This chapter contains descriptions of a corpse.
His adoptive sister, whom he hadn't seen properly in over a year, wore a displeased expression.
"Hey there, little sister."
"Get lost, you calculating four-eyes."
Maomao
wasted no time,
launching a verbal barrage
at Rakan.
"Maomao~"
At Maomao's side stood
Rakan.
Rakan wanted to embrace Maomao, but she jabbed a broom handle into his cheek, warning him not to come any closer.
"Maomao, shouldn't you ease up a little?"
"Then why don't you take over?"
"Absolutely not."
Rakan refused, then looked toward the other two people.
One was
Officer Liu,
the chief of the palace medical staff. A contemporary of
Luomen —
Rakan's great-uncle — he was a notoriously difficult man.
The other was a younger man, of medium build, with a frivolous-looking face.
"Where's the corpse?"
His eyes had an oddly sparkling quality, but the very next moment, Officer Liu punched him in the head.
"Tenyu, be quiet!"
His name turned out to be Tenyu. A lowlife's name—utterly useless information.
Rahan figured he'd picked up some troublesome baggage, but the main target had been caught, so that was good enough.
If Luomen started causing problems, he'd dump the whole thing on Maomao. And he was certain the other side was thinking the exact same thing.
"I'm not idle either—could you show us the body already?"
"There's a report from the Moon this afternoon, isn't there? We don't have time to dawdle."
Officer Liu spoke, a vein pulsing at his temple.
The Western Capital expedition team's report concerned Luomen as well. Rahan wanted to get this over with just as quickly.
"This way."
Onso guided them.
Shunketsu the boy had found the sights too overwhelming, so they'd had him wait in a separate room.
He was an earnest lad—he'd asked if there was anything he could do, so Luomen had put him to work cleaning the room he'd been using.
"Forgive my saying so, but those of the Ra clan are rather too lenient with their own, aren't they?"
Officer Liu looked at Luomen, Maomao, and Rahan.
"What's wrong with being soft on your own daughter?"
Luomen answered as if it were the most natural thing in the world. There was no point telling this man to read the room.
Officer Liu was no fool—he understood that nothing he said to Luomen would make a difference.
He walked into the office with an impassive expression.
"This one here?"
The "Lance" was still dangling from the ceiling beam. Rahan had ordered it left undisturbed.
"We can't do anything about it in this state, can we?"
Officer Liu squinted.
"Whoa, it's dead, it's dead!"
The man called Tenyu made a racket.
"You told me it was a suspicious death, but it's just a hanged corpse, isn't it..."
Maomao had meant to mutter under her breath, but she had a habit of letting her words slip out. That was how she had ended up describing it as a "suspicious corpse." A suspicious corpse was one with an unascertained cause of death—poisoning among the possibilities.
In truth, she had no intention of coming to Luomen's office. That was why she had needed to come up with a reason to be here.
"If he's hanging there like that, doesn't that make it suicide?"
Officer Liu's fist came down on the top of Tenyu's head.
"There must be some basis for believing it wasn't suicide, then. The fact that they've preserved the scene like this…"
Officer Liu looked at the corpse.
"That's right."
It had been decided beforehand that Ousou would explain on Luomen's behalf—he was better suited to move the conversation forward than Rahan.
"If it were suicide, there are contradictions."
"What sort of contradictions?"
Ousou produced a length of cord.
"This cord was cut to match the body of the deceased, from the neck down—"
Wang Fang.
"—his height below the neck. Given the angle of the hanging rope, Wang Fang's height, and the position of the chair, would the hanging have been possible?"
To Rahan, the world appeared to overflow with numbers. For the hanging to work, the chair would need to be at least a foot closer. No matter how far he stretched, it would have been impossible to loop the rope around his neck.
"If he kicked the chair over when he jumped off, wouldn't it have shifted?"
Tenyu offered his opinion.
"Considering where the backrest ended up, how hard would he have had to kick?"
Rahan answered in Ousou's stead.
Perhaps because Tenyu was such a nuisance, Maomao kept quiet. She maintained her distance from Luomen, who was offering her sweets, and wrinkled her nose with a puzzled look.
"Hmm. So you didn't bring the body down because you wanted me to confirm this for myself?"
"That is correct."
"Can you say the chair hasn't been moved either?"
"Shall we call on the bystanders as witnesses?"
Officer Liu was the type of person who wanted everything laid out clearly. If something warranted suspicion, she would suspect it.
"Even so, it's surprising that Officer Liu personally came all the way here."
"The way they asked for an apprentice bothered me. Wouldn't a supervisor be necessary?"
In other words, this was a measure to prevent any tampering.
"Then let's have the body lowered."
"Understood."
Yincao called over the officers to lower the corpse.
"Ladies and gentlemen, please take your seats and wait."
"Alright."
Tianyou promptly sat down on a settee.
"I'm fine either way."
"So am I."
Officer Liu and Maomao remained standing.
They cut the hanging rope midway to bring the body down, but it was quite a struggle. Wang Fang, known as "Fragrant Chariot," had the build of a proper martial officer.
According to the report, he had been discovered by Luomen two years ago. He was recruited for his sharp instincts and swift action. With a temperament suited to practical work, he had handled every task Luomen assigned him as a test without a single failure. He had ambition, but at the same time, an insatiable greed. Still, the report noted that as long as proper supervision was maintained, there should be no problem—
But it seemed that supervision had crumbled during Luomen's absence.
"Finally got it down."
The body, laid out on a cloth, was honestly not pleasant to look at.
"Tianyou."
"Yeees?"
Officer Liu was telling Tianyou to look first. Maomao also peered at the body from behind Tianyou.
"What do you think?"
"There are fingernail marks on the neck. It looks like they scratched at the rope, trying to relieve the suffocation."
Tianyou wore a surprisingly serious expression. Maomao nodded as she looked on.
"They were suffering."
"Suffering, weren't they."
"Don't people who are hanged supposed to suffer?"
Insou asked, sounding puzzled.
"When someone hangs with enough momentum, the joints in the neck dislocate and they lose consciousness. They shouldn't thrash about in that case."
Physician Liu explained.
"So it would be a painless death."
"There's no painless way to die. If you fail, you suffer—so I wouldn't recommend it."
At Physician Liu's words, Insou managed a wry smile.
"Let's get the clothes off."
"Yes."
Ten'yu began removing the corpse's clothing. Maomao moved to help as well.
"Oh? You'll help?"
According to Rahan's memory, Luomen had always told Maomao never to touch corpses.
"It's part of the job."
Maomao showed no hesitation as she stripped the corpse's clothing away. Whether it was a good thing that she was so accustomed to baring a man's body down to nothing—even if it was a corpse—Rahan mused.
"Maomao, you shouldn't touch things that filthy."
So saying, Rakan was scattering crumbling sweets everywhere. One couldn't help but admire his ability to eat in front of a corpse.
"Judging from the color of the livor mortis on the feet, quite some time has passed. How long would you guess? My lady?"
"It certainly looks like more than half a day has elapsed. The redness in the lower body is quite pronounced."
"Yes, judging by the stiffness of the flesh,
more than eight hours,
I'd say."
Ten'yu pinched the corpse.
Since Physician Liu said nothing, it must not have been wrong.
"Even with some margin of error, it was sometime between evening and night."
Rahan touched his glasses. What had they been doing at a time when work had long since ended?
"The cause of death is hanging, no mistake about it."
"Yes."
As before, Doctor Liu offered no further comment.
"Can you say for certain whether it was suicide or homicide?"
"That much I can't determine. Considering the position of the chair as I mentioned earlier, one would want to lean toward homicide…"
At Onso's question, Ten'yu shook his head. Doctor Liu nodded in agreement.
Maomao narrowed her eyes and gazed up at the ceiling beam.
"What's the matter? Something wrong, dear?"
"…"
Maomao wordlessly stamped on the tip of Rahan's toe, but as it happened,
shoes
had padding stuffed in the tips, cushioning the impact.
"What's the matter?"
Rahan asked Maomao once more.
"I was just thinking the rope was tied to the beam like a lasso. If that's the case, there'd be no need for a ladder."
"A lasso?"
"It'll be faster to just show you."
Maomao glanced at Doctor Liu.
"Then please demonstrate."
Onso said. Maomao wouldn't listen to a word from Rahan, but she was comparatively more willing to heed Onso.
"Then pardon me."
Maomao picked up the rope and attached a weight to its end, swinging it around. She hurled it into the gap between the beam and the ceiling.
"How do you tie that to a pillar?"
"Just look at the knot on the rope attached to the beam and you'll see right away. Like this."
Maomao tied a loose knot at one end of the rope, then threaded the other end through it.
"If you pull the rope like this..."
The rope pulled tight against the beam.
Raban looked at this and nodded. "Ah."
"So that's how it was."
"What do you mean, that's how it was?"
"Well, I was wondering how someone could have killed him if it was murder."
The victim was a well-built military officer. There was no way he could be strangled so easily.
"The culprit Father pointed out didn't look like someone capable of killing a military officer, no matter how you looked at it."
"The culprit — you're saying you know who it is, that old man?"
Maomao narrowed her eyes to slits.
"Yeah,
Papa,
I figured it out right away."
Rakan appeared right beside her, and Maomao immediately stepped away.
"Even if you know who the culprit is, Father still doesn't know the motive, the method of killing, or the evidence. Well, we know the method, so next would be the motive, I suppose?"
"The motive, huh."
Maomao glanced toward the bench.
"Can you figure it out?"
"Pretty much."
"Tell me, little sister."
If it was arranged through Rakan's subordinates, there would be all sorts of problems. They wanted to handle this as quietly as possible.
"I don't really want to say."
"If you don't, you'll be late with your report to the Lady of the Moon."
Maomao made a face but opened her mouth.
"It's not the kind of motive that requires deep thought. The culprit is a 'woman,' isn't she?"
"You figured it out quick."
Rahan was impressed. Luomen had said "white go stone." A white go stone meant a woman, and a black go stone meant a man.
Maomao wrinkled her nose.
"Is that what it means?"
"That's what it means."
Maomao stared at the naked corpse as though thoroughly exasperated.