Chapter 60- A Crime Of Shadows (Part 2)
The guards looked at her with questioning gazes but they didn't try to voice their complaints as they were talking to the crown princess and no one else other than her.
Elise quickly approached them and said with a serious tone.
"Use a cloth to pull out the sword. I need that sword for now."
"As you wish, your highness." The guard answered.
After that, one of them get a piece of fabric and used it to pull out the sword. However, when he exerted force on the sword, it didn't budge at all. Using even more force, it still didn't move.
'What is going on?' He asked himself in disbelief. The guard knew that he wasn't extremely strong but he at least assumed that he was capable of pulling a sword out of a dead body for certain. But, it seemed that this was not the case here.
Feeling embarrassed at his weakness, he channeled his mana into his arms to enhance his strength and gritted his teeth before pulling as hard as he could.
"Hngh!" He groaned under his breath.
Yet, even then, the sword didn't move an inch out of the King's body. It was as if the sword fused with his body or even fused with the wall.
"Help me here. It's stuck."
The other guard nodded and the two tried to pull it out together. This attempt wasn't a success either and the two could only look down in shame. How useless were they?
"Sigh, get out of the way." Elise shook her head in exasperation and walked to the sword.
Gripping it tightly, she used her right arm to get it out. Her moves were as swift and elegant as they could get.
*Swish*
With a full move, the sword exited the king's body as if it was a hot knife exiting a piece of soft butter. It looked so easy that it made everyone look at her with a stupefied gaze.
After getting it out, Elise looked at one of the butlers there. The latter flinched but still approached her quickly.
"How can I-"
"Hold this for me. Be careful not to touch the body of the sword at all costs. Understand?" She cut him off.
"Y-Yes, your highness." He said.
The moment she put the sword in his hand, his eyes widened as his body almost fell down to the ground. A huge frown appeared on the butler's face as he tried to lift the sword up with his full strength but couldn't do so and had to bend down in defeat.
"Is it really that heavy?" She asked.
After that, she picked up the sword again and inspected it thoroughly. Except for its unique blue color, the sword looked weirdly normal. Elise tried to recall seeing it before somewhere however, she couldn't recall anything. She then asked her siblings.
"Who's sword is this?"
They all looked at each other with confused looks. It was as if they were surprised she asked that question.
"Speak quickly."
"You don't know? That's the sword of the empire, Soul Eater." One of them finally answered.
Elise's face contorted slightly for a second before she looked at the sword again with surprised eyes.
'This is the soul eater? Wait, this isn't the same one. No, it doesn't look like the one I remember.' She thought to herself.
The Soul Eater is one of the 5 Great Swords that exist in this world. These swords were the ones used by each king in the greatest war between the human race and the demon race… The Blood Moon Massacre. These swords carried a huge amount of strength that would turn anyone who uses them into a supreme being no matter who he was. However, the problem with this sword in particular is that its powers never appeared after that war.
The other four swords were given to other kings and each one of them was a weapon of mass destruction that could easily wipe a kingdom out of the face of the world if it was used by the right hands.
Elise obviously heard of this sword as it was one of the main items that the player gains in the game and it was a monstrous weapon. It was so powerful to the point that no one in the history of TOI was able to make it reach its full potential.
Many tried to focus solely on this sword but could not level it up to the maximum level at all. Hell, no one even knows what is Soul Eater's highest level at all.
'But, if I recall correctly, this sword could only be used by pure bloodline royalty and no one else. Wait….' Seeming going through many thoughts, a small detail took her whole focus that she seemingly passed.
'Pure bloodline royalty? H-How did anyone use this sword and kill the king? The only two pure bloodline royalties in this kingdom are me and him… huh? Maybe another royal family assassinated him? No, that won't explain how they got a hold of the sword when it was clearly inside the treasury.'
The more she thought about it, the more things didn't make any sense. She couldn't comprehend how anything was possible at all.
'I don't even know where to start my investigation from. Dammit!' She cursed under her breath before she put down the sword.
After that, she took a few deep breaths to calm herself and then called for one of the guards that were guarding the king's bedroom yesterday.
"Did anything happen yesterday that was weird or suspicious? Did you see anything?"
"N-No, your highness. We didn't see anything at all. In fact, the whole night, the king was awake as he had some work to do and the light of the room was turned on the whole time."
'So it was not an ambush attack? Being able to kill the king while he's awake without making a commotion, how is that even possible?!' Elise felt herself on the verge of losing her mind.
Such a crime was too perfect to be true. Elise was a firm believer that a perfect crime doesn't exist at all as humans are faulty by nature and even the smallest detail could reveal many things. fre ewebnovel.com
However, in front of her was a seemingly flawless execution of a plan that should not be even possible in the first place.
Rubbing her temple, she walked to the door and looked at her siblings.
"You all, I'm going to question each one of you… one by one."
She knew that it was useless to think that they were the ones to kill their own father. Besides, none of them were pure bloodlined so they couldn't use the sword. However, it was still a possibility she couldn't ignore.
"Stop right there, Elise. Why are you questioning us? Shouldn't you be the prime suspect in this?"
"Me?"
"Yes, you! Soul Eater is a sword that none of us could use. However, the only one that could use it is you! You are the one that killed our father!!" Charlotte hissed loudly.
"Yes, she's right. You have no right of accusing us when you are the most suspicious one."
"Stop acting as though you are some kind of empress. You just wanted our father dead to succeed his throne quickly."
They all jabbed at her with words one after the other. Finding this opportunity, they wanted to turn the tables on her for their sake and even potentially ruin her.
'These morons. Sigh, I don't even know why I'm trying this hard to fix this huge problem.'
Elise was genuinely thinking about abandoning everything and just leaving this place along with Rin. They can change their identities and enroll in the academy with new names.
'Besides, I'm not going to succeed to the throne. It will just hinder me.'
As she reasoned with herself, the idea started to sound more and more appealing. However, she tried to also think on the other side of the matter. If Elise runs away, these scumbags could use that against her and she will become a wanted criminal that allegedly killed the king and ran away.
'If things came down to this. I have no other choice.'
She ignored her siblings and walked to one of the maids.
"Call ever noble that was still in the capital. We need to set up a meeting…. Many things will change drastically from here on."
After that, she made everyone except the doctors and the guards to leave the place. She was still intrigued to see what they will discover from the king's body after analyzing it.
"I will be taking a breather outside. Call me when you finish."
After walking outside, she rested her back on the wall with a long sigh. Her face didn't look normal at all.
[Are you ok, Elise?]
'I'm fine. Just a small headache.'
[There is always a solution, Elise. Don't try to overthink and just do your best.]
'You are right. I should calm down and not overthink. I should narrow the leads first. Thanks for the help, system.'
[I will always try to assist you as much as I can, Elise.]
(A//N: Do tell me if the chapters are boring or not engaging enough. Your opinions matter to me, guys)
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