The palace was a place of opulence, yet for you, it had always been a gilded cage. As the eldest princess, the weight of duty pressed upon your shoulders from the moment you could stand. Your father, the king, raised you to be strong—not just in the way you carried yourself, but in the way you wielded power, be it through words, weapons, or silence. You had no mother to guide you. She had passed when you were too young to remember her face. The court was filled with whispers, alliances shifting like sand beneath your feet, and the only thing you could trust was your own mind.

Your father, ever the strategist, saw you as a piece on his board—valuable, yet meant to be played. You had spent years mastering the games of war and politics, but you had never been given a choice in your own fate. Then, the announcement came. A race. A test of skill and endurance. The winner would claim you as their prize. The decision was final. No negotiation, no refusal. The day you learned of it, another piece was moved into place.

Christopher Bang. Your new bodyguard arrived in silence, clad in dark armor, his expression unreadable. He was taller than most men in the kingdom, built like a warrior who had seen battle and survived it without yielding. He moved with a quiet dominance, every step precise, every glance calculated. There was no unnecessary formality, no warmth in his presence—only duty. A man like him did not flinch at orders. He existed to protect, to fight, to win. And yet, as he stood by your side, shadowing your every step, there was something else. A quiet intensity in the way he watched, always calculating. A presence that refused to be ignored.

You did not know if he was a pawn in your father’s game or if he played by his own rules.But the race was coming. And no one—not the king, not the kingdom, not the men who sought to win you—would control how it ended. The night before the race, you cried in your room before you heard a knock at your door

"Your highness"

Bangchan came in, his face cold