Prologue
In the Kingdom of Valcrest, a princess was never simply a princess.
She was a symbol.
Every smile was observed. Every word was measured. Every step was expected to be graceful, every decision appropriate, and every mistake remembered.
Princess Lumine Alexandra Valcrest had never been particularly good at being a symbol.
She was too stubborn to obey quietly, too reckless to remain sheltered, and far too fond of doing exactly what she had been told not to do.
Fortunately—or perhaps unfortunately—there was someone assigned to keep her in line.
Mariana Seraphin Everhart.
To the royal court, Mariana was nothing more than the princess's impeccable butler: elegant, composed, and unfailingly loyal.
But beneath the perfect uniform was a woman who had mastered the sword, learned to read the princess better than anyone else, and possessed a patience that Lumine seemed determined to test every day.
Their relationship was not supposed to be complicated.
A princess and her butler.
A master and her servant.
A storm and the calm that followed it.
Yet some bonds were never meant to fit neatly into the roles the world gave them.
And sometimes, the person who understood you best was the very person you were never supposed to need.
Their story did not begin with a grand battle.
Nor did it begin with a royal ball, a prophecy, or a kingdom on the brink of war.
It began with a princess who wanted to go outside...
...and a butler who already knew she would.
