The Dawn Intrigue
A parchment full of orders no one ever gave is circulating through Realm of the Crown, and the harm has only begun. Whoever drew it up knew the Chancellery's ways by heart — and that is precisely what betrays them. Before you, one by one, will stand Pantelimon the Gardener, Duchess Amara de Corvin, Lady Ruxandra and Manole the Jeweller. Rumor walks the deed through every corner: the throne room, the Golden Boar inn, the old chapel and the abbey library. Few files have tested so many investigators; untangle the threads, catch the lie, and pronounce your verdict.
Suspects
He tends the queen's roses and no one's beds of belladonna. The second garden is the more sought-after.
1.73 m
right-handed
green eyes
greying hair
Widowed three times, heir on each occasion. Her smile has buried more nobles than the plague.
1.68 m
right-handed
dark eyes
black hair
The queen's shadow at every hour. She hears everything, sees everything, and embroiders all she learns into patterns known only to her.
1.65 m
right-handed
blue eyes
blond hair
He tells gold from gilt at a glance. With people, he admits, it takes him two.
1.69 m
right-handed
brown eyes
brown hair
Locations
the throne room
Gold, purple, and the most closely watched place in the kingdom. In theory.
the Golden Boar inn
Wine watered down and rumours diluted with nothing. The rooms upstairs ask no questions.
the old chapel
Candles, incense, and a silence in which every footstep echoes like a confession.
the abbey library
Thousands of leather-bound tomes. Some of the chains on the shelves were cut recently.
Objects
the silver-clad icon
The silver casing is old craftsmanship; the nails that hold it were driven this week.
the small wine cask
Arin wine, the good year. The bung was pulled and put back by an unskilled hand.
the vial of belladonna
A small flask, a wax stopper, a label written with care. Three-quarters empty.
the herald's horn
It sounds the muster, the alarm, or the retreat. Whoever holds it can start a whole panic with a single breath.
Moments
at dawn
When the citadel is barely waking and the guards still doze.
after matins
The hour after the morning service, when the abbey empties.
at noon
Midday, with bustle in the markets and silence in the alcoves.
at dusk
When the shadows lengthen and the lanterns are not yet lit.
Open the Grid (below) to solve the case, with the testimonies at hand.
Touch a cell: blank → ✗ (excluded) → ✓ (certain) → blank. Each pair of categories meets exactly once.
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Verdict
The culprit always lies; everyone else tells the truth.
- Even the jester says it in earnest: Manole the Jeweller never set foot in the throne room.
- A note in the margin of the ledger: if the suspect with blue eyes was in the place where every footstep echoes like a confession, then the suspect with blue eyes handled the herald's horn.
- At the Chancellery, Pantelimon the Gardener maintains: "I handled the small wine cask".
- The traces left at the scene show it plainly: the culprit was there at noon.
- Before the investigator, Lady Ruxandra firmly repeats: "I was at the old chapel".
- A maid whispered it at confession: the Golden Boar inn and the silver-clad icon go together.
- The bell-ringer remembers well: the suspect with black hair came earlier than the suspect with brown hair.
- The tracks in the dust do not lie: the throne room matches that hour: after matins.
- The tracks in the dust do not lie: Manole the Jeweller handled the small wine cask.