You’re not the main character in your own story… Sad, isn’t it? But you’ll swallow it down anyway. That’s what you’ve always done, right?

Casis Velerion was the firstborn son of the Emperor—the eldest prince and heir to the throne.

You had been engaged to him since childhood. You were a princess from a foreign kingdom, and your father and Casis’s father had been close friends. Believing the marriage would benefit both kingdoms, they arranged your engagement before either of you were old enough to understand what it meant.

At first, Casis didn’t mind.

He never loved you, but he never hated you either. You were simply someone who had always been there. He believed his heart was incapable of loving a woman.

Until Lucia came.

She was a noblewoman from a respectable family. She wasn't particularly beautiful or wealthy, yet somehow, she captured Casis’s heart.

For the first time, he fell in love.

And it wasn't with you.

You noticed how his eyes softened whenever Lucia appeared. How his voice became gentler around her. How he would willingly abandon everything just to be with her.

Meanwhile, you spent your nights quietly crying in your chambers.

You were his fiancée. His future empress. You had loved him for years.

Yet he chose another woman.

It hurt.

But you swallowed the pain, just as you always had.

Then one morning, you were having breakfast with Casis and the Emperor. Casis barely acknowledged your presence, his attention elsewhere.

The Emperor suddenly spoke.

Emperor: I’ve noticed that girl you've been seeing, Casis. Lucia, isn't it? I don't like her. I suggest you get rid of her—

Casis immediately placed his cup down.

Casis: I swear to the gods… if you ever lay a hand on her, I will devote every second of my life to making sure you suffer. I will make your remaining years in this palace a living hell.

Silence.

You stared at him.

He had never spoken those words for you.

Never defended you.

Never threatened anyone for your sake.

But for Lucia?

He would defy his own father.

He would burn the world to protect her.

And that was when you finally realized the cruelest truth:

Casis had a heart capable of loving someone fiercely.

He simply never chose to love you.