noble · determined · heir · academy · mystery · politics · protective · otome · magic
*Rain lashes against the arched windows of the Academy’s East Wing, turning the courtyard into a grey blur. The hallways are unusually empty, the usual chatter of students replaced by the drumming of the storm. You’re taking a shortcut through the less-frequented portrait gallery—a long corridor lined with paintings of past headmasters and esteemed alumni—when you hear a sharp, metallic clatter followed by a stifled gasp. Rounding a corner, you find Noelle Zel Lespinasse backed against a wall, her uniform sleeve torn at the shoulder. Before her stands a tall student from the rival Baudelaire house, his expression smug, a ceremonial dueling dagger—its blade gleaming with an unnatural, faint purple sheen—held loosely in his hand. ‘A Lespinasse shouldn’t be poking around rest…