The Sorels were an aristocratic family from the French city of Rouen.
The head of the family was a respected doctor, who also had skills on swordfighting.
His only son, Raphael, was very interested in the sword, not so much in medicine.
However, his father wanted to educate him in both disciplines, so Raphael grew up among swords and medicaments.
That was the funny part of Raphael's life, but his duties as a noble were really boring.
He had to attend tedious meetings and feasts with guys wearing wigs he didn't know and didn't want to know.
But as he grew up he became more mature and he accepted that being a noble had both privileges and responsibilities.
Raphael gradually gained an important position in French aristocracy…but everything fell down one tragic night.
...
When he was 20, Raphael attended a feast like any other. The feast was hosted by a reputed weapon dealer who was a lifelong friend of the Sorel family. Raphael, who was very interested in weapons, asked the host to show him his merchandise. He agreed, but none of them took into account that the merchandiser had drank too much.
He was showing Raphael a gun when he began to fire at will as if it was something funny, disregarding whether he might hit his guest.
At first, Raphael thought it was a joke, but when a shot brushed his head he became afraid.
Raphael grabbed one of the swords from the merchandise and asked the host to drop the gun, but he was too drunk to comply with his request. So Raphael tried to take it from him, starting a struggle.
But, before he could realize, he had stabbed the merchandiser with a rapier, and their families were watching them from the door. They might have been attracted by the gunshots.
Raphael tried to explain what had happened, but no one believed him.
Raphael's parents didn't know what to think, because Raphael's version was too farfetched.
Meanwhile, most of the people in the feast believed Raphael had killed the host in order to steal his merchandise, and the gunshots they have heard had been an attempt of the merchandiser to protect himself.
Finally, the official version was that Raphael had murdered the noble.
...
Killing a noble was punished with life imprisonment or even capital punishment, but as Raphael was a noble himself, he couldn't get that kind of sentence. It would tarnish aristocracy's image. So they made it look like an accident, but Raphael didn't get rid of his punishment. He was banished from his family, and therefore, from aristocracy.
Raphael's life passed on from being full of comforts to being full of hardships.
He had to beg in order to eat during the next eight years.
But then, a young girl named Amy found him lying in the street.
She had just lost her parents, who were rich, and had inherited a fortune. But she felt really lonely.
Amy needed a fatherly figure and Raphael needed a life, so they helped each other. Raphael adopted Amy (or maybe Amy adopted Raphael) and he finally came back to a luxury life.
Far from his father, Raphael devoted himself to swordfighting, his true passion. He instructed Amy in that discipline too. As time went by, Amy became Raphael's most beloved thing, and vice versa. But happiness wouldn't last forever this time either.
...
Four years after Raphael adopted Amy, the Evil Seed was released.
Raphael and Amy became infected by it.
Raphael had a strong soul, but his tragic life had hardened his heart. He was able to take control over himself while he was possessed, but he couldn't get rid of it.
Amy was much more vulnerable. Raphael did what he thought was the best for her: he locked her in their house, where she couldn't harm nor be harmed.
Inside Raphael remained a little bit of goodness. And that was enough for him to make a decision. He was going to find and destroy Soul Edge, the Evil Seed's source, so Amy and he could be happy again.
But before that, the evil inside him had something to do.
One morning, whole France woke up startled when all the members of its aristocracy, even the Sorels, were found dead, with just a thin cut in their necks, caused undoubtedly by a rapier.