Yin's POV
"What did you do?" Lucian's voice cut through the chaos, sharp and accusing. "Why did you kill her? That poor girl, what could she have possibly done to deserve..."
"I didn't kill anyone!" I shouted, my hands clenching into fists at my sides. "I heard a scream and came running. By the time I got here, she was already dead. There was someone else, I chased them but they got away."
"How convenient," someone in the crowd muttered.
"It's true," I insisted, looking around at the faces staring back at me with varying degrees of suspicion and fear. "I saw someone running. I pursued them through the corridors but they knew the house better than I did. They escaped."
Lord Pemberton pushed through the gathered crowd, his face going from flushed with wine to pale as death when he saw the body on the floor. His eyes moved from the girl to me, taking in the blood soaking my clothes, my disheveled appearance.
"Lord Yin," his voice was barely above a whisper. "What happened here?"
