Disclaimer: Even if I want to, sad to say, I do not own Kaichou wa Maid-sama! It only belongs to Hiro Fujiwara... and all those places and names here, if there were such places and names, they were purely coincident, and if not... purely fictional...
Chapter 1
On the same hour of the same day, around five miles away from the Chevalier manor, a little village called Elmswood stood. The residences there lived a simple life, yet almost all of them have gossiping as their only vice, in which, the ones they usually talk about were from the town not far away from them.
And on this village resided a twenty three year old young woman by the name Misaki Ayuzawa. A lady of low standing, she lived alone in her house most of the time, unless her sister Suzuna comes and visits her, who is currently in London finishing her studies. She was described by her neighbors as "quite a beauty" bearing a pair of golden eyes and hair dark, short yet slender body, and for her striking beauty, many tried to win her heart, but all of them failed.
And on that day, while she was out in her usual morning walk, a carriage came and stopped by her, and out came a man in his late 40's, professional-looking and robust in structure.
Seeing the man before her, Misaki curtsied and greeted, "A pleasant morning, Inspector Norris."
"And to you. I am in a hurry, and I need you and your services now."
Without another word, Misaki went inside the carriage and off they went.
"So, what's the case now, Inspector?"
"A murder and a theft in Chevalier manor."
"In this hour in the morning? My goodness, what's in with these nobles?"
"Misaki, hold your tongue. Nobody wanted this to happen."
"Nobody except the criminal."
After a few minutes of silence, Misaki said, "Pray, tell me of the details."
Her companion replied, "I do not know much. The only thing I know is that the head butler Louis saw the dead body of his mistress' daughter, Miss Angelique Chevalier in her room. We can see further details later, for we have arrived."
Indeed, they arrived at the manor and were greeted by the head butler himself. And in a few minutes, they arrived in the crime scene.
As they enter the room, east from the door, lying on the floor, the body of a young woman about Misaki's age. Near the corpse, there were several mirror shards coming from the mirror not far from the body itself, a pair of muddy footprints almost everywhere in the room, a candlestick which fell from a near table, and on top of the table, the things were in disorder; and one of its drawers open. Inside, a small empty blue box was found looked like a container of something very high of value.
As Inspector Norris examined the body, he found her index finger much more covered in blood than the others and above wrote ''; near her lay a bloodied knife with a symbol of a bird on its handle. As he saw the symbol, he could only utter, "Raven."
-0-
The butler invited them for tea to relax a bit, but Misaki and the inspector made this as an opportunity to discuss about the crime.
"Raven, the escaped prisoner? One of those in Scotland Yard's lists?" asked a surprised Misaki.
"Who would have thought that Raven would strike here after escaping from the North?"
"Pardon me but, who is this Raven? Is he dangerous?" asked the butler.
"Raven is one of those notorious criminals from the north and a master of disguise, and was known for stealing rare items usually from the rich, killing witnesses and many others. Plus, he's a she" the inspector replied. Turning to the butler, he asked, "Can you relate to us the events of what happened before the crime? Did Miss Chevalier act suspiciously before it happened?"
The butler answered, "As a servant, I have no right of thinking badly about my masters, yet as my duty, I have to serve them in any means, for their sake. Very well. It all started weeks ago; we hired a young woman by the name of Marilyn and became Miss Angelique's personal maid. The young miss has this habit of going to Merrington, a half a day's travel by carriage, and after which, she received letters from a single person..."
"Is that the'C. Brown' in the dying message?" interrupted Misaki.
"Hush, Miss Ayuzawa. Pray, go on with your tale" Inspector said.
"As what the lady had said this 'C. Brown' acquaintance of the young mistress which I never saw in my entire life continues to exchange letters to the young miss, and she herself, with her personal maid, would go out to which, I suspect, to meet the gentleman. Yet yesterday, the young miss and the maid went out, but by evening, Miss Angelique went home alone, saying that Marie went home to visit her family. At that night, she had visitors; the Chevalier family's partners in business, the Walkers and a relative of the said family, which is a member of the Usui family. After dining and her visitors went out, the young miss proceeded immediately to bed, and by morning, I found...well..."
"So, what do you have any theories in mind, Miss Ayuzawa?" Inspector asked.
"Let me hear your mind, Inspector, we may have different ideas." Misaki said.
"Well, let me ask first, Mr. Louis, what was the thing which was stolen?"
"A ring with a blue gem shaped as a rose, and it was inherited by Miss Chevalier from her mother, the Blue Rose."
"So there it is, then. While she was preparing to go to bed (for she was not in her nightgown), someone entered her room via window and sneaked up behind her, she was alarmed and defended herself, and to shut her up, she was killed using a knife, and that someone looked for her famous ring and stole it, and that someone is Raven herself, and now, we should look for her" said Inspector.
"But Inspector, how can you explain the dying message? The mirror? And why, if Raven did it, would she leave her murder weapon? Besides, if you observed more closely to her stab wound in her stomach area and the amount of blood spilt, a knife is not enough. Yet there was something strange about the knife itself." Misaki remarked.
"Well, true, her wound was so deep; the length of the blade was not enough and it looked like it passed through her body or something, the shattered mirror is an effect of some struggle...and the dying message, well, what is in your mind, Miss Ayuzawa?"
After taking a sip, Misaki responded to his question "Well, what I have in mind is still a theory; what I will tell you may be likely or not. So this is what I think happened. As the young lady here entered the room, she stood by the table, and the candlelight was perfect for illuminating the table part only. She also might be looking for something in her table, until a certain intruder went inside by the window. Her instincts told her to defend herself, and using a knife, she tried to either wound, or to silence her assailant, but in vain. He overpowered her, and with a weapon carried by this assailant, he killed her and stole the ring. 'Fortunately', she knew her assailant, and she wrote her assailant's name, by which we now know as this 'C. Brown'. Yet, there are still missing facts here, such as how the knife of Raven ended up in that room."
"You said something strange about the knife, if I'm not mistaken, and how did you know that it was she who used the knife, not this 'C. Brown'?" asked the inspector.
"Yes, the knife, you see, the blood on the knife is the peculiar thing; if your observed closely, it's handle have more traces of blood than the blade itself, and that I found that her hands have some defensive cuts..."
"I'm afraid, Miss Ayuzawa, I believe it not so. Miss Chevalier would never use a knife; she has a phobia for knives and such." The butler interrupted.
"Well, that's strange indeed" remarked Misaki.
"But, there is a possibility that Miss Chevalier here is so desperate to defend herself, or too afraid for her life, that she used a knife" Inspector Norris suggested.
"But there were no things such as that knife in her room, and I never seen that knife before" the butler said.
"Like I said, there are still missing facts and questions to be answered, and the only person who can clear this storm is missing as well" Misaki said.
"Well, my men are coming already, Miss Ayuzawa, you should hurry and go now, we may discuss this after our further investigation." And Inspector Norris and the head butler escorted Misaki in the carriage and left. When she was out of sight, the butler said, "Inspector, as a butler, I cannot put Lady Chevalier in a scandalous state, and bring shame in this family. That's why; I request this investigation not to be made public."
"We can arrange that, but also promise me one thing."
"What is it your wish?"
"That the lady, Miss Misaki Ayuzawa, is to be our secret."
-0-
Misaki requested to bring her to Smithtown, the town near her village. As the carriage went out of sight, she hurriedly went to a restaurant, but, instead of passing by the entrance, she went in a dark alley two blocks away, and followed the road, until she was on its back entrance, and went inside.
There, she was greeted by the manager, "Welcome back, Misa!"
"Good morning, Miss Satsuki."
_End_
Well... at long last, chapter 1... oh yeah, I have to postpone my "promised explanation" in the future chapters (I don't know, maybe on the next or so...) because I think it is not yet the right chapter or the event in the story which I explain this story... like I said, this is actually based on a classic novel which I really love to read and reread because it is so...beautiful, and that... all I can say is that I really really really love to read it! Hehe... oh, and you can share your advice, questions, or your ideas on how this story will "run" ( I don't know the term... sorry!) and please do share your thoughts. Don't worry, Usui will appear... but I don't know when... XD and romance is not yet in the air
Oh, and special thanks for these following people who contributed/supported my fic
Vividpixie, DEMON OF DEATH VALLEY, Isabella kwms, CassandraGwendolyn, for supporting me even in that kind of prologue, though nothing yet significant (I don't know even in this chapter 1... you judge it)
Shark's fin for your advice in mf
S y l p h i i e for... your story
