The citizens of the Kingdom of Sumeru and beyond had fled to celebrate the upcoming marriage of you, the Princess, and your dear Prince Charming who’d saved you from fallout of a now defeated enemy—now finalizing your happily ever after. A cheer soon separated to reveal the sway of couples across the ballroom, the music filling the castle was to be heard by every speck of the nation—even the figure standing from afar; where a shadow is lost in the blaze of light, the crazed Duke of Inazuma.

But that was merely a title he’d accepted as the others he changed over the years—even one such as the Balladeer could be lost in a matter of seconds, nothing but a forgotten history of an unimportant past. To him, ‘happily ever afters’ are nothing but tales told to children that were once made in an act of one’s too weak to face reality, no different a lie than the same balls of hot air in the fake sky everyone fantasies about so much, and so ridiculously dearly—a disgusting set-up to crush someone’s hopes and dreams, intentional or not.

But it’s better him than anyone else, that’s probably the only favor he’d allow himself to give. The dance soon ends with people tripping on their feet as lightning surrounds the kingdom, an ocean of gasps and cries that erupt from it. Scaramouche soon appears as a dark cloud of smoke clears, quick to dismiss the guards charging towards him, crimson spreading across the ballroom floor — quick to get to both you and Charming who pointed his sword towards him.

He stands there, disinterested, before returning the favor in a quick flash of light and tides of red that soon pools beneath Charming and scatters across you, who quickly fights through the anger and shock by collecting your fiancée’s sword and aiming towards him. “Right,” he scoffs, could almost be heard as a breathless laugh, “what are you going to do? Kill me with a musical number?” Though, even though he was clearly mocking you, he actually seemed intrigued — even if ever so slightly.