A/N: This chapter is a bit more mature. There is depiction of dead bodies. Please proceed with caution.
The atrocity of the situation revolted the Lady.
Two guards were found dead near the maid quarters.
Not the kind of news one would like to start the day with.
Lady Kiara rubbed her head as her eyes assessed the scene in front of her. One guard on his knees; his back and legs bent backwards in an uncomfortable position. A spear impaled his mouth, protruding out from the back of his head; it's tip touching the soggy, red grass. Another guard laid in front of him in his own pool of blood. His forehead lacking a significant chunk of flesh and muscles. His dead, lifeless eyes were wide open and screamed of the horrors he endured in the last moments of his life.
The dead bodies were yet to be removed. The guards were waiting for Count Monroe to arrive and give further orders. They said they had died last night. That had given many hours to the Count to come and decide the further process.
Why is he coming so late?
"Who saw it first?" Lady Kiara asked.
"Some maids, my lady," the guard replied.
"Names?"
"I believe it was Misa and Sarah, my Lady."
"Where are they?"
"Uh— my Lady, they must doing the chores—"
"The chores?" She repeated coldly.
Few tendrils of her brown locks blew with the morning breeze. They caressed the frame of her face, her supple cheeks. The rays from the sun glowed against her smooth skin. Her eyes, while they were the onyx mined in the tropicals during the nights— they were nothing short of solar eclipse floating in the pools of gold in the daylight.
"Tell me soldiers, do you not know the standard procedure of investigation?" She raised an eyebrow. Rosy lips, with just a single red crack at the corner, were set in a thin line.
The guards looked at her, both mesmerized by the beauty and shivering from the numbing nervousness.
"Where is your armsman?" She asked, speckles of impatience in her voice.
"He is— He is away from the manor for official work. He will be back day after tomorrow, my Lady." Another guard responded. Scratching the back of his head, he bit his lips.
"Great," Lady Kiara muttered and stalked away without a delay.
Tucking the wild tendrils behind her ears, Lady Kiara ran her hands on her braid. Rubbing her neck, she marched into the maid quarters.
A murder of crows feasted near the pond of the backyard. Eyes squinted, Lady Kiara spotted something red dangling from their beaks.
Probably the missing chunk of flesh.
No sooner did she noticed it, the crows flew away as a guard came chasing them away. She looked back at the dead bodies. Then above, at the surrounding trees. Crows sat there, waiting for their turn.
Looking forward, she stepped in the hallway.
Few steps into the narrow gallery, a maid stood with a young guard. The two of them bowed as they saw Lady Kiara approach them. She nodded back.
"Poor guards," she sighed when they were in earshot. "How did this happen?"
The maid and the guard glanced towards each other. Surprised and unsure, they fumbled and gulped. The maid hesitated before answering. "That is yet to be known, my Lady. We only know this happened during the late hours of the night. They were on duty."
"Oh Goddess, may they rest in peace." Lady Kiara put her hand above her heart. "I can not dare imagine the pain of the family."
"Indeed, my Lady." The maid nodded, turning her head to look at the guard. "They would be torn."
The young guard fidgeted beside her. His blue eyes shifting.
Must be new. Lady Kiara thought to herself.
"Nobody saw anyone or anything?" She directed the question towards the guard, staring at him with soft eyes and tilted head. He gulped.
"I would have thought it was a wild animal looking at the—" Lady Kiara paused to find the least graphic description of the torn forehead, "—at one of the guard." Vagueness seemed to be the best option. Less offending. But as plain as a pikestaff.
The guard and the maid grimaced.
She continued, "But I do not believe it can use a spear."
"The first one to arrive at the scene were some maids, or so I heard, my Lady." The guard glanced at the maid for some assistance, but she was not looking at him. Her eyes were set on the ground. His own flickered to Lady Kiara.
Red creeped up his cheeks. She was still looking at him.
"I see." She hummed. "The girls must be frightened."
"All of the maids are, I believe," the maid responded. "They heard screams and ran out to see what happened. It was Sarah and Misa who saw it first, my Lady."
"How are they faring?"
"Misa caught fever. Sarah is faring better than her, my Lady."
Lady Kiara shook her head. A frown on her face. She clutched her chest and sighed in empathy. Lifting her gaze up, she looked to her side. Her eyes stuck at the last few doors of the hallway.
"Do they live there? In one of the last rooms?" She gestured towards the rooms and wended her way to stand in front of the last door in the hallway.
"Oh no, my Lady. No one lives there, my Lady."
"No?"
"The last few rooms are not occupied, my Lady. Except that one." The maid gestured towards the opposite side of the hallway where Kiara was standing.
Lady Kiara turned around.
Third last door of the hallway on the right.
The maid spoke. "Ada lives there, my Lady."
Ada.
"Where was she?" Lady Kiara asked with a frown, then immediately corrected herself. "I mean, her room is the almost at the end of the hallway." Lady Kiara paused. "Maybe she is as good as a cadaver when she sleeps." She joked.
"She was taken to the dungeon last night, my Lady."
Lady Kiara's eyebrows shot up in surprise.
"Why?"
The maid shook her head. "My apologies, my Lady. I do not know the reason behind her imprisonment."
Kiara blinked.
Dungeon, huh.
What could have she done?
I did not tell anyone about— oh, the other one must have—
Lady Kiara's froze. Brown eyes widened. The sharpness of curiosity shrouded what was left of the pool of gold in her eyes in the darkness of the hallway.
Blood.
Dried blood.
On the door knob of Ada's room.
"Reason—" Lady Kiara tore away her eyes off the knob. She smiled. "—to apologise does not exist."
"Thank you for your kindness, my Lady," the maid promptly answered. Jumping on her toes. Her eyes sparkled. Her lips threatened to expand their horizons and stretch out. The young guard stared at her. His lower jaw unhinged and hanging. His blue eyes mellowed.
None of the two had noticed the brief shred in her usual composure. Kiara sighed.
"Who is her roommate? She must have seen something," Lady Kiara asked, stroking her chin.
"She lives alone, my Lady," the maid answered right away.
"Alone?"
"Yes, my Lady."
"Oh," Kiara mumbled. Then looked up at the guard. "Then it would be a hard case to solve." She shook her head at him, in an empathizing voice.
The red on his cheeks deepened in shade. He scratched the back of his head.
"I do not—" he paused. "Our guards are excellent investigators. And our master, Count Monroe, is a great encouragement and keen observer—"
Lady Kiara almost snorted.
"Under his guidance—" the guard puffed out his chest. Kiara noticed a slight tremble in his limbs. "—we shall find out the culprit."
"I believe in you—" she halted mid sentence, "Oh—" she blinked, and chuckled. "I am yet to ask your names."
"Oh— my lady. I am— I am Amy Cullen, my Lady," the maid stuttered out. Lady Kiara moved her sight away from Amy and settled it on the guard. The guard stood frozen and turned into a log of wood.
Amy elbowed him. He jolted awake from the dream he was seeing with his eyes wide open.
"My— Myself—" he stopped to breath and scratched the back of his neck. "I am Robert Brown, my Lady," he breathed out in a rush.
"A pleasure meeting you both," Lady Kiara said with a smile. "I hope I am not keeping you from your work."
"No— No, my Lady—" Amy's words were cut off.
"A warm morning, my Lady." An old maid came up from behind Amy. She bowed and greeted.
"Good morning to you too—" She saw the maid rise her head and noted it is the Head Maid. "—Mrs Smith."
"Oh heavens, my apologies if they offended you, my Lady." She glanced nervously at Amy and Robert. "They are still learning—"
"They did nothing to warrant my wrath, Mrs Smith." Lady Kiara assured her. "I was merely talking to them about—" Lady Kiara did not complete her sentence, but gestured towards the backyard of the mansion.
Mrs Smith sighed and smiled politely.
"My lady, if you do not mind, I would like to take Amy with me. We are running short of—"
"Yes, of course. Not everyone is idle like me." She joked.
"Thank you, my Lady." Mrs Smith bowed before she raised her head, and hesitatingly gestured towards Robert. "My lady, him too. Sir Lloyd was searching for him."
Kiara saw Robert frown but saying nothing.
Lady Kiara smiled and nodded.
"Allow us to take your leave, my Lady." All three of of them bowed and left.
Lady Kiara glanced at the door knob again.
"You have made yourself quite comfortable here, Lady Kiara." A deep voice came from behind her.
A/N: Ada keeps getting unwanted attention. How do you think this is gonna end?
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