Case #1: Locked Room Mystery: Part 2

"What do you mean you solved the mystery?" Caroline questioned, "First of all, who are you people?" 

"My name is Haruno Sayaka, I'm a detective!" Haruno exclaimed, "Over there is my wonderful assistant, Emila Watson," with Emila waving awkwardly, while Ana pressed her nose ridge with her right hand from stress. 

"A what?" Caroline yelled, "Who the hell did you bring into my house, Ana!" She demanded an explanation. 

"I'm sorry, Caroline, I should have explained it better," Ana apologized, "The reason why I brought these two here was because I wanted to see what they could discover from their otherworld knowledge. They are considered to be lost," she explained

"Lost?" Caroline questioned, "You mean those people from stories? They exist?" She backed up, scared. 

"Yes, we exist!" Haruno happily answered, "Mother, can you do me a favor and carefully bring down that painting?" she requested. 

Ana glanced over to Caroline for approval and began to remove the painting from the wall, placing it on the small coffee table.

"Emila, can you scrape a bit of the green paint off the tree line over here?" Haruno directed, handing over a small knife and a glass petri dish filled with water from her item box.

"HEY! THIS PAINTING IS WORTH THOUSANDS!!!" Caroline interjected, running over to stop Emila.

"This painting is worthless if it's the reason for your little brother's death," Haruno yelled, staring directly at Caroline's blue eyes. "Do you think you can sell a painting that is involved in the death of its creator and its owner?!?!"

Caroline backed off, realizing the truth in Haruno's words.

"Tell me, what exactly killed my little brother?" Caroline asked, with Emila dropping a small green flake into the petri dish.

*Hohenheim's Wisdom*, Emila activated her unique skill and started to channel her mana into the petri dish, with the green flake and water starting to mix into a green liquid before separating into four different piles. 

"Tateria oil, water, vine sap, and deteratite", Emila disclosed the names of the different materials to Haruno telepathically, before falling backward with Haruno catching her.

"Is she okay?" Caroline asked, gesturing to the butler to carry Emila onto the chaise lounge chair.

"She just used a bit too much mana," Haruno answered, while she brushed Emila's long bangs out of her eyes.

"What did you find out?" Ana questioned, curious to understand how a painting with no trace of a curse managed to kill two people.

"This section of the painting, with the brighter green tree line, contains a type of poison," Haruno stated, pointing with the small knife.

"POISON?!?!?" Caroline quickly backed away from the painting, with Ana and the butler following.

"The poison is in a small amount, and it'll take a very long time for you to even become sick," Haruno reassured everyone. "The light green color came from an ore called Deteratite."

"Deteratite? I've never heard of that before?" Ana stated.

"Deteriate is a very rare ore, but the composition is very similar to a poison in my world called Arsenic. " Haruno stated after verifying the chemical composition within her mind palace. "Just like in my world, this ore gives off a beautiful green color and was once often used in paintings and wallpaper, but it was later determined to be poisonous." 

During the Victorian Era, a special type of green color ink called Scheele's Green was often used in wallpaper. When the arsenical wallpaper was cut, heated, or exposed to moisture, it released toxic vapors into the air, poisoning anyone who came in contact with it. Arsenic, at the time, was considered to be safe to use, and it wasn't until the late 1860s that it was discovered to be toxic.

There is a long-standing debate topic within the scientific community that Napoleon Bonaparte was exposed to a high level of arsenic poisoning from arsenical wallpaper that may have contributed to his death. 

"In my world, arsenic paint releases poisonous vapor into the air when exposed to heat," Haruno explained, walking over to the window and opening the closed curtains. The sunlight began to fill the study room and directly focused on the area where the painting had once hung.  "Since the study room was sealed shut, every time Arthur was in this room, he was exposing himself to poison. This poison would also explain why Arthur's body didn't show signs of decomposition, because it can kill bacteria that break down organic tissue or cells."

"Huh?" Ana, Caroline & the butler looked at each other after not understanding Haruno. 

"Ummmm....." Haruno began to think of a better way of explaining, as Emila would be the one who usually breaks the logical information down to simpler words, "In other words, Arthur was exposed to this poison over a long time period, which would explain why his body wasn't rotting," she stated. 

"Haruno, this doesn't explain why others haven't died from paintings from Alonso Varti," Ana questioned, "If the paint he used was poisonous, wouldn't we see other victims?" 

"No, we wouldn't," Haruno answered, "The only reason why we are seeing deaths from his works is because this piece is incomplete." 

"THIS MASTERPIECE IS INCOMPLETE?!?" Caroline questioned, "How do you know that?" 

"Every single painting is covered by a thin layer of varnish after it's completed, but this piece is missing it," Haruno stated. "Varnish is applied to protect the painting from being damaged by light or heat. If the varnish was applied, we wouldn't be able to scrape off a piece of the paint without damaging the other sections," she explained.

"Does that mean the rumor was true? Alonso Varti died in front of this painting?" the butler inquired. 

"I believe so. Do you see how his signature is crooked?" Haruno replied, pointing at the signature at the bottom right corner, "I believed he was in the middle of applying his signature when he started to cough up blood. Look at the shape of the red berries in the bush right over here," she gestured with the small knife, "Notice how they look more like droplets instead of a brush stroke? This tells me that this part was not intended, but an accident." 

"MY GOD! I'm surprised you can see this small detail!" the butler answered. 

"Well, it's partly due to my unique skill, Eyes of Seraphim," Haruno hesitated to reveal. 

"How does the painting relate to Arthur's death?" Ana asked, "You mentioned the poison was in small amounts, and seeing as Arthur only received the painting a year ago, how did he die from it?" with Caroline & the butler staring at Haruno for answers. 

"I assumed that Arthur was already feeling ill before receiving this painting," Haruno stated, "Earlier, you mentioned that most men in your family lineage died in their early thirties, right?" she asked Caroline. 

"That's correct, my father passed away at thirty-one & my grandfather passed away at thirty-three," Caroline answered, "What does this have to do with anything?" 

"Cirrhosis," Emila stated, slowly waking up from the lounge chair. 

"Welcome back, Emila!" Haruno smiled, "I'll leave it to my wonderful assistant to explain the rest!" as she walked over to the office chair to sit down. 

"Ughhhhh.....I hate it when you do this," Emila muttered, "Based on the family portrait in the front, your father wasn't that much taller than your mother was, was he?" 

"I would say he was only a bit taller than me now?" Caroline gestured, noting that Caroline was five feet by six inches. 

"I figure as much....." Emila answered, "The reason for the repeated death isn't a curse, but rather liver failure, or cirrhosis." 

"You mean the thing that is often disregarded when butchering meat?" the butler questioned. 

"Ummm..yes?" Emila confusedly answered, " Inside all of our bodies, there is an organ called the liver that helps break down harmful things like alcohol or poison. Now, the size of this organ varies depending on your body mass & height, but I can ascertain that all your family members have a small liver. "

"What does this have to do with my little brother's death?" Caroline demanded. "I don't care about this nonsense!" 

"When this organ fails, you die!" Emila yelled, standing up, "Most nobles in this world are heavy drinkers, so when you drink too much over time, your liver starts to die. Arsenic exposure can accelerate the damage to your liver, which is why he died so much younger!" 

"Emila, calm down," Ana stated, embracing her tightly. 

"If he was sick, why did he hide it then!?!?" Caroline cried, falling to the ground. 

"He didn't want to ruin your chances of getting married," Haruno stated, walking over with an old letter. "Sorry for reading this, but this would explain it more," she handed it over. 

"This is regarding my marriage meeting I attended a few days ago?" Caroline stated, "How would my little brother being sick ruin it?" 

"Rumors & gossip. If rumors spread that a curse plagues all the men in your family, no one will consider marrying you. If all the possible heirs were doomed once they reached their thirties, there wouldn't be any suitors available for you, leaving you to die alone. " Haruno answered, "The reason why Arthur has been coming into the study room and locking it is to hide from the butlers & maids during the times he was feeling ill. Little did he know, he was resting in a room full of poison," as Caroline continued to weep.