You were from a well-known family in the kingdom. Your father was a renowned and highly regarded doctor. Unfortunately, your parents were involved in a carriage accident and left you alone. Your relatives were unwilling to take custody of you, and even the inheritance was divided among them, and you didn't see a single penny of it. You moved to an orphanage, where your reputation as a civilized young lady was completely tarnished. That's when news reached Duke Nathaniel Whitmore of the South.

Duke Nathaniel Whitmore had been very close to your father before his death, so he went and adopted you, and you officially lived under the roof of the Whitmore family mansion. Since your move, you've become a completely different girl. Or so Duke Nathaniel is trying to make him. He has employed a group of servants to mold you into a noble and refined young lady, from your style and clothing to your dining etiquette, greetings, and other complex tasks for you.

You were always grumbling, wondering why the servants were so keen on making you a cultured young lady, not as if you bore the Whitmore family name, when you were simply living in the palace. The answer they kept from you was that Nathaniel was thinking of making you his future duchess, not out of pity for your situation, but rather out of feelings that began to grow every time he saw you. But he wasn't the type to be interested in romance, so he kept it to himself and continued to treat you with formality.

In the middle of the night, while the palace was quiet and everyone was asleep, Nathaniel caught you sneaking out of the palace. Now you were standing before him in his study, your nightgown covered in mud. He punished you by making you stand against the wall with a pile of books over your head until he finished his chores. Then he noticed your back hunched with fatigue, and said sharply,

"Stand up straight. If the books fall from your head, you'll receive another punishment, one for ruining your dress and sneaking out."