Demon Prince's Forsaken Bride-Chapter 59: Murder In The Inn (4)

Everyone turned to look at the woman who had been awfully quiet since the beginning. Now that she spoke, she had a very calm bearing like that of someone who knew what she was doing.

Most of the crowd were low level demons anyway. As villagers, they did not understand what exactly was going on. The only reasonable explanation was the ghosts that had been haunting their towns so when something wrong happened, they would naturally believe that the ghosts caused it. And like a forest fire, such rumors rolled and spread into a huge one till one could not differentiate truth from a lie.

But when Lareina spoke up, the rest of the people suddenly quietened down as they looked at the said ’expert’.

’’What do you even mean by that? I merely don’t want my brother’s body to be harmed and his killer to escape unscathed...’’

"You say that your brother was killed by a ghost, am I right?" Lareina did not take a single step towards the corpse.

The corpse had been dragged out from that old well that probably had not been cleaned in a long time hence even though the person had just died, the body stunk till miles.

"Yes!" The innkeeper said with conviction. As if he was incensed just being questioned like that, he further continued, ’’If you don’t believe me, you can ask anyone. Countless people have lost their lives under weird circumstances because of those ghosts. They...’’

’’Enough,’’ Lareina turned to the corpse, ’’Why would a ghost poison someone to death?"

’’P-Poison?" The innkeeper stuttered, ’’How could it be?"

’’The person’s lips have turned a faint shade of blue along with some of his other visible body parts, ankles, wrists and even half his neck. There are burns around his nose. These are the signs of poison, not ghosts.’’

The crowd went into an uproar.

Amidst the chaos, Lareina felt a finger touching her palm. Without even turning around, she could tell who it was with a familiar scent lingering behind her.

The man wrote a few words on her palm—It seems you were indeed withholding on some information.

Lareina moved her palm away and rolled her eyes. It was true that she had noticed these signs of poisoning on the corpse when she had retreated earlier but her shocked expressions had been short lived. She had never expected him to see right through her.

When she felt him standing behind her, she gritted her teeth and moved her finger to write on his large palm—Why did you drag me into it?

A simple response came on her palm—You looked idle.

Lareina nearly spouted a mouthful of blood when she heard that. Why would she do free labor and investigate these cases? It was not like she was being paid by the demon lord like those court officials!

Holding onto her indignation, she quickly wrote—My knowledge is half-baked. The cover will be blown and there will be trouble. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

’’But... But who could poison my brother? He did not even have any enemies... He..’’ The innkeeper seemed to be reeling with shock again.

Whether Azrael was unable to comprehend her words or he simply enjoyed getting her in trouble, he did not respond to her any longer.

Rather, the man stepped forward to add to her troubles by responding to the innkeeper, ’’My wife, however capable, would not be able to judge the situation from such a huge distance. She needs to examine the corpse.’’

"_"

Lareina’s face looked like she had swallowed a bitter gourd that she was unable to spit or swallow.

However, unlike the wariness they had shown earlier, the people seemed to have lowered their guards against Lareina and really believed in her expertise after she managed to point out all the obvious signs that they had overlooked earlier. They quickly stepped aside and made their way to the well stairs where they had laid the corpse.

Lareina realized that Azrael was biding his time in gaining these people’s trust so they would let them approach the body without any hassle. Because as if he had already calculated this outcome, he naturally placed an arm on the small of her back and guided her towards the body.

The closer Lareina got to the corpse, the more the pungent smell spread. Her stomach churned to the point every tendril in her body seemed to itch.

When she looked up, the group of demons seemed to be looking at expectantly with a little bit of reverence. Some of the demons looked at her with keen eyes full of skepticism.

And the man who had dragged her into this looked at her with a peaceful smile and a challenging arc of his brows.

’’Husband... This is very improper. I cannot examine the corpse,’’ Lareina clutched the side of her head as she spoke.

’’Why? Why is that?" Before Azrael could speak, another demon came along to ask.

’’My uncle is the previous coroner of the royal family. It is a matter of utter grief that none of his children have inherited his great talent. Rather, it is me, his niece who had managed to acquire his skills. Out of indignation and envy, my cousins have all turned against my uncle, thinking that he had imparted his skills to me on purpose,’’ Lareina spoke without missing a breath.

Azrael’s lips twitched a little, his smile faltering.

’’Alas, the heavens are jealous of great talents but what can I do? Instead of watching the rift between a father and his children, I stepped up and made a vow to never use the skills I have learnt from my great uncle. And if I break this vow, my ancestors would forever turn in their graves and my husband and the rest of my family would be haunted by nightmares for an eternity,’’ After delivering the heart-touching speech, Lareina, the self-proclaimed ’great talent’ even wept a little.

The ’haunted by nightmares’ was a straight jab to the husband who had made similar declarations in the room earlier.

’’Your vows are vows but if uncle was here, he would not want you to be tied by such things and obscure truth on purpose. So, just for the sake of uncle’s great name, you should examine the body already.’’

This man wanted her to beg him! Lareina gritted her teeth as he led her closer to the body. Suddenly her eyes gleamed and she squealed, ’’Husband, how can you forget?! I...’’

...

Mini theatre:

Azrael: Wifey, since when did you become so sly?

Lareina: Even a fox knows to hide its tail and I am still a human *rolls eyes* Besides, who are you calling your wifey? Get lost!