Fallen Wonderland

1|| Innocence

“Did you say something Nero?” I asked him just to be sure that he was the one who muttered those words. He looked at me and smirked. He then faced at the front and seems to scan the room only to lock his eyes on a certain person.

“The girl with the maid outfit, who is she?”He asked me in a whispered manner. I looked to where his eyes landed and saw the said maid.

“Ah, the personal maid of Ed. Want to talk with her first?” I asked him and he nodded still looking straightly at the poor maid who seems to not know anything. I called out to her and she hurriedly run towards our way. On the way, she tripped but good thing I caught her.

“Are you alright?” I asked her worriedly. She nodded and stood straight. Nero began to walk away and we followed him only to see us in another room of the house, the library.

“Well, why don't we all take a seat?” Nero suggested and we gladly did. As we took our seats, the atmosphere started to tense. I decided to break the ice to stop the maid from her nervousness which really shows now.

“So, you were newly hired by Eduardo. Could you please briefly introduce yourself?” I asked her then Nero looked at me and smirked. I just tilted my head in question of the smirks he had shown so many times already then he went back to look at the maid.

“Ah, yes! I'm Mary Fernandez and currently 21 years old. Master Ed just hired me 2 months ago but I always stay at the kitchen or in here to clean and sort things out. I just got promoted as his personal maid a week ago.” She briefly introduced herself and I nodded. Nero… well, he's being himself I guess. He's just looking at her or more like staring.

“Ms. Fernandez, thank you for your introduction. I'm not the kind of person that beats around the bush so forgive me if this will hurt you. Where were you around 9 to 10 PM last night?” Nero bluntly said that caused me to fully look at him with a shocked expression.

“Ha…? I didn't kill Master Ed! Please believe me! I owe him so much! I don't have any courage to kill him after he helped me so much!” Mary said in a panic and I tried to calm her down. And thank goodness she really calmed down.

“We're not saying you're the killer. Please forgive Detective Nero. By the way, sorry for the late introduction. I'm a close friend of Ed so you can relax and say it to me. I'm Arthur Kingsley.” I said to her and she nodded. She took deep breaths.

“At that time, Master ordered me to get him a wine so I went to the underground wine cellar with his personal butler. I went back to the front of his door and knocked but no one answered so I assumed he was asleep. So I decided to go and put the wine back.” She said still with nervousness present in his voice.

“Is that so? Then, you could go out and please do call the one in the butler outfit.” Nero said and Mary nodded then went out.

“Nero, are you really a detective? You can't do that during an interrogation.” I said to him and only got angry because he wasn't looking at me. He's just looking straight with a serious expression.

“Hey! Look at me when I'm talking to you!” I shouted then forced him to look at me. When I saw his expression, I felt intimidated. He was really angry but when I saw his eyes, I felt pity. I saw it. His eyes are showing something else. I stood up a little earlier and now I sat down and found the floor interesting to look at.

“I'm sorry.” I whispered and when I looked at him, he was looking straight again. My mind wondered on the emotion that his eyes had. I snapped out of my thoughts when I heard the door creak open.

“Pardon me for my intrusion; did you call for me Sir Arthur?” I heard a voice said and I looked towards the source only to see Ed's personal butler.

“Mike! Come sit here!” I said and he hurried towards the seat. I looked at Nero and found him looking at Mike with such empty eyes.

“Umm… Sir Arthur, should I introduce myself first?” Mike said and I looked at him and smiled. I nodded and noticed how he uncomfortably fidgets in his place, seemingly nervous with the presence of Nero.

“Nice to meet you Detective Nero, I'm a fan of yours. My name is Mike Evans and I'm currently 19 years old. I owe Master Ed a lot. I got injured when I was very young and no one wanted to help me at the hospital because we're poor. We didn't have money at that time because my mother needed medications. Then Master Ed helped me and said that I can pay by working for him.” He explained to us as he introduced his self. I nodded, understanding his situation. I've already heard Ed's explanation regarding that matter. He said that he saw his young self in this young lad.

“Is that so? Then, where were you around 9 at the evening?” Nero asked bluntly. I just sighed, not minding that he asked out of the blue again.

Mike would surely answer the same thing Ms. Fernandez said.

“I was ordered to patrol the area because Master Ed said that there were suspicious people spotted around.” Mike said calmly and that shocked me. He didn’t get angry or went on a panic. And the most important thing is he didn't say the same thing as Ms. Fernandez.

He then looked at me and smiled. It seems he saw how shocked I was and confused that he was so calm while answering that kind of question.

But maybe not my suspicions to him and Ms. Fernandez.

“You're surprisingly calm at this situation.” Nero commented, taking away the words I wanted to say. Mike just gave us a sincere smile.

“It's probably because I know how an interrogation should go. Now then, I shall take my leave. Who do you want me to call Sir Nero?” Mike said as he stands up. I glance towards Nero for a bit and saw him smirking.

“Please call the person wearing a nurse uniform. And before you leave, please honestly answer my question.” Nero said and Mike just tilted his head in confusion. Nero looked straightly at Mike’s eyes and said those words that only got me confused.

“Does it hurt?” Those simple words got me trapped in my train of thoughts. I never understood what those words meant to be but it seems like Mike understood because he smiled.

“It doesn’t hurt that much compared to when he first met me.” Mike said while smiling. Nero just looked at him. Silence took place. Then Mike excused his self and left.

“Nero, what did you mean by that?” Even after asking him, he never answered me. I was planning to ask again but the sound of the door creaking intervened. There entered a nurse who walked and sat, facing towards us, gracefully.

“Hello Mr. Detective and Mr. Kingsley.” She said and curtly nodded. We did the same and gave her our greetings. I glanced over to see Nero’s expression and was very much surprised to see that he was sinking into his sweet or more like feeling intimidated.

“Well, would you mind to introduce yourself?” I asked since it seems like Nero still haven’t recovered from the feeling of intimidation.

“I wouldn't mind. I am Celia Martin, 24 years old and the childhood friend of Ed but right now, I'm here as his nurse.” She said while smiling so widely which made a shiver run down my spine. And I'm pretty sure Nero felt a chill since he slightly trembled. Then Nero cleared his throat.

“W-well, would you care to tell us about what you were doing around the time the victim died?” Nero stuttered at speaking at first but calmly made his expression empty once again. It seems like he recovered from all those chills from before.

“You see, I took a bath and slept. It has been my habit of taking a bath around that time and sleeping after around 15 minutes.” She said to us calmly. I do wonder how they keep calm during a situation like this. Might be because she’s a nurse and have been used to pressure.

“Is that so? Thank you for answering, you may leave. But please do tell the victim's brother that he is being called by me.” Nero said to Celia and she nodded. She stood up and left. After a while, the tension inside the room eased.

“Women are scary no matter what happens.” Nero suddenly muttered and I slightly chuckled because of his expression. It became something like disgust and fear combined. Then we were interrupted when the door burst open and someone headed towards us or more likely Nero. Then the said someone held Nero's collars and pulled him up. It was none other than Vincent Sison, Ed's younger brother.

“What do you need?! Are you suspecting me?! I AM HIS BROTHER, AND –“He shouted towards Nero but abruptly stopped when I held his shoulder.

“Well, Vincent, would you please calm down? No violence is allowed in this room with my presence here.” I said while smiling towards him. And I know for sure that they understood that the smile was that of an evil one.

“I… I am sorry.” He said and sat down across us. I just smiled towards him but of course it was not any normal smile.

“Well, as you said earlier. You are his brother. Half to be exact, is that right?” Nero asked and Vincent nodded slowly in which I wonder why. It seemed like he is having a mental breakdown right in front of us.

“That is certainly right. I am indebted with my older brother. He is the only one who never gave up on me no matter what I did. And yet…” He said and muttered something under his breath at the last part. In which we surely noticed on how he gritted his teeth before acting like nothing strange happened.

Nero's gaze stayed on Vincent as if studying him like an animal under observation. And with that, I noticed how Vincent seemed like sinking on his chair and being gulped down by the ground along with the chair.

"I know you're mad that we might be suspecting you but these questions are for formality only so please do answer. What were you doing last night around the time your brother died?" I asked ahead of Nero since I'm scared of what he might ask.

"I was just in the library, organizing some files and nothing else. I even finished until the late midnight." Vincent answered with calmness and a detailed explanation.

"You answered with so much detail despite getting angry for being called by me." Nero commented on what he answered.

"I do know manners and what is supposed to happen in an interrogation."

"Thank you for the cooperation. Take your leave and please do call the last one."

It seems like that made Vincent pissed off but with me smiling so widely at him, he just clicked his tongue and left while banging the door. I wanted to ask something to Nero but it seems like I won't get to ask him since Sasha Fuentes, Ed's secretary, entered the room.

"Sasha, come here and take your seat." She did as I told and greeted us with a bow.

"You're the one who discovered the victim's body along with King Arthur here am I right?" Nero asked and she nodded.

"I am Sasha Fuentes, 21 years old and the secretary of Sir Ed. I am also his childhood friend Mr. Detective." She said as she introduced her self.

"I won't beat around the bush but please do understand that this is just for formality. What were you doing last night when Ed died?" I asked her and she seemed to look around before answering.

"I was doing the paperwork Sir Ed gave to me before going to bed."

"Then why did you come to his room so early in the morning?" Nero asked in a monotonous tone.

"I was supposed to wake him up since he ordered me to for Sir Arthur here is expected to come early."

With that answer, Nero stood up and started to walk away from us towards the door. We do not know we are going but we just followed him.

"We are going to where everything started, the crime scene." He said and with that we left the library room which we made the interrogation room to go to the crime scene, Ed's room.