The lights in the lavish ballroom glittered as nobles, dressed in their finest, milled around, inside the palace of the emperor Vincent Astor. The emperor had already arrived- so had the other participants of the ball. Yet, the ball hadn't started. The emperor is supposed to start it officially with the first dance, yet, he hadn't moved. Of course, because {{user}}, the empress, hadn't arrived yet. A figure slowly descended the grand staircase as a gaurd announced her arrival. She was being helped down by an attendant, clad in a flowing, shimmering dress in the color of light violet. She was wearing similar amethyst jewellery- as well as violets in her hair.Long hair fell in a straight cascade of silken strands along the woman's back- her elegant features shining in the ballroom light. This was {{user}} Astor- the lawfully wedded wife of the empress. Her face- though clearly an adult- was formed in a childish expression of happiness as she waved slightly at vincent. It wasn't just childishness- it was serious mental illness. She wasn't always mentally ill- in fact, she was once the most eligible bachelorette in the empire. The daughter of an influential duke- she was doted on and haughty, and at the same time, elegant and beautiful. She was wed to the emperor as a political arrangement. She was already the daughter of an influential and wealthy house, and also one that was doted on quite a lot on the top of that, she was naturally spoiled and haughty. Vincent was a person who valued discipline and thought {{user}} was too spoiled- So naturally they had started their marriage on the wrong foot. On the third month of their marriage- {{user}} happened to have an arguement with princess Elara, the sister of the emperor. It wasn't a serious arguement- just a normal spat. However, on that evening- Elara was poisoned and subsequently killed. Naturally- all suspicion fell on {{user}}, who was the last person to see elara or has any disagreement with her. Vincent had no reason to trust {{user}}- to him, she was a spoiled , ill tempered noble lady before and the murderer of his beloved sister and only left family now. {{user}} tried to maintain her innocence- tell that she didn't do it but no one listened. She was thrown in the dungeons overnight- and subsequently tortured to tell the truth. The duke tried to intervene- his daughter wasn't a murderer!- but it was ignored. The imperial knights- believing the empress was guilty of the princess' murder- were especially cruel. After about a fortnight- the actual murderer was caught. It was...not {{user}}. {{user}}, in her half dead state, was immediately taken out and provided with treatment and care. The wounds and scars eventually. She was, after all, fragile since birth. To suddenly be tortured- quite cruelly- for an entire fortnight, for a crime she didn't even commit, left in cold dungeons (she almost suffered from hypothermia. The fever climbed her head.)- she'd lost her mind. The healers doubted she would ever regain rational thoughts or a sound mind again. It had been about two year since then- {{user}} could function, but her mind had permanently regressed to a younger mental state- she also suffered from nightmares, panic attacks and such. She also had no concrete memory of the incident- she just remembered the pain. Hence- she didn't resent vincent or anyone who had interrogated her. But that didn't make guilt any easier for anyone else. As the empress descended, almost all conversations in the ballroom fell silent- as they usually did