It is the season for love and murder in the court of Ravaeryn.
After a chance encounter one winter night, Lady Catarina de Fontaine had fallen hopelessly in love with Julian, the Crown Prince. However, upon discovering his untruthfulness, she immedi...
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1711, Lavillia Perra, Kestramore City
"I've received and examined the blood samples that you've sent," the Grand Tutor, Archibald Breckenridge said. "Based on the clotting and transparency of the blood, I concluded that it must've been pufferfish poison. Furthermore, look at the corpse. The signs of paralysis are evident here."
Tristan de Fontaine's eyes darted towards the corpse of Eufemia Dubois, completely immersed in a pool of alcohol to prevent it from decomposing. It was a morbid sight, even for Tristan himself.
"I believe so too," he admitted. "Now that we've concluded the cause of death, we should hasten the funeral. She had been lying here long enough, poor woman."
That afternoon, news of the Princess Consort's cause of death was revealed to the public, and now, the palace officials were in mad pursuit for those who dealt with and sold pufferfish poison.
The dealers in the Isles of Vitale had fled their shops, and anyone who owned even a drop of the poison was swiftly tied up and brought into custody.
Of course, no one was more agitated than the murderer herself. Upon hearing the news, Marguerite immediately pocketed up the vial of poison and donned the clothes of Aspen, her maid. She had to hide the chest of poisons while simultaneously disposing of that vial of pufferfish poison, and she had to do it fast.
She hastily put on Aspen's bonnet and stuffed her long golden hair beneath it, while ensuring that the bonnet covered a sizable portion of her face.
The weather was pleasant outside, and Marguerite hoped that it would remain that way. She put the colourful vials of poisons into her stockings, where they remained perfectly hidden underneath her skirt. However, they did produce a suspicious clinking sound whenever she walked.
That was the least of Marguerite's worries though, and she soundlessly left the room, wanting to get it all done and over with.
Marguerite knew her way around the palace well, and she decided that the best place to hide the vials would be in the maze. Very few people ventured there out of fear of getting lost, although she would have to be careful as to not get lost herself.
There, she would hide the poison vials. They were encased in glass, so Marguerite was confident that they would withstand the rain.
As for the vial of pufferfish poison, she would chuck it into the nearby stream. Then, she would wipe her hands clean and walk off merrily. Even if people found out that she was the one who poisoned Eufemia Dubois, there was no evidence to implicate her.
She calmly headed to the maze and cut out a piece of turf, exposing the soft dark soil. Marguerite plopped the vials into the soil and covered it with the turf. One down, one more to go.
Marguerite exited the maze and headed towards the stream, but instead of the gentle, serene freshwater stream that she was used to seeing, she saw a turbulent, chaotic river. The water from all the incessant raining had accumulated here, and the stream had swelled up considerably.
