Fae Fae was born the youngest of the sibling.

Yet, she found herself playing the role of the eldest child, being responsible for her brother’s well being in place of their long dead mother. Although the role was thrusted onto her shoulder, she always went above and beyond the call of duty to make sure her brother lived through one nightmare after another in one piece.

Alas, there is an old saying: terrible people are bad no matter where you find them, because human nature never changes.

There are times even loving parents must discipline their child. Fae Fae could never bring herself to going extreme, even for the sake of her troublesome brother.

So, Inspector Lee and Martial Kim took it upon themselves to play the villains in the family matters.

“G-guys...pl-please...n-no more...I-I’m going to roast, l-like a pig s-suckling in-in a festival! Sp-spare me!”

Fae Fae’s Brother was locked up in a cell of the Imperial Constabulary. He wasn’t alone, but he wasn’t exactly sharing the cell with other strangers. Instead, he was surrounded by various pots and woks spitting hot flames from their bellies full of coal.

A circle of bonfires, just for him.

One bonfire was hot enough to keep a human warm. 10 bonfires together, well anyone can do the math regardless if they are a pit master or chef.

The Brother still naked, save for a makeshift cloth wound around his waist like a bath towel. Sweating all over, he kept gasping for air as the humidity in his cell kept going up and up, drier and drier. He kept waving his hands in surrender.

“O-officers! I-I’m sorry!” He kept bowing on his knees “I really am!! P-put the flames out, please!”

“What are you complaining about?” Inspector Lee chuckled as he leaned outside of the cell door, rubbing his black eye with one hand. “Didn’t you say you were cold, from all that running around? You’re LUCKY I am merciful, I made sure your room is NICE and WARM to keep you from dying of hypothermia!”

“I’m good now! I-I really am!” Fae Fae’s brother gasped from the hot air filling the room. He curled up as tight as he could to avoid the stares of the open flames around him. “L-look! I am WOEFULLY sorry for smashing your head in! And for lying to you all! I-I’ll talk! I swear I’ll tell nothing but the truth, so help me gods!”

“What was that?” Inspector Lee snorted, placing a hand to his ear, “You may have to speak up. Can’t hear you from hot HOT the room is!”

“OH COME ON, BRO! BARBECUING MY ASS ISN’T FUNNY AT ALL!”

Inspector Lee wanted to let the man cook juuuust a little while longer. Until Martial Kim spoke up with a wry smile.

“Inspector Lee,” He whispered politely. “I think your vengeance should be sated by now. Any more and I think his hair will catch on fire.”

“...Oh whatever. Put it out. I’m done.” Inspector Lee mumbled as he turned away.

Martial Kim would then use his snow cultivation to spray clouds of frosty mist into the pans and pots. One by one he snuffed out the flames, the melted snow turning into luke warm water. This caused the cell to turn into a bit of a sauna, but at least it wasn’t blinding hot like the summer sun at its peak.

Fae Fae’s Brother let out a deep sigh of relief, prostrating before the investigators as if they were gods from the heavens.

At Inspector Lee’s command, several Constables came over to pass one some prisoner’s clothing. The Inspector then tossed it into the gaps of the wooden cage cell. Fae Fae’s Brother used it to wipe off his body from the sweat and mist, before he re-used it as his new clothing.

“You got a lot of explaining to do,” Inspector Lee kicked at the wooden cage to get the brother’s attention. “Start from the beginning!”

Fae Fae’s Brother chanced a sneer, but recoiled when he received a hound like snarl right back at him. “I-I don’t even know where to begin. Last night, I was having a wild time with my sweet May Flower, the love of my life. But the following morning, my clothes were gone and my all my money went missing! Along with my girl! N-next thing you know, loan sharks came banging at my door. So of course I had to hide naked!”

“I didn’t mean that you knucklehead!” Inspector Lee yelled. “Did you kill your sister and stole her money?”

“Wh-what the hell would I do that for!?” Fae Fae’s Brother was completely indignant of the accusation. “She may have been annoying and pestering, completely like my mom – but she still good to me! Wh-why would I shank my own sister when she was my bread and butter!”

Martial Kim stepped forward to ask, “Where did the money come from?”

“I-I told you guys.” Fae Fae’s Brother rubbed the back of his head, “I-I won it in a big lottery!”

Inspector Lee punched at the wooden cage, “Liar! First you claimed a friend loaned the money to you! Then you went on bragging about a lucky streak in the gambling halls! Now, lottery? Get your story straight before you play us for a fool!”

Fae Fae’s Brother wanted to say something. Snarky? Vile? It was hard to say which. Especially when he received a leer from both investigators. He consciously eyed the pots and pans that were used to hold open bonfires. If they can snuff it out, they can easily turn them back on.

So he played his hand with this one gamble to try and save himself.

“...I...I got it from a guy...A guy...Fae Fae knew.”

Inspector Lee and Martial Kim exchanged glances, before the former barked, “Well? Out with it? We don’t have time for you to stumble over your words like an amateur clown!”

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

“D-Don’t rush me man!” The brother snapped. “Th-this was some time ago a-and a lot happened between then!”

After calming down, Fae Fae’s Brother told the truth.

“I-it was roughly a month ago,” he began, “Someone wanted to talk to Fae Fae, make a deal with her. She came to seek my advice, she didn’t know what to do. She told me, she wanted nothing to do with the guy, had half a mind to just not show up. Th-then I went, ‘No, baby girl, you should go and see them, figure out what they want, could be a good thing!’. I promised I would keep her company, be her guard dog, so we ended up going outside of the Capital walls together.”

“Where exactly outside the walls?” Martial Kim wondered.

“Er...Right. Green Lion Valley, roughly around there.”

“And, this was one month before she was reported missing?” The young master asked once more.

Fae Fae’s Brother just shrugged, “I-I think so? N-not like I spend my days working as her stalker, following her wherever she went.” A groan as he went on, “The guy she was going to talk to was filthy rich. She knew it, I knew it, so half my reason for prodding her to see him was...well WE might get some loose change out of it all, who knows. Man’s loaded... Fae Fae and him had a bit of a falling out. So...so he called her out so they can sort out a deal between themselves.”

Inspector Lee leaned against the cage door, “What sort of deal? Prostitution?”

“Pffffhahahaha...Er.” The brother started out laughing, but his humour choked in his neck when he received glares. This was a serious matter, so there was really no more tokens for him to play monkey business any more. “N-not exactly, ish. S-simply put, the guy offered Fae Fae 1000 in Gold Ingots...1000. Do you have any idea how much is that worth to a Courtesan and myself? We could live our lives for three generations without worry!”

“What exactly was this deal? Come on you bastard, spit it out!”

“The guy wanted to cut ties with Fae Fae!” The brother yelped back. “He said he didn’t want to see her any more, anywhere. Went on a ranting with all sorts of salty words. Take the money and quit being a prostitute, go home and raise a farmland, leave the Capital. B-boy was I stark raving mad when he ran his mouth off like that. I-I was about to teach him a good lesson! You know, the good ol one two!”

Martial Kim gave him, a knowing look. ‘Seriously?’

“...Well...I didn’t want to cause a scene, o-or make matters worse. M-my sister’s feelings were hurt enough...” Fae Fae’s Brother then curled up, turning his body away, “A-and...can’t risk knocking over that tower of gold bars.”

“You little—” Inspector Lee cursed under his breath, “I swear to gods, the moment I get my chance: I will kick your ass until your intestines are reversed!”

“I-I seriously was ticked off at what the guy said! Honest, okay!? H-how could he just up and say all those brutal things to my baby sister, especially after everything she’s done for him!”

Martial Kim felt like he would regret this next question, but deep down it had to be asked, “What did he say exactly?”

Fae Fae’s Brother hesitated, “...She was nothing to him. Said was sick just thinking about her. He wanted to wash his hands of his relationship with Fae Fae...” The tone in his voice slowly rose one angry step after another, “Went on bragging how he got a fancy job, big future, a lot of people looking up to him like some kind of damn celebrity. A so-called saint, could could never be connected to a lowly Courtesan... Gods, thinking back on that night, he didn’t really need to use a sword to cut her down. Those words were more than enough to split her heart into pieces.”

Everyone’s face fell. The revelation was...just too much to stomach.

Martial Kim was glad, he had Martial Yellow Sister stay with Fae Fae right now. If she heard what the brother just said, she was most likely going to try and strangle him – then march over to strangle the culprit behind this crime.

A rash girl, but honest of heart. Even Martial Kim felt incredibly bad for Fae Fae, thinking how her life culminated into such a series of tragedies.

Inspector Lee just shook his head, appalled and disbelief, “What the hell were you doing? Big brother? Just standing on the sidelines like a referee!?”

“Wh-what nooooo!” Fae Fae’s Brother bolted to his bare feet and gripped at the wooden cage to mean business, “Hey! I may not have thrown any fists or rocks at the bastard’s face, but I sure as hell gave him a piece of my mind! I ain’t no learned man, I don’t have any fancy words – but I knew all sorts of colorful language that would make sailors proud! I even told him to SUCK ON DEEEEZ NUTS!”

Inspector Lee just shoved the man by the face back into his cell. “Stop horsing around! Then what happened?”

Martial Kim waited. He wanted to carefully hear the next part of this piece of history, it could be vital to the whole investigation.

“...She didn’t want his gold,” Fae Fae’s Brother shrugged, defeated, “Never took a single gold bar. The man even dumped a pile of random gifts for her. Pearls, jewellery, gemstones, silk fans, anything expensive enough to ‘pay her off’ to cut their ties... The only thing she did take was just a hairpin.”

Martial Kim probably knew what type of hairpin the brother was talking about, but to be sure, “What type of hairpin did she collect?”

“I-I don’t remember. Uh...gold? Kinda twisted in the middle. Got really fancy swallows on it. I think?...Yeah, it did.”

“Fae Fae took, just that one hairpin?”

The brother nodded, “Believe it or not, out of everything offered to her – over thousands in gold and silver – she just took that... Said it was more than enough, to formally end their relationship. At the very least, a memento of what they had.”

The investigators didn’t know what to say, not in that moment. The story started to make sense to them now, the questions with missing answers slowly becoming clearer.

“Then?” Inspector Lee chanced to question the brother, “The guy you’re talking about didn’t feel satisfied she took nothing else – so he tried to kill her. For only the dead can keep a secret!”

Fae Fae’s Brother suddenly burst out laughing, a twisted chuckle more like. Even with all the glares on him, this time he just let it out without restraint of hesitation. “Officers. If the man really murdered my sister right in front of me, you think I would still be alive for you to kick my ass? There’s no way I could keep quiet if I knew this guy murdered my sister. But that’s not what happened.”

A snort, before the brother answered with, “The deal was done. One hairpin for no longer seeing each other. Both parties are satisfied without handshaking. So after Fae Fae left a song as a parting message to the guy’s face, we left. He went home. Done. No one spoke of it again.”

Martial Kim took in a deep breath. Then a thought came to mind, “This lottery you mentioned, was it’s value equal to 1000 Gold Ingots, Pearls, jewelry, and gemstones?”

“...I meaaaan.” Fae Fae’s Brother rocked back and forth on his heels with a half grin. “Fae Fae didn’t want it. The guy didn’t want it...Couldn’t just leave the gold sitting there, alone like that.”

Inspector Lee reached into the cage, grabbing the prisoner by the collar of his garbs, “Bastard! You practically sold your sister to the devil – TWICE!”

“BRO, I AIN’T CRAZY! I would be stupid to leave that much gold alone on the table. Surely some mountain beggars or bandits would lap it all up! I put it to good use! I-I even treated my sister to a hearty dinner! So don’t you think—”

“What was his name?” Martial Kim asked in a quiet tone, “Who was the man that wanted to cut ties with Fae Fae?”

The brother hissed with hesitation, “Uh...it’s a bit complicated.”

“Noonien!?” Inspector Lee couldn’t hold back any more and shook the man, “Was it Noonien Turquoise!? Answer us!”

“Wh-who? Noonien? Wh-what kind of stupid ass name is that?”