Investigation 1

Marjoram, a fortnight after Briar arrived…

"Your Royal Highness, I think it is high time to rest. It is close to midnight." Briar looked up and saw his friend and youngest member of his brother's council, Nigel.

The red head had set a few papers down and his green eyes kept on feeding towards the grandfather clock. It was a few minutes before 12.

The prince sighed as he glanced at the reports. He still had a lot of work to do.

Most of the problems regarding taxes and ruling Marjoram was neatly straightened out by Reed, hence his brother was able to go back to Azalea.

However problems about the strange events that had been happening around Marjoram had been barely touched.

"Briar, I will leave you in charge of investigating the mysterious incidents plaguing Marjoram. I had gone through some of them but I cannot figure them out." His older brother shared when they had met a week ago.

"I would have looked further on that matters but I have a prior engagement in Azalea." Reed said while the two were talking in the King's study.

"I will do my best in solving the problem, dear brother." Briar replied.

"I knew you would… after all, investigating and solving problems are always your forte." Reed gave him a rare smile.

The king looked really exhausted. Dark circles had already formed under his eyes.

"Uhmm, Prince Briar… my lord…?" Nigel tried to get his attention. The flaxen haired must have been deep in his thoughts.

"Stop calling me that. We have been friends for years." Briar groaned. "Besides we are the only ones here. You can call me by my name. It feels like you are mocking me when you are using my title."

Nigel chuckled. "Briar, then."

"What is it?"

"It's midnight. Can we continue this tomorrow?" he bashfully asked.

"Do you have anywhere to go?" Briar asked the fidgeting man.

The redhead seemed eager to leave the study. It is only natural since they have been working overtime for a couple of nights already.

"My wife is due to give birth any time this week, my lord." Nigel shared with a red tinge on his cheekk.

"Lady Graciela will give birth soon!" Briar's face brightened up. He had forgotten that his friend had settled down a year ago.

Though Briar was away, his brother would usually give him updates. He was pleasantly surprised and happy that there will be an addition to Nigel's noble household.

"Why didn't you say so? You should have been home earlier."

"But my lord… " Nigel was having second thoughts. He had sensed that the prince would still continue working even without his assistance.

In order to reassure him, Briar motioned his hand at the table.

"Look, these papers and these mysteries would not be solved within just a night. They are not going away soon... so you better spend your time with your wife. Lady Graciela needs you more than I do."

The red head was a bit hesitant. He knew that Briar is a workaholic. Even without his aides to help him, he would drown himself with the paper works until he is satisfied.

"No need to concern yourself with these matters. I will just tidy these and be on my way to bed…" Briar added while getting up from his seat. "no need to fret."

Smiling with relief, Nigel bowed and left.

As soon as Nigel was out of sight, Briar sighed, sat on his chair and browsed through the papers again.

"Missing children…all of them have ages 12 and below. Their disappearances were isolated cases but there seemed to be a pattern of some sort." He muttered.

"Slave trade?" his eyebrows furrowed as he perused the paper. "Well, it is really possible that those children had been taken for slave trade. Slave trade is illegal; this must be stopped."

He then tried to look into the other pages. "Illnesses which no one has any idea about the cause and no one knows the cure…interesting"

Briar's eyes narrowed as he turned to the succeeding report.

"After falling ill, the victims suffered from intense pain and even bleeding. Just a few days after being infected, they die. Usually the victims dried up and almost turned into dried husk."

"Mummified victims…" He frowned as he put the paper down.

"This one will be a bit harder to solve. I am glad that this illness is not contagious or it will be more troublesome to conduct the investigation."

He yawned and checked the grandfather clock, it was half past 1. "Guess, I have to get to bed."

He started tidying up the papers when a certain report caught his attention.

"Ripped out organs of victims!" he exclaimed as he took the parchment.

"Several victims had been found at different sites and different times, but one thing was common, some of their organs were missing."

"This had been happening both in Marjoram and Azalea, so I think the perpetrators must be close to both kingdoms." He deduced.

"But what would that person do to the organs? All I can think of these organs may be used for rituals…"

"What in the heavens is going on?" he pulled his hair in frustration before securing the parchment.

"I want to get to the bottom of this. If this person is not found, there would be more victims."

Then for some reasons, a face flashed in his mind. He never wanted anyone to harm her.

The victims had been women from ages 17-20, so the hazel eyed lady might become a victim.

Briar shook his head, he needed to concentrate on the problem at hand but his thoughts drifted back to the lady-in-waiting who had been haunting his dreams.

Ever since he laid eyes on Atropa, other thoughts seemed insignificant. He could even barely think about of his first love, Lily.

For the past few days, he had been trying to get close to her. Despite having different social status, he found himself pinning for her.

And each day the need to be with her was getting hard to resist.

"It was that same feeling when he parted with Lily a few years ago... What is this feeling called? Longing?"

He laid the papers down and made his way to his chamber but he found himself going to a detour.

"I am going to be damned!" he muttered as he navigated towards the western wing. "just a few seconds to see her face…"

He peeked inside his sister's room but found that the girl is already sleeping and the lady-in-waiting was nowhere in sight.

"Briar, it's already past 1. Of course, she won't be here." He chastised himself. "Guess, I won't be seeing her tonight."

With another sigh of disappointment, he turned to leave.