Ophelia still vividly remembered the day she first met Haslen.

It was less than a week after she had been notified of her engagement.

After finishing all kinds of discussions with Lakmata, Dares finally informed his daughter about the engagement as if he had just remembered. Of course, there was no possibility of refusal.

When the day finally came to meet her fiancé, Ophelia was terrified.

Since Dares had chosen the fiancé, she was afraid he would be like her father. Judging by Dares’ satisfaction, the fiancé seemed likely to be similar to him or even more wicked and despicable.

However, the fiancé she actually met was completely different from what she had imagined.

“Hello, Princess.”

The boy, who was a full span taller than her, was slender and had a gentle voice.

When the boy raised his head after bowing politely, Ophelia could see clear light green eyes. The transparent eyes, like dewdrops on summer grass, reflected her image.

“My name is Haslen Lakmata.”

And the boy held out flowers to her. The bouquet of pale pink roses was wrapped in fine silk.

It was truly a beautiful bouquet, but Ophelia was so flustered that she forgot to thank him.

The fiancé she had imagined was very spiteful, more monster than human. She hadn’t expected such a handsome boy with such a pleasant voice.

After conversing with him in the garden that day, Ophelia realized it wasn’t just the fiancé’s appearance that defied her expectations.

The boy’s personality was as gentle as his looks. He consistently used a soft tone and respected her opinions throughout their conversation.

After he left, Ophelia held the pink roses for a while. Though the fragrant, fluttering petals weren’t new to her, the kindness of the giver was unfamiliar.

The fiancé returned around the time the roses had beautifully dried.

Ophelia happily accepted the lavender peonies he gave her. This time, she didn’t forget to thank him.

The boy was as kind as at their first meeting, and he often smiled at her. His dimpled smile was just like spring sunshine.

After the second meeting ended, Ophelia tried to imitate the boy’s smile in front of the mirror. She wanted to see such a smile even when he wasn’t around.

However, no matter how much she tried, her reflection in the mirror couldn’t produce such a smile.

After several meetings, exchanges of flowers and small gifts, and even going together to the field behind the palace, Ophelia admitted it. That smile, which seemed to reflect sunlight directly, belonged only to her fiancé.

By then, she was calling him by name. Haslen. Even the pronunciation of that word, which resembled its owner, was soft.

But where there is light, there must also be darkness. If the time spent with Haslen was day, all other times were night.

When the boy who was like spring sunshine left, Ophelia suffered from terrible cold.

Her brother Mahanas treated her as he pleased, hurling all kinds of insults, and her father Dares pretended not to see his son’s behavior. That selfish and greedy king was only interested in his own luxury and pleasure.

When Haslen wasn’t around, Ophelia didn’t know how difficult that life was. But after getting to know the boy, everything felt incomparably colder and sharper than before.

Although she had lived in that gap since birth, Ophelia increasingly felt choked by them.

Just walking down the palace corridors made her dizzy and breathless, and at night she had nightmares every other day. They were mostly dreams about Mahanas.

Only Haslen could dispel the darkness weighing down on her.

On days when he came to the palace, even Mahanas, who treated her like a toy, and the greedy and vulgar Dares were cautious around him. They had to pretend she was a preciously raised daughter to extort more bride price.

Ophelia felt guilty about deceiving the boy as they instructed, but she couldn’t bring herself to tell him the truth.

“If you don’t behave properly, Haslen Lakmata will abandon you.”

Mahanas always intimidated her like that on days when Haslen was coming.

“You know how promising he is, don’t you? He would have been just as kind if another girl was by his side instead of you.”

Until then, Ophelia was simply frightened by those words.

In reality, Haslen was indeed a much-loved person, and he was kind to everyone accordingly.

Ophelia thought her fiancé had the right to be kind to anyone, but she also didn’t want to lose his affection that was poured only on her.

When fear showed on her face, Mahanas added with a satisfied expression:

“So keep your wits about you and act like a well-raised princess. Pretend to be a daughter who has only received love.”

Of course, Ophelia knew that Haslen wouldn’t suddenly change if he found out about the things she endured.

But the fact that he wouldn’t change didn’t mean their engagement wouldn’t change either.

Haslen would likely remain her friend, but the Lakmata family would want a daughter from a better family than her.

And if he left, all that would remain for her was cold and darkness.

Ophelia wanted to stop trembling.

So she tried her best to act like a loved person, but it wasn’t easy to fake a position she had never experienced.

It wasn’t just her. Since no one in the palace had ever loved her, the entire palace creaked on days when Haslen came.

Ophelia hoped desperately that the boy wouldn’t notice those cracks. The fear of being trapped in a cold night forever even overwhelmed her guilt about lying.

However, the discovery came from an unexpected place.

It was a summer day when she was eleven years old.

Around that time, Haslen had gone abroad with his father, so Mahanas was unrestrained in swinging his hands.

Even then, it was rare for him to touch her face, but Mahanas, drunk on alcohol, seemed to have no regard for anything.

Drunk to the point of having a red face since broad daylight, he entered the princess’s room and occupied her sofa.

“Arrogant Lakmata, putting on airs just because they have some money……”

Ophelia tried to leave the room to avoid her brother whose mood was terribly twisted. But as soon as she approached the doorway, Mahanas glared at her.

“Where are you going? Whose fault is it that your fiancé’s family acts so arrogantly?”

And he firmly grasped both of her wrists. His hands, full of force, painfully pressed down on her wrists. Ophelia reflexively furrowed her brow.

Seeing this, Mahanas immediately raised his voice.

“Now even you dare to disrespect me? Even you?”

Then he violently pushed her backward. Her brother’s arms, ten years older than her, were too thick and strong, and Ophelia couldn’t properly come to her senses.

It was then that she hit her head on the door behind her.

After hitting her head hard, everything went dark before her eyes. Ophelia staggered and curled up. Mahanas grabbed her shoulders. He clearly intended to make her stand up straight.

Afraid of the pain to come, Ophelia unknowingly raised her arms.

The tips of her fingers touching Mahanas’s face was the root of the problem.

“You worm…!”

When she came to her senses, she was on the bed.

The doctor in the room, seeing that she had woken up, examined her to see if there was anything wrong with her head.

Looking at herself in the mirror, Ophelia realized that her cheek was swollen red. But the doctor said it was fine since her head wasn’t damaged and her facial bones weren’t hurt.

Faced with the stinging cheek and the humiliation as hot as the pain, Ophelia finally burst into tears. The doctor and servants left the room when she started sobbing.

As she sobbed alone in the room, her injured face stung. Unable to help it, she calmed her tears and curled up on the bed, ruminating on the unfairness. She couldn’t understand why she had to endure such things.

But she couldn’t even protest that all of this was unfair.

Mahanas was the heir who would inherit the throne, and he was ten years older than her. While he was a robust young man, she wasn’t even of age yet and didn’t know how to do anything that would allow her to live outside the palace.

After sobbing for a long time, Ophelia got up from the bed and went outside. The longer she lay down doing nothing, the more suffocated she felt.

Wrapping a shawl around her face to hide the swollen cheek, Ophelia went to the field behind the palace. People rarely came there, so she escaped there whenever she couldn’t bear Mahanas or Dares.

As she was sitting under the elm tree in the field, wiping away tears that were leaking out again, someone called out to her.

“Princess?”

It was a voice she could recognize immediately no matter when she heard it. Startled by the kind voice that shouldn’t be heard right now, Ophelia looked up. In the distance, a tall boy was approaching quickly. It was Haslen.

Surprised, Ophelia jumped to her feet. She hurriedly ran into the inner part of the field. She couldn’t show Haslen her face swollen from being hit.

However, the boy was two years older than her and a much better runner.

When the sound of his footsteps came right behind her back, Ophelia had no choice but to stop.

When she stopped, Haslen also didn’t come any closer. He asked carefully.

“Princess, is something wrong?”