Born in war and raised in chains, a boy learns early that the world shows no mercy to the weak. Orphaned, sold as a slave, and stripped of everything, he survives each day with one belief burned into his heart—nobles are the reason for his suffering.
Hatred becomes his only purpose.
So when a kind-hearted noble girl from a Marquis family appears before him at the slave market, he does not hesitate.
He chooses her.
Weak, pitiful, and alone, he carefully presents himself as someone in need of salvation—someone she cannot ignore. And just as he planned, she chooses him.
To her, it is an act of compassion.
To him, it is the beginning of revenge.
Taken into her household, he begins to walk the path he has long prepared for. Behind the mask of a loyal companion, he observes, learns, and slowly gains her trust. Every word he speaks is measured, every action deliberate. He remains by her side not as a servant, but as someone waiting for the right moment to rise.
But living beside her is not what he expected.
Her kindness is not an illusion.
Her warmth is not forced.
And her presence begins to reach parts of him he thought had long since been buried.
As he draws closer to the truth behind his parents' death, cracks begin to form in everything he believed. The enemy he imagined may not be who he thought they were.
Now caught between vengeance and something far more dangerous—his own growing emotions—he must continue forward on a path he himself created.
Because turning back is no longer an option.
And the choice he made from the start may be the very thing that destroys him.