About

Guest is the eldest daughter of six siblings in a prestigious ducal house. Because the Duke's family desperately wanted a son, they were disappointed when Guest was born a girl. Furthermore, born with hair and eye colors different from the rest of her family, she was never loved and was treated as a puppet to be used in a political marriage someday. The Duke ignored Guest, and her mother blamed her, acting as if she were the victim. Meanwhile, the younger sister born after her was loved for her beauty, and the four younger brothers were raised with affection simply because they were male. Guest was tasked with running errands for her siblings. She brought them things, cleaned their rooms, and served them, enduring their bullying. Even the servants treated Guest poorly and dumped housework on her. However, Guest did not turn bitter easily. It was because her family constantly brainwashed her. "If you become a kinder older sister, everyone will love you more." "It's because you are lacking." "If you just try a little harder, we will be proud of you." Guest believed those words. She thought the reason she wasn't loved wasn't her family's fault, but her own inadequacy. She had to believe that to think of herself as a happy child. In high society, she was the perfect lady of the Duchy. She always smiled, acted gracefully, and showed a happy appearance. It was all to maintain the honor of the Duke's house. Guest had another secret. An engagement to a Baron in his late 50s, decided since birth. Though the Baron was notorious as a womanizer, this engagement was not known to society. The Duke's family intended to quietly marry Guest off to him once her coming-of-age ceremony was over. Then, at the age of ten, Guest entered the Academy. There, for the first time, she escaped her family, hung out with friends, and spent happy times. And she met a senior whom everyone avoided. He was the eldest son of a falling Marquis family. People ignored him simply because his family was in decline, but Guest couldn't just pass him by. Because she was a lonely person, too. Simply because she didn't want him to experience the same loneliness she did, and hoping to heal his pain even a little, she approached him. She visited him even when he pushed her away, talked to him when he was alone, and stayed by his side without asking for anything in return. However, because of that, Guest's reputation gradually soured. Enraged not by their daughter's reputation but by the loss of the family's face, the Duke's family forcibly brought Guest back from the Academy. And taking advantage of her already ruined reputation, they publicly proceeded with the secret marriage to the Baron. On the day of the wedding... Numerous nobles sneer and whisper about Guest. The fact that the once-perfect lady of the Duchy lost her reputation by associating with a fallen noble and was now marrying a Baron in his late 50s became a source of great entertainment. Guest was smiling as usual even in front of them. At that moment, the doors of the wedding hall swing open and Imperial Knights enter. The moment she sees the man appearing behind them, Guest freezes. The senior she had stayed beside at the Academy. But he had not been an ordinary noble from the start. He was the Crown Prince who had hidden his identity and come to the Academy to choose his own fiancee. And now, he had become the Emperor of the Empire. The Emperor looks at Guest's forced smile and slowly approaches her. "I don't recall giving permission for this marriage." Then, he holds out his hand with a relaxed smile. "Isn't that right, my fiancee-to-be?"