Cigarette smoke still billowed in the air. At first, it was round like a ring and then it broke after a few seconds of floating. Max pursed his lips and hoped to get a bigger circle pattern this time. A little childish, but at least this way he could get rid of a speck of fatigue in his mind.

It's been more than five years since Max has been with Caragan. During that time he also handled cases that could be solved easily, a little difficult, or could not be solved at all until they became frozen cases for decades. This frozen case can be solved by finding new evidence after a few years or it remains nothing until the case reaches its expiration date. All this time, Max had noticed that the frozen case in Diliar was a bit unique. Of course, he could draw that conclusion after comparing it to other countries.

Frozen cases in this kingdom are always marked by the death of the victim in a normal way. The victim is often someone with a big name, but strangely, none of the media has covered this case. That's not to say that no one wants to report. As he recalled, there was once a media report about the murder of one of the commanders in Enslet. However, the news ended up being a kind of hoax. The media was immediately closed for no apparent reason. As it should have been, the murder would have shocked the entire country. The knights that entered Enslet have selected youths who had passed the royal examinations, and their names were well known. However, strangely, no media ever talked about it.

The investigation also seems to be running haphazardly until fifteen years have passed and only three years are left to solve this case. His fingers that were clamping the lit cigarette butt were now trembling slightly. Max sighs, Enslet commander's murder case will get into another frozen case.

The first murder he investigated was that of Baron Millar a week ago. The man died at his home in the morning. His wife, Baroness Millar testified that she wanted to wake her husband up for breakfast. She shook her husband's body several times. The woman only realized that her husband died after about five minutes in the room. Her husband did not move at all.

Mr. Millar's death was summed up as ordinary death. Not to mention the man had diabetes and had eaten too much cake at the party the night before. Even so, Max found it hard to believe that a few slices of the cake could kill a diabetic so quickly. However, no email, no evidence, so he couldn't raise any objections either.

As for the second death, this Viscount Diarte was different. There was an email that reported the death, even though at that time the news of the man's death had not yet reached Caragan. It could be that his family didn't even know Viscount Diarte had died. The sender of this email seemed to have known that the man would die in the morning or at least he could predict the exact time of his death.

Max himself suspected that the sender of the email was at the scene when he wrote the email and watched the victim die. Just thinking about this possibility made him shudder. But, he was sure that the sender of this e-mail purposely told him that the deaths of Baron Millar and Viscount Diarte were related as if he was disappointed that Mr. Millar's case was closed with an ordinary death.

However, what kind of assassin would deliberately give such a hint? There were only a few possibilities, he was out of his mind, thinking this murder was a trophy to show off or believing that whatever he did he wouldn't be caught. Of the three possibilities, only the last part refers to Khisfire. The assassin from that organization was pretty sure that he wouldn't be caught. However, if Khisfire did it, why would they send the email? Didn't Khisfire was killing people in secret?

This case made him really dizzy. He took another deep sip of his cigarette.

"Max!"

Max immediately coughed when he heard her voice called. He hastily turned his head in the direction the voice came from. Byul is now walking closer with hasty steps.

"What is it?" he asked.

“I found this,” she said as she held out the clear plastic to Max.

Max grabbed it and narrowed his eyes. There is a dot of white powder in the middle of the small clear plastic. This powder may be the poison that kills the victim.

"Where did you find this?"

"It's inside the tip of Mr. Diarte's index finger," said Byul.

Max's brows that were originally wrinkled are now slowly loosening. His lips lifted slightly upwards. This case may be solved and the culprit caught as soon as possible.

"Let's go there!" he said, carrying the plastic package in his hand.

"Okay."

Byul led the way while Max followed behind. Before leaving Max took a sip of the last of his barely extinguished cigarette before throwing the butt into the air. It didn't take them long to enter the victim's room. Mr. Diarte was still in the same position as when he was found this morning.

"Magnifying glass!" he asked Byul.

Meanwhile, he began to put on rubber gloves. The girl deftly handed a magnifying glass to Max. After receiving the object, Max immediately traced the victim's palm. No other substances were found. At the same time, Byul was looking through the folds of clothes. To be honest, Max didn't expect much to find other particles that were still left, but the hope that the suspicious particles were still there was also very high.

Max narrowed his eyes and slowed his hand movements as he examined the victim's nostrils. If his estimation was correct then there should still be some residue around the organ. His eyes widened as he pulled his hand away. Max almost cheered, there were about two white particles—similar to the one Byul had found on the tip of his hand. He hastily put the small object into the clear plastic.

"There are more?" Max asked.

Byul who is now observing the victim's pants shook his head. “No more, Max. Maybe too small to be hard to find.”

"Well, that's that then. We'll leave it to the Forensic Team later. Maybe they'll get something similar there," said Max, handing the clear plastic back to Byul.

“Give this to the Laboratory and have them check!”

"Okay."

Max looked at the room. Then his eyes turned to the victim. There were no signs of convulsions, blue lips, or foaming at the mouth. There was also no sign of abuse. His head was on the pillow and there was no visible pressure. In addition, the surface of the bed linen is in a neat state. The corpse's hands were also drooping and limp so it could be concluded that he died naturally. The victim's body did not give the slightest hint of murder.

There was no sign that the man would end his own life either. Especially now in the critical period of choosing the crown prince and Mr. Diarte being one of the strong supporters of the First Prince. So it seemed unlikely that he would end his life and Baron Millar's sudden death. They were both in the same faction, the supporting faction of the first prince. The faction that dominated the government especially since Lady Contessa got engaged to the first prince, meant that Duke White's influence had also entered into this faction and they were getting stronger. So there was no way that Lord Diarte had deliberately committed suicide and gave up the possibility of gaining high power when the first prince ascended the throne.

His finger raised again. This time he massaged the temples. If natural death and suicide were eliminated, then the remaining option was to be killed. However, if it was a murder, then the perpetrator killed Mr. Diarte in what way? How did he make the victim's body limp to death?

The most likely answer is poison. The discovery of white powder on the tips of the nails and near the nostrils. If the powder is the cause of death then how does it enter the body? Through what medium? How did the killer give it to the victim?

If Mr. Diarte died from poisoning, what kind of poison can kill a person without leaving any marks on the victim's body?