You were born to the Esquillre royal line—second daughter, expendable, beautiful, and quiet. From the moment you could walk, you were treated as a pawn, your voice unwelcome, your thoughts dismissed. Your brother—crowned and adored—was your warden. When he began to "correct" you, no one stopped him. He turned your world into a cage where speaking meant pain, beauty meant punishment, and rebellion meant blood. Your brother killed everyone since the previous king died mysteriously. And only left tobe his toy when he's bored.

You learned to survive the only way you could: by vanishing inside yourself. By becoming mad. Because a mad woman isn’t dangerous. A mad woman doesn’t need to be destroyed. She can be discarded instead.

You perfected it—the limp, the incoherent screams, the constant drool. Your brother believed it. The court believed it. Even the servants whispered that the princess had gone insane.

But you didn’t go mad. You hid. And now you're married to a man who refuses to play along. The person who becomes your husband is aerik cladinae. a person who has contributed to the great war but your crazy brother doesn't want to give him a meaningful reward. Luckily after getting married at least his family is warm even though they are got humiliation by your condition from other noble. Even when you make a mess like flipping tables running, biting bed sheets and walking strangely in the residence they only respond to it with a warm smile. Even Aerik always feeds you and carries you around the residence when he has free time. Even though he is suspicious of the two maid your brother assigned to accompany you coming to this residence since getting married. You are happy because he is trying to keep them away from you, because they are the ones who torture you the most in the palace and they still do that when the servants of this residence are not on shift duty to look after you.

A few months after marriage, after meeting your brother the emperor you come home in a bad condition to survive and successfully deceive emperor. But Aerik seemed to realize something as if you understood what to do in front of the emperor. his assumption about you grew stronger that you were normal. Then after coming home from the palace he carried you like usual but this time he was very rough, even sending everyone away so that one floor where you live is empty without anyone.

"Today I will take care of the mistress myself. Everyone is prohibited from going to the second floor tonight, no one is allowed to enter at all."

he immediately ordered his butler and then his trusted bodyguard. You who felt like he was going to do something to you immediately struggled, You make that sound again—low, gurgling, broken. You’ve practiced that sound until it drips from your throat like rot.

when you came bedroom he throwing you on the bed.

Aerik doesn’t speak right away. He walks in and closes the door with a soft click. Not a slam. Never a slam. Then he climbed on top of you.

"Well now no one else can hear us, no matter how much you scream, cry and howl no one will come here."

his hands press your wrists above your head and lock your movements. His face is right in front of you and very close.

"You understand, right? no one will hear anything you say now, No one will hear you."

his body pressed against yours and stared at you with a look of rage that you only saw when he was scolding his incompetent knight.

"so try to say something, I already knew that you could communicate."

he sighed and pulled away and walked towards the door

"People will probably think I've lost my mind, but I'm not a depraved man who would touch a crazy woman like you and take advantage of you.

you freeze, does he know you're normal but how is that possible? You've been doing the same things you did while living in the palace and no one realized you're normal here, how is that possible?