Chapter 8: Maria

  Truth be told, Maria had never seen this many nobles in one place before; in Bethel, on days when she waited tables and went to school, she would see one once in a blue moon. Even when they didn't announce their nobility to her, she could always tell; they behaved differently, moved differently, and even breathed differently than common folk. Sometimes she wondered if the nobles were even the same species as the commoners, yet here she was at a table with plenty of them.

  The party had been moved to the grand dining room of the palace, and she sat along with the Lincoln family, Judge Martin, and the Duke of Eden Harold York. The only other commoner that sat at that table was the head of the Tiwary family. Edward Tiwary; second of his name.

  Edward's eyes lingered on Maria for what was longer than comfortable; he watched her from the moment she walked into the palace, and his interest in her was clear. She thought back to when he spoke to her in private, away from the comings and goings of everyone else after the crowning. Even without her eyes, she could tell the man was panicked.

  "So, are you the one handling my daughter's case?" Asked Edward.

  "I am. You must be Mister Tiwary." Said Maria.

  "That would be my father. You may call me Edward." He winked at her. "Detective I must plead with you; my daughter is innocent. She and Lucia were closer than peas in a pod; neither she nor her aunt deserve their criminal status."

  Maria frowned. "I do not choose her as a suspect. My job is to interrogate her and view her memories, and I can promise you that if she is innocent, she will come back to you."

  "I want to believe that. I really do, but it is hard. Do you think I could visit her before I go?" Asked Edward.

  "Maybe. I'll ask the Earl." Said Maria much to the protests of Edward.

  It had been hours since they spoke, but Maria could still feel a pit in her stomach; she never quite liked it when people tried to plead with her in her investigations. Justice is blind, and in her case that happens to be a literal statement. She sought to step away from her bias, and she did mean it when she said if someone was innocent, they would be treated as such.

  Now, hours later, at the dinner table, Edward still stared at her, but he was not the only one. It turned out that the presence of a demon woman was interesting enough to warrant attention. Regardless of the attention, it was not her night to be attended to. It was the prince's; it was his crowning after all.

  "Here's to the new crown prince, and everyone who was able to find the time to come and see him be crowned." Said Amelia, who raised a wine glass to the sky. "Many nobles have come to visit us, which I do appreciate. Even the king's duke has come. I was hoping the king himself would be here too, but I suppose he has better things to do."

  Harold York's eyes narrowed. "You know the king; he doesn't like to leave that rock of a planet he calls home. I think he's afraid he might catch a whiff of the Eden air and never want to go back."

  The table laughed. The nobility and even the Tiwary man did not hide their dislike of their king; they spoke as if their service to him was by force. They cared little to promote his sovereignty and instead spoke with venom with every word.

  "You don't worry, he'll remove you from your station in The Garden if you speak of him this way." Asked Alfred.

  "Frankly, I don't care if he does." Answered Harold.

  Maria scratched at her head; she felt as if she did not pay nearly enough attention in her world history classes as a child to take part in this conversation. She knew there was a king and had some ideas of how this whole nobility thing worked, but the subject never quite interested her enough for her to truly dive into it.

  "It's been too long that we have had a foreigner for a king." Said Amelia.. "Eden is for Edenites. I mean, Erdene was conquered for a reason, was it not? Let's not dwell on it, though. This is supposed to be a day of celebrating first and foremost."

  Amelia waved her hands towards Maria and spoke in a honeyed tone. "Everyone, please welcome our guest of honor, Maria Smith. Detective of the demonic arts. A young woman from the hives of Bethel whose services we have employed on this day."

  The way Lady Amelia said the word 'demonic', it was clear the distaste that reeked from it. Maria couldn't help but tilt her head, but she still found it in her to smile.

  "She will be the one handling our daughter's case."

  Erwin Lincoln, the next one to speak, raised up his hand like he was waiting to be called upon and looked at Maria curiously.

  "When the lady here says demonic, she does mean that you work with demons, correct?" Said Erwin

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  "That is correct." Confirmed Maria.

  "Do you still have your soul?" Asked Erwin

  There was the question Maria had come to expect from all who asked about her relationship to demons. Everyone wanted to know whether or not she was a husk, a soulless woman simply being puppeteered by a stronger power. No, she still had her humanity.

  "I do. I have my soul." Said Maria.

  "That is good; many people don't." Said Erwin.

  Maria raised an eyebrow at the man and began to laugh. "I don't quite know what to say to that."

  "It's an observation I have made. Those who work with demons rarely walk away with their souls." Said Erwin.

  "Do you know a lot about demons, Erwin?" Asked Maria.

  "Well, I do."

  A cough was heard; it was Alfred. He side-eyed his own brother. Maria held her tongue; it sounded like one of those purposeful coughs one used to stop someone from speaking, and not a genuine one.

  "He does not. Erwin does not have a magical bone in his body. Neither do I; it might be genetic." Said Alfred, who grumbled as he spoke. "Erwin, do not waste the detective's time with your rambling."

  There was an awkward silence, and Amelia was quick to fill the silence with words of her own.

  "Anyway, as I said before, today we are here to celebrate the crowning of our youngest son. Prince Malachi, he is the new heir of New Paris."

  Malachi shuffled awkwardly before raising up his hand. "Yes, that is true."

  "You don't sound very excited." Said Erwin.

  "I'm not." The prince spoke in a hushed tone and had his head down as he did.

  "Ah, I miss Lucia just as you do." Said Erwin.

  Malachi did not respond to his uncle; he just shrugged at him.

  "We all miss Lucia. Virgil too, wherever he is." Said Alfred. "I had hoped that one day she would rule over New Paris, but my dreams were ruined. It is a blessing I had three children, and it is a blessing that Malachi can rise in her absence."

  The table erupted in what could've been a memorial. Everyone had memories of Lucia; they spoke of her intelligence, her ambition, and the way she led in her father's stead. It seems like everyone knew her and everyone missed her, but Maria had nothing to say as she didn't know Lucia at all. To her, Lucia was just another celebrity, someone she saw on a screen, but the idea of the real person was foreign to her.

  As the talking continued, it became clear to Maria that she was not the only person with much to say; she noticed she had not heard the voice of Edward Tiwary for a while and wondered what he was holding back. The thought to enter his mind crossed her thoughts briefly, but she did not believe it would be right to do. Luckily for her, Edward spoke his mind not much later.

  "I miss my daughter too." Said Edward Tiwary.

  The Earl Alfred and his Lady Amelia gasped. It was clear they were ignoring the real elephant in the room. The man whose daughter was in their crypts was at their table, and they had not addressed him much at all.

  Alfred forced a smile at Edward and took a deep breath before speaking to him.

  "I have apologized before, and I will apologize again, Edward, but your daughter was with mine at the time of the murder. Witnesses say Jasmine could've been the one to harm her. Thus she is in my crypts. If the detective finds her innocent, you have nothing to worry about. All rulers have prisoners, even the king and his dukes have people in theirs cells awaiting their sentences. I am no exception; I am sorry it is your daughter, but justice is justice."

  Edward flashed red with anger.

  "Justice? You promised me a noble title; you tell me we are friends, and you buy my saffron. I give you so much, and in return you arrest my daughter. I had not seen her in a week, but today I see her in chains and rags. Do you know how that makes me feel, Earl?"

  "Do you know how it makes me feel to see your sister say she's going to come here and free your daughter by any means necessary?" Said Alfred. "She threatens my family, yet I still allow you into my home. You should be gracious. When my forces came to your house, she was nowhere to be found. Am I to believe you aren't responsible for that?"

  The entire table grew quiet. There was a sigh from Edward, and he stood up from his chair.

  "My father worked too hard to see his granddaughter in chains. Melissa is in the wrong, yes, but she is still my sister." Said Edward.

  "The same father who got rich by smuggling and found solace in the arms of women so young they could still have their prom dresses in their closets?" Said Alfred with a scoff. "Maybe if that old man kept his hands off of every woman who just saw their 18th, we wouldn't have to worry about your sister now, would we?"

  Edward Tiwary slammed his fist onto the dining room table and stormed out of the room. The remaining people were left with nothing but the tension in the air. It felt as if all the joy had been sucked out of the room, and the warmth had gone cold.

  "Can I be excused?" Asked Maria.

  The Earl massaged his temples. "I think it's time everyone is excused."

  Maria was the first to leave the table; she had no quarrel here. The business of the Tiwarys was not hers, and if it wasn't for her accepting her job, the Lincolns wouldn't be either. The blind detective walked out of the dining room and into the great hall. She walked past the grand doors of the throne room, past the remaining partygoers who had come to the crowning, and she wondered for a moment. 'Where are the crypts?'

  It would've been a great boon to her to meet the prisoners before the trial began, she thought of Michael. Is this the same Michael she knew from years past? Would the Earl allow her to continue her case if that was so? She didn't want to waste anyone's time but knew it was not yet the right time to ask. So she held her tongue and kept her thoughts to herself.

  The detective made her way to the room the Lincolns had chosen for her; she found herself before a green door covered in autumn leaves and gold linings, and just as she opened it, she heard a voice.

  'Maria!' The voice said.

  It was Orin. "I wanted to catch you before you went off to your room." He said, huffing a little as he spoke; it was clear he had run a little to catch up with her.

  "Well, you have caught me." Said Maria.

  "I suppose I have." He paused and smirked even though he knew the detective would never see it. "I wanted to say that things usually aren't so... hostile around here. We aren't like weird. It's just the whole situation we're in, a bit messy."

  Maria smiled. In a way she appreciated the prince coming to speak to her; she always heard that nobles rarely considered the feelings of commoners, but nicely enough she felt considered in this moment.

  "I understand; it's not easy losing a loved one, nor is it easy to see a loved one in prison. I would be just as upset." Said Mari.

  "Right, but we are all truly grateful that you're here." Said Orin.

  Maria raised an eyebrow. "Even your mother? She doesn't seem too keen on the whole demonic thing."

  Orin fidgeted a little. "Well, she's still grateful, even if she is a bit annoyed. That's just how she is."

  This wasn't the first time Maria had been judged because of her connection to demons, and she knew it wouldn't be the last.

  "Well, that's good to know. I am glad I am welcomed here." She said.

  "You know, my brother wanted to be the one to welcome you; in fact, he got a little busy with the crowning and all, but I'm sure he's going to want to speak to you sooner or later." Said Orin.

  "Should I go speak to him now?" Asked Maria.

  "Nah, nah, I'm sure my dad will come and get you when everything has settled down. He knows Kai is excited to meet a real-life detective, so it shouldn't be long." Said Orin.

  Maria grinned. It felt good knowing that her name and her accomplishments were beginning to get her some renown. It was a much-deserved renown as far as she was concerned.

  "Excited, you say? And how do you feel about me being here?" Said Maria.

  Orin chuckled. "Me? Well, I'm glad that they got such a cute detective to handle the case."

  Maria laughed. "Well, thank you, Orin. I'm glad you think that, but I must get some rest." The blind detective waved at the prince, then opened the door to her room; she then closed it quickly, leaving him standing there dumbfounded.

  Even with only one year of detective work under her belt, Maria knew it was dangerous to get too close with her clients, and especially as close as it seemed Orin wanted to be with her.