After several thank you’s and have a great day, Eve was exhausted. Handling three parties in one day was too much, and even though Levinski was handling majority of the conversations, it was still a torture.

“You must be tired, Darling. Better retire to your suite now, for tomorrow’s another promising day.”, Levinski said as he nibbled Eve’s hand. It took her an ounce of courage not to yank her hand and punch his face.

When the place was cleared, Afef went near to her and whispered. “Your next appointment is ready now, your Highness.”

Eve only nodded and followed Afef’s lead towards the other room. When she entered, she saw McNab installing a holo-conference inside.

Afef bowed his head and left.

“Give me three minutes here, LT.”, McNab said as he toggled some codes in the monitor device.

“Okay, take your time.”, she replied as she yanked her head veil then threw it at the nearest chair. “This headdress suffocates me. Little wonders I survived wearing that the whole day.”

“Little wonders you didn’t slug Levinski’s flirting with you the whole day.”

“That too.”, she responded with a chuckle, then raked her long hair with her hands.

She took the main seat as the holo lightened up. All members of her team, including Roarke and Commander Whitney, were present. Even though they were located at the other side of the building, she couldn’t risk herself to go and discuss the matters personally. Not because she was given a very tight schedule, but because she didn’t want Levinski’s spies to have a slight hints about her. Besides, there’s still an issue about a mole inside the royal family.

“How’s your day, Lieutenant?”, Roarke teased.

“Don’t make me ram your face, Ace, to let you see the obvious.”, she snickered. “Since we have a limited amount of time to discuss these matters, I wanted the facts straight.”

Feeney took over. “After monitoring the banquet party – excluding the part wherein we suffered technical issues – the buffet with the international representatives, and the ball party you had miraculously handled, your Highness, we narrowed to five guests that matched our perp’s profile.”

“I hear sarcasm there, Feeney.”

“I believe I’m just reporting the facts straight, your Highness.”, Feeney replied, and then chuckled when Eve growled. “Our profile matched the height, the body structure, and the fluid movements of our suspect. And for these five guests, their only common variables were their rich status.”

“And I believe, our royal consort Princess Sora, is one of them.”

“Shit, Dallas. How’dya know?

Eve shrugged her raw shoulders. “Her presence gave me bad vibes, and she’s keen towards my movements. Not only that, her husband Prince Lamook shared some interesting tidbits that made me pick her.”

She told them everything about her discussions with Lamook.

“What made you think that Princess Sora was the perpetrator?”, Whitney said. “And what made you think that the killer will attend your party?”

“The killer will, not to finish what she left but to observe the damage. The Princess received several cuts with blade smothered with poison, so she wanted to see her personally, on her weakened state.”, Eve explained. “The method of killing our two vics based on the autopsies, and the statements from the survived victim and the witness strengthens the idea that our perpetrator used a Hussar. And according to the two statements, the killer used a Harminian style. If we use Mira’s profile that this is not a political attack, plus Lamook’s statement that rebels were disgraced to follow Harmin traditions, then that means the killer must be from the royalty. A female royalty.”

“You’ll going to learn the method of using a Hussar, the same method our killer used. In a form of dance.”, Roarke commented.

For the offertory, she chose dancing, but she never realized until Afef pointed out that the traditional dance for royalty marriage was similar to the sword-exhibition of Hussar, in feminine way.

That also means she’ll use swords while dancing.

“When do you think the next murder will occur?”, Feeney asked.

“As long as the Princess – or should I say, me – will not make a move to cancel the wedding, the killer won’t attack. But at this moment, we have to locate the mole who planted the device in Prince Lamook’s items, and the second perpetrator who has a premeditated plan to kidnap the princess.”

Then Eve stood up. “So to sum it up, we have to investigate and monitor Princess Sora, and also locate the whereabouts of Kyrios Ameranti. Gather all the necessary evidences before we do some arrests.”

“The way you’re treading now Dallas, can cause diplomatic scandals.”

After the one hour briefing and establishing a new set of plan, Eve wore her head veil again and went outside. She was immediately greeted by her dance instructor, Ameliane.

“Are you ready now for your dance session, Lieute – I mean, your Highness?”, she asked.

Eve grunted with a yes, and followed her to the instruction room.

“You have completed the routines, so today we’ll be polishing your movements. There’s no issue about your posture, but you tend to stiff all the time. We need to correct that.”, Ameliane said as she grabbed two pairs of swords. “I know you’re tired and all, and you’re not the only one. My third here was demanding some sleep too.”

When Ameliane patted her slightly bulged stomach, Eve only groaned.

On the next floor below their room was the suite room of Lamook and his wife Sora.

Among all of his eight wives and concubines, Sora was his favourite in terms of dealing with social matters. She’s good in bed too, which was a bonus point if the conference would take him days.

Sora had excused herself to have a short relaxation spa, so he decided to stay at their private lounge and have some drink. But before he could grab a glass of whiskey, he spotted a large dark figure with blue eyes staring at him.

He knew those eyes, and the figure. “Roarke, is that you?”

The dark figure went towards him and aimed a fist at his stomach. The blow stole his breath.

Grappling at the floor, he asked. “What’s that for?”

“That’s a payback for flirting with my wife.”, Roarke replied with an Irish lilt on his pissed voice.

Lamook coughed, and grabbed a stool to assist himself. “I did not touch her, I swear. I’m just interacting with her like a brother towards his sister.”

“You’re a pervert by nature, Lamook.”

“You still have low regards towards me, after all these years.”, Lamook grinned as he settled and sat in the chair. “You may say I flirted, but that’s it. Besides, she’s ready to snap my neck the moment launch myself to her.”

“Then I have to snap your neck for her place, then.”

“Wait, wait!”, the prince crossed his arms protecting his head. “I did not make a move, okay? She’s your woman and I know how you protect your properties.”

“She’s not only my woman, Lamook. She’s my wife. And speaking of my properties,”, Roarke said as he helped himself a snifter, “Where’s my jammer?”

He handed him his old jammer, and then went to fetch his glass of whiskey. He sat beside Roarke who was inspecting the jammer, and then all of the sudden Roarke used the jammer to hit his head.

“Didn’t we know for the fact that you stole this prototype jammer in my lab, that I didn’t make a fuss of retrieving it or filing you a charge because it was an inferior one?”

“Yeah, but – ouch!”

“Then why did you lie to my wife that I gave this to you?”

“Does that really matter? Ouch!”

“Of course, because you used my product to block all our transmission signals.”

Lamook scratched his head. “I’m not good with technology, Roarke, so I don’t know how to regulate that one.”

“Of course you won’t regulate this one because there’s no regulator installed here in the first place.”

Roarke knew his toys, his touch, and he knew the jammer should only cover a certain level of EM waves.

“Did somebody touch this thing, besides us?”

“Yeah. My Sora.”, Lamook replied. “She came from a highly industrialized country, so she’s exposed with lots of gadgets compared to me. She often borrowed this when she’s away.”

Roarke’s suspicion grew. “May I see the bug stuck on you, Lamook? No worries, I have deactivated all its transmission.”

“So you already know where this bug came from?”

“Uh-hum. It’s from Levinski.”

Lamook was startled. “Levinski? Why would he bug me?”

It was a no-brainer for them to discover the owner; even Eve already guessed the perpetrator without checking the prints. Besides, Levinski was the only one who has the capacity and the paranoia to make a bug, just to ensure his marriage.

Roarke used a small wand to scan the bug and ran some fingerprints, and even without reading the matched profile, it was a no-brainer for Roarke to know who planted it.

It was Princess Sora.