Yashin & Jiyu's Ultimate Adventure!

The Cake of Truth [16]

''Impossible. It's probably just a misunderstanding, right?'' Pico asked, his eyebrows curved into a sad downwards motion. ''Okay... I suppose we should look inside the room the victim was staying in.'' Seiko said professionally. 

Inside the white wooden doors was awaiting a large room with an equally large chandelier smashed in the middle of the room. Behind the chandelier was a king-sized bed that felt cold to the touch, with close to no wrinkles or dents in the sheeting. ''At least we know she was killed before she could get into bed.'' Yashin exhaled a sigh as she continued to look around with the others. There was a panel near the door with what looked like, a cut rope. ''Looks like the chandelier was cut down on purpose,'' Jiyu suggested, tracing her fingers against the metal hoop. There were bloodied glass shards to the side of the broken chandelier, with a trail of blood leading outside the room. That was all that was of interest in Lt. Longfaol's bedroom. 

Next, the squad followed the blood. It didn't lead straight to the incinerator room, rather it looked like she was heading past it. ''I think when the chandelier fell, Miss Longfaol was cut and she was heading to the nursing room, a few doors down from the incinerator.'' Pico gave his hypothesis as the dead body laid in front of them. Seiko then chimed in with his idea, ''Maybe when she was passing the incinerator, someone attacked her.''. Jiyu crossed her arms with a pout as she questioned, ''But where's the murder weapon? The incinerator was right there but the body is untouched?'' everyone looked at the body and then to the incinerator door. ''Let's go inside. I have a feeling I know what might've happened.'' Akarui spoke up, leading the squad into the incinerator room.

The incinerator was huge, yet cramped. Hanging from the incinerators doors were a pair of bloodied white doctors gloves. Inside the open incinerator laid a bloodied yet harshly burnt kitchen knife. ''Found the murder weapon.'' Yashin said, looking in Jiyu's direction hastily. ''So what was your idea, Aki?'' Pico asked Akarui as she closed her eyes and crossed her arms, ready to explain, ''I think someone cut the chandelier to lure Longfaol out into this hallway, and the same someone, our killer, then attacked her near the incinerator. I think they left the body out here along with the knife and gloves unproperly disposed of because they wanted us to find the body. And according to the guards, it was someone who had access to specific drugs and syringes. These gloves are of those that doctors would wear, and given that the only doctor living in the castle is Earl, I think he's our killer. But hey, that's just a theory.'' Akarui finally finishes her idea as Seiko was quick to argue with it, ''But Earl is a nice man! He would never kill!'', ''I'm sorry Seiko but given our previous betrayal in Cloverton, I can't believe that just yet.'' Jiyu exclaimed with a hint of anger in his tone. ''Well I do. Seiko saved us, so did Earl. The least we can do is believe them for right now.'' Pico argued back Jiyu's point as their conversation was interrupted by none other than their friend and princess of Crystopia, Linette.

''Hey! Guys, I was doing background checks on Charlie, and I found out something mind-blowing!'' She said excitedly. ''What? What is it?'' Yashin asked, curiously. Linette's excited pitch was lowered to a soft whisper as she states, ''According to his knight-in-training resume, he previously worked under the current ruler of Kwamslak! Thanks to Grammy Majo, we know that the ruler of Kwamslak is Itazura!''. Most of the squad just stared with their mouths agape, shocked at this information. Meanwhile, Seiko was giving a confused glance towards Linette, as he asked, ''Who's 'Itazura' and 'Grammy Majo'?'', Pico took it upon himself to explain, ''Itazura is the villain and reason of our journey, and Grandma Majo is a nice lady we met in Crystopia.'', Yashin chimed in, ''We can't tell you more than that, sorry. Maybe after this murder mystery is over.'', ''That's okay! I can respect your wishes.'' Seiko smiled innocently as they finally caught Linette up on what had happened.

Afterwards, enough time had gone by for it to already be dinnertime. During this time, the squad did whatever they wanted, which could've been eating with the royals, snacking in the kitchen, asking a maid or butler to bring them something, or just make something for themselves. Freewill existed for a reason, thus Princess Alexandra pointed that out well while explaining all of the sleeping arrangements and schedules for their stay at the palace.

In this particular instance, Jiyu decided to check out the kitchen. It was small and cozy, with tiled floors and a soft yellow painted on the walls. However, there was a guard watching an uncuffed Earl who was baking something. ''Huh- Earl what are you doing in the kitchen? I thought you were arrested...'' She questioned as Earl answered with a bright smile, ''I requested the Princess if I could bake one of my favourite cakes before going back to my room after dinner! With a guard keeping watch, my wish was granted!'' he kept his smile as he started to tend to his cake batter. ''Oh, I see. So you like baking?'' Jiyu asked, trying to stir a conversation. ''I've always loved it! Why, Didn't I tell you my full name? Earl of Cupcakes! I even used to own a bakery!''. Jiyu grabbed what looked like an apple from a small fruit bowl on one of the counters. She took a bite, and then asked, ''Huh... Why don't you still own it now?'', ''Because I realised that what I truly loved about baking... was seeing the happy faces of the customers i served. However, with the new ruler of Kwamslak pushing forth more trade requests, the commoners materials for such trivial hobbies were lacking more and more, thus our taxes going up and up. Alas, I knew the princess since birth as her parents used to come to my bakery, So when she heard i couldn't afford to keep it, she offered me a job here, as a healer! You might not see it at first glance, but the princess has quite a bit of pent up stress, and I'm the only one she feels most comfortable around to vent to. In my opinion, I'm still helping others this way.'' Earl finished as he finally put his unfinished cake into one of the ovens. ''I'm sorry you couldn't keep your bakery, Earl...'' Jiyu suddenly felt guilty having him blamed for a murder. ''Oh, Don't worry about that! Whatever happens in life, happens for a reason. Take a storm, for instance! If you want a rainbow in the sky, you need a bit of heavy rain to make it happen! Now enough about storms and rainbows, would you like to help decorate this cake?'' Earl oofed as he bent down to the oven his cake was in and got it out. ''Sure! It looks so fluffy and spongey! Ooh! Can i draw a rainbow on it with icing?'' Jiyu excitedly asked as Earl chuckled and said, ''Of course! Decorating is always the most creative part! Now i was thinking a little unicorn on the side, and...'' Earl and Jiyu trailed off in thought as they decorated the cake, colours flourishing all over it. 

This was the moment Jiyu knew. Earl wasn't just innocent of this murder, but he was framed for it as well. And she knew like hell that the whole of Cloverton was going to know it.