"Come on hurry up! We should get going. We mustn't be late for the funeral feast. We have to show our gratitude to Samiran.'' said Carol as she was coming from her chambers. The trio then left the house and managed to arrive on time for their funeral feast for Samiran which was a ritual for the dead. This was the final stage of grief in the Southern Kingdom where the family of the deceased was to hold a feast as a form of passage of the dead to eternal peace. When they arrived at the venue, it was decorated in purple and black for they symbolize grief. The Bell's view garden was packed with many people from different walks of life because Sam was a good person to all. As they were eating, Charlotte saw a familiar face looking at her. It was the same guard at the king's palace who kept staring at her but this time he was not dressed as a guard but as a civilian. Charlotte began getting suspicious of the man. It was as if the man detected the suspicious gaze coming Charlotte and immediately he left the premises. Charlotte stood up from her seat excused herself and tried following the man but she could not trace him and when she asked the man if they had seen the man she was filled with disappointment for they had not seen anybody leave the garden. It was as if he vanished in thin air. Charlotte returned to her seat many questions lurking in her head.
She then went to the study to look at some few books concerning the lost district that her brother gave him. As she was fully engrossed in one of the books, she was startled by some noises coming from her chambers. She tried ignoring the noises but when she heard it the second time, she decided to go take a look. She summed up all her courage, grabbed the wooden sword which her brother had crafted for her a while back for emergencies. As she opened the door that linked her study to her bedroom, she looked around but could not see anyone or anything that could be causing the noises. Not long after she had started searching, she felt someone's presence coming from behind her. As she turned around to see who the person was, she froze. She was shocked to see a tall man who looked a few years older than her or of the same age as her, judging by the appearance looking down at her and before she knew it she found herself captive of the man's physical appearance. She was mesmerized by the man's beauty, his blue hazel eyes, his crispy white hair was just too perfect. His perfectly shaped jawline were just so... 'wait, there is a stranger in front of you and all you can think of is his beauty?' She scolded to herself shaking her head. But despite his beauty the man looked kind of pale. Charlotte saw this but she ignored it. 'Maybe he is sick' she thought.
She took a step back to see clearly see the man because of her dimly lit room and was perplexed to see that it was the same man who was a guard the day before and the man who had just vanished in the funeral feast that day. "Who are you and what are you doing in my room?" The man just smirked and continued starring at her. This pissed Charlotte off that she wanted to hit the man even more. "I'm asking you a question and I demand an answer right now! Who are you and what are you doing in my room?! Don't make me call the guards!" said Charlotte in anger. "Okay, okay princess cool down there is no need for you to call the guards and there is also no need for violence." He said pointing toward the sharp wooden sword that Charlotte was holding "My name is Rowan and I was sent here to look for a key. I know this might sound crazy but I knew your brother. Samiran was a very close friend to me and his death really made most of us sad." He continued.
"How do you know my brother and what do you want from him because I have never seen you around only since yesterday at the king's palace only you were dressed as a guard and today you were at the funeral feast are you a spy sent by the other kingdoms using my brother as an excuse just to get to us!? But of course you know my brother he was a well-known duke. So whatever lie you have to tell me say it to the guards. Guar…."
'Justice is the constant and perpetual wish to render everyone his due.' Before Charlotte could even finish calling the guards Samiran said something that rendered her speechless. She looked at him her eyes questioning where he got that line from. "He used to tell you that right? He really loved that quote. Another quote that he loved was 'Against the disease of writing one must take special precautions, since it is a dangerous and contagious disease.' Your brother really loved poetry and only those who were close to him knew about it. He loved those two quotes he would say them almost every day. So do you believe me now when I say I know your brother?" He asked looking at her. Charlotte still looked confused but she still was not ready to lower her guard down. "If you really were my brother's friend why are you showing up now after his death and in my room?" "Your brother sent me here specifically to your room. He said that after his death we will all find the answers. He told me that here I will be able to find a key and the key will help us find the answers." He answered.
Charlotte was still not ready to lower her guard down. "What key are you talking about and an answer to what question?" She asked. "I don't know what the key looks like but I think the answer is about his death."
"What about his death?" "I think your brother's death was really a murder."
She was not expecting that answer. 'Murder how could it be? Sam was a good person and he had many friends so who could have wanted to kill him?' She had a lot of questions in her head. "I know it came in as a shock to you but that is the truth."
By this time Charlotte had already had enough of Rowan's talk she was not fully recovered from Samiran's death and now this stranger that claims to have known Sam comes up to her room and tell her that he was murdered and his death was not due to bad luck.
"Leave." She said in a firm commanding voice. "Leave or else I will call the guards."
"No, you have to listen to me we have to find the key before it's too late for us." He said desperately "Come on princess you know you want to believe me. We have to find the humans or creatures responsible for Sam's death. Plea…."
"I told you to leave don't make me repeat myself for the third time because you will not like it! And stop calling me princess you are not worth calling me that name."
Rowan saw that she was too angry to try and convince her. He opened her bedroom window and took his leave. By the time he was gone Charlotte burst into tears. She was too hurt to process things. How could someone kill her beloved brother. It was just too much. She did not want to believe him but she felt like he was telling the truth. She felt it she felt the sincerity in his voice but it was just too much for her to take in.