovely mare. The woman who had those bright lovely purple eyes... He had heard that the Everetts had adopted a little girl, but then, he hadn't had the opportunity to meet that girl who, according to Gideon, hated going outside.

'What a feisty young woman. Who would've thought that Gideon had an interesting sister?' he mused. 'She looks like she's ready to bite my head off at any time.'

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AN: I will post an AI-generated photo as reference visuals for Aurelia and Calypso in the comment section. Not that perfect but they are close enough... *Tell me your thoughts*wink