Chronicle of the solution: The Sign of the Dawn
Disappearance Tier III
What had been made invisible was found, and whoever hid it answers for it today. Here is the road there.
The dossier as it reached the desk
Since matins, a strange emptiness has walked the citadel: what stood in its place yesterday is gone today. Someone knows more than they say; the silences at court have suddenly grown very loud. On the Chancellery's list stand Chamberlain Iorgu, Chancellor Veniamin, Princess Smaranda, Margica the Innkeeper and Luca the Squire; one of these names covers a lie. Rumor walks the deed through every corner: the castle cellar, the abbey library, the great stable, the mill by the river and the watchtower. The threads were tangled on purpose: investigate, weigh every word, and pronounce your verdict only when the grid leaves no room for doubt.
The Chancellery had to weigh Chamberlain Iorgu, Chancellor Veniamin, Princess Smaranda, Margica the Innkeeper and Luca the Squire. All of them had opportunity, and for that very reason opportunity was worth nothing.
The suspects
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Chamberlain Iorgu
He arranges the king's audiences and, for a small courtesy, the order in which petitions are read.
1.77 m tall · grey eyes · brown hair · right-handed
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Chancellor Veniamin
Every charter of the kingdom passes through his hands. A comma he once moved started a war.
1.64 m tall · grey eyes · no hair · left-handed
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Princess Smaranda
She has refused seven suitors and kept the gifts of all. She calls it practicality, not greed.
1.66 m tall · green eyes · chestnut hair · right-handed
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Margica the Innkeeper
At the Golden Boar inn, wine and secrets are spilled in equal measure. She never forgets a debt - or a word let slip.
1.61 m tall · dark eyes · chestnut hair · right-handed
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Luca the Squire
He polishes the knight's armour and dreams of a sword of his own. For a coat of arms he would do almost anything.
1.72 m tall · green eyes · brown hair · right-handed
Locations
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The castle cellar
Barrels as big as carts and corners the lantern never reaches.
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The abbey library
Thousands of leather-bound tomes. Some of the chains on the shelves were cut recently.
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The great stable
It smells of hay and hurried departures. Horses give no testimony.
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The mill by the river
The wheel turns day and night. Its noise drowns out any conversation - which is why some are held here.
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The watchtower
The highest point of the fortress. From here you see everything - and from below, everyone sees who climbs up.
Objects
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The royal seal
Whoever holds it can seal any decree. Which is why it should not be wandering the kingdom.
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The signet ring
The crest has been filed away almost completely. Almost.
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The locked chest
Three padlocks, two rows of straps. Fresh scratches around the hinges, not the locks.
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The map of the realm
The kingdom's borders, drawn with a fresh correction where there should be none.
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The ceremonial crown
The "wearable" copy of the true crown. At least, that was the idea.
Motives
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Ambition
Setea de a urca, chiar peste trupuri, spre o treaptă mai înaltă.
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Greed
Dorința nesățioasă de avere, care nu se oprește la nimic.
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The inheritance
O avere așteptată, pe care numai o moarte o desparte de mână.
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Revenge
O datorie de sânge pe care numai fapta o mai șterge.
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A debt of honour
O făgăduială care cântărește mai greu decât viața.
The evidence gathered on file
Nothing is missing from the list and nothing is surplus. Every row below is necessary: without it, the grid would allow several solutions at once.
- The gate guard swears: Princess Smaranda handled the signet ring.
- The hounds caught no scent at all: the watchtower and the inheritance do not go together.
- In the Chancellery's ledger it stands in black and white: Margica the Innkeeper was in the place from which you see everything.
- A maid whispered it at confession: the signet ring and greed go together.
- In the Chancellery's ledger it stands in black and white: the mill by the river and a debt of honour go together.
- Two witnesses, upon their crest: the abbey library and the signet ring do not go together.
- Luca the Squire declares under oath: "I was in the place where the lantern never reaches".
- An honest-faced witness saw it plainly: the great stable and the ceremonial crown go together.
- A maid whispered it at confession: Chancellor Veniamin handled the royal seal.
- The chancellor deduced it coldly: if Princess Smaranda was driven by greed, then Luca the Squire was driven by revenge.
- Margica the Innkeeper raises their right hand and says: "I handled the map of the realm".
- A maid whispered it at confession: the tallest suspect handled the ceremonial crown.
Read the unravelling, step by step — warning: past this line, the mystery ends
The unravelling of the thread
No confession was wrung from anyone here. Only the grid was drawn tighter, until nothing but a single name still fitted inside it.
From one word to the next, the investigation arrived here: “The gate guard swears: Princess Smaranda handled the signet ring”. Two names bound themselves for good, and the binding undid, at a stroke, every pairing that contradicted it.
A report from the watch brought clarity: “The hounds caught no scent at all: the watchtower and the inheritance do not go together”. A cross in the grid seems little, but every cross brings the row nearer the moment when one cell alone is left free.
The Chancellery began with what could be verified: “In the Chancellery's ledger it stands in black and white: Margica the Innkeeper was in the place from which you see everything”. A certain match thus enters the grid, and its row and column empty at once of every other possibility.
From here things gathered pace. Within a few hours the file received: “A maid whispered it at confession: the signet ring and greed go together”; “In the Chancellery's ledger it stands in black and white: the mill by the river and a debt of honour go together”; “Two witnesses, upon their crest: the abbey library and the signet ring do not go together”; “Luca the Squire declares under oath: "I was in the place where the lantern never reaches"”; “An honest-faced witness saw it plainly: the great stable and the ceremonial crown go together”; “A maid whispered it at confession: Chancellor Veniamin handled the royal seal”; “The chancellor deduced it coldly: if Princess Smaranda was driven by greed, then Luca the Squire was driven by revenge”. The grid emptied before one's eyes, and what stayed in it could no longer be doubted.
A piece of information dearly bought showed its worth: “Margica the Innkeeper raises their right hand and says: "I handled the map of the realm"”. Here the investigation had to judge twice: once the testimony, once the one who gives it.
A witness of good faith cleared up one more corner: “A maid whispered it at confession: the tallest suspect handled the ceremonial crown”. The tick goes down without hesitation, and with it fall all the other cells on that row and that column.
The lie
The lie came to light by its plain failure to fit. Luca the Squire swore before the Chancellery that I was at the castle cellar, yet everything that could be proved shows the opposite: Luca the Squire never set foot in the castle cellar. Under the Supreme Law that failure to fit is the culprit's own signature.
The seal on the file
At the end of the grid one name alone remained: Luca the Squire. At the hour of the deed, Luca the Squire was at the abbey library, handled the locked chest and was driven by revenge. Tier III is no empty word: without the method of hypotheses, this grid would not have closed.
Where the others were
The others found their acquittal in the grid as well: Chamberlain Iorgu was at the great stable, handled the ceremonial crown and was driven by the inheritance; Chancellor Veniamin was at the mill by the river, handled the royal seal and was driven by a debt of honour; Princess Smaranda was at the castle cellar, handled the signet ring and was driven by greed; Margica the Innkeeper was at the watchtower, handled the map of the realm and was driven by ambition. It is these acquittals that made the verdict possible: without them, room for doubt would have remained.
The Chancellery asked nobody to take its word. It showed the road step by step, so that anyone might walk it again.
Play this dossier All mysteries
Everything you read above rests on the dossier itself. The Chancellery's solver checked, at publication, that the given clues yield exactly one solution — no more, and not none. behind the scenes at the Chancellery.