Prologue

“You can’t do that!”

I was about to enter the study room when I heard my mother screaming. It was as if she and Daddy were arguing about something so I slowly opened the door and peeked in on them, trying my best not to get noticed.

It is not something new to me, but I know that when they are fighting, it always has something to do with me and my siblings. So, I thought I should listen first.

Maybe they were talking about me. I might have done something that Daddy didn’t like unconsciously.

“That is the only thing I can do to save her.” My father’s voice is calm. But I can also feel in his voice that his decision is already final because he always believed that what he does is always right.

So I was even more curious as to which of us, siblings, they were referring to.

“Marrying her off with that prince will only ruin her life forever,” Mom insisted. Her voice was filled with fear and worry. “You know how cruel that bastard is. He will just take advantage of our daughter and they just wanted to use her because the people of this country trusted her more than the royal family.”

“I know that,” Dad said. “I am well aware of what they want from her. But what can we do? If we don’t get her married to Prince Hector, her life will continue to be in danger. You know that we no longer have the ability to protect her.”

Ah, they were talking about me.

Well, I am aware of the things that have been happening in my family even though I am often out and socializing with common people.

I am not a princess. I am just a simple daughter of a duke that has been actively doing what I want to help, not only the people in our domain but also anyone who really needs help.

That is what my late grandmother taught me.

Helping others is something that is not based on what title is attached to our name.

So I just followed what she started.

I helped a lot of people around the country. I have set up several foundations and most of my rich friends have donated to them voluntarily. We helped many students so they could continue their education without worrying about their tuition fees.

I also have built some public schools supported by my foundations and it was being used by children who lack money to study.

Above all, I also built several public hospitals using the money that my grandmother bequeathed to me.

I focused on the education and health sector for the goal of the foundation that I created because those are the things that our government neglects the most.

I want nothing more than to help people. That is what is always in my mind. I don’t need anything in return for all the things I did for other people.

It is not even my money. I was just continuing what my grandmother wanted.

So I didn’t really expect that what I was doing would become a big issue, causing my life to always be in danger.

I have received a lot of death threats. And our previous close relationship with the royal family that rules all of Hexoria Kingdom has also gradually cooled because the citizens are looking for me more than them.

And because of that, I stopped going out more often in public but the citizens were not happy with it because they thought that the superiors of our government were preventing me from appearing before them as giving way to the members of the royal family.

Well, part of that is actually true.

Several palace ministers also talked to me and forced me to stop everything that I was doing. They wanted to get rid of me in the public’s eye. They also wanted me to transfer all of my foundations to the royal family.

But of course, I didn’t agree with that.

Not that I really care about the fame but I know that the ministers just wanted to take my foundation for granted. They will just use it to gain money.

How would I know? Because if the palace really wanted my foundation, the king would immediately give a decree about it.

But I haven’t received anything from the king itself. It was all the palace ministers who kept bugging me.

So, I told them that the only compromise I could give them was to reduce my exposure to people.

Before, I was always socializing in public almost every day. I reduced it to twice a month as promised to the ministers.

And I only work at home to take care of the paperwork needed by the foundations and hospitals that I manage myself to avoid getting seen in public.

I already started this so I can’t just stop what I am doing. I promise my grandmother and I don’t want the people I am helping to feel sorry because I am hurting the pride of the ministers of our country.

And it is not like I am trying to outshine the royal family. I also don’t have the intention of harming our government and making them look like they are not doing anything for our country.

As a matter of fact, the Azarias, the clan that leads the Hexoria Kingdom, have been doing everything they can to take care of the people they serve. They always make ways to ensure every aspect of the needs of every citizen. They are great leaders of our country.

But people do not really appreciate all their hard work because they rarely appear in public. So people couldn’t feel their presence.

And now that my father is thinking things like this, I guess, the people around the royal family, who were actually making this issue a big deal were still not happy with what is going on.

They consider a simple Asper Reign Dahlia a big threat to the leadership of the Azaria Clan. They think that I am the reason why the people of Hexoria were not looking at them. They think that I am only ruining the image of the royal family.

“No!” Mom still strongly objected to my father’s idea. “She was just trying to help other people. She doesn’t like fame, she just has the capability to help others. And it is not her fault if people felt her presence more than the royal family.”

And their argument inside the room continued because neither of them doesn’t want to give way to their decision.

“So?”

I was slightly startled when I heard my brother’s voice from behind me but I immediately recovered and turned to him.

His eyebrows were raised while looking at me and placing both of his hands on his waist. “It turns out you brought a bigger problem here now, Asper.”

I sighed and grabbed his hand as I pulled him away from the study room.

I don’t want our parents to know that I heard them arguing because Daddy will definitely force me to agree to the solution he was thinking of so that the threat to my life will disappear forever.

I took him to the garden and he hasn’t changed the way he looks at me when I face him. There are still traces of questions and it seems he has no intention of letting me go until I come up with a way to stop the problem we are facing now.

“Look, sis,” he said. “You are the only one who can solve this and you know it, right?”

I know. I know that I am the only one who can end this problem because I am the one who brought it to my family.

That is why even though I don’t want to, it looks like I don’t really have any choice.

For the betterment of everyone. For the convenience of the palace. And to make my family’s life more peaceful.