“I loved you, Aprilis.”

From the frigid northern land, Rhys looked up at her husband.

After suffering from an unknown illness two years into their marriage, Rhys’s life had plummeted to rock bottom.

Neglected by her husband and ultimately abandoned at the end of her life, the person who took

Rhys in was a man who had lost everything to her family.

“Theophane.”

Rhys called his name one last time.

If only she had met Theophane earlier.

If she had been his wife instead of Calles’s.

…What kind of life would it have been?

When she opened her eyes again after her breath stopped in his arms,

Rhys found herself back before Calles, who was pitifully whispering words of love.

***

Theophane gazed at the woman who extended her hand to him.

The princess of a detestable family name, the only daughter of his sworn enemy. A woman looking at him with a smile that didn’t match such descriptions.

“I plan to break off my engagement to escape my father’s grasp.”

“Be my shield.”

“How precise.”

Rhys intended to use Theophane in her plan to break off her engagement in exchange for returning the land that was taken from him.

Theophane gladly accepted the proposal.

Until the opportunity for revenge came, he always had to keep his heart dead.

“I accept your proposal, Princess.”

Even if it meant deceiving his own heart and taking her hand.