The duchess immediately informed the Investigation Bureau about their discovery. She immediately escorted the kids back to the hotel and went straight into duke's office.
"Sister, was it a corpse?" Stella asked, gulping hard.
"You don't have to remember it" Alice said, trying to comfort her scared sister.
But Stella could not forget the awful smell, and her stomach grumbled. She immediately vomited as her stomach churned. Alice took her to her room and made her sit on the sofa as she comforted her. How come a good day turned in this way? She wondered silently.
After some color returned on Stella's face, Alice asked the maids to help her bath and throw away her stained dress. When she walked out of the room, she found Daniel already waiting for her. He was rubbing Snowball's back, but one can tell he is worried.
"How is Stella, Sister?" he asked anxiously.
"Woof" asked Snowball.
"She is fine. Don't worry. After a little rest, she will feel better" Alice comforted him.
"She must have felt terrible" Daniel said sadly.
"She is fine. Trust me" Alice said.
"Sister, my hands are shaking" he said, with tears in his eyes, "I was carrying it. I was literally holding… a... corpse… with these hands. I…"
He couldn't completely his sentence, as though some stuck something inside his throat. Alice did not know how comfort him. She was never good in such things. She can only hug him, and stay with him.
He must have terrible when he realized what he was carrying. It was too much on a nine-year-old child who is sheltered by his parents. But he still held it in. His fear. His anxiety. Everything.
"Danny, do you know why I decided to call you Danny?" Alice asked.
"Why?"
"To remind you that you are still child. So it is completely fine to act like one. If you are scared, if you are troubled, you can confine in this sister. Since you will protect me, even this sister will try her best to protect you. Understood?"
"Yes" her younger brother said as he nodded.
She smiled at him.
"Woof" Snowball said.
"Snowball, take care of him. I have to still tend to Stella" Alice ordered the dog.
"Woof" he accepted the order.
"But Sister I can help" Daniel said.
"Go and rest" Alice advised.
"But…" he hesitated.
"Go" she commanded.
Daniel cannot deny his sister's order. He went to his room, followed by Snowball with a worried face.
As Alice helped her sick sister, the news of the corpse being found by Etkinson's on their visit to Starling lake spread like a wildfire. As people gossiped among themselves, about the cause and reason, as the anxiety grew.
Next day, the Royal Newspaper printed an article, about the discovery of the corpse of a three-year-old child, it became a big issue, talked even among the aristocratic society. Even Etkinson couple were anxious.
"We have to leave this town immediately" the duchess decided.
"You are right. We cannot get our children get involved in this" the Duke said concerned.
"We are leaving tonight" the duchess immediately ordered.