Festival of Roses

The study was a small, cramped room. Shelves lined the wall next to the door, piled with tomes and scrolls, many of them appeared to have been transcribed by the Maester himself. An untidy desk was in the corner, piled with scrolls and sheets of paper, empty bottles of ink, and stained quills.

The wrapped body of Leana Horpe had been placed on a table that dominated the space, right in the center of the room.

Alicent followed the Maester and body in, glancing around the room as she entered.

Simon watched the corpse, his fingers idly stroking his stubble. "Why would anyone bother murdering a hand maid." Important people got knifed now and then, yes. "I guess we ought to take a look at her wound. See if it was a knife or something bigger." Another thought also popped up.

Hubert drew back the sheet that covered the body. The wound lay just below the girl's small, left breast. Blood had soaked into the bodice of her dress, but not down into the skirt. Poking at the opening, "a knife or dagger, I would say."

"Straight to her heart. Or close enough to not make a difference. Lucky strike or the killer knew what they were doing." He peered at the girls sleeves. "Doesn't look like she defended herself. So, you'd think she knew the killer? To let them this close." Then again, handmaids likely knew almost everyone within the castle. "Not that that helps much." Simon sighed softly. "Did you know her, maester?"

"Not to any great degree, the Septa gives their lessons and conducts prayer. If anyone knew the girl, it would be her. My duties don't bring me into contact with the ladies-in-waiting very often, unless they fall ill."

Alicent looked closer when he poked the wound, trying to determine if it was a single or double-sided blade and how wide it was. Whether it was your basic dagger, a kitchen knife, or a stilletto made a difference after all. "It might make a difference. She was attacked from the front, and yet didn't struggle. They would have had to have been very close for her not to have seen the weapon I would think."

"I guess we should also perform full autopsy, just in case." he looked markedly at his fellow maester. "See if we find anything else."

"... One other thing. The sequence of events tonight. A knife to the heart would kill extremely quickly, and there was no struggle. So who screamed?" She sucked in a deep breath and let it out. "Maybe the person who found her... It seemed like the other ladies in waiting were there first... Could also be the assailant if it was a woman..." She felt the corpse's skin in a few places to figure out how warm or cold she was.

"Mhhmm." Simon nodded in agreement. "Also who tossed her down the stairs? Or was she stabbed and then fell on her own? Someone ought to check the stairs for blood."