Sora Ul-Hazimir, being the eldest child of King Prama and his first wife Queen Yuri, was supposed to be the future heir of the throne - if only her mother gave birth a month in advance.

The one who stole her position was someone with a commoner's blood. And that someone, who was born few weeks before her, received the greatest affection from the royalty. She was even searched and prioritized in social functions despite having average features. 

In everybody's eyes, Sora was nothing but a substitute.

"Just because you're a second-born doesn't mean you're dispensable.", the Queen told her. "You must exceed your eldest sister or else she'll steal your place someday."

Because of that, Sora harbored a deep hatred towards her sister. But that emotion only escalated when she met one of Harmin's princes, Lamook.

The purpose of Lamook's visit was to negotiate a political marriage, in which Sora never cared at first, but the Queen has her own plans.

Using her authority, the Queen arranged a banquet meeting with Prince Lamook so that her daughter could meet him without any problems.

And that's how Sora fell in love in an instant.

Of course she knew about his wives and concubines, but her feelings never wavered a bit. 

"We're both reprimanded since young to follow our family's tradition.", Lamook told her before he left. "And grew up without an option to disobey it."

She might have seen herself in him, being a first-born of Harmin's first Queen yet disregarded because of birth positions, that's why she was attracted, but realized it was not.

The Queen was overjoyed upon learning her daughter's feelings. Unfortunately, her plan was muddled when the King chose the eldest daughter to be wed with Lamook.

The night before the wedding, Sora received an instruction from her.

"Tonight your sister will be staying in the dome garden to practice her Offertory Dance. Once her instructor retires, go there and offer an assistance since you're pretty skillful in handling Hussars. Once opportunity strikes, kill her."

It was easy for Sora to deceive her sister and took the advantage of her naiveté. She even enjoyed seeing the horror on her sister's eyes as she slashed her small body, and with the blood pooling on the floor and screams drowned by the silence of the night Sora, for the first time, felt powerful.

The missing bride stormed the next day.

Sora flawlessly pulled an image of a concerned sibling and a sympathetic bride when she ended up marrying Lamook to avoid the scandal. 

Several days later, her sister's body was found in an abandoned lot and tagged as murder of passion when rumors about an illicit affair spread out. Of course it was a fabricated lie planted by the Queen.

Sora was overjoyed to be with the person she loved despite being in a foreign land chained with several factions. However, her husband was a contented man with low ambitions, so she had to make some ways for him to participate in nation's affairs - even if she'll connive with higher-ups just to increase her chances of becoming a queen.

Discovering Princess Petun and Kyrios' affairs was an accident. That night she was strolling at the adjacent balcony when she heard a serenade, and when she checked it out she overheard their conversations.

She was planning to report it to Lamook for a severe punishment, but knowing her husband and his growing fondness towards her sister led her otherwise.

"Incest is a common practice within the royalty.", Sora finally replied to Eve as she held a blank gaze on Petun's photo, and then to the butchered body of her sister. "But I don't think her death was related to the motive that you're aiming, Lieutenant."

Eve pushed a paper infront of her. "The autopsy report showed that she was killed by a long, sharp object that has a 96% similarity with the murder weapon of my vics. The method and manner has a 97.5% probability that both have the same killer. 95% probability for the motive, and if we include the attempted murder you pulled out, then that should be enough evidences for you to earn Murder One."

"What if I'll call a not-guilty plea?"

What a tough bitch, Peabody thought as she looked at the well-composed suspect and the grinning interrogator. They already have enough evidences, and adding a cold case in the mix would double Sora's off-planet imprisonment, but that would also mean additional workloads, and Eve hated that.

"Here's the medical records of Petun and the poison she acquired during the attack. According to the lab, most of the ingredients brewed were found in the tropics, and some of it were banned in the US. Further investigation showed that for it not to be traced in detectors was to make it in liquefied state, and the process how to do it was practiced in your hometown country. I don't believe a well-educated consort like you is not aware about cultural backgrounds."

"Coincidence."

"So we'll just blame it to coincidence again if the same poison was used in some deceased Harminian royalty. Don't underestimate my resources.", Eve uttered while leaning towards Sora. "Is it really jealousy, or maybe a cover-up...to protect him?"

"The royal Highness has nothing to do with it!"

She welcomed the sharp gaze, and enjoyed tackling her weak spot. "Oh, seems like we've struck a chord here, Peabody. Our tight-assed Princess here finally shed some of her skin."

"Don't involve Prince Lamook into this. This is between you and me, Lieutenant."

"Oh yeah? Whether you liked it or not, he's somewhat connected. Especially towards you. Come to think of it: he must have gained a lot from this case. From controversies turning into power - with you as one of his pawns."

"There's no way he can -"

"Did he instructed you to kill his own sister when Petun called Armir for a secret meeting? Did he also contacted Levinski for a private jet and altered the log so that there would be no trace once used it as your getaway? Did he provided you some alibis? Did he threatened you to attack during the wedding as if you made it on impulse?", Eve lied as fear and shock paled the princess. "If we're going to disregard the murder case of your sister, and the some that's happening within Harmin's royalty - considering that it's outside NYPSD affairs - we still have enough evidences to question Prince Lamook."

"Why won't you listen that he got nothing to do with this?! It was me who did all of that!", Sora blurted out of fury, and then shuddered upon realization.

Bingo, Eve said to herself.

"It was clearly stated that the suspect admitted the murders of Armir Howe and Mathilde Kenwood. Now tell us why you committed these crimes?", she asked with a sarcastic tone but received a growl. "Okay, let me break down what happened. You made a bargain with Stephanos Levinski by making him marry into the royalty in exchange of illicit funds. You have connections with the higher court, and probably more influential than Lamook himself, that's why you were able to pull it out. You laid some bait with Kyrios, and when he disappeared all of the sudden, you removed him from your list - and that's your first mistake."

"You bugged Petun's household and learned about her secret meeting with Mr. Howe few days before the wedding." Eve narrated as if she witnessed everything, then continued.

"Is she planning for an asylum, or maybe another reason just to postpone the wedding? You panicked because your plan screwed up. You only want Petun to disappear, that's why you wanted to eliminate her, and it's personal. You used Levinski's private jet. Left alone secretly, lied some scenario to Lamook so that he'll not gonna look out for you for hours. Due to different timezones, you miscalculated your ETA, and barely managed thanks to your familiarity with the hotel's security. But you underestimated Petun's ability to defend herself - that's your second mistake."

"Who would've thought of all people, Afef will cooperate with Americans.", Sora scoffed.

"That's your third mistake - believing that people will never change in a short period of time.", Eve responded, wanted to insert about the butler's hostile opinion but decided not to. "Thanks to that, you failed to read that we're just fooling you around. You didn't even realized that your husband knew about it. Until the end, he lied. To you."

Her words were like daggers that she could visibly see the pain in the princess' appalled eyes.

"Peabody, wrap it up and then read her rights."

Before Peabody could finish, Sora stood up with balled fists. "How come you have a nerve imposing a judgement to a royalty like me without putting yourself in my shoes, Lieutenant? As a fellow wife, I reckon you wouldn't like your husband making out with another woman, especially if he had you."

"Oh? Catching him might not only breaking his bones and throwing his conscious body in a pit of fire, I might also enjoy my time grilling his whores with a blunt skewer while doing a rhumba over their corpses." Eve answered with a shrug. "But that's not an excuse of committing murder."

"That's because you were never unloved!", the princess accused. "All my life I was confined and raised to be a queen. Those harsh words, punishments and maltreatment I received from my family are nothing. Whether my father considered me as his daughter or not, I never cared about it at all. My husband...my children...I realized for once, I wanted to have my own existence. I wanted to have something on my own to possess and keep. But the more I desired them, the easier they slipped away from my grasp."

"My sister stole all the things that I should have, and I just made her return them back to me. Then here's this naive in-law who got not only my husband's affection, but also a romance I wished I had. Now tell me, Lieutenant, can I blame myself that I ended up this way?"

"Wa-wait Dallas, calm down - ", Peabody leaped in front of Eve when she snapped and grabbed Sora's collar. "We're not doing some violence here in this room. Remember that in the Observation -"

"Shut up, Peabody. Record off."

Eve knew that Roarke or some officers mandated by Whitney would likely rush inside the interrogation room, but she entrusted Peabody to have the controls outside. With quick calculations, she'll last for three solid minutes.

"You know what, something ticked me off the first time I saw you. Now I got it - you reminded me of someone I know.", Eve said with a steady voice as she eyed Sora. "This someone I know was born and raised to become her parent's commodity. Her mother abused her, abandoned her, while her father raped her. She was mistreated in foster homes and labelled unimportant by the system. In everybody's eyes, she was nothing. But you know what, your Highness, she made a difference within herself. She started to stand up and believed in justice. She wormed her way from hell, garnered several enemies, encountered tons of difficulties, killed some...but in the end, she lived. She met someone she could love, friends she could treasure, and a filial bond she could protect. Now, if you want me to ask this someone I know the same questions you just asked me a while ago, what would you think she'll say?"

"I...I don't...", the princess stuttered as her knees weakened, and sobbed silently.

Eve released her, walked towards the door and murmured, "It's a shame, your Highness. You're a cunning woman - a trait that's fit for a queen, and not for a killer."