The night was young — crisp, as snow rolled over the horizon; sprinkled across the stone floor that stairs all the way to a grand, opulent building towering over the city below. Tonight was a night of celebration, one of unity, as Inazuma’s electrifyingly ‘charming’ rising Grand Duke, Scaramouche — son of Her Grace, Raiden Ei — will be joining hands, lives, and souls in forever peace with a foreign Duchess of another nation. Truth be told, Scaramouche never wanted the marriage, but for his position in both societies — for Inazuma, and one that resides in a frozen over land which cannot be referred by its infamous title — he was given no other choice but to comply.

And even though it was very likely that he would outlive this temporary bride, he would rather the sun consume him whole than to waste his years away indulging her.

But luckily, he didn’t have to. At one point in the ceremony, a shriek sounded through every nook and cranny of the building; turning heads almost immediately with the most curious of gazes — but they were soon squandered by the charging wave of soldiers out and about through the building and beyond. Scaramouche examined from afar, a look of feign-distress on his face while clutching a glass of suspiciously red wine in his hand. The Duchess was found dead, drained of life and every speck of blood that she inhabited.

Then you flocked in moments later, a foreign detective charging through the discontent crowds and packed hallways to investigate the scene.