NoGift

A MAN was lying on the lush carpet. Argent wasn't even sure if it really was a man because of how grotesque and disfigured he looked. One of his eyes was protruding out of its sockets. Half of his face - and probably most of his body - was in a state of decay. His skin was black and melting, like some kind of goo. It was like a bucket of toxic chemicals was poured on him. Heck, even his clothes was is a state of decay.

"Brother, what's wrong?"

Aurum's voice woke Argent from her slight shock. She immediately turned around and pulled her sister away from the cabin's door. Away from the sight of that corpse.

"What happened? Is something wrong inside?" Aurum asked, a bit confused. She didn't get to see anything because her brother immediately pulled her.

"There's a dead body inside. You don't need to look. It will just turn your stomach," Argent calmly said. Aurum paled a little after she said that. She has no plan to lie to her sister. After all, something like this would be known to all the passengers in this ship sooner or later.

Francis Dwight fell on his knees. "N-no... h-how could something like this h-happen...?" he said, his voice trembling. "W-what should I d-do? Wha--"

"Calm down." Argent looked at the guy. He was pale and shaking. "Was that one of your employers?" Even though she already knew the answer, she still had to ask just to make sure.

He turned to her. "Y-yes."

"Go and tell one of the crew here what happened. Someone must report this to the captain."

Francis gingerly nodded. He stood up and walked away in trembling knees. Argent observed the guy before turning her attention back to her sister. "I'll go inside and check for something. Stay here."

"Brother, no," Aurum immediately rejected the idea.

"I'm just going to check something before one of the crew or the ship's captain come over."

"Then I'll go with you."

"No. That thing inside will just give you nightmares and a bad case of stomach ache. So be a good girl and stay here, okay?"

Aurum pouted. "Fine. But be fast, okay?"

Argent smiled and nodded before going inside the room. She looked again at the dead man on the floor. She could smell the decaying skin. But not so strong that the scent could travel past this room. Which meant the time of his death was probably mere hours ago. She wanted to check the body more closely. But aside from the fact that she's not really an expert in this field, she could might as well tamper with the crime scene. Which definitely would not help anyone.

So she looked about the room. There was no evidence of struggle, everything was in place. Even the door didn't have a sign that it was forcefully opened. Which meant the victim let the perpetrator in on his own volition. The killer could be a friend or a passing acquaintance. Or an employee.

She went out after deciding there's nothing more to see. "Let's go," she said to her sister waiting patiently outside.

"We're not waiting for that four-eyes?" Aurum asked, a bit confused.

"No need. The ship's crew can handle this thing themselves."

And if her assumption was correct, Argent didn't want to stay here just to be used as an alibi.

----------

The twins were on their way to their cabin room when they saw Felicia. When the maid saw them, she immediately came running towards them. "Young Lord, Young Lady, we have been looking for you, the Duchess and I," she said, the relief in her voice was evident.

"Why? Mother knew Brother and I are strolling around the ship," Aurum said.

"There's been an alarming incident," Felicia answered, as if not really sure how to explain it to them.

That got Argent's attention. "What alarming incident?"

"Well, you see, Young Lord, after I finished unpacking our clothes, I went to look for the Duchess in the dining hall. We decided to look for you while going around the ship ourselves. When we arrived at the ball room, we heard a scream. After a while, everyone in the ball room gathered around from the source of the scream. And there, we saw, ahm, I don't know how to put it."

"Just tell us what you saw," Aurum said impatiently.

Felicia took a deep breath and said everything in one go. "We saw a man on the floor, bleeding from all his orifices. A look of abject terror on his face."

"Was he dead?" Argent asked.

Felicia nodded. "One of the passengers checked for his pulse and found none."

They just found a corpse and another dead body suddenly popped up. What were the chances, really? "Do you know the identity of the dead man?"

"According to the Duchess, based on the man's clothing, he's probably from Xing."

Argent raised one of her brows. Xing, huh? Now, wasn't that interesting?

Aurum turned to her and said in a quiet whisper only the two of them could hear, "Brother, do you think it's related to that thing you saw earlier?"

"Most probably. But let's not dwell on it. I have no intention to play detective and neither should you. It would be dangerous if the killer turned their attention to us," she whispered back.

Aurum nodded obediently. She's not really interested in what happened. But she knew her brother's curious nature. So she expected that Argent would want to solve this mystery murder. But she also forgot that her brother hated troublesome things above all else. And this thing would definitely give them a lot of trouble.

Argent looked at Felicia. "Let's go back to our rooms and wait for Mother."

The two agreed and they all walked towards their cabins.

----------

By dinner, everyone in the ship knew about the murder of the two delegates from the Xing Empire. It caused quite a panic. After all, they're in the middle of the sea and there's someone roaming around killing people. That didn't exactly put anyone's mind at ease. But the captain promised that him and all the crew would do everything to protect the passengers. And they were now earnestly investigating what happened to the two delegates.

After they ate dinner, Anthea decided that the four of them should sleep in one cabin until the situation eased up. In short, until the killer was apprehended. The cabin was big enough for the four of them, so she just asked one of the crews to bring them two pallets for her and Felicia to sleep in.

They were about to enter the twins' room when someone called out to them. Anthea turned and saw a tall man wearing a white uniform. He has locks of copper hair tied in a long queue and a neat beard of the same color. It was Andromeda's captain. She catched a glimpse of him earlier in the ball room.

"Good evening, Your Grace," he respectfully bowed.

"Captain Morgan," Anthea greeted back.

"Pardon me, Your Grace, but may I speak to your children?"

"Whatever for?" she asked. Although she already had an idea why. Argent told her earlier about the corpse she saw. She actually hated that her daughter have to see something like that. If only she didn't allow them to go off by themselves. But seeing Argent so calm, lessened her worry quite a bit.

"Mother, I'll talk to the captain," Argent said before the man could answer her mother's question. She looked up at the tall man. "Is it about the Xing delegate that was found dead in his room?"

"Yes, milord. The one who discovered the body - the translator working for the delegates - said you and your sister were with him when he went to see his employer. Was that true?"

"It was. I'm sorry if we didn't stick around. Waiting there with a dead body wasn't really pleasant."

"That's quite alright, milord. If you could tell us how you encountered this young man?" Morgan asked, looking down at the boy who appeared too calm for his own comfort.

"Me and my sister were walking around the ship when he suddenly fell in front of us. I helped him gather the books he's carrying at the time. He told us as thanks he could get us to the engine room. Because he heard that we wanted to go there. But first, we should go to one of his employee to get a special pass. When we got there, we saw the body," Argent narrated indifferently. "I think you should go look into that guy. He's the most suspicious person here, if you ask me."

"I'm afraid that would be hard, milord. Seeing as, just a few minutes ago, we found him dead in his own cabin room."

Now, that was something Argent didn't expect.