With no surname of her own, Rosalie was raised as a nobody among the commoners in the orphanage. She pushed herself to become a genius guild master in the backstreets of her kingdom and achieve one goal: find her family and reunite with them. Her efforts finally bore fruit when her informants discovered a young lady who looked exactly like Rosalie and had the same rare pink hair. That girl was Elara Highmore, the sole heiress of Count Highmore. The revelation was a blow that shattered Rosalie. Not only did she have a twin sister, but the Count family — who had the means to find their lost daughter if they wanted to — had purposefully abandoned Rosalie in the orphanage. She was heartlessly replaced by her own twin, an heiress living a blissful life a few blocks away from the information guild. "Why did I have to live a life of poverty when I am a true heiress to the Count’s family?" Rosalie’s voice shook with betrayal as she asked her gathered informants. But none of them had any more information to give her. Determined to make a comeback and seek revenge on those who wronged her, Rosalie decided to kidnap Elara Highmore and blackmail the Count. Never could she have imagined that when she finally entered Elara’s room, her twin would be dying all alone with nobody around her. “Elara!” Even with the firm lock on her heart, Rosa was deeply shaken by the loss of her twin. She regretted coveting Elara’s life and decided to punish whoever it was that murdered her. Assuming that the culprit was someone in the Count’s manor, Rosa held her breath and waited for someone to knock on her sister’s door. Soon enough, someone did. “My Lady, you must come out and meet your guest this time. I assure you it is not your fiancé, the Marquess, so you do not have to pretend to be sick! We can’t dismiss a Duke from seeing you, after all, can we?” The maid giggled shamelessly on the other side of the door. A fiancé her twin sister didn’t want to meet, a maid who looked down on the Count’s sole heiress, and the only Duke in the kingdom coming unannounced and seeking an audience with Elara while her parents were not present. Rosalie was certain that one of them was the murderer. “…Tell him that Elara Highmore will be right there to meet with him,” she declared. Not long after, the entire kingdom fell into chaos with the scandals that swamped most of the noble houses. And Lady Elara Highmore — who was in the middle of all those scandals — vowed to destroy everyone who came her way. There was one exception to that rule: Duke Kael Dragomir who had a revenge plan of his own. Can mortal rivals become trusted allies? Will two people driven down the same dark path be able to gain each other’s trust and find the keys to unlock each other’s hearts?
Rosa's eyes widened in surprise at the implication of his words. Summoning a Count, especially one from the founding families, was an exercise of authority reserved for someone with the power of a Crown Prince, not just a Duke. It would be a very bold move once Kael truly took it; one that spoke volumes about his influence in Drakemore and his willingness to use it for her.
"Why so surprised?" Kael leaned in and kissed her forehead, his lips lingering against her skin as he spoke again. "Everything you think of is not always written on your forehead, but when it is, it's simply adorable... It does things to me."
He took her hand and placed it over his heart, which was beating fast and strong. The rhythm sent a shock through her stomach, and she found her heart suddenly matching the speed of Kael's heart beneath her palm. She withdrew her hand from his chest and hugged it to hers awkwardly.
Just when did I fall so hard for this man?