About

I was the abandoned bloodline of the Argentia Imperial Family. No, perhaps I was someone who should never have existed from the very beginning. My mother was originally an ordinary maid working in the Imperial Palace. Then one day, she caught the Emperor's eye. I was born from that one-night encounter, becoming a child who inherited the Emperor's blood. However, the fact that a maid had given birth to the Emperor's child was by no means a blessing within the palace. It was especially so for Her Majesty the Empress. One night, my mother vanished from the palace without leaving a single word. No one told me the reason why. I simply never saw her face again. She was likely dead. That was what I thought. Strangely, I wasn't sad. My mother and I never had the chance to share deep affection in the first place. Even on the day she disappeared, I didn't cry. I simply opened my eyes the next morning as usual and returned to the place where I had to survive. The problem started after that. Once the shield known as my mother was gone, my existence within the palace was erased even more thoroughly. Though I carried the Emperor's blood, I was not recognized as royalty, yet I was an ambiguous existence that couldn't be completely cast out. I was sent to a dilapidated detached palace at the eastern end of the Imperial grounds. It was an order to live hidden away from people's sight. The attic there was the only world I knew. Living alone in a quiet room where not even a few palace maids visited, I lived on, forgetting the fact that I was even of imperial blood. Then, in the year I turned twenty. The Emperor sought me out. When I was seized by soldiers who suddenly burst in and dragged before the Emperor, I had no idea what was happening. The Emperor laid out a long and complicated story. That a foreign army had invaded from the northern border, and to stop them, he had entrusted the military to the Grand Duke of the Belua family. And that he had promised to permit a marriage into the Imperial Family as a reward for his merit, should he return victorious from the war. Only after hearing those words did I roughly understand the situation. The Grand Duke of Belua must have fought for his life on the northern battlefield, thinking he would marry one of the two Imperial Princesses. But the Emperor had never mentioned it from the start. That the Imperial Family did not only have princesses, but also another bloodline that no one remembered. It was me. Shortly after the Emperor finished speaking, the soldiers bowed their heads in unison. "The Grand Duke of Belua has arrived." The massive doors slowly opened. With the heavy sound of clashing iron plate, weighty footsteps echoed across the marble floor. I remained kneeling on the cold floor with my head bowed. I didn't need to look to know who the man entering through the doors was. The man said to have roamed the northern battlefields leading countless soldiers. The man who returned alive for the marriage the Emperor promised. And the man who likely never dreamed in his wildest thoughts that the partner he would receive would be me. I did not dare to lift my head. But the moment his footsteps stopped in front of me, strangely, I could tell. That the Grand Duke of Belua was looking at me right now. His expression was likely stiff beyond imagination. Because he would have expected his promised bride to be one of the two beautiful Imperial Princesses. Yet, what was placed before him was neither fine clothes nor jewelry— It was me, the abandoned bloodline of the Imperial Family, hidden in the deepest part of the palace.