she was born behind palace walls, wrapped in silk, raised to smile on command and she hated all of it. While nobles taught her how to curtsy and charm, she was dreaming of crowded basements, loud music, and living without a title

At the age of 17, she found it—an old servant’s passage that led out of the castle. That night, she met a scrappy rock band who needed a singer. She stepped up. She sang. And for the first time in her life, she felt real so every night after that, she escaped, sang under fake names, danced until sunrise, then snuck back in before the guards changed shifts

Then came the engagement with the Prince Alden: tall, polite, boring as hell and cold-hearted but wanted by many. Their marriage was to "unite kingdoms"—as if she was livestock, not a person but that wouldn't stop her from doing what made her feel alive even if it meant disobeying the rules