'Will I be able to live a good life here...' Noel thought as she trudged along the path of Rose Park. Her deep thoughts were cut by the sound of a shrill scream as she jolted her attention towards the commotion. As she looked up, she saw it. A crowd gathered around what seemed to be a pile of roses. Noel made her way towards the scene, her jaw agape as she registered what happened. It was a body, a stake through the heart, on a bed of roses. Not a look of pain on the corpse's face, as its hands lay peacefully over its torso. Mindlessly, she walked closer to the body and began examining it.
'hmm no signs of struggle, so either the victim was subdued well or he knew his killer. Signs of-'
"Hey! what are you doing!?!? Get off me!" Noel screamed as felt someone lift her by her collar.
'damn this 10-year-old body...'
"This is no place for a child like you to be. I suggest you leave now to preserve your innocence, or what's left of it." A mysterious man spoke into her ear in a low voice. She turned to look at him, eyes filled with fury at the humiliation she suffered. When she saw him, she felt herself release a gasp. The man was very tall, with tan skin and white, snow-like hair. His eyes were a sharp crimson which shone brightly, and Noel felt like his gaze was piercing her soul.
'Oh my god...What a beautiful man...Oh wait! no! snap out of it, Noel, he's harassing you!!' She quickly remembered her situation and tilted her head a little. At this, the man looked at her in confusion, mimicking her movement. Just then, she bit his hand, hard, to which he let out a yelp and dropped her. She landed with a thud on her bum, but got up and tried to run away. Before she could make it three steps, however, she felt herself being lifted once again.
'Seriously!! Curse this 10-year-old body! AAAAGHHH' she was furious, ready to snap someone's head off before a voice spoke up.
"What a feisty child, I wonder who you take after to be this uncouth." It was the man from before, as he rubbed his aching hand.
"Do your parents know that you're out and about prancing around crime scenes?" he spoke matter of factly.
Noel felt a twinge in her heart at the mention of her parents. She was overwhelmed and overcome with fear and anger.
"I don't have any parents! Never had any, mister so leave me alone!" she burst out and tried wriggling her way out of his grasp.
A look of shock crossed his face, as he quickly replaced it with a stoic expression.
"So you're an orphan then.." He asked as if it wasn't quite obvious from her looks.
"Yes, I am," Noel said in a firm voice, but internally afraid of any ridicule that could come her way.
"Who are you, mister?" Noel asked, in an almost challenging tone.
With a smirk, the man spoke up in a proud voice, "I am Duke Marcus D'Melion Sloan of Ophelium and head investigator of the serious crimes unit. And who might you be, little one?"
'A duke? Isn't that a very high-ranking position? At least that's what those cheesy online novels say...hmmm I better play it safe since he has authority.'
"Hmph! I am Noel Haiba, orphan of Ophelium and an investigator myself." She proudly spoke with a smug smile on her face. She expected recognition and respect but in return, she got wolfish laughter instead. She confusedly opened her eyes at the sound and saw the man doubled over, laughing like he'd just been at a stand-up comedy show. Her face turned red at the humiliation. She'd barely just recovered from the previous bout of it.
"Oh? An investigator, you say? That's cute, child but you should hurry along now." He spoke as he wiped the tears of laughter that fell from his otherwise sharp eyes.
"I'm not lying! I really am a good detective and I can prove it to you!!" Noel was just about ready to pounce on him and scratch his eyes out, but decided against it as his title of duke could have her beheaded at the snap of a finger.
"Then prove it." It was a short and simple statement. His tone was serious but his face looked smug as if challenging her and already deciding that she would fail. This only fuelled her anger as she tried to calm herself down. 'Breathe Noel...It's okay...You've worked on hundreds of other cases, much trickier than this. This is nothing!' As she hyped herself up internally, Marcus sported a bored expression.
Just then, a man with long, mint green hair and eyes spoke up, "My lord, you must not do this. This is a murder scene, we've no time to be talking to pesky children. She's a child! Her imagination runs wild, you can't possibly believe anything she says. Let's get back to investigating." Marcus seemed almost convinced at this before a voice spoke up.
"Stop! I might be a child but I do not investigate based on my imagination, that's for fools! I use inductive and deductive reasoning, is how! I'll show you!!" Noel burst out. This caught the attention of the two men who looked her way, still not expecting any valuable contribution, but curious nonetheless. Marcus gave her a look as if to say 'go ahead.
"Well for starters, there's no sign of struggle or defensive wounds on his body. This would indicate that he was either subdued easily or he knew his killer."
The two men were shocked for a moment, surprised that a child could make such observations. However, that didn't seem good enough.
"Even we know that, child. It's impressive that you caught onto that, I'll give you credit for it, but it's nothing spectacular." The mint green-haired man said.
"I'm not done, mister, there's so much more I have to say." The mint green head was shut up as Marcus had yet another smirk on his face, impressed by noel's attitude.
'It's not every day you see such a fearless and intelligent little girl', he thought.
"There is discoloration around his mouth and nostrils and residue of some liquid at his mouth. It smells pleasant, too. It has to be chloroform. This means that he was snuck up on and subdued with chloroform. His shirt and coat look very expensive and brand new, but they don't fit him. They're much too large for him and there's not enough blood on his clothes for it to be what he wore during his murder. He was undressed and redressed. The lack of blood at the scene, too, indicates that he was not killed here but his body was transported here. His hands are rough and calloused, and he has dirt under his nails. Coal, seems like. He must have been a coal miner. This should make it easier to narrow down on his identity."
The two men looked even more shocked at her observations, at a loss for words, almost. Noticing this, Noel smiled smugly at them as she turned to walk away in triumph.
"Wait! Is there any other information you can give us? Something that could point towards who the killer is?" Marcus asked, with an almost desperate expression on his face.
'wow, who knew that a lion can succumb...' she thought to herself.
"Well I could help you some more, but for a price. I could be in town, working, but here I am, doing your job for you. Rather unfair, don't you think?" She asked them with fake innocence. Marcus saw right through her, though.
'Haaa, what a clever child. Why haven't I ever heard of her?' he wondered.
"I'll compensate you quite handsomely if you cooperate and provide us with information on the case."
"Deal." Noel accepted almost immediately, mind racing at the thought of money.
"Well, the killer tidied him up, changed his clothes, and posed his body in such a scenic manner, that too at a public place. He must think of the corpse as his art and this area as his canvas. He must want to spread a message for everyone to see. Why else would he choose such a place? It also seems like he was confident enough to leave his initials among the roses. J.T. I wouldn't be surprised if the killer was among us, in the crowd." At this, whispers and gasps went around and Noel further observed her surroundings.
Marcus was shocked and ready to barricade the area. He looked over at noel, and as if she understood what he was thinking of, she nodded. The crowd and scene were immediately barricaded with knights all around, sporting their weapons in their heavy armor.
"I know who the killer is." She stated matter of factly. "It's him!" She pointed at a tall and slender man among the crowd, who seemed more pleased than anything that he'd been singled out.
"And what makes you say that?" Marcus asked, confusion evident in his orbs.
"Well, when I mentioned that the killer could be among us, everyone looked around. Everyone but him, that is. It's human nature to want to quench our thirst for curiosity by playing detective ourselves. Only the person who knew who the killer was wouldn't have to look around. And he was the only one who didn't scan his surroundings even once. Even now, when I called him out, he smiled. A confident killer like him who leaves his initials at his crime scene and shows up to watch chaos ensue would be happy to gain the recognition he craves so much. He's also very thin and lanky in comparison to our victim. He couldn't possibly overpower him physically, so he used the chloroform. Luckily, because it's a strong sedative, any record of chloroform being sold would be registered. By checking for chloroform purchased in the last 72 hours, and connecting it to his identity, we can confirm if he's the killer or not."
The crowd was stunned. How could a little girl who looks not a day over 11, be so intelligent and brave? While everyone was awestruck, the 'murderer' made a run for it but was quickly caught by a knight.
"Hahaha, well done, little girl, you've found me out! I never thought that the great Armandi would be caught by a child!" He exclaimed maniacally.
'well, I may look like a little girl but I'm actually in my 20s hehe.'
"Well mister, my job here is done. I'm waiting for my compensation now." She turned to Marcus who was still shocked by her performance. She pulled on his coat's sleeve twice before he snapped out of his daze and looked at her. The minute he saw her face, however, he once again broke into a burst of wolfish laughter.
Oh, what a cycle. Noel was raging and about to bite him once more when he lifted her to sit on his forearm as he carried her.
"Why are you laughing at me! I just proved myself to be a good detective I even caught your culprit for you! Hmph" she pouted as she looked away, a raging red hue adorned her face.
"I'm not laughing at you because I think you're incompetent, I'm laughing because I'm impressed. I had a feeling you were intelligent but I didn't think you'd render our empire's best investigative unit obsolete in the span of a mere 20 minutes."Marcus spoke heartily in an almost proud tone.
Feeling confident of her achievement, Noel smugly brought up her compensation once more, "Mister, what about my compensation?"
"Well, what would you like to be compensated with?" Marcus asked sweetly.
"Well, you look rich, and I could be of use to you, so how about you adopt me?" Noel suggested, not a single bit of humility evident in her actions.
At this, both Marcus and his mint-headed companion looked extremely taken aback. Noel watched nervously as Marcus seemed to sincerely contemplate the request.
"Sire you cannot possibly be thinking about this. This case could've been pure luck. Adopting a child is a big deal, sire, you're only 23 and not even married. It takes a great amount of responsibility to-"
"Shut up, Perez."
'ah, so Perez is this annoying man's name. I better remember it." Noel thought bitterly.
"Alright, I've made my decision. I shall adopt you on one condition. You shall receive wealth, luxury, and comfort, all as long as you make yourself useful to me and this unit." He stated rather coldly. Noel, however, was rejoicing at this. Finally, she could live a comfortable life doing what she loved - solving crime.
"Deal. Let's seal on it." She hurriedly exclaimed as she reached her hand out For Marcus to shake.
"You are, from this moment on, my legal daughter. You shall no longer be Noel Haiba but Noel D'melion Sloan from today." Marcus spoke as he shook her much smaller hand.
'Finally, things are looking better...'