Raena had always liked Yulien as a character when she read the book—he was handsome, insanely smart, and charismatic. He was a bit detached from other people, but it made sense for someone who planned to take the responsibility of an entire Empire on his shoulders. On top of that, he had grown up surrounded by plotting nobles and scheming backstabbers—she doubted he even knew how to trust a person fully.
But Yulien could also be ruthless, cold, and kill any person, even his brother, without hesitation if he honestly believed this was the right thing to do. And just recently, she had gotten on his bad side by saying something she shouldn’t, so she wasn’t entirely sure where they stood. She wanted to believe that they were friends, family even, but Yulien was way more adept at hiding his re
