Chapter 1

Everyone in Caelestara City knew I was devoted to Triston Schwartz.

In the spring of the third regnal year, I stood beneath the locust tree outside the Schwartz family, watching the vermilion gates slowly close in front of me.

Inside those gates was Triston's departing figure—clad in a shirt, crown neatly set, his steps unhurried. He did not once look back.

In my arms, I held a pouch I had embroidered through the night. Every stitch was tight, precise, and deliberate.

Twin flowers bloomed across its surface. My mother once told me that when a young woman gave a man a sachet like this, she was staking her entire life on him.

But I never got the chance to give it to him because in front of the entire city of Caelestara, Triston was on his knees outside the Crown Gate, pleading with the sovereign to grant him leave to renounce the secular world and take holy orders.

He said his earthly ties were severed, and he wished only for monastic devotion—to spend the rest of his life in spiritual seclusion.

The city erupted in shock.

Everyone knew whose marriage proposal he had rejected—the Talley family's. And the one who should have married him was me, the legitimate daughter of the Talley family.

*****

On my way back from the Schwartz family that day, I heard laughter drifting out from a teahouse.

"Isn't Miss Talley supposed to be the most gifted young lady in all of Caelestara City? So even someone like her can't win Triston's favor?"

"Triston isn't just anybody. He's bound for the Cabinet. You really think mere romance could tie him down?"

"Looks like the Talley family is really losing face this time."

I stood outside the teahouse, the laughter felt like knives slicing through me. My maid was so furious that her cheeks turned red. She was ready to barge in and give them a piece of her mind, but I stopped her.

"Let's go," I said.

My voice was so calm it sounded like I was talking about someone else's business.

But only I knew that hidden in my sleeves, my nails were biting into my palms.

Triston and I first met at a party three years ago.

I was fifteen then, just starting to be known as the "gifted young lady of the Talley family" in Caelestara City. My father was the Marquess of Everford—not the most powerful man at court, but still one of the nine high officials.

My mother was the granddaughter of a former Grand Tutor, and from childhood she taught me the four arts: music, chess, calligraphy, and painting.

Growing up in that world, I always thought my life would be easy—marry a man from a family that matched ours, have a few children, and live a quiet, uneventful life.

That was before I met Triston.

Triston's grandfather was the Grand Tutor, and his father was the Minister of Royal Appointments. Three generations of his family had aced the royal exams, and two had served in the Cabinet.

He was born into a true aristocratic lineage. At just eighteen, he placed third in the royal exams, joined the Royal Academy, and was hailed as the most talented young man in all of Caelestara City.

The first time I saw him was at a party by the river.

He stood among a crowd of young nobles, dressed in a blue cloak and cap, his features almost too perfect to be real.

Someone asked him to compose a poem, and after a brief pause, he picked up his brush and wrote—every line was flawless. I watched him from not far away, and suddenly my heart skipped a beat.

Then he turned and caught my gaze.

He smiled gently and bowed to me from a distance. "Miss Talley."

That was the first time I realized that a single smile could make even the beauty of spring itself fade into the background.

After that, we kept having these "chance encounters" again and again.

In spring, he'd wait for me under the peach trees and greet me with a casual, "Well, what do you know, Miss Talley—fancy seeing you here."

In summer, when we went to admire the lotuses, he'd row a little boat and ask, "Miss Talley, would you like to join me?"

And in autumn, he'd somehow know my family's plans and just so happened to show up halfway up the mountain.

He was always warm and thoughtful with me. Whenever we talked, he'd meet my eyes, and when I spoke, he'd lean in, as if every word mattered.

He remembered my favorite treats, sent someone with an umbrella when it rained, and on my birthday, he'd bring me a pot of orchids—just because I'd once casually said I liked them.

I thought we were truly falling for each other.

I believed he'd come to propose, that he'd want to marry me.

So I waited for him for two whole years.

Over those two years, I embroidered sachet after sachet for him, wrote poem after poem, and secretly painted his likeness countless times in my room.

My mother saw right through me and sighed, "The Schwartz family is way out of our league. We could never hope to reach them."

I replied, "He treats me so well that he wouldn't care about the gap between our families."

My mother didn't say a word, just looked at me. Only now did I realize what was in her eyes. Her heart was aching for me.

In the spring of the third regnal year, the Schwartz family finally sent a matchmaker to our house.

But it wasn't to propose marriage.

They were here to negotiate.

The Schwartz family's intentions were obvious: Triston needed connections to get into the Cabinet. The Talley family wasn't top-tier, but we had one thing going for us.

We had history with the Guthrie family, and Cullen Guthrie, the Grand Secretary, was Triston's main roadblock.

They wanted my father to step in and help out with the Guthrie family for Triston.

In return, Triston would marry me.

My father was so furious he smashed his teacup right then and there.

"A daughter of the Talley family is not some bargaining chip," he shouted.