First Case

The carriage stopped at the outskirts of the Diremoor village. The three councilmen and a councilwoman marched towards the heart of the village where the murder occurred. 

On their way to the crime scene, a few people bowed to Evelyn recognising her to which she nodded back. Alfred who wasn't aware of her being a princess realised now and gave her nervous looks. 

Evelyn chuckled mentally. She knew the reason behind his nervousness. After all, during the council's second examination, he had listened to the imposter and attacked Felix. Well, she never judged him for that as who knows what lies the imposter fed him for him to trust. 

She remembered Earl's words and tried to figure out Alfred's mistakes. According to her contemplation, in order for himself to be safe and to get rid of the imposter quickly, Alfred placed his trust, but on the wrong person. Feelings to be safe and end the task quickly, clouded his mind. 

Evelyn sighed mentally as she thought about it and hoped she never made the mistakes that Alfred did. 

Soon they came to halt in front of a small house. Entering it, they found the body of a young man, lying dead on the ground. 

"Holy Lord! It was indeed a murder," Alfred remarked, looking at the body. 

From the appearance, it looked like someone had slit his throat. The three council people put on their hand gloves and began the investigation. 

The house was small with only one room and a kitchen. The body lay at the entrance of the kitchen and hall door. Elric sat in a crouching position and observed the cut at the body's neck. 

"Slitted his throat, blocking the oxygenated blood reaching the brain," he remarked. 

Evelyn looked sympathetically at the young man. If hadn't prepared herself to witness a dead body, by now she would have fainted seeing the blood splattered around the body. She thanked Earl mentally for making her strong enough to face any situation, after all, he was Lord Renaud's soldier trainer. 

"How long he might have struggled before..?" She stopped herself from completing the question. She felt strange to say it bluntly like other councilmen and hoped she would get used to it soon. 

"Thirty seconds to one minute. He might have struggled initially but after being unconscious he might have died within one minute," he replied. 

"How do you know that he was unconscious?" Evelyn frowned at him, curious about how he knows so much. 

"This is the very common technique used in the killing. There might be many cases dumped in the council's record room, whose postmortem report mentions the same," Elric replied and stood up. She nodded in understanding. 

Meanwhile, Alfred marked the body's position with a white chalk piece. Evelyn investigated the room along with Elric trying to find the murder weapon. 

According to her knowledge, it can be any sharp tool or a string that can slit the throat with ease, but couldn't find anything. 

"I suggest we enquire with the neighbours and magistrate," she said after some time. 

"I agree," Alfred said. 

"How about two enquiries around and one, take the body to the council laboratory?" Elric suggested. The other two nodded. 

As planned, Alfred went back towards the council with the body and Evelyn along with Earl enquired to the neighbours. They didn't find anything relevant from the enquiry. All they came to know was that the man used to travel for days and frequently. Where he went, no one was aware of. 

Evelyn let out a sigh in exhaustion. Her throat was dry due to continuous questioning the same questions and because of remorseless heat.

"Looks like the princess is not used to the sun," Elric said with a tint of teasing note in his voice. 

"I might be the princess, but I do live like normal human beings," she retorted. 

"Mhm," came a reply from him. 

She usually would have said more things but because of being thirsty, she decided not to waste her energy on an irrelevant matter. Unconsciously she touched her throat and wondered if there's any stall around to have water, but found none. She glanced at Elric, seeing him halt in his tracks, abruptly. 

"Wait a minute," he said and before she could ask any questions he was gone out of her sight. 

"Now what happened to him?" She murmured to herself and waited impatiently for him. 

Glancing around, she noticed there wasn't much population in this village. Usually, at this peak hour, there should have been a crowd of people, who went to work or a few who stroll around. 

"Strange," she thought and frowned.

A few minutes passed and there was no news about Elric.

"Did he forget about me and go back to the council office?" She thought out loud. 

Glancing in the direction in which he went, she saw him coming back. She noticed a tender coconut in his hand. A sudden strange emotion built in her. She smiled at his good gesture and wondered how he was always right about knowing what she thought. 

A guilt feeling developed in her for calling him arrogant back in the morning, when all he did was be playful with the teammates. 

Earl came and handed her the tender coconut. She quickly took it from him and saw him gesturing a finger, implying to wait for a moment. 

She saw him bent down and in the meanwhile, she sipped the tender water through a straw, quenching her thirst.