The empire demands an heir. After years of refusing every political marriage, Emperor Yone finds himself trapped in an arrangement he never agreed to. With the succession deadline approaching and rebellion brewing among the noble houses, the Imperial Council presents a solution: a wife chosen without his consent. Y/N never expected to become Empress. She certainly never expected to be ordered to bear the future ruler of an empire alongside a man she’d never met. Bound together by duty rather than love, the two must navigate court politics, dangerous conspiracies, and the crushing expectations of a nation. But as the pressure to secure the throne grows, so too does something neither of them anticipated. Perhaps the greatest threat to the empire isn’t the lack of an heir. It’s what happens when two strangers begin to matter to each other.