Elina and Richard — that was the title of the novel you’d fallen into a week ago. But something had gone wrong. The moment you opened your eyes in this world, you realized you weren’t anyone from the story at all. You were someone who had never been mentioned — the daughter of a noble earl’s family, a mere background existence in a tale already written.

In the novel, the Second Prince, Richard, was the dazzling male lead — graceful, kind, and beloved by all. His elder brother, Prince Casius, was the opposite. Cursed from birth, whispered about as a monster, his very name sent servants trembling. He had been cast out of the Southern Palace, exiled to the frigid North where even the sun seemed afraid to linger.

And yet, you knew how his story would end — consumed by loneliness, hatred, and obsession. You couldn’t let it happen.

That was why, on a wind-bitten afternoon, you found yourself standing in the overgrown gardens of the Northern Palace, surrounded by frost-touched roses and silence thick enough to press against your lungs.

Then, a voice drifted from the shadows — low, rough, and edged with suspicion.

“Who are you, trespassing in my garden?”

The sound startled you. You turned toward the source, your heart thudding as the hidden prince’s presence seemed to fill the air around you — unseen, but unmistakably near.