# Chapter 19: The Little Princess Murdered
"Find out the truth about this matter before dawn tomorrow, and everyone involved must die."
The old king's hands were under the table, holding a small pendant—a lion carved from gold. This item could, to some extent, represent the old king himself.
Su Xiao accepted the golden lion pendant, and a prompt from Reincarnation Paradise appeared.
[Prompt: The Hunter has activated a side mission.]
[Side Mission: The Death of Shalin]
Difficulty Level: Lv.??
Mission Brief: Find the murderer of Shalin Herbert within 18 hours.
Mission Time Limit: 18 hours.
Mission Reward: Wisdom Gem (Light Gold)
Mission Penalty: Slight decrease in the old king's trust.
...
Su Xiao had activated another side mission, which made him suspect that as long as he did things for the old king, there was a certain chance of triggering side missions.
Su Xiao had spent a full 16,000 World Merits to obtain the identity of Iron Hand. The Iron Hand had neither financial resources nor military power. Now it seemed that the benefit of exchanging for the Iron Hand identity was not only a higher status but possibly a bonus in triggering missions.
Princess Shalin Herbert had been murdered. By common sense, it was normal for a few princes or princesses to die in power struggles. But the old king had sealed the city, sent Hesteret to the front lines, and given Su Xiao temporary authority over life and death. This inevitably seemed like an overreaction.
But that wasn't the case. If any other prince or princess had been murdered, the old king would have turned a blind eye. But Princess Shalin Herbert was different. It wasn't that the old king loved Shalin Herbert that much, but rather that Shalin Herbert was too young.
Princess Shalin Herbert was only 13 years old, a princess born in the old king's later years—something no one had expected.
Before the age of 15, Shalin Herbert would spend her childhood and adolescence within the royal palace. After 15, she would receive her own fiefdom. However, given the current situation, the possibility of her receiving a fiefdom was slim.
This 13-year-old little princess clearly had nothing to do with the power struggle. Nominally, she wasn't even qualified to participate in it. Therefore, her murder was an assassination of a royal family member—something that absolutely could not be ignored.
The old king's expression appeared calm, but he was extremely angry. Whoever had done this, as long as they were still within the kingdom's borders, they would die. This was a provocation against the royal family and the entire power system.
"Where is the body?"
Su Xiao spoke. When conversing with the old king, he was always economical with words.
"The garden."
...
Su Xiao stood up and walked out of the banquet hall, followed by Bubu Wang. The five people who had been clinking glasses and chatting were now reduced to just the old king in less than two minutes.
Watching Su Xiao walk toward the banquet hall exit, the many officials were dumbfounded. The wealthy merchants were also bewildered. Even the eldest prince, the third prince, and others were somewhat stunned.
"Third brother, it seems something major has happened in the capital."
The eldest prince, holding a wine glass, approached the prince beside him, a warm smile on his face.
"You're still smiling that hypocritical smile. Don't you know exactly what's happened?"
The third prince glanced at the eldest prince and made a gesture to clink glasses with him. The two appeared harmonious on the surface, but their words were sharply confrontational.
Su Xiao's departure made the eldest prince and the others lose all interest in continuing the banquet. But the old king was still present. As long as the old king didn't leave, no one dared to withdraw first.
As soon as Su Xiao stepped out of the banquet hall, five black-armored Imperial Guards were already waiting at the entrance.
"So it's you."
Su Xiao's gaze swept over these five men. These five Imperial Guards had acted with Su Xiao last night. Setting everything else aside, their execution ability alone was top-notch.
Without needing to think, he knew these five had been sent by the old king.
"Let's go."
Su Xiao, with Bubu Wang and the five Imperial Guards, headed toward the rear of the royal palace. Shalin Herbert's body had been discovered there.
Walking along the path to the palace's rear garden, Su Xiao began to contemplate the general situation of this matter.
First, this side mission was different from the previous Purge. Although the Purge mission had a relatively high difficulty, it only required killing a few targets. As long as one had strong combat power, "Side Mission: Purge" wasn't difficult.
This side mission was different. It was clearly a deduction-type mission. Based on his experience in the Demon Castle world, Su Xiao had a clear understanding of his own deductive abilities. Although not weak, they were only above average. Having Conan possess him was completely impossible.
Therefore, Su Xiao had already mentally prepared for the side mission to fail. But he wouldn't directly give up. After all, the mission reward was a Light Gold gem, and the rarity of gems needed no elaboration.
After wandering around the royal palace for several circuits, Su Xiao arrived at a garden that wasn't too large.
The garden was covered with a large number of climbing plants, lush and verdant. The old king was very fond of this type of vine plant.
Stepping onto the soft lawn, Su Xiao arrived at the center of the garden. There was a huge fountain here. The sound of water carried far, and the moisture made the garden much cooler. Heaven knew how, with this world's level of technology, they had managed to build such a thing.
"Sir, the body is over here."
Guided by an Imperial Guard, Su Xiao arrived at the rear section of the garden. There were several flower beds built from white stone here. A faint floral fragrance drifted in the air, mixed with a strong smell of blood.
Beside a flower bed lay a girl about 1.3 meters tall. She was wearing a white dress, now mostly stained with blood. This was Princess Shalin Herbert.
This was clearly the first scene. Over a dozen of the royal family's direct guards were standing nearby, preventing anyone from disturbing the scene. Their expressions were very grim, because the royal palace was under their protection. Yet, within their layered protection, Princess Shalin Herbert had been murdered.
Su Xiao ignored the dozen or so direct royal guards. They also knew what Su Xiao was here to do, so they all made way.
"Let me... go over... see Shalin..."
A female voice came. Just from hearing it, one could tell she was sobbing uncontrollably.
"Your Majesty the Queen, please calm down. Lord Iron Hand will find the murderer."
"Get out of my way! Get out! What are you doing every day? Why did Shalin die in the palace garden? She never even left the palace! She was so young..."
Protected by a group of guards, a woman, grief-stricken to the point of near fainting, staggered over. The guards tried to stop her, but they could only kneel in a huddle to block her path.
"Your subordinate deserves death."
A guard in magnificent armor knelt before the woman. He was the Legion Commander of the Royal Direct Guard Corps. There were many Legion Commanders in the kingdom. The highest-ranking Legion Commander was Hesteret. Apart from the Royal Direct Guard Corps, most legions were under Hesteret's jurisdiction.
The Legion Commander of the Royal Direct Guard Corps was named Karen. He had a sturdy build and was about 35 years old.
Su Xiao crouched in front of Shalin Herbert's body. He crooked a finger at an Imperial Guard beside him, who immediately leaned in.
"Keep them quiet."
"Yes."
The Imperial Guard didn't care about the queen or Commander Karen. He walked directly to the group and stared at them.
"Quiet."
Seeing this Imperial Guard, Commander Karen's expression changed slightly. The queen, however, didn't care at all and continued to wail loudly.
The crying attracted Su Xiao's attention. He was somewhat puzzled. If this mother had been heartbroken before, he could understand that. But now, even an idiot could see that he was examining the body. Was useless wailing more important than finding the real murderer? Don't think that queens were just ordinary women; they were all daughters of high officials or great nobles.
What puzzled Su Xiao even more was that Shalin Herbert's body had been moved. Although the other party had concealed it very well, it couldn't deceive Bubu Wang's sense of smell. Moreover, judging by the queen's swollen eyes, she seemed to have been crying here for a long time. This didn't make sense.