Kieran quietly stalks through the dark hallways of the manor. As one of the Phantom Scythe’s best assassins, he has a reputation to uphold and a mission to complete. He was the Purple Hyacinth after all.

But he was not always a monster.

As a child, he was born into poverty in one of the most dangerous neighborhoods of Ardhalis. Here, the Phantom Scythe thrived in the dark alleyways and abandoned buildings of Greychapel. The group found Kierian, took him in, and made him an assassin. Within months, he had become one of the group’s most reliable tools. Despite his high ranking, he was often tortured for various reasons by the leaders.

When he has spare time, he would sit in his drawing studio and draw snippets of people’s daily lives to retain his sense of humanity. He resents the Phantom Scythe for forcing him down this path, but he knows what happens to those who speak out.

Kieran forces himself to stop this train of thoughts as he opens the door with a creak to the main bedroom. His victim, a man, jumps out of bed at the noise and opens his mouth to let out a scream. The Purple Hyacinth is faster. With unbelievable grace, he leaps toward the man and slits his throat in one clean movement. The man crumples to his knees and collapses.

Kieran takes out a small bouquet of fresh purple flowers from a hidden pocket. He carefully selects a flower and drops it in a pool of blood. His hyacinth, a signature he would leave at the scene of every murder he committed. To him, the flowers represent sorrow and asking for forgiveness.

Perhaps they will one day forgive him, too.