Author's note: Magi_Axi_Ruin/Moko-chan here. I noticed the startling lack of Roman related fanfics so I decided to write one… Just kidding, I'll write one even if there are a lot out there.

Roman is one of the albums by Sound Horizon that seems to be solely created to twist our brains into knots…We all know we have different interpretations to Roman so yeah…This is kinda my own interpretation here.

Okay, enough chatting, let the story-telling begin. Let's hope I can pull this off well.

Disclaimer: The characters of Roman belong to Sound Horizon.

An Extract from a certain Museum Brochure:

Ah…Rèine Michele (Queen Slaughter), the miraculous great stone that Mother Earth had given birth to. This large 30-carat diamond is dyed the color of blood. No one knows why another gem like the Rèine Michele cannot be found. Any other red gem pales in comparison to this lady.

However, what fascinates is the dark history that gave rise to the blood gem's name. Buyers, collectors and many rich aristocrats have had their eyes on the Rèine Michele, their fingers itching to touch her but not one, yes, not one of those people who touched Rèine Michele have survived. Death by murder, accidents and suicide had befallen every single one of them.

Now, we leave Rèine Michele in a glass cage, never to end the life of another. Feast your eyes on her, but remember, she is not a lady for you to handle.

An Extract from Christophe Jean-Jacques Saint-Laurent's Journal:

XX November 19XX

A colleague of mine dropped in just the other day and presented to me a rather interesting case, or should I say, a group of supposedly isolated cases all linked together by a red diamond. A series of deaths throughout France, be the victims prostitutes, nobles, curators, artisans or jewelers, be the cause of death suicide, murder or accident, all those victims at one point of time held possession to the Rèine Michele.

It took a quite a bit of time for my colleague to tie all these supposedly individual victims together, especially since the links all tie back to approximately 20 years ago, but the relation is startling.

"Where is the Rèine Michele now?" I had asked him, he said it was in a museum. Maybe I should go and pay the Queen a visit one of these days.

A series of supposedly unrelated deaths in France…that reminds me of the case which I had been pursuing so fervently about twenty years back. The case of the murders of multiple men and the deaths of thirteen young boys. The suspect was a lady by the name of Michele Malebranche. She died shortly after she was found withered grieving under the bodies of the thirteen boys.

I should consult my colleague on the exact date the Rèine Michele was found. It is beyond my understanding but there is something about the diamond that is stirring some emotions in me.

An Extract from Christophe Jean-Jacques Saint-Laurent's Journal:

XX November 19XX

I supposed I do not have the fortune of seeing Rèine Michele for myself. She had been stolen a few days ago from the museum in which she slumbers in.

But that is not the part that is causing the headache. One of the thieves turned himself in. Initially, this thief, Laurencin was arrested for the murder of another man but he sang like a canary and admitted to the theft of Rèine Michele. I went down to witness the questioning of Laurencin, he was terrified out of his wits. I listened to his story.

He told me that he and his partner-in-crime broke into the poorly guarded museum and stole the red diamond from her resting place. Their headquarters was the back stage of a theatre. He was drinking wine while he left his friend with the red gem. Then soon after, he heard a ruckus above him and one of the stage hands came crashing down onto the table before him. The poor man had a huge gash across his face.

Laurencin's friend tore out of the theatre like a madman and Laurencin went after him. By the time his friend was found, he was dead. His left eye stabbed out by his own knife. And the Rèine Michele was nowhere to be found.

Laurencin swore that his friend took the Rèine Michele and said that someone else must have killed his friend for it. And then, according to my memory, yes, this I must record, the youth said something very interesting.

"There's no way that guy hurt the stage hand on purpose! He wouldn't do such a thing. He said he was going to go home to his sibling."

"His sibling?" I had asked.

"His sister, I think. I recall someone else telling me that he had a sister at home."

"What is your friend's name?"

And what surprised me the most was the boy's answer.

Hiver.

That book that was found in the doll maker's house a couple of years ago. The book that a girl wrote to keep the story of her brother alive. The brother's name was Hiver.

My colleague managed to trace back most of the victims of Rèine Michele, starting from the mine where Rèine Michele was supposedly to have been found. A skeleton was found in the depths of the mine. The hole from the back of the skull suggested that a pickaxe was used and the brain and left eye was pierced causing, most likely, instant death.

Records from those years take a long time to be found and I imagine that even if there were, they were probably discarded.

Examination of the site uncovered some belongings. There was an old ring there, tucked in the drawer and left to be hidden for eternity. There was a name engraved in the ring.

It was Hiver.

Who was the owner of the ring? Was it the skeleton of the youth in the mine?

If it was…then on both occasions when Rèine Michele was released from her cage, it was by a man by the name of Hiver?

And another headache inducing case happened in the theatre where I was watching an opera performance. It seemed that after I left the performance, there was a gas leak and many people in the theatre died of gas poisoning. The opera singer who was wearing the fake Rèine Michele was nowhere to be found.

Fake Rèine Michele? Perhaps it was not a fake after all.

It seems like there a few more things I must look into. Michele Malebranche, Rèine Michele and this man known as Hiver.

Magi_Axi_Ruin/Moko-chan:

Headache inducing fanfic inspired by a headache inducing album. I think I play too many mystery games and I don't think the forensics of the 1900s are actually good so there are so many things in here that are unlikely…

But it's a fantasy story right? So let's pretend that they had pretty good forensic science then! Haha.

Enjoy! I think I can make this into a 3 or 4 chapter story.