Stolen by the Rebel King-Chapter 534: Death Follows

"My goodness..." Daphne’s mouth fell open in shock. The metallic scent of blood permeated the room; with the advent of peace in Vramid, it had been a long time since she had dealt with anything as viscerally gory as this. "Who is this man?"

Her stomach twisted unpleasantly as her eyes darted to the large gaping wound on the poor victim’s stomach. He must have bled to death from it, and it would have been slow and painful.

"Whoever he was, he certainly made a mess," Atticus commented, his nose scrunching up in distaste as he stared down at the scene. There was a dead body in front of him, clothes soaked in his blood, his limbs splayed out as though he was one of those starfish creatures that lined the shores of Nedour’s beaches.

Cordelia clicked her tongue disapprovingly at his cavalier response, looking over at the poor dead man.

"This man is Yael Fasso. He was a fisherman from the nearby isles, and he was one of the first few to sign up for this competition the moment I sent out the news," Cordelia explained, a frown on her forehead. "His family must be informed of this."

"I’ll handle it," Jonah offered. "You’ll have your hands full with running the competition tomorrow."

"Is it still ongoing?" Daphne asked, worried. "Even if you can’t find the culprit responsible?"

"Yes." Cordelia steeled her jaw. "The preparations have been made already. We must start on schedule― not doing so would incite more widespread panic among the populace. They’ve been waiting for months for this."

"Not to mention all those smarmy nobles," Jonah added with a sigh. "You know they’re going to throw a fit if they see a single thing out of place."

Cordelia scoffed. "Like I give a blubbery shit about those fools. If I gave their minds to fish they would drown in water." The expletive and insult fell from her lips with so much casualness that Daphne was stunned.

Cordelia’s mouth certainly got looser when she was in her own kingdom!

Meanwhile, Jonah looked pained. "Cordelia, you have to care about them. You need them to support your rule in the future."

Cordelia rolled her eyes and waved an errant hand. " I don’t need you to tell me that. But you know better than anyone that they were already upset that I allowed commoners to participate to begin with. Nothing I do will win them over anytime soon, and it’ll be foolish for me to beg for their favor so soon."

"Fair enough," Jonah said with a resigned smile. In Daphne’s eyes, Cordelia and Jonah seemed to be rehashing an old argument. "I’ll triple the security around you for the time being, just in case."

Cordelia gave him a wry smirk. "Or you could simply move in and sleep in my room. That’ll be enough security. I’m sure any assassin would think twice when I have a trained guard with me at all hours of the day, protecting me from harm."

"Cordelia! You can’t say that― what if someone gets the wrong idea?" Jonah exclaimed, frantically glancing around to see if there was anyone who overheard, only to catch sight of Daphne’s raised eyebrow and Atticus’s unamused glower. He coughed, a soft flush blooming on his face.

"Yes, Princess Cordelia," Atticus said, his voice deliberately even as he shot the princess a flinty look from the corner of his eyes. "We wouldn’t want anyone to get the wrong impression, wouldn’t we?"

"That would depend on what impression you’re referring to," Cordelia retorted evenly, crossing her arms, not a single ounce of hesitation in her reply.

Before Atticus could continue to butt heads with Cordelia, Daphne discreetly stepped on his foot. Any altercation between Cordelia and Atticus was sure to end with casualties even if no weapons were drawn; and the most likely one would be Jonah, who already looked like he was this close to expiring on the spot.

If Atticus wanted to push, Cordelia would gladly deliver, and Daphne had many letters from Cordelia that detailed her affections for Jonah in a less-than-platonic manner; Cordelia would have no shame in repeating all of that in front of an audience, but Jonah would probably cut off his own ears and throw himself on his sword.

It would be a shame for Jonah to die so soon after they came all this way to see him.

Atticus shot Daphne a vaguely betrayed look, but Daphne shook her head minutely again. She would explain herself later.

"That’s not the important thing here," Daphne hastily said. "We should be searching for clues to pinpoint the murderer. If we do not catch them, they might not stop at a single kill."

Cordelia and Atticus both sobered up at her statement. Jonah shot her a grateful look and began to examine the body, with the three of them peering behind him a safe distance away. Atticus even planted an arm in front of Daphne― a sweet, if tad useless gesture. The man wasn’t going to come back to life anytime soon.

Eventually, Jonah briefed them on his observations.

"Well, I’m not Sirona, so there might be inaccuracies with my observations―"

"Have some confidence in yourself. You have the knowledge and expertise, along with years of experience," Cordelia interrupted with a click of her tongue. "Report your findings."

"Yes." Jonah blinked, before continuing.

Daphne knew this wasn’t the right time, but she couldn’t help the small smile that threatened to emerge.

Cordelia definitely wasn’t going to let anyone look down on Jonah, even if it was Jonah himself.

"As you can see, Yael Fasso was killed, but he didn’t die through the wound on his stomach," Jonah explained, tugging down Yael’s collar to reveal a purple bruise around his neck, similar to a noose. "It’s more likely that Yael was stabbed in the stomach to incapacitate him before the culprit decided to strangle him to finish the job."

"A stomach wound would take hours to kill him," Atticus added. "Our killer knew that Yael could possibly call for help in the meantime. Isn’t that right, Princess Cordelia?"

Cordelia nodded. "Every contestant has a private room, but lodgings aren’t so luxurious that they won’t be in close contact. If he had screamed or slammed against the wall, his neighbors would have heard something if they were in their rooms."

"Let’s question his neighbors then," Daphne said, pleased that they had a lead for the investigation. "The culprit can’t have gotten far― this castle is on such high ground, unless they jumped into the ocean to escape."

Without magic, it would be near suicidal for anyone to risk such an escape route.

"I can’t expect the both of you to be doing this work," Cordelia said, sounding slightly pained. "You came here as honored guests. It was supposed to be a relaxing vacation for you."

"Don’t be ridiculous, of course we’re helping," Daphne stressed, reaching out to grasp Cordelia’s hands with her own. "You’re my best friend. What kind of friend would I be if I sat down twiddling my thumbs while you try to hunt down a murderer?"

Cordelia smiled. "Thank you, Daphne. And..." She looked mildly pained when she looked at Daphne’s husband. But in the end, she still managed to choke out her words. "And thank you, King Atticus."